Conversations with an Australian, Pt. 1

Australian: "So, are you Canadian?"
Me: "No, I'm American."
Australian: "Oh... is Sarah Palin really that stupid?"

A Lesson in Australian-English

You would think going to another country where the dominant language is English wouldn't be so difficult, right? Wrong. For the three short days that I've been here, I have found it challenging to come up with the correct word or phrase. I was told it would be around 24 degrees today and I looked like an idiot trying to come up with the correct temperature in Farenheit. Among their many words, these are what I have found difficult to say during a normal conversation:

biscuit= cookie
chips= french fries
Uni (pronounced "you-nee")= university/campus
shopping centre= mall
shops= stores
no worries= it's okay/not a problem
brilliant= awesome
bloke= guy

heaps= a lot/tons

Will post more vocab as time progesses but for now, I wanted to share some pictures of the beautiful flora and fauna that is so abundant in Lismore! Keep in mind that Lismore is based around an inactive volcano, just sitting on of it's outer ring.

The First Day

Woke up to the hum of cicadas and strange bird-like noises. What is this strange land? After getting used to the fact that I'll wake up to that every morning for the next 4 months, my host mom Anne and I took a trip down to the Uni (this is Aussie talk for college/university). The buildings are all situated in and among huge palm trees and flowers. It reminded me of my Girl Scout camping days being tucked back in the woods. The plaza at Uni is a lot like the Student Union at K-State though the bookstore, icecream shop, etc are all located around the center pavilion. It was blazing hot the whole time we were walking around (rule #1- always bring a bottle of water when on campus). Next we went to the bank to set up a bank account to easily access throughout my trip. The bank is downtown and it has a whole bunch of shops to walk through. We stopped into a pub to have a drink which was much needed after walking around everywhere. Went to the grocery store which is about the same as U.S. grocery stores, they even had Campbells soup and Oreos! My new friend Patrick who is a kiwi (from New Zealand) helped with the groceries and made us all spaghetti back at the house. Midway through cooking we decided to go swimming at a friends house in a saltwater pool. I was told most pools are not saltwater but you get what you get. Was having a 4X to drink when these huge birds were flying around everywhere. "Wow, look at those birds!" Anne says, "Those aren't birds, those are bats." Walking around the porch, 100's of bats were swarming as the sun was setting, some getting as close as 20 feet away from us. The wingspan on these monsters is about 3 feet- these things are HUGE! I was a little freaked out by all of the bats flying around that I wanted to get back into the car. Went home, ate, showered, and before I knew it I passed out due to the jetlag! All in all, still getting used to my surroundings and the other student from K-State will be here in 3 days which I am SO excited about. Until then, keep reading and feel free to post a comment (you do not need a gmail account to post a comment, check the box that says anonymous and you should be able to comment). I miss all of you!