Arrival!

                I have slept a total of 5 hours over the past two and a half days, and I'm so excited to go to bed.  But before I do that, I’ll write one more post about what a ride this day has been.

                First of all, my sense of time is all kinds of messed up right now.  I just went through a wormhole where Thursday lasted 3 hours and I arrived at the end of my day in Australia where it was the beginning of a new day.  Thus, my body had to struggle to adjust, but after a nap and some time to chill, I feel like I’m almost back on track!

                I moved into my dorm at International House today!  I’m living in a single room that’s actually a great size for me.  Not having a roommate has been a blessing—I need my alone time to nap and watch goofy cartoons.  The room is still kind of a tornado of unpacked clothes and open suitcases, so I’ll upload pictures once it looks a little more presentable.

                Most of the day today was spent turning myself back into a human being after all that travelling.  Needless to say, today’s shower was my favorite shower I think I’ve ever taken.  Before I was able to do that, though, I was definitely very irritable and stressed and anxious and snappy at everyone around me.  Therefore I’m so grateful that the master of International House is such a beautiful person.  Her name is Susan and she’s a sweet tiny Asian lady, and she was pretty much my mom today, making sure I took care of myself before doing anything else.  I already absolutely love her.

                Once I was alive again, I also stocked up on some snack foods.  The convenience store I went to reminded me of some sort of Asian market, filled with labels I couldn’t read, and weird knock-off cereals that looked a lot like American ones, but weren’t quite there. 

                I’m not sure why every food here looks like a bootleg version of something American, but they taste about the same, so I’m fine.

                Probably my favorite part of the day today was dinner, which was my first meal since airline breakfast food at 8 AM this morning.  I met up with a Japanese girl down the hall from me named Mayuko, who was also starving to death, and we set off in search of something—anything—to eat.  We ended up at a cheap Chinese place that I can’t remember the name of because literally everything was written in Chinese.  I’m actually not sure why we went in there, because neither of us spoke Chinese, but for some reason we decided it looked good.  As it turns out, none of the workers there knew English either, so we communicated through simple words and hand gestures, and actually navigated the process of ordering and paying for food.  It felt like a real accomplishment.

                The meal was absolutely worth it.  I’m not even sure what half of my plate was, but it tasted amazing, and the portion was big enough to fill up a whole day’s worth of empty stomach.  It also came with free soy milk, which tasted awesome and cold with the spicy food I accidentally got.

(Yes, I was that white American chick taking a picture of her food, but it was my first meal in Australia, so shut up.)

               

                As I’m sitting here writing this on my bed, a whole flock of screaming cockatoos flew by.  It honestly sounds like the jungle out here, and it’s amazing.

                Alright I can’t wait any longer.  I need to go to bed.  Goodnight friends and family; I’m thinking of you all tonight and missing you a ton!  Message me on Facebook any time!