Crikey!...The Year I didn't have a Sunday, Feb. 10th.

I don't know what this is, but there are some really neat areas in Brisbane that look completely different. And I think the bulbous tree trunks look crazy.
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Wow! I'm finally in Australia! It was so surreal until I was in the taxi going to my apartment building. The first thing that struck me is that the highway resembles the UK system (they drive on the wrong side of the road, have roundabouts, and the highways are called "M(some number)"). I checked in and signed a ton of paperwork, then dragged all my stuff up to my room. First on the list: shower! I walked around for several hours on Friday in San Francisco to tire myelf out, then was on the plane for 14.5 + 2 hour layover + 1 hour to Brisbane so...yeah, I needed a shower. I've also been kind of confused about what time it REALLY is. I know it's four in the morning at home, which explains why I'm so tired. But for a minute this morning it boggled my mind that I was in Monday, while everyone else I knew was still in Sunday. It's like I'm from the future! ...Or not, I dunno, things have been pretty unreal lately so that probably explains why it seemed to insane to me this morning. Anyway...

This is the first kangaroo I've seen so far. And to tell you the truth, it's kind of scary looking.
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My first task was to find essentials for the day: toilet paper, sheets, pillow, and some food. I live right near the Central Business District (CBD), and the atmosphere is pretty similar to St Catherine's Street and the underground mall (but the malls here are not undergroud). I was directed to "Big W", which after I walked around for a few minutes in, I discovered was actually a Walmart. I got most of my stuff, but had some problems getting small amounts of things I wanted. For instance, I could buy six bars of soap for $2.56, but not one individual bar of soap. Then, I found Woolworths for groceries, but the CBD is always busy, and people were snatching bananas off the rack faster than the employees could put them on there. I got scared off a little, and just wanted my usual fresh veggies, hummus, pitas, apples, cereal, etc that I always get at home. At Big W I found a lot of the same brands as in North America, but in the grocery store, everything was different, and it threw me off to try to find what I actually wanted. But anyway, I did find a few things to tide me over for a little while, and headed home.

When I got home, I decided to check out the rest of the apartment building. Most things were the same as in the website pictures, but I was pretty disappointed to find out that this "gym" in my building is actually just a treadmill, an exercise bike, and a rowing machine in front of a TV. I've recently become enamored with going to a gym, and now I'll actually have to...gasp! Go outside for my exercise.

After I finally figured out how to call home and got my internet set up, I went for a second run around the city to get sheets and plates, which I had forgotten the first time. I really like Brisbane so far (although I've been a little overwhelmed with getting set up). The European and North American influences are pretty obvious, and there are a lot of Asians (because they're so close). There are a lot of American chains here (7/11, Starbucks, McDonalds, Borders, Krispy Kreme haha). In general, people seemed a lot less obese than in some parts of the States, but that may be because it's a city. There are more smaller cars than big ones, but that also may be because it's urban. I have been able to understand everyone except one lady that worked in the second hand store I was in to find dishes. When I asked if she had any regular dishes (not collectable 70 dollar ones) she said something to me and I had no idea what she said. So I just repeated what I said, hoping that she would figure out what I meant. She told me about another store "down the road" that had them, but I didn't ask her where it was because A) I don't know any of the landmarks anyway and B) I couldn't understand what she was talking about.

Anyway, tonight I'm going to try to finish unpacking so that tomorrow I can go to my school to figure out where everything is. I'll post photos soon!