im here

goooood grief, this blogging thing is going to be hit and miss.

soooo, basically, im here, and life is good. really good. =)

im staying in this adorable little place called Port Lodge, its got this beautiful park in front of it (where DMB, ben harper, john mayer and a ton of other people i dont listen to but are really famous and your average college kid would love *phew* are playing), right off the park is the harbour.
oh man, i think of papa every time i go out there, its stunning. the boats all floating around (kindof like a more chill ventura), these fish and crab shacks (dont let the 'shack' fool you though, very very spendy. although, i have to say, the other day we went out to this fish and chips place on the harbour and i really didnt feel like fried fish without ketchup (yeah, they dont have complimentary ketchup, you have to pay $1.30 [ha]), so i got the prawn pasta, cos id been craving prawns (got so spoiled at work this break, what with my daily prawn ration) and it was AMAZING, i mean from the look of the place, you'd think that everything was reallllly sketch, but i mean, this stuff was amazing. a little cilantro, lemon and lime, tomato&basil sauce, spaghetti and grilled prawns .... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, besides anything from my fish place (loyalties loyalties) is was the best seafood dish of my life mmmmmmmmmmm), and as i discovered today, a mcdonalds with the best view in the world, and this fish market that was fairly decently priced (comparatively at least), or at least i think so, i need to figure out what the kilo-pound conversion is. but it had fresh shark and swordfish steaks, and it was cool.
not gonna lie, i had no idea how obsessed with seafood ive become. its rediculous. i mean, the other day i was craving prawns.
me!
prawns!

ok, sooo, ill put up pictures soon enough so you can see how glorious it all is.
(i mean, good grief! i was slightly homesickish (not really, dont worry about me, just more thinking about how great it would be if everyone lived here so i would have to describe it you could just see it yourselves) so in my looking for something that was close to home, i went for a walk on the peir, just so i could smell the fish in the markets! i LOVE fish!)
ok.
moving on.


ummm, flight out here was unreal. best airline ever. i mean, it was great. fun fun fun.
landing in sydney was utterly surreal. you'll all scoff im sure, but flying over the city, see it all, the harbour and everything, (missed the opera house, grr), it was like coming home. i know, sappy, but its true.
i was able to reign in the tears, just because it would be completely humiliating to be all crying with these ND kids i'd just met, like earning this "complete emotional wreak" label, but anyway, my point is that there was just an overwhelming sense of serenity flying in. i felt bad leaving for perth, like i out to stay a while and say hi to the city, but i know ill end up back there later, so its all good.

getting into perth and taking the bus to fremantle. that was amazing. and yeah, i did start crying, but only a little bit and no one saw and i was overtired anyways.
port lodge is all singles, my room is miniscule, but i like it. ive already got most of my pictures up, and feel completely at home.
the kids with me are great, we all seem to get along really well. besides the ND kids there are peeps from purdue, iona college (you ever heard of it?), sacred heart, and some other place i think. the main groups are the ND, UP, and St.Johns crowds, with 18, 20, and 30 over here respectively.

we have to get our own food, so im starting to appreciate mama's tallying skills in the grocery.
looks like its going to be a pasta filled semester, with a little rice for flava
and ive vowed to develop a taste for vegemite. i must.

we started orientation today, it was fairly predictable. with the fairly predictable "we're back in frosh-o" comments. tomorrow will be boring, but wednesday and thursday should be sweet.
we spend all day wed in perth, getting the lay of the land, and thursday we get to see what all the clubs and service opportunities are. and i get to find out if they really do have a women's rugby team.
=)


oh yeah! i knew there was a reason i had to post.
so the internet here is lame because skype doesnt work very well (hence not calling yet), but we're a couple of days from getting it figured out. anyways, so a few of us were wandering all over fremantle looking for an internet cafe so we could fix our skype problems. we left too late, and the cafe we were headed to was just closed, soo they refered us to this resaurant/brewery that is right on the harbour, like, a minute from port lodge, that apparently has wireless for free. of course we would end up practically going back home after walking all over the place, but it was fun so i didnt really care, the point is, this place is AMAZING. oh man papa, you would love it so much.
first off, its called "little creatures", amazing!
second, its the coolest setup ive ever seen. the chillest vibe, very very NWsty. basically its a giant warehouse, where about half is the restaurant, the other the brewery. but everything is completely open, like you can see the rafters on the ceiling, and all that. and you can watch them brew their beer, cook the food, i mean, you can see everything. plus its got a little book corner thing, catwalks, comfy couches, and what smells like really really good food. and like it goes straight out the back onto the peir, best view. and pretty much everyone who works there wears chucks.
or has dreads.
but thats besides the point, the point is, its phenomenal. and we should have somthing like it in portland, in fact, i want to take pictures and whatnot and take them to the fish place, and be like, dude if we open up a legit restaurant, this is what it needs to be. it soo would work. and they could hire dad to brew beer, and i would cook great fish, and it would be soooooo great.
plus its called little creatures!
ok, i think you get the point.
oh yeah, we were there for like an hour, trying to figure out how the interent worked. but it didnt. we could connect to the wireless, but like something was wrong with our wireless card or whatnot and we were never able to really figure it out. so we're going to the cafe tomorrow afternoon, and then hopefully i can call everyone
but MAN it would be a great fish place inspiration. will take pix.

oh yeah, did sarah tell you al i got impetigo (sp) while at TAC?
yeah.
its mostly cleared up now though, just scabby. it was a better case then the ones ive had in the past, got better way faster, to which i credit me deciding to doulbe my dose of mynocycline to fight it off. im pretty sure thats why it worked so well.
but yeah, typical.


ummmmmmm .... yeah, not much else. ive been really busy, theres alot going on and many stories already, but im bad at this writing articulation thing.
mostly the place is fabulous, i really like the people, i like my class schedule, everyone is wonderful, and ill try to write more often and thus not run the risk of leaving stuff out

kk, love you all. write more soon.