In Sydney! Longest extended day of my entireeee life. Left for the airport around 2. The originally plan was to take a large roller bag to check and a carry on… fail. Ended up with three bags to check, a carry on, my backpack, and of course my teddy bear, what can I say I’m a bit of an over-packer. My excess baggage and I arrived at JFK around 4, where it was time to bid my parents farewell. This was a toughie, because as excited as I was, this is where it really hit me that I’m leaving. Mom started to tear, and I gave both her and my father the biggest hugs I could muster up. The trip was broken into two parts, first, JFK to L.A, then L.A to Sydney. Though there was an hour break at L.A before I headed to Sydney I was still staying on the same plane. This plane was a massive 747, and as soon as I boarded and the lovely Australian flight attendants gave me a “G’Day” I couldn’t wait to land.
As soon as I entered the plane I saw massive comfortable seats, and thought to myself “damn straight they have big comfy seats, 22 hours on your butt is a long time.” That was row 1, I was row 71…so I kept walking…and walking...and the seats got smaller…and smaller…until I saw my row. The expression on my face dropped like a little kid running downstairs Christmas morning only to find their orthodontist under the tree holding a sign that says “Congratulations! You’re getting braces for Christmas!” I’ve had more leg-room in the backseat of a Porsche and more cushion on a stadium seat. Thank the lord I’m such a little person. The first 6 hour chunk of the trip wasn't so bad, except for the fact that I would love to know who decided to make Amelia the movie choice, because honestly nothing says in flight entertainment to me like a movie about a woman who dies in a plane crash. Aside that all went well, landed, took a walk around LAX (where my mothers advice was "if anyone comes up to you and asks if you want to be a movie star, that's probably not what they're after"...what a let down) then got back on for the long part. There’s just something about looking at that little TV screen on the seat in front of you, with the little map of the world and the little picture of your plane (that if proportionally correct you could fit the population of California on it), and under destination time seeing 15 hours that is just kind of soul crushing. However, I was able to sleep for a lot of it, which helped for the time change when I landed in Australia, because it was about 9 in the morning. When I arrived I went through customs, where upon seeing a tiny little girl wheeling a cart with three huge bags on it I faced some questions, rightfully so, considering I could have fit the whole Brady family, Alice included, in my luggage. After they checked me for fruits, nuts, and animals, (which unfortunately I left my whole bunch of bananas, bag of acorns, and the raccoon that goes through our garbage at home), I was free to go. I then got in a cab and headed for my apartment complex, Unilodge.
Once I checked into Unilodge, I couldn’t wait to see what my room looked like. I opened the door and there was my loft, complete with a little kitchen, desk, bathroom, flight of steps, and on the loft a closet and bed. Now, as nice as it is I can’t really say it was designed efficiently. First off, downstairs is a dresser with a T.V on it, yet there is no couch. Second, the steps are a two foot wide, very tightly wound spiral staircase. Considering my luggage was not only super heavy but a few pieces were longer than two feet, and the closet was upstairs this proposed a complex challenge. Do I take everything out and bring it up one pile at a time, or do I struggle and try to lug the bags up the little staircase? I went with choice number two, and a few rug burns later and bruises later…success. After 22 hours sitting on a plane, then sweating the entire trip from the airport to my apartment, mainly due to my obscene amount of luggage, all I wanted to do was shower and take a nap. But noooo, there were no sheets and I had no toiletries. I then had to go out and get these things, and others like hangers, a phone, outlet converters and all that fun stuff. Luckily there is a mall directly across the street of Unilodge so everything was right there. And even better I could use my smelliness to deter people away leaving the lines shorter for me. The culture differences could be seen immediately, on both large and small scales.
I was in a drug store looking for deodorant and couldn’t seem to find it anywhere. The idea of living in such a hot climate and not using deodorant seemed preposterous to me so I went and asked someone at the counter. The lady pointed me to one of the aisles; I walked down it and didn’t see any deodorant. I kept looking, and looking, thinking I had missed it or something. This also wasn’t something I could just skip out on getting because I am planning on making friends here. So I went back, and asked again, and the lady walked me over to the same aisle. Well there were no plastic bars that dispensed odor fighting bacteria, instead was a wall of aerosol cans. Apparently that’s what the antiperspirant of choice is here in Australia, just fascinating. Even better was watching me try and figure out how to call home. I landed hours before I went to the mall to get my phone, and I still haven’t talked to my parents yet…it was all I wanted to do. I get this prepaid phone and spent a total of an hour and a half trying to figure out how to dial NY from Australia. I called the front desk where they kept telling me to hit the “hash mark.” Well it took me to go down to the desk for them to show me that a hash mark is in fact the pound key. It makes more sense to call it a hash mark, considering that’s actually what it is a picture of, and not a “pound,” whatever that is, yet I couldn’t make that connection. Then when that didn’t work they told me to hit the “plus” sign. Naturally I figured that must be the name for the “star” key…wrong again. It’s called the star key here to, the plus sign is dialing two zeros before you dial out. Then you need to dial another 1, then the area code. So essentially after all of the combinations of pounds, stars, zeros and one’s I could come up with, it took a girl outside my room from New Jersey on the phone with her boyfriend to physically show me how to do it. Though it took me a while to figure out how to work the phone I was able to answer the question of how many blondes does it take to call America from Australia. It takes one blonde and 2 hours.
So here I am with a few days ahead of me before orientation just to get settled and figure out the wonderful city of Sydney. It’s only been one day, and aside from the few complications everything has been just wonderful, the people in this city are so nice and helpful! It’s 86 and sunny, and I have a whole new world awaiting some exploration, so I’m off!

here's a shot of Australia from the plane!