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G’day all... Sorry it has been so long since I’ve posted. I have been wrapped up in school and friends and thus have neglected to post some updates for you all to read.

Now that I have spent one full month in Australia (I was flabbergasted when I realized this fact) I have decided to post some things I have noticed. None of the following remarks are necessarily good or bad, they are just things I have observed whilst I am staying here... (First observation... they say Whilst a lot)

Ok... Here they are:

Australians are EXTREMELY obsessed with sports. Mainly Footy, here in Victoria, the state Melbourne is in, but they like rugby a lot around Sydney... Now, when I say obsessed I mean like all out defend your team aggressive, every article of clothing has to have a logo on it, and teams foster a sense of pride and unity.. the list goes on.. I mean I have met some die hard Cardinals fans, but these people LOVE their teams, and love sports. I think too, sports here create a sense of Nationalism.. like this is something Australians can find a common bond in. Kind of like American Baseball as America’s favourite past time, but bigger..

Australians have an uncanny ability of knowing which way doors go and Americans don’t. It doesn’t matter what door I go up to, I always go the wrong way with it and end up just looking like an idiot. To make matters worse, you hardly see signs that say “push” or “pull” on them... also, on top of all that they have doors that slide! and they just look like every other door! They also like to lock one door in a double door entrance or exit and I ALWAYS guess wrong as to which one it is... It is a crazy door mind game that has taken over the country!

Australia has a high volume of Asians... I see more asians than I do Australians.

Every other restaurant is an asian restaurant and asian supermarkets are EVERYWHERE and just in case that isn’t enough there is a China town...

Draft, as in draft beer, is spelled Draught ( if you can find an F in that word I will give you a million dollars)

They think Melbourne weather is freezing cold. Every time I talked to someone up in Northern Australia, they always said “your not gonna like it there it is freezing cold” now keep in mind Australia is in the heart of winter... its basically January here. The temperature hasn’t gotten below 50 degrees more than a couple of times since I’ve been here. I hate to break it to you Australia, but it’s not really that cold...

Many people here only work, when it suits their need, as in they’ve ran out of beer money. Work gets in the way of play and that is unacceptable

They are Sneaky studiers. They will tell you they haven’t read an article, or worked on a paper, but they have.

Australian pool is different. There are only yellow and red billiard balls and then a single eight ball. also, if you miss you get to take another try... they’re just friendly like that

There are even more asians here

All of the guys style their hair. Which puts pressure on me to do something with mine so I don’t stand out...

There is no Dr. Pepper

Tim tams are amazing

They have ranch dressing, but it should be arrested for being an impostor. It is really just like creamy Italian

Melbourne coffee is spectacular

Tea time is a great way to have delicious treats in the middle of the afternoon

they drive on the left side of the road

orange juice tastes completely different. Probably because it is made with real oranges and no preservatives

there are no hot dog buns, and every time there is a BBQ or “barbie” as they would say, there is always sausage and it is served on a slice of bread.

only McDonalds has ketchup, the rest of the country has tomato sauce (pronounced "tomahto"), which, in my opinion, is WAY better than ketchup.

Australian bacon sucks and is more like ham, and “rashers” as it is called that looks like American bacon is thicker and tastes like a pork chop...

They have Whole, Skinny and Lite milk

everything is insanely expensive, probably because their minimum wage is like $17 per hour. And just in case you are wondering that’s ten more dollars than in America

Their health care system is Awesome. There is a lot less paperwork and all Doctors agree that the American system is complete rubbish. For example.. Today I went to the doctor’s office to get my throat checked for strep. I walked in, asked if I could make an appt. the receptionist said I can get you in now (this would NEVER happen in the states... especially at 3:30 in the afternoon) I was seen ten minutes later, then walked out with a prescription for penicillin. I then proceeded to the pharmacy, I gave the girl my prescription and then no more than five minutes later I walked out with my meds... It was awesome!

Portion sizes are smaller except when it comes to cake. You can get like five tons of desert but you can’t get a free refill... and yes, that’s correct.. no free refills ANYWHERE in the country

internet is expensive

mobile phone service is expensive

there is little to no crime... There is actually a crime show that is Australian and it relies on crime data for the past 25 years. Leave it to America to be able to produce an entire series of shows off of the crimes held in one day...

I have an accent, and by that I mean, they don’t have an accent, I do. Only its funny because they always ask if I am from Canada or the US. Apparently Canadians get offended if they assume someone is from America, so they always just ask which of the two countries you are from.

They don’t really wear tennis shoes here for everyday footwear. You’ll find more dress shoes with jeans or sneakers/converse...

contrary to popular belief, Australians don’t speak English. They have their own slang and phrase words and I have been caught once or twice just smiling and nodding, not knowing what they have said. They say "How you going" instead of how are you, arvo means afternoon, petrol is gas, cuppa, is a cup of tea,

they like nick names. they usually just put an O on the end of a name.. like Jake becomes Jake-O

They use "but" as a filler word, but instead of it being used at the beginning or middle of a sentence, it is used a the end.

There are a lot of asians... I’m only joking, and I have nothing against asians, but I was not expecting this amount of asians

Australians are very friendly

Smoking is prohibited everywhere except in the street

you can get fined for just about anything

and to top it all off... you can never really dress appropriately for the weather

I’m sure there is more to a new culture than this measly list, but they are just a couple of observations I’ve had since I’ve been here... Everything else is going well for me. School is good and I am trying to balance work and fun. I was able to purchase a mattress pad today as well and I am super stoked to try out my new comfy bed. The past three days have been rainy and I think that’s why I’m sick. I am getting over it now, but I am gonna take all of my medication just to be on the safe side. Hopefully it won’t take so long for me to post again, but we’ll see.. Missing you all and keep the comments up and the Facebook talk. I love hearing from you. Until next time... no worries!