Registration Day

After a night of great ping pong with new friends, I set off to sweet sleep... at 10pm. But it was rainy and I was dead exhausted, so it's okay. The bed here is pretty frickin' bouncy, but it was comfortable nevertheless. I slept soundly until 7am to a bit of construction outside.

I got up at 8:30 because I would have registration orientation at 10. It was kind of a useful presentation, but... not really. The rest of the day was spent chasing down administrators who had to sign off your classes. Kind of inefficient, even if it's being more careful for exchange students, given the fact that maybe 1/5 of the students at UNSW are international. I'm starting to miss the good management of UCLA! And I definitely felt that throughout other instances that I won't mention here.

 Beautiful computer lab for students, next to the also beautiful Study Lounge.

 In the bathroom. Dry your hands on these thick towel-ish sheets, then pull on them to roll the bottom up (automatically) so you leave dry clean sheets for the next user. AT LEAST I THINK THAT'S WHAT THIS IS... it doesn't rip off...

 At least while I was roaming finding teachers, I was able to explore a bit more. I found this cute quiet place in a corner.

After that, the Exchange program coordinated an afternoon tea, where maybe 50 international students and "Aussie Mate" participants came out to mingle while enjoying Australian treats like ham & honey flavored chips, Tim Tams, and others that I can't name. 

It was my first time doing the Tim Tams correctly! You bite off one corner of the rectangle, then you bit off a bit of the opposite corner, then you put one corner down into milk, coffee, or tea, and you suck off the other end. Once you taste the drink, you can put the whole bar in your mouth. DELICIOUSSSSS! I did it with coffee, of course. >>

 Later, a group of us went to UNIBAR, the bar on campus.

 It was quiet and pretty empty at first, but it's good because we got seats! :)

 First beer in Sydney! Cheers~

 Then a whole herd came near happy hour. :D It was PACKED.

 I headed back to IH for dinner. I will one day take a picture of the dining hall for you guys, but for now, just my dinner plate.

 
This is chicken, mashed potatoes with chives, cooked zucchinis, corn, and pickled-ish cabbage and mushrooms. :D The guys were like "This food really sucks," but I thought it was pretty frickin' delicious! :9 

Might go out clubbing tonight at some Gypsy place, but I will update later if that happens. I've decided I might just live off my suitcase for the rest of the year... 9__9 It's not that I don't want to unpack, it's that my closet seems pretty dirty, and I feel too lazy to line it and find/buy tape to fix it up. Living off the suitcase so far has been pretty nice, actually. LOL! ... 

Other things I've noticed about Australia:
- Their coffees are not only more expensive, but the sizes are smaller. Their "regular" is our Starbucks "short". (The new cup that's smaller than the tall.)
- The cost of a latte, etc... are the same price, as opposed to in the U.S., where a cappuccino is some price, a latte is some different price, and regular coffee is different price.
- They also have what's called "long black" and "flat white" type coffees. :)
- The people are super nice and chill! My obsession with chill-ness commences! There are people who would really walk like 5 minutes with you to show you directions so you don't get more lost. (This is uh, what others have told me, not from experience.... >> 6__6)
- I met a French man while with an American guy, and they were like "Hi, nice to meet you." ::handshake:: To me: "Hi, nice to meet you." He sticks his head next to/in front of mine waiting. Me: O________O!?! Him: Oh, you don't-.. okay! ::shakes my hand::

I totally missed the cues for la bise (pronounced like "bees"). I finally got to do it after my beer today though. LOL. *checks off bucket list*

- The dining hall is a great place to meet people. I don't know if it's for all colleges (dorms), but at the IH, people always fill up one table before starting a new one. There's very little sitting-by-yourself. :) I've had great conversations so far!
- I am able to say I'm from San Francisco, without having to say only U.S. or California for people to understand. We're THAT famous, yay! I can also say I go to UCLA, and people will recognize that it is a super prestigious school! :D Go Bruins! Sorry, I didn't know what UNSW was though. :X
 - Tons. Of. Fobs. As mentioned before, this school (and Sydney Uni) is super international. I thought UCLA was getting a bit out of hand. But here, it's like Chinatown. 


That's it for now! :DDD