How you doing + How's it going = How you Going (in Australian)

A quick note about my title: We've discovered that actually we do not both speak English, us and the Australians. We speak American and they speak Australian. They call Sprite- lemonade, and they call french fries- hot chips. They say, how you going? Most of the time I can't understand them, and vice versa. But, somehow we all love each other anyway.

Where to begin... Our orientation week which is intended for International and first year students has been going on all week. We finished last night (Friday) with a "Mystery Dinner." We basically got on a bus and had no idea where we we're going or what we we're going to do. Everyone dressed nice, and we met in the courtyard of our dorm. (The picture to my left is myself and my RA. They are really cool here, not like in the States.) Of course, the random Australians had their guesses about where we we're going, but know one knew what we we're in store for. After an hour drive we arrived at Nelson Bay. It was out of control beautiful. The weather was perfect, and we went on a sunset cruise with a seafood buffet. It was one of the best things I have ever done. We all posed for some pictures on the water, and then loaded up the cruise liner.

The boat was slow and stable, so we barely even knew we were on the water, unless you went to the way top. I bought myself a bottle of wine since I didn't have to pay for anything anyway. We watched the sunset from the exposed top of the boat, which was amazing! My pictures are beautiful. However my memory stick is broken so the quality isn't great, that's what you get for buying it from a discount Japanese wholesaler on the internet for half its value.

The seafood was delicous, all fresh, and we we're told it was some of the best in the area. I had prongs and calamari and other items I didn't even know what they we're, but ate them anyway. I ate dinner with someone from Hong Kong, Swedan, Australia, South Korea, and Signapore. It's not very often you can do that, while eating seafood on a cruise in Australia. Let's just say, I'm having a great time here.

The boat had a woman and man playing live music, and somehow members of the group got word that I was a singer and relayed it to the musicians. She made an announcement and made me promise I would get on stage. After the bartender offered me a free drink, I agreed (since the beer was like $6 each). I went out back during their smoke break and chatted with the two Australian performers. I have talked to an unbelievable amount of people from all over the world down here, all doing random things with their lives. I went on stage and performed Drops of Jupiter, which the crowd knew better than me, but with some help from the guitarist and the crowd, it ended up being a fun time. Everyone enjoyed it. We ended the night on the boat with more dancing and music, everyone had a blast. How could you not? A awesome cruise at sunset in Australia.

I tried to get in early that night, because I know I had a big day on Saturday ahead of me. I woke up around 7:30am and jumped on a bus a few hours to The Australian Reptile Park. A bus picked up all the international students who wanted to visit either the Reptile Park or go on a dolphin cruise. It worked out well for me since the dolphin cruise was the same ship, and port, that the sunset cruise had used the night before. I didn't know what to expect from the Reptile Park, which made it more interesting. When I arrived I found that it was more than I had originally bargained for. Immediately as we entered the park I was able to see and touch a koala bear (and check that off the list). Then I got to run and pet kangaroos which was a major one on my list of things to do. Then of course I saw some dingos, some crazy snakes and spiders, and ended it with a crazy Steve Irwin look-a-like feeding Elvis, the 15 foot crocodile. After a long ride back I took a little nap and had a few drinks at night. Chris, a friend from Ohio, my roommate Emma, a few Australian girls, and myself all headed to the train station. After a 15 minute walk we arrived to find no train at the appropriate time. We decided to walk back instead of wait the hour, and return after about 45 minutes. Lets just say, it was a lot of walking. But somehow again, no train. We we're extremely disappointed we we're unable to get downtown, especially when we arrived back and we we're told the train was out of commission until Tuesday. Only in Australia.

Sunday came and went relatively slowly and uneventful. When we wake up, it is almost always cloudy, but you head to the beach anyway and cross your fingers that the clouds will break. Plus there is this strange phenomenon where it is almost always better weather on the beach. Our prayers we're answered and it was a lovely day at the beach, with a tremendous view of the city, and besides an infestation of jelly fish, another great afternoon in Newcastle.