Day 4, 5 and 6

Day 4

Orientation day/ Day to myself

I woke up at 4:30 AM today. Man! I thought I was getting over my jet lag but I guess not. It is taking me a long time for my body to get use to the time difference. Sucks. Well, I spent my early morning just relaxing and playing on my macbook. I also was looking up plane tickets for Jimmy. He is coming to visit me in 3 weeks! I am very excited! We are going to go on a road trip and we are going to explore the South coast of Perth. YAY! Orientation was super boring. It was basically all the new students sitting in some octagon shaped theatre listening to a whole bunch of important jibber jabber for a billion hours. For lunch, everyone went to eat at one the residential halls. I went back to the dorm to call my mom and figure the plane ticket deal-o with Jimmy. I met a girl from San Diego and a boy from Michigan that I might end up living with. I am not sure how that is going to work out but I hope it does. They both seem really nice. Why am I looking for people to live with? I’ll explain later. At 4:00, we had “afternoon tea”. I love how we have tea breaks here! It is so cute! Everyone gets together to drink tea or coffee and eat pastries. I must say…. It’s amazing and I don’t know why we do not have Afternoon tea back in the states. Any who, at afternoon tea the Principal of Currie Hall gave everyone a pep talk on the rules of the dorm. After, everyone went bowling but since I am not a resident, I was not sure if I could join so I just stayed back in the dorm and relaxed. Being around so many people the last couple days overwhelmed me. Time alone really helped. I got to workout, arrange my clothes, take a shower, pluck my eyebrows, and fix up my blog. Before I knew it, my buddy Alyssa was back. Soon after, I got ready for bed.

Why I am looking for people to live with off campus?

I am on the waitlist for a room at Currie Hall so I have been staying with my friend Alyssa in her room. They gave me a mattress and blankets, which was nice. I have been sleeping there the past couple nights. I am only aloud to stay with Alyssa for 4 days and then I have to stay in “temporary housing” until I find a new place to stay. I am really worried about finding people to live with and arranging a living situation on my own. I wonder if the girl I met will ever call me about the whole living situation. hmmmmm

Day 5

God Answers Prayers

For the past couple days, I have been constantly praying and asking God to help me find housing and to keep me strong and positive during the process. Even though I have been really worried about the whole situation, I knew whatever ended up happening would be for the best. After breakfast and basketball, I went up to Alyssa’s room to grab my stuff. I was on my way to a 10 AM appointment at the Housing office to find someone to live with off campus. In our dorm, there are individual phones for each room where the office and other residents can call you. I was caught by surprise when Alyssa’s phone rang. She was still outside playing basketball so I picked up the phone. It turns out it was Janet, a lady that is in charge of all the important stuff at Currie Hall. She asked for me and I told her it was I. I explained to her I was on my way to the Housing office but to my surprise she told me to go to her office instead. I had a feeling that a room opened up in Currie Hall but I did not want to get my hopes up. I quickly hung up the phone and jogged over to her office. Janet sat me down and told me the good news. I room opened up and I got it!!!!!!!!!! I was SOOOO HAAAPPPYPYPYPYPYYYYYYYYYYY!!!! It was such a relief. I have been super stressed out about my housing situation. I mean... it is really scary going to another country and not having a place to stay. I heard that there were 200 people on the waitlist for a room at Currie Hall. The principal got to know me the past couple days and I guess he thought I was a good fit. I am so lucky to receive dorming!!!!!Want to know what else is amazzzinggggg? Not only did I get a place to stay, my foot healed! For the past 3 weeks my foot has been in severe pain. I was not able to work out and do anything except walk around. But now its all bettteerrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!! Which is perfect because today was Sport day!!! Wooohooooooo! God is good.

Dorms at UWA

Dorms are a little different here. Many of the students live at home with their parents and it is common for students to travel 1 to 2 hours a day to school. There are not many rooms available out of the 5 residential halls for students so it is a privilege to receive housing on campus. For each residential hall, there is an application process followed by an interview. Only 1 residential hall is owned by UWA, which is Currie Hall. The other 4 are owned by local churches and by some other place. I forgot what place. My bad.I feel like dorms here are more like exclusive clubs instead of housing units. Everyone hangs out together and there are many events. I absolutely love it!

Sports Day

Today was sports day. At first we played basketball, then Volleyball, after Australian football, and lastly we played soccer. I had lots and lots of fun! I like playing sports here a lot more than in the states. Guys here are not disrespectful to girls as they are in the states. They actually let you play and treat you like an equal player. They actually pass you the ball and let you play! I like it here!!!!!!! = )

Movie Night

After dinner, everyone in my hall got together to watch “Karate Kid” and eat pizza. Yum yum yum yum. That movie was pretty much predictable but hey… it was still pretty good.

Day 6

Moved into my new room

My room looks exactly like Alyssa’s but it is in a different building. I still cannot believe I got housing. I am so lucky.

Signing up for classes

Today I signed up for my classes. It was such a long process!!! Unlike at UCSD where you sign up for classes online, UWA has students sign up by going to 8 different locations across campus. Even though it was a lot of walking, the process was very smooth and organized.

Ice Skating

My hall went ice-skating today!!! My friend Sindre, a Norwegian guy, tried to teach me to spin in circles but… I failed. Heh.