So... if I sit here and actually think the thought "I'm living in Australia" its kind of crazy. It doesn't feel real. I am sharing a room with 11 other girls (dorm style.) I sleep on the bottom bunk. There is a room right next door with another twelve girls. We have three toilets and two showers. We are supposed to keep showers to about 8 minutes.

We have electricity and fans in the room... I can even pick up wifi on my computer. Its pretty comfortable. Right now, the weather is cool in the mornings, hot in the afternoon, and cool and breezy again in the evening. The sun sets pretty early... like, not long after 6pm. Things close early here as well... from like 5-6pm. On Thursday evenings, they have "late night shopping" where most of the stores stay open til 8 or 9pm.



About a 10 minutes walk from base, there is a shopping mall, which has a store very similar to Walmart (although, its cleaner and classier.) called Big W. And we can do grocery shopping at Woolworth's (anyone else remember having those in the Sates?)

Drink sizes are a lot smaller here. A medium at Macca's (Mcdonalds) is the size of a small in the States. (This didn't surprise me, since I have traveled before. Its funny though, makes me feel like the US is the Pawnee of the world... "“horrifying” 512-ounce cup, which is “roughly the size of a 2-year-old child, if the child were liquefied.")

They have a fascination with chicken flavored chips.

They drive on the opposite side of the road... and the opposite side of the car... its really hard to remember when crossing the street. I just look all ways like 10 times.

Apparently its illegal to have your arm outside your car window while driving...



The cafe on base makes the most delicious thick shakes. The Chai and the Espresso ones are my favorite. Next time, I'm trying the Dirty Chai one. Yes. I will come back 50 pounds heavier. Don't judge me.

The birds make the craziest noises. Like, they sound like they are laughing at you... or they're monkeys. Either one is a bit startling at 5am.

I've seen some CRAZY big spiders. And I moved on.



A bunch of us girls just spent like 20 minutes playing in photobooth- laughing til we cried at our photos.

We're eating a lot of pasta. I'm not really a pasta person... so... I need to get creative with how to eat my meals. :)

The fruit bats are HUGE. Like... a foot and a half from wing to wing. Really scary and freaky to see one for the first time.