One Month Milestone

So, as of about 7am this morning, I have officially been in Sydney for one whole month! 

Time has flown and so much has happened since I first got here. Its so funny to think back to my first shopping trip I made and all the muddles I got myself into trying to navigate myself around the city, and first meeting Goose! Although I am still learning stuff about this place every day, I feel pretty well settled and almost bordering on becoming a proper Sydney-Sider! But don't worry, I haven't picked up any Aussie-twang and my accent is, to quote my friend John, still "so very English".
Here's a little list of stuff I've had to get used to out here....

1. They don't do 1c and 2c, they just round everything up to the nearest 5c, and it's actually really common to see $100 notes!
2. $2 coins are smaller than $1, which is just annoying and backwards.
3. Both Americans and Australians have no idea what you mean when you say "Ah, I just couldn't be arsed/fucked" and "She was taking the piss", they just stare at you blankly like you have a mild case of tourettes.
4. EVERYONE says "How ya going?" instead of "How are you?".
5. There are no such things as pints here, everything is served in 'scunas', which is just a little bit smaller than a pint.
6. The green man noise when you're crossing the road is unnecessarily aggressive and gives me a heart attack every time.
7. Shoe sizes are all different, so a UK size 6 is an AU size 8.
8. I have to pay 20c/MG for my internet in halls. Say whaaaa!?
9. A swimming pool in a club is, like, totally normal.
10. Buses run all through the night.
11. Their Burger King is called Hungry Jack's.
12. I live on High Street, Kensington, and there are loads of other places named after placed in London, including a Hyde Park!
13. Everyone wears sports kit, all the time.
14. If you go down to Bondi, everyone is actually surfing and there are hundred of people in wetsuits  either in the sea, running around on the beach, or skateboarding along the shop fronts - every single one of them carrying a surfboard.
15. Everything is easier/quicker/cheaper/free/more funny/on the house if you tell someone that you're British.
16. All wildlife out here is four times bigger, more poisonous and scarier than anything in the UK.
17. Australian's don't tip, unless you're British...! *wink*
18. The price of make-up make it actually physically painful to buy it.

I have some fantastic friends here, who have now come to be know ironically-but-not-so-ironically-anymore as the "Goon Squad". The group is ever expanding and we are a very cosmopolitan group, as we have Brits, Scots, Asians, Americans and even some real Aussies. I love them all dearly and we have a lot of fun together - mainly the Aussies teaching us completely made up Australian slang and convincing us it is commonly used in everyday life. Their recent favourites have been 'turbo' and 'cash' (which apparently mean 'good') and that 'jimmies' and 'jiblets' are two different things (they're not, and yes, they are referring to their balls). We do get out own back though, as one of them, *cough* Josh *cough*, thought that 'ASOS' stood for 'Australian Shirts and Other Stuff' haha! He will never live that one down....

It's also great to have Tally and Harry out here, as it's nice to see a familiar face from home now and then. At the moment, Tally is off travelling up the East Coast and Harry is working in the Hunter Valley, but I should see both of them in about 3 weeks though when they'll both head back into the city. The Maiden's have also been my saviours, Gus and Amber are honestly like my guardian angels! Anything I need and they will be right there to help me, and have said that I can come and escape and stay at theirs whenever I want. It's so nice to have the little back up out here, like a second family.

The weather out here is ridiculous. Every day is blissfully sunny and above 20 degrees, and the most we have to deal with is a bit of wind. If this is what the deepest darkest depths of Winter is like, I can't wait for summer! 

All of my courses are going well and I am not behind on my work... yet. Spanish is making me work hard but I'm definitely picking up everything more easily now. I've joined the gym (one of the personal trainer guys in there yesterday even said hi to me like I was a regular! Score!) and I have a well paid job which is helping me cash in some pennies so that I can save up to go travelling over the summer break. I also have just been offered an Internship with an independent music and arts magazine in Sydney called BRAG. I'll be starting on September the 10th doing 8hrs every Tuesday writing for their website and for their magazine. Exciting! I don't know too much about it all yet, but will update you once I start.

So, to sum this all up, life is going swimmingly and I am loving it out here. Not to say that I don't miss y'all back home, but, y'know... Australia's kinda fun, ok!?

B