Familiarizing

Since Saturday Joy and I have been focused on getting settled. We have had two wonderful dinners with our hosts, and finally got everything moved in this evening. We live in Fairy Meadow, a town/neighborhood of Wollongong. We are equidistant between a mountain with a gorgeous view, and a beautiful beach. However, the weather has not been pleasant (lots of rain and wind the past few days)-- so we've been riding the bus around and been getting acquainted.

On Tuesday we had Wollongong orientation, which was also cut a bit short (at least on tours and the outdoor lawn), and met some more people and found out some cool things about the Uni. Although orientation is supposed to prepare us for a good semester ahead, I don't think either of us are ready for a real class. Oh well, we will be! We spent most of today walking around the campus and the town, and stopped this morning for a date in the coffee shop to share a package of TimTams (delicious chocolate cookies here) and a hot chocolate. Normally, we wouldn't share ONE hot chocolate, but it's 4 dollars here, (ouch) and we do what we must. We came home and prepared dinner and had a great time with our house-mates Yuji and Leaf, and learned a lot about both of them.

I'm writing this more as a fill in of what is to come, because for the next few days we will be all around. Starting early Friday we will be on an orientation trip to the Blue Mountains. The Blue Mountains look like a beautiful place and we will be rappelling and climbing, hopefully for some great pictures for all to see. The weather looks like it will continue to rain, but perhaps that just means giant rainbows are to come. Then we return Sunday afternoon; however, after that school begins on Monday! Hope we're ready!