It's about time I update this thing.
A little over
three weeks have passed since I moved to Sydney at the end of July. I
visited Sydney and some of the surrounding areas last year for a few
weeks and had a blast. The weather was warm and sunny, the people were
friendly, and I got to do a lot. Australia is one of those weird places
in the world, though, that most people from the US just don't
understand...
at all. We are fed these images of a sunny,
tropical, sandy, sometimes dry land with tall, blonde, cheery, extremely
fit citizens who go around chasing kangaroos and surf all day. We think
of people like Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman and think, "What a cool
country!" And it is, for the most part. I think Australia is a prime
example of a location being completely different when you're visiting
than it is when you live there.
Now, to be fair, my
preparation for the move to Australia was biased from the beginning when
it took Macquarie University four months longer to get me registered as
a student and situated with a valid student offer to get my visa than
it should have. The upside was that I got to spend four extra and
amazing months with wonderful officemates who all became close friends
in Glasgow. But the registration process at Macquarie really put a
damper on my spirits. But then the paperwork went through and I bought
my tickets and things began to brighten up as I started the journey Down
Under.
I had to stop at home, in Michigan, first for
my brother and new awesome sister-in-law's wedding. The Monday after the
wedding my dad drove me to Chicago Midway airport and I felt fine and
was excited to finally be making this journey. I was upgraded to first
class on my flights from Chicago to Minneapolis and Minneapolis to Los
Angeles which is always excellent, but on the flight to Los Angeles, I
started feeling achy, my stomach was upset, and I could feel my tonsils
swelling up. By the time my flight was due to leave Los Angeles for the
14 hour ride across the Pacific and down to the Southern Hemisphere,
tonsillitis was full-blown; I felt awful and it it hurt like hell every
time I tried to swallow. I was looking forward
so much to that
flight because it's kind of an enjoyable time to veg out, read a good
book, watch a movie or two, and if you're lucky, you'll have attractive
flight attendants. I was flying Virgin Australia, and
the entire crew was gorgeous,
though of course, I didn't bat an eye as the nice ladies passed my
seat. It was Mr. Flight Attendant who kept asking if I wanted a refill
on my water that caught my attention. But it wasn't to be, of course,
because thanks to my swollen tonsils, I was miserable, couldn't speak
normally, and didn't have it in me to take advantage of the free drinks
on the flight to give me a little liquid flirting courage (which I feel
comfortable enough to say would have been welcomed by him!).
Oh
well. I watched a few movies but pretty much just slept the entire
time, wanting so bad to just touch down in Sydney. But for some reason,
luck was just not on my side during this journey. About an hour out of
Sydney the captain announced that we were going to try and land but that
the airport was covered by an unusually thick fog. For most airports,
fog isn't an issue. But Sydney's airport is not equipped with the proper
tools to guide planes to the runway with no visibility. The airport was
only landing about one out of six airplanes and the rest were being
diverted to Brisbane, an hour north. Our plane descended, but right at
the last minute, the pilot pulled the plane up and announced we were
Brisbane-bound. My heart sank because all I wanted were some damn
antibiotics. I knew as soon as I'd get them, I'd feel better in an
instant (at least that what happens each time I get tonsillitis).
The
weather was clear in Brisbane and landing wasn't a problem, but then we
taxied behind all of the other diverted planes and sat on the tarmac
for another hour. It was long enough that the plane ran out of water
(but not before I got a small bottle and a number of salt sachets which I
used to gargle and try to loosen some of phlegm from my swollen
tonsils), had no food, and the pilots even went through the cabins
speaking personally to each row of passengers. They explained that what
happened in Sydney is so incredibly rare that in their 20-some years of
flying into the airport, they'd only been diverted due to fog three or
four times!
After an hour and a half of sitting on the
tarmac, we taxied up to an empty jet bridge and were directed to
disembark the plane with all of our belongings because we would be going
through Australian customs here and be re-booked on other flights into
Sydney now that the weather had cleared. It was here in Brisbane, on the
ground, that I was finally able to get in touch with my advisor from
Macquarie, who was supposed to pick me up from Sydney Airport at 7:30am
(it was now 9:30am!). He told me to just take a taxi out to the
University from the airport when I did arrive. Customs was fairly
easy-going, even though there were some inconsistencies with my middle
name on my passport and visa, but they let me through anyway with a
friendly wave. It was amazing! In the US, I'd've been pulled aside and
questioned like a terror-suspect, likely after a full strip search. But I
got my bags, and I proceeded to the domestic check-in desk where I was,
after again waiting for an hour or so, booked on a small flight into
Sydney, which was now taking planes after the fog burned off within an
our after our attempted landing (which only meant we could have circled
Sydney for an hour instead of flying to Brisbane and been on the ground,
at our intended arrival airport, at least four hours earlier!).
My
advisor suggested I didn't need to come all the way out to the
University which was a 40 minute drive from the airport, but there were
still a few hours left in the day and I felt it was important not to
waste them and to meet my advisor for the first time in person as well
as my co-advisor who I hadn't spoken to or heard from ever before. I got
there and everything was fine, except for the fact that I still was
suffering from the end of day two of untreated tonsillitis. I was given a
cab fare to get to my apartment, in the Camperdown suburb of Sydney,
and I arrived in the early evening, meeting my apartment-mate, who was
so generous and welcoming, even holding the room over for a few weeks
and covering my portion of the security deposit (or bond, here in
Australia) just so I could have a place to call home right from the
get-go. We chatted a bit, got to know each other some, but then I had to
clean up, take a shower, and get some rest.
I unrolled my
sleeping bag and inflated my Therma-rest camping pad, because my room
wasn't (still isn't) furnished and went to bed. The next morning came
very early, and I was up around 3am, but the first thought that went
through my head was, "DAMN! It's COLD!!!" Yes, that's right. Sydney is
absolutely FREEZING in the winter time - which it is down here in the
Southern Hemisphere while the rest of the people I knew were enjoying
the warmth of summer. It's not so much the temperature that makes Sydney
cold, but none of the houses or building have heaters installed nor do
they have insulation. It's like every winter people here think that
maybe, just maybe, it will be the last cold winter and that next year
the temperature won't drop below freezing at night. They're never right,
and because of that, I am
so thankful I had enough room in my luggage to pack my sleeping bag which keeps me warm down to 0°F (-18°C), and I am
so thankful
that my family got me a Therma-Rest before I left for UM's Field Camp
way back in 2007! Even though it's only an inch thick, this mattress pad
is comfortable and warm, and without it, I am sure my apartment-mate
would have found me frozen to the floor the next morning!
The
day of my arrival, at the University, I was informed of a mandatory
campus-wide introduction for new incoming post-graduate student. It was
supposed to be six hour long and from what I gathered would be pretty
pointless, though according to those speaking at it, full of information
every student
must know. Well, this convocation coincided with
the only time of the day the Higher Degree Research office was going to
be open, and I had to stop there to pick up my healthcare card, which
thankfully had been set up before I arrived in Australia. Since I value
my personal health over almost everything else, I told the nice office
ladies, "Tough shit. I'm skipping that meeting and getting healthy!" (In
nicer, more diplomatic words, of course.) With my healthcare card in
hand, I oh-too-early sought out the campus's General Practitioner's
office at the hospital where the diagnosis was, yup: tonsillitis. And
then I successfully predicted the doctor's prescription: penicillin -
four capsules a day until the prescription runs out. With two pills down
by the end of the day, I woke up the next morning feeling rejuvenated
and 100% better! But what a crappy way to start out transition to a new
life in Australia.
There's more to tell from these first few weeks, but I have to leave it there at the moment. But I'll give you a little preview: Shock-and-awe at the cost of living, freezing cold nights, field work in the Tablelands, freezing cold nights, finally meeting some people in my department, freezing cold nights, exploring the city's suburbs, freezing cold nights, coping with being so far away from everything familiar, and oh yeah, freezing cold nights.
