Best news possible.

Since my last update, I spent so much time on the computer that I failed to get dinner. (Not entirely my fault- the only places to eat are in the student union, which doesn't open properly until classes start.) I know, I know, I came to Australia to use the internet, but I have nowhere to go until orientation gives me a general idea what's going on.

So I headed back to the International Student Center, which was the center of my day, and when he found out I hadn't eaten anything but toast all day, one of the guys made me a ham sandwich on the sly. (THANK YOU SO MUCH. I CRIED.) So I ate outside. I have to say, it is BEAUTIFUL here. When I wasn't online, I was taking pictures. I promise to upload them soon. Possibly tomorrow?

Realized that the buses don't run at night, so I caught the last one back to my motel. My motel room has been growing on me- despite the fact that it is near impossible to find someone to ask questions to. It's really just some rooms over a sports bar and a liquor store, next to a bridge across the Ross River, which is also Very Beautiful. It smells like Marietta there, in a good way. I guess rivers all have the same basic scent about them.

So, it's over a bar, right, so my room smelled like cigarette smoke for part of the evening- fortunately I'm not one of my severely-asthmatic friends.

The buses don't run on Saturday (it's Saturday here), so I woke up this morning and attempted to walk to JCU to meet my "take the students around to look at houses" tour. I tried to get ahold of reception, but, like I said, it's not really a motel so much as a bar that lets rooms, and at 8:00 on Saturday morning, there was no one around. So, armed with a very uninformative google map, I set off. I actually managed to go the right direction, but the roads were absolutely deserted. (Save a couple of dead toads. Toads are the squirrels of Australia- I see them flat on the road everywhere. Also there was a snakeskin that doubtless had once been poisonous.) Anyway, I got nervous and went back... this time got ahold of someone at reception, who 1) showed me that I had gone the right way in the first place, 2) offered to give me a lift. (I told him that 2 kilometers was not that bad a walk- and it isn't, I walk 2 miles to work in the summer and I'm fairly certain that's further, but it's humid out and I'm not going to say no when an attractive guy offers to save me 40 minutes.)

So after all this, I meet up with the other tour-takers- a couple of grad students from Maladives, a comp sci major and his father from India, some guys I think were German but who didn't introduce themselves, and a couple of US grad students. I may be the only semester-abroad student in the whole school looking for off-campus housing. T_T (For those not familiar with the internet, that's a sad face.)

The tour guide was 30 minutes late (he also had dark glasses and was still a little hungover...). The other, who had the huge bus, was much later, but I had appointments, so me and the American girls climbed into the car and drove off to look at places.

My first place had been advertised as a house sit (where you watch the house while they're away), but it was actually a room with a family. They were *really* nice, don't get me wrong, but it was a little pricey for sharing with a whole family. The next place, however, was absolutely perfect- it's ridiculously cheap (which is good 'cause I am stingy like nobody's business), it's a 1/2 hour walk to the school and also close to grocery shopping. (I was so happy I could have cried- my motel is in the middle of a group of gated communities full of upper-middle-classers who don't like their food source to be visible for fear it'll bring in the riff-raff.)

The guy who owns it is really nice- he's looking for one more student. He's also looking for a better internet plan- which I will be more than happy to assist him with, 'cause Ol' Cee wants to Skype and she doesn't want to do it in JCU's computer lab.

Anyway, I took the room instantly- I've got until Thursday to transfer my money to an Australian bank so Chase doesn't swindle me blind... although it occurs to me that I have enough cash on me to pay my rent... yeah. That's how cheap it is. *so happy* ...I DO still need to find a bed, but he says he can give me a mattress... I'll work something out.

That leaves me free for the rest of the day. More pictures, I guess. The way internet works here, you pay based on how much you're allowed to download, so I think how I'm going to work the pictures is load them onto the laptop, then take the laptop to school and post them... this goes for pretty much anything I do online. Sorry, am I talking too much?

It's occured to me that I should just get a diary and write everything in there, so I can stop writing 3-page updates. But that wouldn't be any fun, would it?