busy busy busy

ok so i've been super duper busy for the past few days - i don't even remember when i made my last post but it probably wasn't that long ago? tuesday? or wedensday or something

but i feel like it's been FOREVER

ok so thursday was the aquarium and honestly, the exchange program is really disorganized and it's hard to meet new people since they didn't exactly force you into small groups to meet new people - you just sort of stuck together with the people you already knew

we got off the bus near town hall and they gave us an hour to walk around so we walked around the entire harbor after we ate lunch on the steps of town hall

anyways - all my pics from the aquarium are up on fb

i have a whole bunch of cool videos of animals though but too bad for you since i don't plan on uploading them =P

after the aquarium, we walked to The Rocks to The Argyle for happy hour but i didn't get anything

then we took the bus back to IH (international house) and ate dinner

then it was Pancakes on the Rocks! really good pancakes/crepes =) just in case you didn't see my picture on fb, i'm going to post my Devil's Delight pancake and crepes picture again
then yesterday was orientation again except it was cold and rainy - bleh

they told us 9:45 am but it started at like 10 something and it was FREEZING in the auditorium - crazy

and we sat there until 12:20ish and so we went back to IH to eat lunch and then it was back to the auditorium at 1:20 - then we sat there some more until 3

i went to the exchange office and successfully got into a new lecture time =) so it's not from 6-8 pm on tuesday now

and there was a free bbq! interesting since it's different than texas bbq - they had sausage and chicken that you could put in your bread - it was kinda weird cause the chicken looked like thai satay and then went to get insurance stuff done

then ate dinner and talked to peeps and took a shower and read and slept lol

there was a party yesterday night at Soho but i decided not to go cause i was really really tired lol

good news: my study abroad advisor sent an email to gigi (the lady who needs to approve of my economics course)...and i sent some emails to her too lol so she's basically getting bombarded by emails...BUT oh well at least i have a good chance of getting into the course now =)

and as promised, here's pics of my room

it's quite small and a little messy at the moment since they gave us SO MUCH papers/brochures/forms and stuff and i have no idea where to put themmy key! the little tofu was only like $1.75 cause it was on sale at that morning glory story =)there's masking tape cause the yarn started to fray lol

today i woke up - went to lunch and stayed and chatted with people and now i'm in my room with no plans except going to see hp tonight =) relax day yay

All settled in...ish

ok so i moved into my dorm (the International House) at UNSW and attended orientation yesterday

everyone's pretty nice so far - mostly everyone just introducing themselves and such but i think a lot more people are moving in soon

ok so first - last saturday!

we went to a cake shop called adrianos zumbo and they have these really interesting cakes - very uniquethey write your name on these whiteboards and then line up all the cakes you want on them and at the end of the counter they pack it up

mommy: auntie cat says you prob won't get to eat any of these haha

then we went to SWEETNESS and bought marshmallows and i got some gummy candy too
such a cute little shop no?

and then we went to a place literally called 香港茶餐厅 for some afternoon tea - then went back to auntie cat's place to eat dinner

and then then next day they dropped me off in my dorm

not much to say there except met some nice people, food is ok, and it's kinda cold around the dorm cause it's shady and stuff

ok well ENROLLING in classes is a pain in the ass cause you have to get approved for most courses (esp if you're taking upper level classes) so you have to go to each department's office, get the person to sign it (or give it to someone who can give it to them for you if they're not in the office), then go back to the international office so they can enroll you (cause you can't do it yourself online)
and it doesn't help that most classes are already full - so if you really want to get into a class that's full you have to go talk to the lecturer to see if they'll let you in
now the economics course that i need was nice and will let me in but the finance prof was all "full is full" and i'm like ugh considering the only lecture class open that i can take is from 6-8 pm
but i got enrolled in 2 classes - yay! and waiting approval for the others so i'll be going out again tomorrow morning running around campus (which isn't easy since it's basically one big hill and you have to climb literally like 50+ stairs)

so this took approx like 2 hours of my morning which i guess isn't that bad but i was running around from office to office and back and forth throughout the entire time

then in the afternoon i walked down Anzac Parade (street next to the uni) with a girl from france - it was interesting hearing how she thought the fact that the architecture of buildings were all different was interesting - and she was also amazed at the palm trees (she thought they were exotic) so it makes me appreciate our palm trees more haha
saw a morning glory store! look at all the blue bears! and they have a sticker photo booth inside haha so i told the french girl about them

these are the birds you see hanging around trash cans lol it's pretty interesting considering we only have fat pigeons

i also bought a stuffed bean curd cell phone strap just to put on my dorm key so it's not so easily misplaced haha i'll take a picture of it later along with my dorm
and so now i'm just gonna go take a quick shower in the cold and then curl up in bed to read haha..and sleep early cause i'm actually really tired from running around everywhere


random note: when you say thank you, people say "that's ok" and that's just weird to me cause we say "that's ok" when people say sorry lol
random note 2: girl on the first floor across from me needs to close her blinds cause she bes in her underwear (lacy underwear i might add) and i can see her =|

Food part 2

yay - you guessed it! more food - cause really, that's what i've been doing for the past two days - eating and more eating

beware: this is a freakishly long post - i am sorry if i lose your interest in the middle

ok so yesterday i went to the fish market

and saw lots of fish
and ate some pretty good food - the huge shrimp and the sashimi you see in the backgroundoh yea, and one of these =) you can ask them to cook one fresh for you so it was really really good! but i cut myself on the shell..they don't give you one of those crab claw openers (i forgot what they're called) - they just crush it and give it to you even if they didn't really open it for you really well
and so all these people saw me digging around in the crab claw with my bare hands - very messy and not a pretty sight, but you know i didn't really care cause it was really good

then we went to The Rocks - some area part of Sydney

and we visited Sticky - people are making little pieces of hard candythese green ones were for a wedding - they had like jean ♥ elizabeth on it

next stop - off to see the view
for mommy: auntie cat said we would eat here when you come cause apparently a lot of people go there and you need to make reservations
and then there's this amazing chocolate cafe - Guyliandidn't eat in there but auntie cat (family friend that i'm staying with) bought me one small cake
they're soo expensive o-o

i got this one and have yet to eat it cause i was too sleepy/full when i came back yesterday and i'm still insanely full from today - you'll see why later
but i do plan on eating it tonight - yes it's called 100% pure pleasure
i'll see if it lives up to it's name haha

here's some more cakes
so pretty!

ok next we walked into Chinatown and Darling Harbour

due there was this HUGE line waiting for these little emperor's puffs or something - idk whats so great about them
apparently they're pretty good but idk if it's really worth waiting in line for
you see all those people? they're all waiting in line for those little puffs

then we walked into the city and was going to eat some siu long bao (in case you don't know what it is) at this place, but it was closed =(
so we went somewhere else to eat some and i didn't take pictures cause i was too busy eating

Darling Harbour - well walking to the harbor

yay the harbor!
and the lindt store near there
walking into the cityand into Queen Victoria's Building (QVB) next where all the rich people shop
chocolate shop! didn't buy anything there but just oogled at the chocolate for a little while
it's really pretty inside!

ok i know this is stupid but i just had to take a picture of it after all these years of "what's your secret, victoria?"
see, there's some store other than victoria's secret!

then we went to passionflower for some tea
elderflower tea in a nice little tea set

and one of the aunties i was with told me scary stories in order to tell me to be careful - making me waay too paranoid o_o

ok i shall tell you some stories - maybe the scariest first cause she told it so well and it totally freaked me out (melinda, if you're reading this please do not read this paragraph or you'll likely get nightmares and blame me lol)

[start of paranoia stories]
ok so apparently this girl was walking back to her car after classes at night and then used the remote to unlock the car. she put her books up in the trunk and when she got into the driver's seat there was an old lady sitting next to her in the front and was like "oh, do you think you can give me a ride somewhere?"
and the smart girl was like "oh...ok well i'm a bad driver, so do you think you could get out of the car and help me see if there's enough room to get out?" and so old lady gets out of car and once the girl gets out of the parking spot, she drives away and goes to the police station to report it
and this old lady has done this before to rob people and the girl has heard it before - and you know what the police found in the car?
an axe - cause the old lady would use it to rob you
and it isn't really an old lady but a man
so lesson learned, at night, don't unlock your car from far away and just lock your car once you get in
...and ok it might not sound scary just reading it but seriously i think that auntie has told it many times before cause seriously, she told it really well and freaked me out!

other warning stories pertaining to only mainland china people (well, won't this be interesting?):

1. so you know mainland china people are spoiled right? especially since they come here to australia to study and they all drive these nice cars and have nice stuff, so the auntie tells me - if they say hi to you, just say hi back - don't ignore them or act all high and mighty cause that'll just encourage them to bother you some more until you acknowledge them
2. apparently this applies to chinese people in HK as well - if you see someone that dropped some money on the ground, don't pick it up or once you do, these people will come out yelling that you stole their money and such - and they especially love using old ladies and little kiddies for this dropping money act
3. if someone steps on you, you say sorry or else some people might pop out and beat you up cause they seriously think they're not in the wrong
4. don't let chinese people borrow your phone or once you do, they'll press a couple of buttons and all of your personal info will be sent to them (well i guess this prob happens sometimes in the US too)
   

ok, this really just puts all chinese people in a bad light and makes you paranoid of all asian people - at least that's how i felt after i heard all these stories lol

i'm hoping not all people in the uni are like this....
[end]

ok and then i ate dinner at a jap restaurant and i actually forgot the name but here's how the inside looks like lol
and you know, this being a food post, of course i'm not done yet - we proceeded to go to meetfresh to eat taiwanese dessert
it was pretty good - although i think i still prefer eating ice with fruit :p

OK now onto today - i only have a couple of pictures!

first, went to Temasek in Parramatta to eat Hainan Chicken with rice and chicken satay and a noodle dish with shrimp in it that was really good
oh and there were lots of white people eating there too - isn't that awesome? it's kind of sad that i still think seeing non-Asian people in Asian restaurants is awesome but hey, it IS awesome - kudos to aussies for being open-minded and knowledgeable about what is actually good Asian food

then i followed the aunties while they did grocery shopping around Eastwood

and after that, we went for some afternoon tea at some 香港茶餐厅 (direct translation - hk tea restaurant?) - i don't know the precise name of it though

i ate french toast with some hot milk tea ♥ it's like being in hk even though i'm not
the french toast had peanut butter in the middle - which was quite interesting...

OK and i'm done - and i'm still full (that toast was around 3-4 pm) and it took me approx 2 hours to actually write this post with pictures and all

tomorrow will be my last day staying with family friends until i move into the dorm on sunday - which will be a whole other bother cause i have to make an effort to make friends (you know, it's actually hard to find the right friends to hang out with - some people you meet at first might turn out to be weird and stuff) but here's hoping things will go well =)