Hi from Australia!

I've made it! Actually, I've been in Australia for 3 days already, but it's been a giant crazy whirlwind and I've only now gotten a chance to relax (a little) and put together a post.

First thing I wanted to say is how absolutely blown away I've been with how friendly, helpful, and welcoming everybody has been. It's also been really nice getting to be independent again.

I'm staying in campus housing for my first 2 weeks, since that was the easiest thing to arrange from abroad. Already looking forward to living in a real again though - I'm too old for the dorm life! :) Also, I've been really busy so I haven't really gotten to know anyone in my residence, which is kind of a bummer, but it'll be okay. I still have some time to pretend I'm social...

This is what my room looks like - it's messy already!

Yes, they provided the linens... :)

A couple things about Australia that took me by surprise:

• The birds are amazing! They are so pretty and make the coolest sounds. I'll have to learn more about them and take some pictures. They're definitely not the boring seagulls, crows, and pigeons like at home (though I did see a crow this morning).
•  The air smells like NATURE. And it's great! It's like the smell of waking up in the morning when you're camping and the world smells so earthy. I didn't quite notice at first until Pat asked me if the air smells different because of all the eucalyptus.
• All the nice ladies at the supermarket call you "my love" or "dear" and it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
• Even though English is my first language, sometimes I have a hard time understanding Australians because they talk so quickly and say words that I don't expect to hear in that context.
• My office-mate says "catch ya" (I think) at the end of a phone call, and all of yesterday I thought he was making a hang-up-the-phone sound like "ka-cha" - oops...

I've basically dove right into the swing of things, so I've been spending all day in the office and catching up on things I didn't get done at night. But everything is so much fun that none of it feels like work. So excited to be getting started on this journey.

More updates to come! I will be headed down to Melbourne this evening to meet our research group for one of the group members' farewell dinner and then spending Saturday on Pauleen's farm. Should be fun - I need some puppy cuddles. And hopefully I'll get some good pictures too!