I'm Still Alive!

So, it's no news flash that this is my first post from Australia. Now you're probably wondering why I didn't start this post with an overload of smiley faces and a capitalized description of my excited feelings, aren’t you? Well, that's because I've already been here for quite a few days, so the I'm-so-super-duper-excited-to-finally-be-here-feeling has slightly faded away. That does not mean at all though, that I'm not enjoying myself so far. I just don't really know how to describe how I felt after I arrived.

As a matter of fact, the past few days have been ABSOLUTELY GREAT (there you go, capital letters). It's actually been so busy and fun that I just couldn't find the time to update my blog. But here we go, a detailed description of what I've been up to since the moment I set foot on Australian soil.

 

After a long and tiring flight and another not-so-great-plane-meal, we landed around 7 am. We got off the plane, and instantly forgot our tiredness as we observed some typical Australian surfers (you know, the ones you always see in movies). Unfortunately, it took a while before we actually met up with our host families, because Australia is, well let's say not the easiest country concerning customs, goods to declare, you know the whole caboodle. With hindsight, maybe it wasn't such a good idea that Do bought orchids in Singapore as a gift for her host family. It took the lady at customs at least TWENTY MINUTES (if not more), to check whether the orchids, brought by two lovely young Dutch girls, were allowed to enter the country or not. However, the worst thing was that we especially bought the sealed packet to avoid having to wait this long at Brisbane Airport...

 

Unaware of the fact that Nay's dad was running late for a business meeting, Do and I figured we might as well take 10 more minutes to freshen ourselves up a bit so that our host families wouldn't have been waiting so long to subsequently find themselves embracing two sticky, smelly, gross looking exchanges. When we finally did meet them, it was awesome. They were standing in the arrival hall, still holding their banner (after they'd already been waiting for 40 minutes), dressed all nicely and wearing Australia hairbands (which they then gave to us as you can see in the picture), and it was just great to finally see them again after having spent 6 weeks apart.

After saying hello to everyone and hugging our exchanges, we left for the parking lot and split up. The trip from Brisbane to Gold Coast took us about an hour. In the car, Bella and I chatted away and I could barely come to term with the fact that I had actually arrived. The very first thing that struck me was the fact that in Australia, they drive on the left side of the road. It was quite confusing at first, but I guess it's not that bad if you don't actually drive the car yourself. I also noticed the grass is a lot browner here compared to back home. It obviously makes sense, because Holland gets a lot more rain than Australia does, but I hadn't actually thought about it before. (Also, I finally get why all the exchanges took so many pictures of our vegetation while they were in Holland). There was one major disappointment though: IT WAS RAINING. Yes, you read that right. It was raining. In Australia. Where it's supposed to be sunny and 25 degrees all year round. Mother Nature conspires against me.

 

I wasn't all that upset about the weather though, because Bella's parents assured me it would get better soon. Plus, they were actually happy that it was finally raining, because they hadn't had any in a very long time. So I guess I was happy for them too.

 

When we got home, Bella showed me around the house. I have a lovely room with aircon (legitimately my new best friend), a double bed (so comfy), a desk, a tv, a walk-in closet (LOVE IT!!!) and my own bathroom. 

 

After I'd taken a quick shower to freshen up, Bella's mum dropped us off at a sushi train nearby. This was, again, different to what I'm used to, because back home we cycle basically everywhere. I’m not quite sure if I like to be driven around, because it makes me feel dependent on other people whenever you want to go somewhere. Bella, on the other hand, feels like it does give you independence, in a way that it would take so long to cycle to a friend's house if you live in Australia, that it’s just so much quicker and easier to be dropped off by your parents. Also, her parents are used to driving her around and they don’t mind it at all, so I think that makes you feel less bad for your parents as well.

 

We had some delicious sushi and chicken teriyaki, and walked to a shopping mall called Pac Fair afterwards. I bought new sandals and I got an Australian sim card for my phone.

 

Back home, Bella helped me unpack my suitcase and put my clothes on coat hangers (luckily for me, because I hate the job). Later, some of Bella’s friends came over and we just chilled at home for a bit, after which Kate, Jess, Bella and I were dropped off at a vegetarian restaurant called Cardamom Pod. We had dinner there with the four of us and Nay, Do and a friend of Nay called Emma.

 

Your eyes are probably tired now and so are my hands, so I decided to continue my post tomorrow and go to bed now. Don’t worry guys, I won’t take this long to describe every day of my exchange, I just had to catch up with the past few days. ;)