Arriving in the land down undah

Quick info about travel: Huge double-decker plane with some of the best meals I've eaten (and endless snacks and, ahem, beverages), but the flight was shaky and rough with the winds blowing 180 km/hour and slapping us around. I arrived in Brisbane at 6AM Wednesday.

My home is absolutely beautiful and I've attached a few pictures so you can take a lookie. Let me point out the good-looking job I did with the chair using my fitted sheet since it didn't fit the bed which is a "king single" (what the heck?) :P 

The girl roomie is Australian and her name is Susana. She was so sweet to take me and Lauren shopping for everything from toilet paper to food to pillows and towels. She also took us out last night for the first time and we had a blast! It was an old hotel type thing that was turned into an outdoor night club/bar. The nightlife for people my age was nothing like I've ever seen before! There had to be hundreds of people at this outdoor bar we went to, and the guys were polite and the girls were obnoxious (not Lauren and Susana). We got in very, very late but somehow woke up early this morning to do absolutely nothing all day long ;)

Oh yeah! Dinner last night was awesome… it was kangaroo! Susana  cooked the 'roo and I made quinoa and a pretty salad to go with. All of us talked and ate together and it was wonderful spending time together all day. I think we're going to get along great! 

This morning I had what's called Wheat-Bix for breakfast in place of my shredded wheat biscuits. They're biscuits that remind me of a crunchy yet flaky pastry but without sugar, and they're AMAZING! I let them soak in almond milk and added a bit of sweetener and it turned into an amazing porridge kind of. SO glad I bought a box (and will probably take some home come July when it's time to leave). I had the rest of my usual greek yogurt and nuts and such but didn't have coffee today (GASP) because we forgot to buy filters. Somehow I made it through today with loads of energy and even went on a baby 10-minute run (super short because I'm trying to ease my knee back into it) and did a few minutes of yoga. Dinner was Basa which is a lot like tilapia but it is trickier to cook because it falls apart or gets mealy if cooked even a few seconds too long. We don't have Pam and I tried olive oil, but the whole thing was a sticky hot mess especially because I tried to be fancy and bread it in almond meal before frying it. It still tasted great and I added a bunch of tzatziki sauce that I was also using as a dip for my lentil-eggplant meat-less balls I had on the side (a yummier, more flavorful version of falafel). I had a bowl of lychee fruit for dessert (AH YUM) and spend the rest of tonight prepping things in containers for breakfasts and lunches ahead of time since Lauren went to bed early and everyone's asleep in America. 

No chocolate this Valentine's day and my valentine is across the sea, so it was the least valentines-y valentine's day I've had yet. I don't think I even ate candy… woah….

Tomorrow we plan to get Lauren a phone and get ourselves bus passes and check out the campus at the Uni. 

Although I'm doing great with jet lag and have managed to escape it, I think I might go to sleep early (by 10) and get up early as well. 

Cheerio! 

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