Settling In

This past week or so I've been getting all the boring, official stuff sorted out for university, employment, my visa, my bank, and the like. It's all very complicated, but not nearly as complicated as it was in Japan or even the United States. That's a good thing, as I've also been very busy walking around and enjoying the weather and the sights.

It's O-Week, or orientation, at UNSW this week. There's lots of seminars on how to take notes effectively, not get kicked out of university, and attempt to maintain mental health, plus lots of idiot freshmen doing what they do best. I'm not sure how, but the way high school works out in Australia leaves many freshmen at university at the tender age of 17. In the US, most freshmen are 18, and that extra year does seem to make quite a difference.

My favorite seminars are the ones where they give you a few scraps of information, then advertise for the student union the rest of the time. I'm not convinced free toga parties are worth the price of membership. Then again, I would get some coupons for MacDonald's... as they say, life is full of tough choices.

Actual classes start next week, and I'm lined up to start a job the week after that. As far as adventures- I'm going rock climbing tomorrow! Hurray! Climbing last time was pretty good, and so was hiking. We saw quite a few nifty critters, only one of which could have killed us, which is a pretty favorable ratio. I saw an owl in broad daylight, too. I reckon they could do some damage if they wanted to. Did you know that owls' ears are asymmetrical? It helps them locate the origin of sounds better.