Hello faithful readers! I had no idea how faithful you all were until talking to some of you and realizing that I actually have readers! This makes me both A) very happy and B) extremely self conscious of my grammar. And also C) very very behind. So much has been going on here, I need to play catch-up!

To start off, I went to Melbourne for Mid-Semester break. It was my first time ever staying in Hostels, so I decided not to bring my camera just in case. It turns out I could've, but I took plenty of pictures with my two travel buddies' cameras. Melbourne is one of the coolest cities I've ever been in, and I'll show you pictures as soon as I get them!

Right now I'm just hitting the frenzied part of the school year. I have a little less than 4 weeks left, but it feels like much shorter with everything I have to do! Classes here are structured much, much differently than at Western. (Speaking of, someone should tell Mary R. she can email me any time if she has any questions about Western!) I like the difference, but it's not ideal if you are also trying to get to know a foreign country really well. I'm taking 4 classes, each one either once or twice a week, and I only have classes on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. This means that a lot of work needs to be done on the weekend. Usually fridays and saturdays start off with trying to arrange plans to go somewhere on Tasmania within driving distance. All the international students are kind of in on this together: we've worked out who has cars, how the buses work, how to catch the cheaper deals, etc. 1/3rd of Tasmania is made up of National Forests, and everybody is scrambling to see a good sampling of it. I'll post pictures soon of everything I've made my way out to see.

In the meantime, in Hobart, I've been trying to pick up the local slang. This is going very well, thanks to my new-ish roommate Luke, who now purposefully goes out of his way to use regional jargon. We have a list going of all the words

To start off, if you abrieviate anything, you're doing something right. I've heard some common ones, like Aussie, Tassie, Launi (a northern town), Footy (Australian and Barbi (Barbecue). And then you realize that they abbriviate anything they can as long as it still makes sense in context. Sunnies - Sunglasses. Pedies - Pedestrians. Breakie - Breakfast. Uni - University. And so on.

There's the lingo that very classic, and pretty self explanitory:

Cheers: Thanks. Most people say "Cheers Mate" instead of "Thank You."

Chum: Friend

Mate: Friend

Mum: Mom. I didn't think to much of this one until I was with a group of Aussies and they asked me "What do you call your mother?" I said "Mom," and they all laughed and immitated it. "Mawwwhmm! You say it so cute!"

Carpark: Parking lot

Chemist: Pharmacy

Bloke: Boy

Heaps: Lots

Whinging: Whining

Loungeroom: Living Room

Lolli: Candy

Tea: Dinner, as in "I'm going out for tea with my mate."

There's also the very typical Aussie lingo that you would expect to here everywhere you go, but rarely do:

Crikey : Haven't heard it yet, and I'm beginning to wonder if I ever will.

Fair Dinkum: I think I'm the only one that uses it, except for cheesy postcards with cartoon wallabies, but it's the equivilant of "for real?" or "no kidding!" It's supposed to have originated when Captain Cook first landed in Australia, and would toast his fellows with "Fair Dinkum" or "Fair drinking."

Banga: Sausage. My favorite is when you have sausages made out of Kangaroos: Kanga Banga.

Sheilah: Girl. I've only seen it on postcards and souvenier playing cards as "Aussie lingo."

I'm sure I'd here more of the above list if I lived on the mainland, but Tasmania seems very very different. There's a bitter but friendly rivalry between Tasmania and the mainland, and it's quite entertaining to be a part of. When we were in Melbourne, every where we went people would ask where we were from, recognizing our American accents immeadiately. We'd throw them for a loop and say: "Hobart." If the conversation progressed, it would often lead to the question: "Why did you pick Hobart to study?" Sometime's we'd be serious, and boast how Tasmania has the freshest air in the world, friendly people, etc, but other times we'd just say "Because of the Cadbury Chocolate Factory," and be on our merry way.

So that's it for this entry, I'll work on getting pictures up soon!