+ They drive on the left side of the road. Since I can't drive here, I didn't think it would be an issue, but I'm still getting used to which way to look when crossing the highway on the way to class (there were some close calls the first few days!) and walking on the left side of the sidewalk.
+ All the power outlets have switches on them, and they are on 240 volts here so lots of power comes out of my hair dryer!
+ They consider everyone on the same level here and never put anyone on a pedestal. So there are no titles for professors or priests or anything: you call everyone by their first name. One of my profs name is Luigi and I think I'd feel awkward calling him that. None of the buildings are named after people, so the Computer Science building just says "Computer Science" on it.
+ Phone numbers are different lengths throughout Australia depending on what city you are in and whether it is a land line or mobile.
+ Since it is winter here the sun doesn't rise until about 7 and the sun sets at 6PM.
+ Stuff is very expensive since the US Dollar isn't doing very well. The ratio is about 1:1. There aren't many generic brands for stuff, so we mostly need to buy name brands. A typical bottle of shampoo is like $6, but all that little stuff really adds up quick.
My residential college and university...+ There are five residential colleges, each with their own common areas, dining rooms, laundry, etc. I live in Tommie More. We all have singles.
+ We are given three meals a day but they are only open for about an hour for each meal. So we have to be at breakfast before 9 (or 10 on weekends), eat lunch at 12, and eat dinner at the specified time for that particular day. There is no choice of food and it's not very good, but we are surviving.
+ Tommie More is right across the highway from the university, a little north of the campus, not too far from the building they show in all the brochures. It takes me about 10 min to walk to class. Kind of like living in Lewis.
+ The bus is within walking distance and it takes about 10 minutes to get to the main part of Perth, which is the biggest city in Western Australia. We can get to the beach in about 15 minutes on the bus.
Language: They speak English here, but random words and phrases are different, which throws me off sometimes. They shorted everything here, so breakfast is breakie and university is uni, etc.
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