Bondy Family

So I guess I should probably introduce my new family to my family and friends back home! It's been a few weeks, and although we're constantly meeting new people, everyone has pretty much settled into a routine with groups. It's really nice to feel welcome =)

I first met Chris (Michigan) and Andrea (Illinois) at LAX on the day of departure. We hit it off really well almost right away, which was comforting. We met Kristin (Missouri, but goes to school in CA) a day or two after we got to Cairns, and that was pretty much the entire AustraLearn group for the May semester.

Once we got to Bond Uni, Kristin and I met our flatmate Basia (Poland) who is always hyped up on sugar. Ahh! Chris and Andrea's other flatmate is Felipe (Brazil). That night we also met Ashley (Canada) who has lived in Australia for 15 months, and Jass (Australia) who has taught us much about this country ha ha.

Tuesday of 0 Week, I was in an orientation for study abroad students. I asked a couple of questions, so people could obviously tell I was American. Chris and I left and started walking towards the next activity, when this girl stops me and says "Hey, are you American??" I was so surprised I couldn't really answer! Totally caught me off guard. Turns out she's a study abroad student too, but the only one in her program. I was the first American she found on campus! Ha ha her name is Kristen (North Carolina) and she's fabulous. Once her roomie got to campus a few days later, we all bonded with her too! Kaitlin (Massachusetts) is my adventure buddy, and we've decided to see everything while we're here.

We've also met Sunniva, who is from Norway! Between her and Basia, I've learned so much about European culture. For example, when someone in either of their countries says "Oh, I don't care" it's basically a way to say "Oh, f*** off, I don't care what you want/say/think. F*** you!". It's very rude and demeaning. Well, us Americans say that all of the time when it comes to making plans and we're indifferent about which activities to do. So for the first couple of weeks, Basia always thought we were mad at her, and I really couldn't understand why! She and Sunniva had a conversation about it, and realized that it was probably just a cultural difference. They told us and we all laughed for about 10 minutes. It still baffles me, though. Some silly little phrase can mean two entirely different things! Needless to say, we both gained a little more worldly knowledge that night.

Since our kitchen window stares directly into our neighbor's kitchen window, we've met them by accident. Jesse is a native to the Gold Coast and Adam is from Chicago. Both really cool guys! We've also met Mo and Mo, one from Egypt, one from somewhere else. And then we've met Isaack Blake, who are also natives. We were the first Americans they've ever met!

So, as you can see, my Aussie Land family is quite large and it's only week 3! It's really rather comforting to know that I have so many people around me already. I'm absolutely loving it down here, and I can't wait to share more stories with everyone. I'm working on making a site for my pictures on Shutterfly, but it takes almost 2 hours to load 40 pictures. It's a work in progress, but I promise to post the link for that as soon as I can.

Love!

P.S. It's incredibly weird not having people call me JJ. I've gone by that since 5th grade, almost 14 years, and it's just plain weird. This is one change I don't like!