I am here!

And it only took me 5 minutes off the plane to lose my passport!!! Don't worry, I have it back now, but it was a rather terrifying 30 minutes running around the airport trying to find it. All I could keep thinking was "Thank goodness they speak English here because I have no idea how to explain in Spanish!" I actually called my family, got in the taxi and started to leave the airport before I realized I lost it. Turns out it fell on the ground as I was exiting Customs, but the wonderful info desk people found it before I was deported :)

Highlights of the trip so far:

- On the flight from Dulles to LAX, the woman next to me decided it was a really good idea to take off her shoes and go into the airplane bathroom BAREFOOT. She also didn't seem to understand personal space and kept touching me with her nasty toes the whole trip

- Qantas is really the best airlines ever. I have never seen such an enormous airplane (11 rows across!). We were delayed about an hour and a half because they had to refuel the plane (i think they said 70 tons of fuel). I didn't mind the wait because the Qantas Customer Service Manager gave us great food! I figured out the way to beat jet lag is to stay up over 24 hours (we ate dinner at 4 am DC time) and now I feel great. I sat next to a fun 11-year-old who was with about 150 other kids on a People to People ambassador trip. I didn't get my ice cream as promised on the Qantas website but I did watch some great Australian tv shows so that made me happy

- Guy in Customs: "What's your nationality?" Me: "American" Guy: "Good, that girl in front of you said White. We don't like that here. That's why she's being checked but you are free to go" hahaha

I am all checked in to my room in the International House. It is cozy to say the least (smaller than my freshman dorm), and I'm not sure when my roommate gets here. I walked around the campus this afternoon trying to get my course schedule straightened out. I feel so discombobulated just being on a new campus trying to figure out where to go for what. Everything is just a little bit different- I can't figure out how to flush the toilet and the keys are these weird metal bars you stick in the door.

I saw a posting for some people going to see Harry Potter tonight so I'm hoping to meet up with them... Maybe I will try to find the Sydney Opera House tomorrow but the city is MUCH bigger than I expected. I feel exactly how I felt when Mom left me at my dorm at Maryland 7 years ago- no freakin' clue what I'm doing but I'm excited to be here :)