Hello, I Live Here!!!!

I'm still in Sydney and LOVING it. I got here on Thursday and was pretty useless this weekend due to jet lag and wine consumption. I'm staying with one of Kat's friends (Kat is a Contiki friend). So staying in the living room with Kristy, Laura and Dame-o. They are all so chill and nice I feel like I've known them forever. Kristy and I sat up on Friday and drank ourselves silly on cheap wine and talked about random shit until we decided it was time to go to the beach (round 3am) and smoke...cigs...and stuff. First reason why I love Aus? Beaches everywhere.

I got out today and did some sightseeing, at first glance of the Sydney Opera House I welled up in tears like a dipshit and was glad I remembered sunnies. The city itself is beautiful, but I mostly like the little suburb towns where the nice beaches and relaxed people are.

Observations:
1. they really do say g'day mate (try not to laugh, dare ya)
2. men with accents really ARE better looking (sorry Americanos)
3. being American here is like being the cool kid, everyone has questions and wants me to say "American" things
4. they are as obsessed with American culture (celebs, music, movies) as we are
5. "Righty-o" means alright then
6. "Hey how you going?" means hi how are you
7. it's approx 50 degrees and there are surfers everywhere in wetsuits and some not, I prefer the non wet suits :)
8. they have a lot of the same stores (7-11, Target, Toys R Us, K Mart, McDonalds, KFC....) you get the point, and it's comforting when I see them
9. they drive on the wrong side of the road, UGH
10. 1 American $ gets me 2 Australian $'s....do the math!!!!!

I'm trying to decide how I'm going to spend my year here, someone told me about these vans called "wicked vans" where you buy them for like...$500 and drive them around Australia and just camp out in diff towns. (Think the VW hippie van, not a Ford Caravan with additional safety features). If I can find a recruit to drive me I'm totally doing it.
That's all the news I have for now, will report back later.
I'm off to ogle some peeps.