Australia is becoming normal

My friend Danielle came to Manly on Friday with her friends from Bond University at Gold Coast. We walked from the wharf where their ferry came in, through the shops on the Corso, and to the beach. They had been told by people in the city that it was worth seeing... and I guess they were impressed. I showed them my castle on top of the hill and their reaction, like many others, was "Its just like Hogwarts!" Yes, ICMS does look a little bit like Harry Potter-ish. We talked a bit more before they caught the ferry back to the city. I proceeded to lay out on Manly Beach, as usual. When I was walking back through the Corso and up the hill to school I got really annoyed with the tourists standing about in my way. I shouldn't have been annoyed, it's not their fault they have no idea where to go. Not that there are many places to get lost here. I realized I've gotten used to living here. Not that I'm taking it for granted, but I think the transition back home might be a little more difficult than my adjustment to living here.

Things I don't think twice about:

-Greeting people with a hug and/or kiss on the cheek
-Being able to get into bars/clubs
-Being able to walk to two beaches within 5 minutes
-Living in a world class city
-Guys wearing speedos, mostly old men
-Women tanning topless
-Taking ferries instead of buses
-Having palm trees, cockatoos, lizards, and bandicoots everywhere
-Walking along the beach every night watching surfers
-Not tipping (anywhere)
-Going to Coles instead of Rainbow
-Waking up at 7 am
-Drinking at least two bottles of water a day, rarely drinking soda
-Listening to Chinese and having no idea what it means
-Listening to digeridoos (Aboriginal music)

Ok so those are just a few random things... I'm sure there are more. I haven't picked up on much of the Aussie slang since there aren't that many Aussies at school. A few words/phrases that I do use quite a bit: "No worries" and "heaps" once I also used "reakon" that one even caught me by surprise.

Lately I've had people ask me if I'm coming home. Australia is great... I'd definitely suggest it to anyone looking for a relaxing vacation or fun place to study abroad. It's made me appreciate a few things back home that I look forward to upon my return, such as:
-US academic system and organization
-Using the letter z
-Having a campus to walk around and a city to live in
-Beef
-Lasagna and Mexican food
-Living space (besides a bedroom)
-Being able to call people up without worrying about a 17 hour time difference
-Having pedestrian rights
-Being busy (working/student groups/coffee dates)
-Having access to various websites (Hulu, pandora, etc)

I was talking to people back in Minnesota where it was 20 degrees and snowing. Seems kind of unreal...I'm looking out my window and its currently 76 degrees, sunny, with a calm wind. I think I stay in contact with more people now that I'm overseas than I did back home. It's different than physically being there, but even people from high school or others living outside of Minneapolis that I normally didn't see or talk to on a regular basis. It's been nice. For those of you that I haven't been contacting, feel free to send an email or letter... I haven't forgotten about you either:)

Ok, time for class. I'm sure there are more things I could add to the lists, I'll update if I think of them. Hope everyone had a great weekend!!