Fair Dinkum

"Fair dinkum": could be used as an expression of surprise or a statement. It means "the real deal" or "are you for reals," depending on the context.

"My girlfriend cheated on me."
"Fair dinkum?!"
or
"He's a fair dinkum Australian." (which usually means the person isn't an immigrant or his forebearers were born and bred in Australia.)

The flight to Melbourne was okay, but the process sucked major ass. I had to get up at 7 a.m. to shower, eat breakfast, say goodbye to all my friends and then catch the shuttle to the airport. On the way there, the guy asked me if I wanted to be dropped off at Terminal 1 or 2.
"Um, I don't know... I have to go to Tullamarine, Melbourne," I told him.
"Oh, that's a domestic flight, so I'll take you to Terminal 2," he replied.
Half a hour later, I arrive at Terminal 2, only to find that my flight was actually international because the plane was on its way to Bangkok. "It's okay, Terminal 1 can't be that far," I thought to myself.
Wrong.
Terminal 1 turned out to be located a few miles away, in a separate part of the airport. After running around like a headless chicken for a few minutes, I calmed down and caught a taxi to the correct terminal. My troubles weren't over yet though. I then discovered that my luggage was 21 kg overweight and that I had to pay 200 bucks. Apparently, since I was flying from Sydney to Melbourne, it was considered as a domestic flight and thus, I could only take 20 kg of luggage. "But I was told that I was on an international flight!" I protested. The front desk assistant stared at me in confusion, but still insisted that I had to pay. In the end, everyone kept telling me that I had to give so-and-so this amount of money, but no one actually asked for the money, so I didn't have to pay. Woo hoo!

Melbourne is very different from Sydney in the aspect that it's less of a business district, far from the ocean (which makes Camille very, very sad), much bigger and spread out. I arrived at my home in Brunswick, which is this small coffee shop sort of town, and discovered that my room was a bit dingier than I imagined. This means I will have to invest heavily in decorative drapes and rugs, which isn't all that bad. I've always wanted a colorful room. :)

I live with three lesbians, two cats and one dog. The girls are really nice and amazingly artistic. Imagine a bunch of girls in skinny jeans, lip piercings, bleached and dyed hair and slightly gothic clothes and you've got my roomies. The german shepherd, Yuri, is the most incredible dog. He will bring his deflated basketball for me to throw, and then fetch it and wait for me to do it some more. The cats, Lucius and Hero, love to be cuddled, especially Hero. He'll jump onto my bed and purr like a motor. I'm starting to develop major nasal allergies from their fur though, which is a big concern. I was hoping I could let them sleep on my bed, but at this rate, it seems like I can't even really let them into my room. It doesn't help that Hero enjoys sniffing my stuff and then sneezing on them (it is incredibly cute though and I crack up every time he does it).

Today was spent buying groceries and looking for room stuff. One of the greatest things that my roomies and I have in common is that we like cheap stuff. The cheaper it is, the better. If it's free, then it's heaven-sent, which is why I have just raided a salvation-army type of store and "stole" a crickety old bed frame. As Elton (her nickname) eloquently put it, "they left it outside the store, so it's technically not stealing." Zoe, one of the girls, is slightly worried that it's going to collapse on me one night, but I'm just glad the mattress is off the floor. Elton said to me, "It's definitely not a bed to bring a boy home to, just to let you know." Thanks Elton.

I'll put pictures up of my room as soon as I've settled in and it looks less like a homeless shelter. Until then, please be patient!