Still Catching Up...

Okay, so I'll pick up where I left off with the last entry. After landing in Newcastle we were transported in two groups to our accommodation, which is about three blocks from Bar Beach, one of the best surfing beaches in the world. We met our landlord Mark in one of the properties, which was an incredibly modern beach-style house which about fifteen of the Americans shared, another fifteen or so moved into an identical house next door, and two other Americans and I moved in a few doors down in a small house with two Australian guys and an Irish girl, so there's definitely some communication obstacles with all the different accents, terms, and slang in this house! I definitely personally prefer my situation to the large group houses, I definitely have met more locals this way, and it's a lot more comfortable living situation for me with six people rather than fifteen. The rest of the Americans moved to on-campus accommodation, which is called college here rather than dorms.
Now that we were moved in we were no longer on a fixed schedule and had about a few days of freedom before O-week activities started at Uni. We set about exploring the part of the city we could reach on foot. The cities here are divided into district-like suburbs, and my residence falls within the domain of Cooks Hill. So Cooks Hill and a few other suburbs are within walking distance. The area I've explored so far is really cool. There are so many little shops and restaurants, and there's a ton of bars. The bottom floor of every hotel is dedicated to a bar/club scene, so hotels are actually pretty popular destinations for going out at night. The residential areas are sick too, there's a unique style of architecture here that I really find hard to describe. The houses are small and close together but very classy and cottage-like. The houses near the beach are incredible...huge and super modern-looking. Money has been going real fast with everything so expensive and all the initial stock-ups that are needed. I've made it down to the beach a few times, and it is incredible. Feel free to send me a friend request on Facebook if you want to see photos. We managed to get our hands on a few surfboards, all free--swagggg. So we're all trying to learn how to surf, but just as insurance most of us are signed up for a surf camp on the weekend of March 9th with this group called Mojosurf that gave us a presentation while we were in Cairns.
I'll just throw in a paragraph of differences and adjustments I've had to make living here. First, I'm currently 17 hours ahead of Central time, so it's hard to communicate with people back home. Everything tends to close early here, not bars and nightclubs, but as far as stores, banks, that stuff closes a bit earlier than I'm used to. Tipping is not a common practice here, it can even be taken as insulting if you do so. If you're trying to hit the nightlife scene, you should be well dressed or you won't get in. Although the drinking age is 18 here, they take everything to do with alcohol much more seriously. Drinking in public is illegal, so no beer on the beach, at least not in the open! You will not be served at any bar if you're visibly drunk, and people get kicked out easily. They also don't do shots here, tragically, they're illegal :( Americans are easily recognizable wherever you go. Some popular American atire is rarely if ever seen here. Polos, hi-top shoes, basketball shorts--all dead giveaways. Sorry for the ridiculous disorganization in these first two entries, I'm trying to recall events a couple weeks back in a time span that's been ridiculously busy and literally everything is brand new. Give me a couple more entries and I'll be on track.