laurel's updates: I'm here!

Wow, it has been a crazy few weeks, but I am finally here in Melbourne!
Brian and I had such a great time in San Diego getting to see our friends and family.... each visit was way too short and there were many folks I would have liked to see, but I am grateful that I at least got to see some peeps before I took off. Thanks to everyone!

Skydiving was a total bust though. I didn't realize you could get 'winded out' of skydiving, but we did two days in a row. I was so nervous/excited on Saturday morning, and was even more so when we saw the first half of our group head up on the plane and then started to see the parachutes floating down towards us... but some of their landings didn't go to plan (some landed in the bushes instead of the landing area) because the wind had picked up when they were up there. So our group was unable to go. Brian, Josh and I even went early on Sunday to try again, but the gusts were just too strong. so I am bummed!! Now I am on a mission to jump out of a plane, and I am going to see what Melbourne has to offer once I get settled.
My flight on Tuesday wasn't bad at all. I totally lucked out and got my own row of 3 seats eventhough the flight was 70% full. Stretching out really helped with getting some sleep, as did the sleeping pill that I took. :-) What didn't help was the turbulence.... at one point I was eating my dinner and the bumps were so bad that my little pasta dish jumped right out of my hand and onto the floor. sucked. but besides the turbulence, it really was a good flight. Virgin makes 14 hours in the air as good as it could be.
I landed in Melbourne and got through immigration just fine. My visa is electronic so I have nothing visual to show for it (although I did print out my letter saying "congrats on your visa" just in case). Then I had to get my bags to go through customs. Brian and I decided that paying the extra $100 and bringing an extra 70 lbs was more cost-effective than shipping the same, so I had 3 big bags, plus a decent sized carry on, plus my laptop bag, plus my purse (they made me shove my purse in my laptop bag for the 3 minutes it took to get through security). Anyway, it's a lot of crap for just me to handle. I had a cart but it was still hard to maneuver and whatever....I had to put them all through a screening again and then load the cart back up... the screening dude was like "ummm that's a lot of luggage for just you" but i told him I was moving here and he said I made a good choice. :-)
My next project was trying to get online to call/contact Brian to let him know (and him let my parents know) that I was ok. I sat down and pulled out my laptop to use the wifi in the Melb airport, but my computer was dead. Awesome. So me and the big old cart of bags wandered around slowly until I found an outlet that didn't have a billion people standing next to it. Then I plugged in (smart of me to remember to keep my adapter in carry on--I was proud of myself!), but the plug kept falling out for some reason. So then I pulled my cart up so that it was sort of propping up the plug (i'm going into this detail because I want you to picture my jet lagged, sweaty, probably stinky, frustrated ass). So yay, I got the plug charging, then I put the laptop on top of the tower o' bags and tried to log into the airport wireless... and i couldnt get it to work. Kept saying "local only"...dunno. tried logging off, restarting, etc. ugh! My phone from the US didn't work and I didn't have my prepaid Aus phone figured out yet, so I thought I was running out of options...but then I remembered the prepaid wireless card I had bought the last time I was in Aus. I thought it was expired but I figured I'd try it anyway...and it worked! So I skyped Brian and let him know that all was ok.

From there, I grabbed a cab to Dawn's place (only $35, not too bad), and had no trouble getting in. Dawn is on a round-the-w0rld trip for work (various places in the US, Turkey, not sure where else) so I have been on my own the past few days.

So I landed here Thursday AM and it is now Saturday evening. The past few days I have really just been trying to get organized and get things figured out. On Thursday I opened my bank account and will get my card next week (yay). Yesterday was Good Friday and basically nothing was open (boo), but I wandered around and found some little local shops by Dawn's: middle eastern store, pastry shop, produce shop (yay). I also got realllllllly lost around Dawn's neighborhood trying to get from the little shops back to her house (double boo).
Today stuff was open and I got lots done. Got internet up and running! Got a temporary cell phone to tie me over until I start work and figure out if they are putting me on a phone plan. Got a tour of Virgin Active health club. Yes, that Virgin. I know, they have health clubs too, who knew??? I was wandering around downtown and walked past it and decided to get a tour, and I AM SO GLAD I DID. first, it is SICK. pools, climbing wall, yoga, pilates, tons of classes.... pretty sick. Also, my tour/sales guy was named Sean and I think I would like him to be my new gay boyfriend (sorry Kristian, don't be jealous). He and I really hit it off.

the downside to virgin active is that it's not cheap ($100/month), but all the research i'm doing shows that all clubs are around that price and a lot crappier... so we will see. i shall do some more research but sean and richard branson have struck a chord in my heart. :-)
I also found my office today, yay! it is going to be dangerous... it is so close to a zillion awesome-looking restaurants, bars and boutiques. i could do serious damage at lunchtime and after work!!
all in all, i am really excited and happy to be here. it's fun to explore anyplace, but especially the place that is your new home! So far I find Melbourne to be very vibrant and cosmopolitan (lots of musicians playing in the streets, lots of music and cultural stuff going on) and I am happy! All I need is a jewish hubby and a couple of four-legged beasts and life would be great!

ok this is a book. lates.