Reconnected.

I now have a phone that works, my Mac, and WiFi in my apartment. I am reconnected with the world outside Sydney, and boy, does it feel good! 

First things first: my new Australian phone number is: +61 4502 92203. I have unlimited worldwide texting, so don’t be surprised if you get a text from this number. Not sure how much it costs for others to text me (from other countries), so you may want to check that out before bombarding me with texts. 

Family in California: Did you notice what the last five digits are? That’s no coincidence. I could choose the last five, and naturally I chose our Californian zip code. Easy to remember!

I have been in Sydney for less than a week, and there has been so much going on these past few days. Getting settled in, learning my way around, socializing with new people, and mentally preparing for a new semester in a foreign country. So far everything has gone smoothly, and I am loving every minute (except for when I saw a ginormous Australian spider…Yuck). 

Both The Village and the International/Student Exchange Office have arranged lots of events and trips for the incoming students. BBQs, surf trips, movie nights, game nights – lots of opportunities to socialize with others. There are lots of international students here, and most are very outgoing and interested in making new friends. Everyone wants to meet as many people as possible, phone numbers are exchanged, and Facebook friend requests are sent. We are hundreds of miles away from home, and we don't want to be friendless for the next 5 months. Time to become a social butterfly!  Isabelle and I have been hanging out with a group of people we met at a BBQ our second day here. Aside from Australians, we've met people from all over the world: United States, Norway, Czech Republic, Austria, Denmark, UK, Russia, Canada, Mexico, Chile, Netherlands, Greece, and Turkey… Just to name a few. Hurray for not being loners at Macquarie! 

The past week has been very eventful. BBQ at the Campus Hub, festivities at The Village, visit to the Featherdale Wildlife Park, trip to Bondi Beach, reunion with our Norwegian friends, karaoke, and (of course) countless of trips to the Macquarie Mall. Tomorrow we have an orientation meeting, followed by a harbor cruise. I haven't had a chance to upload my pictures from my Canon to my Mac yet, but I will share some pictures from the past week as soon as they are uploaded. In the mean time, here's a picture from my iPhone of a cute koala named Noah and myself.

Love, 
Suzy 

Arrived Sydney and Macquarie

We made it! We arrived the land down under on Thursday (February 20th), and time has flown by since. Haven't been able to write any updates due to lack of internet connection. Sorry! 

The flight from Singapore to Sydney was actually quite enjoyable. For some reason we were upgraded to World Traveler Plus, a class between Business and Economy. Being upgraded on a long flight is like winning the lottery; more space, better food, wine glasses made out of actual glass. Overall a much more enjoyable experience! Watched a movie, ate dinner and had some wine, snoozed an hour, and suddenly we were in Sydney. 

For the next 5 months we will be living in Macquarie University Village. The Village offers apartment-style accommodation on campus. All the apartments are furnished, and every room has their own bathroom. Yay! Isabelle and I were debating whether we wanted to live closer to the city or on campus. It's about a 35 minute commute to the city center from Macquarie. In the end, we opted for The Village just because we thought it would be easier to socialize with other people, and we wouldn't have to commute to school or buy tons of furniture.

Isabelle and I requested each other as roommates, but we arrived too late for this to be arranged (school doesn't start until March 3rd, how are we late arrivers?). We were almost a little shocked when the girl said we wouldn't be living together. Anywho, we live in separate apartments with 4 other people. I'm pretty sure we'll survive having to walk three minutes to see each other (so far we have been fine).  

The apartment is pretty decent. Spacious rooms. I'd guesstimate that the size of the room is about 14m2/150ft2. We live on the East side of The Village, which is known for being the party side. We've heard the West side apartments are much nicer, and the area is much quieter. We probably would've preferred being on the West side... Oh well, I can pretend I'm 19 again, and away from home for the first time. This will be fun! 

Bedroom: 

Common area: 

Dining area: 

Kitchen: 

For those of you who want to send me mail, my address is: 

Unit 8/122 Culloden Rd 

Marsfield NSW 2122 

Australia 

Haven't seen too much of campus, except for walking through it on our way to the train/mall. From what we have seen though, it is really nice. The buildings are relatively new, and there's lots of green grass everywhere. It reminds me of a typical American college campus; a place where people not only attend lectures and study, but also a place to hang out and utilize for social events. I'm looking forward to exploring it more. 

It is relatively expensive here. Still cheaper than Norway, but isn't everywhere cheaper than Norway? The currency is Australian dollars, and one dollar is 5,49kr/90¢. The money is plastic-y, kind of like the Malaysian bills. Not quite as Monopoly-looking though. They have a lot of coins here, some of which are actually worth quite a bit. They have $2 coins! I'm used to American coins being worth very little, so it's interesting being able to buy something with all the change weighing down my wallet.

We needed to get bedding, dishes, utensils, and other household items. We headed to where all Scandinavians would go: IKEA. The closest IKEA is in a suburb named Rhodes, just six stops away (you have to switch trains in Epping). From the train station, IKEA was only about a 7 minute walk away. Very convenient! Horrible walk home with our heavy bags through... The Macquarie train station is about 15 minutes from The Village. 

The benefit of Isabelle and I not living in the same apartment? We could buy the exact same things. Bedding, dishes, lamps, fake plant... Our bags were totally identical. Oh no, wait, we bought candles in different scents... Besides that, identical. We're pretty boring. 

Our other shopping destination has been Macquarie Mall, right next to the train station. Here they have lots of shops, a big grocery store, restaurants, a food court, movie theater etc. The grocery store, Woolworth's, is pretty amazing. Nothing too fancy, but it's just like a regular grocery store in the States. Great selection compared to Spar and Kiwi in Norway. 

We've also done some practical things during our first days here. We both signed up for Vodafone, so we can use our iPhones here. Unfortunately, my iPhone is locked to Telenor (Norwegian provider), and I need to hook it up to my Mac before I can unlock it. Hoping that I will be able to do that tonight, so I can reconnect with the world (and not have to sit at the mall to check my email, call family, etc).

Also signed up for an Austalian bank account through Commonwealth Bank. I was surprised at how easy that was. All we needed was our passports, and we were good to go. Everything is free, and there are no limits because it is a student account.

Time to end for now. Just wanted to write a quick update before heading to Bondi Beach with Isabelle and some of our new friends. Yes, we have managed to make friends since we've arrived. More about all the social stuff later! 

Love, 

Suzy

Spectacular Singapore

We've been in Singapore since early Monday morning (February 17th). We are enjoying ourselves immensely! This may be due to the fact that we decided to book nice 4-star hotel rooms for our last two nights... Or that it's a big city, but the atmosphere is still very serene. Or it may be because it is extremely clean and orderly here. Either way, we love Singapore!

As paranoid of bed bugs as we are, the first thing we did once we got to Singapore was wash all our clothes in and pack everything in plastic bags. Once we get to Sydney, we'll throw our backpacks in black garbage bags, and leave them in the hot sun (heat kills the little buggers). We doubt we actually have  any unwanted guests with us, but we feel it's better to be on the safe side! 

We've "only" been gone a month, which isn't a tremendous amount of time. However, I'm still very happy to say that there will be no more sleeping in sleeping bag liners for the rest of the trip. Hurray! The first night was spent at the Parc Sovereign Hotel, and the second night was spent at Link Hotel Singapore. Both hotels were 4-stars, but were pretty basic (more like 3-stars at 4-star prices). Both rooms were clean though, so we were happy as can be. 

The currency in Singapore is dollars. One Singaporean dollar (S$) is 4,82kr/79¢. As expected, everything is much more expensive here compared to the other countries we've visited. A meal at a nice restaurant costs around S$20 (96.38kr/$15,86), while a meal at a hawker stall is about S$5 (24kr/$3,96). A beer at a restaurant costs a whopping S$10 (48.20kr/$7,90). Not the most budget-friendly place, but still cheaper than Norway, so we can't complain. 

The city is divided in two by the Singapore River. Along the riverbanks are the trendy (and pricey) Clarke and Robertson Quays and the Boat Quay, with lots of dining options. South of the river is the Central Business District (CBD) and Chinatown, and north of the river is the Colonial District. Little India, Kampong Glam (the Muslim Quarter) are further north from the Colonial District. 

A fabulous thing about Singapore is how extremely clean it is here. No trash on the ground - ANYWHERE! All the neighborhoods we've visited have been clean. I'm sure the insane fines contribute to the cleanliness of the city. This is a sign from the metro. We've heard that you can get even higher fines for littering, spitting, or chewing gun. 

We have done a lot of walking while in Singapore (and not in shopping malls this time). It's easy to navigate around the city and get from place to place. For once I actually have an idea of where we're going (usually Isabelle, the one with a sense of direction, is the one that knows everything). There's a great metro system as well. We've only used it a couple of times. The price depends on how far you're going; our tickets have been around S$1,50 (7,23kr/$1,19). 

The area around the riverbanks is great. Great place to walk around during the evening. The skyline is gorgeous. The Esplanade - Theaters at the Bay has free outdoor concerts, but unfortunately nothing was playing the nights we were there. 

Gluttons Bay was also located here. Lots of hawker stalls with cheap food and drinks. This is the way to go if you want to save money in Singapore. Very tasty!

A short walk away was Merlion Park. Here we saw the famous Merlion, Singapore's tourism icon. It is a mythical creature that has a lion's head and a fish's body, which represents Singapore's  humble origin as a fishing village. The statue is 8.6meters/28feet tall. 

Chinatown was crammed with small shops, eateries, and tradition. Very similar to the other Chinatowns we've visited, but more shops with touristy souvenirs. Nice to walk around for a bit.

We stopped by the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum while in Chinatown. A sacred tooth of Buddha is supposedly housed here, though dental experts have expressed doubts over its authenticity.

We had to make a pit stop in Little India to eat some naan. Delicious! Little India was very unlike the places we've visited in India. Incredibly clean here! 

Kamong Glam is known as Singapore's Muslim quarter. There were lots of shops selling clothing, raw cloth, and dry goods here. Walked past the beautiful Sultan Mossque, and stopped to buy some dates and Iranian pistachio nougat before continuing on. This was probably the coziest neighborhood we went to. If we had more days in Singapore, we would have loved to spend more time here. 

The National Museum of Singapore is located in the Colonial District. Beautiful building and some interesting exhibits. Free admission after 6pm, so we visited in the evening. We walked through the exhibition "Total Defence 30: An Experimental Showcase". It was an interactive exhibition that presented insightful and honest perspectives on how Singaporeans from different walks of life make meaning of Total Defence in their daily lives. 

Today is our last day in Southeast Asia. We leave for Sydney at 8pm. Sitting at the airport now. Nervous and excited at the same time! I can't believe we'll soon be in Australia!

Love, 

Suzy 

KL

Kuala Lumpur (KL) was a very nice, vibrant city. Lots of historic temples and mosques next to huge towers and shopping malls. 

After our first (relatively sleepless) night in Grocer's Inn, we decided to move to a different hostel. Luckily, there are plenty of hostels to choose from in Chinatown. We stopped by a few and landed on Eclipse Hostel, just down the street from our previous place. For a double room we paid 50 ringgit (92kr/$15,14). Chinatown is one of the cheaper, backpacker-friendly areas in KL. Probably because it is only a short walk from the Puduraya bus station. The metro was also just a hop, skip, and a jump away. 

So, what did we do in the vibrant city of KL? To be honest, we spent a lot of time walking around... Primarily in the shopping malls. There were tons of malls in KL, mostly around Jalan Bukit Bintang. Prices were much lower compared to Norway. Since we have been wearing the same clothes for a month and we hardly sent anything to Sydney, we decided we could enjoy some shopping in this fabulous city. We opted for visiting the touristy malls (i.e. international/bigger brands). We can highly recommend The Pavillion and Suria KLCC. Lots of great shops and cafés! 

We came to realize that there are many walkways in KL, both under and over ground. We were wondering why there were hardly any people out when we walked from Suria KLCC to The Pavillion. We figured it was just because it was super hot out. Turns out that everyone takes the walkways around. There were walkways that went from mall to mall (we could mall-hop!). Much cooler (temperature-wise), faster, and convenient. 

We didn't only shop and walk in walkways while in KL. We did see a few other things as well, for example the Petronas Twin Towers. These beautiful towers serve as the elegant headquarters if the national petroleum company, and were formerly the world's tallest skyskrapers (Tapei 101 took the title in 2004). There are three possible "levels" you can visit. The cheapest deal is to the 41st floor Skybridge, 170 meters/558 feet above ground. The mall Suria KLCC was located underneath them. You know what that means: TWOFER! We went shopping and sightseeing simultaneously. 

There was a nice park in this area, too. In the evening there was a fountain light show, and people walking around and just hanging out. Nice spot to rest after a long day of shopping. 

On our second full day in KL (February 16th) we decided we should do something besides spend money (almost 12 hours of shopping the previous day was enough). We headed to Menara Kuala Lumpur (KL Tower). We read that the view from this tower is much better than from the Skybridge (Petronas Twin Towers). It was pretty pricey; 98 ringgit per person (180kr/$29.68) to go to the highest point, the Observation Deck. We splurged and went up to the Observation Deck, where we had a 360-view of the city. It was very nice, and we were glad we went up. Seeing the city from this angle was great!

Here you can see the KL Tower from the park. Reminds me a little of the Seattle Space Needle.    

After a long day, we got back to our room in Chinatown. Not very spacious... Or cozy.

After staying at Love Lane Inn we were still pretty concerned and preoccupied with bedbugs. We did what anyone with WiFI at a hostel would do; we started googling info about them. They're pretty disgusting, and apparently they're very hard to get rid of. We started thinking that they were all over, EVERYWHERE. The hostels we have stayed at have been pretty clean, and we haven't gotten any bites anywhere, but we couldn't get them off our mind. We knew that it would be another sleepless night.

Sooo... We left. We quickly packed up all our things, went to Terminal Bersepadu Selatan, and booked tickets for the last bus to Singapore. It departed at 12am, so we had time for a bite to eat and to charge our phones for the ride. We arrived Singapore at approximately 6:30am yesterday (February 17th). Bus ride went smoothly; comfy seats, easy to go through customs/immigration, and we didn't have to travel during the day. Best decision ever! 

Time for bed. Stay tuned for more about Singapore in the next post!

Love, 

Suzy

Inconsiderate people, silver linings, and street art

We got to Penang in the evening on Thursday (February 13th). The ferry ride from Langkawi took about 3 hours. Not bad at all! It was overcast and muggy out in Penang. We walked 15 minutes to get from the ferry terminal to our hostel, Love Lane Inn (on Love Lane in The Chinatown neighborhood in Georgetown). It was the cheapest room we found on Hostelworld.com, and we thought the name was fitting since it was Valentine's Day the next day. Two beds in a 6 bed dorm. The dorm wasn't full, only Isabelle, myself and two other girls in the room.

Unfortunately, our stay at Love Lane Inn wasn't very lovely... It was extremely hot in our dorm room and the AC didn't work. Thankfully the hostel owner gave us another fan so we would survive the night. We decided to get out of the inferno (our room), and walk around Chinatown before heading to bed. 

Once we got back to the inferno, we discovered that the second fan was unplugged because one of the girls in our room was charging her phone. Isabelle, myself, and the third girl really wanted the fan on (for obvious reasons - it was an inferno in there!). We politely asked if she could charge her phone in the morning so we could sleep, but apparently that wasn't an option. She had to charge her phone, camera, AND Kindle during the night. She was extremely rude, and didn't understand why we were making such a big deal about it being "a little warm". We were "spoiled girls" because we wanted the second fan on. I don't know what her deal was. Maybe she was planning on talking on the phone while reading her Kindle and taking pictures the next day? Maybe she was having a bad day and was bitter because she didn't have a date on Valentine's Day? Or perhaps she was part vampire, and had a lower body temperature than us humans? Either way, she was not budging on the fact that she needed to charge all of her gadgets in the middle of the night. It didn't matter that 3/4 of the people in the room voted for the fan being plugged back in. 

It was impossible to be in the room with only one fan on; the heat was absolutely suffocating. So, because she was so stubborn and we weren't about to start a fight, we took our sleeping bag liners and pillows down to the common area. There's nothing like sleeping (or in my case laying awake all night) on hard tile floor. At least there was a fan there, and we were actually able to breathe. I mentioned in a previous post that you can meet a lot of interesting people in dorms. I guess you can meet some pretty inconsiderate people, too.

Anywho, as it turned out, it was actually a good thing that we didn't sleep in the room. During the night several other people (from other dorms in the hostel) joined us on the floor in the common area. The hostel was infested with bed bugs, and luckily we didn't sleep in the infested beds thanks to the inconsiderate girl in our room. Silver lining! 

Okay, that's enough about our night at Love Lane Inn. I wasn't feeling the greatest the next day (February 14th), so we didn't do much sightseeing in Penang. Before getting on the bus to Kuala Lumpur at 1pm, we just walked around the neighborhood looking at street art. Lots of interesting things to see!

My favorite was "Two Children on a Bicycle" at Lebuh Armenian by Ernest Zacharevic. 

The bus to KL was pretty uneventful. It took 7 hours (though it was only supposed to take 5 hours). The bus was nice; we had reclining seats and air conditioning. Hurray! The roads were also in very good condition, and the scenery was very beautiful.

Once we (finally) got to KL we found a hostel in Chinatown. Tried to get a good night sleep, but we were paranoid that there were bed bugs everywhere. Once you start thinking about bed bugs, you can't get them off your mind. I start to itch every time I think about them. We read somewhere that sleeping with the lights on makes them less likely to come out. So that's what we did last night. We're doing the same tonight (even though I just Googled it and found out this is just a myth). Gah. I'm sure it can't hurt. Nasty creatures! Cross your fingers for us! 

Time to try to get some sleep. I'll write more about KL tomorrow or the next day. We'll be here until we head to Singapore on Monday. Nighty night!

Love, 

Suzy

Exploring Langkawi

Langkawi is great! Been here for 4 nights now, and will be heading to Penang later today. We weren't originally planning on staying this long, but we really liked it here. 

Our first full day here (February 10th) was spent on Pantai Cenang beach. Cenang beach is one of the most popular beaches in Langkawi, but it wasn't too crowded. Lots of cafés, restaurants, and shops in the area. 

On our second day here (Feb 11th) we thought it was high time to do something besides laying on beaches. There isn't a lot of traffic on the island, so we decided to rent scooters and explore the island. I was a little apprehensive at first; mainly because they drive on the opposite side of the road here, but also because I haven't driven a scooter in years... Aaand I'm a kind of a scaredy cat, too. 

It was very inexpensive to rent scooters. It only cost 21 ringgit (39.70kr/$6.30) to rent a scooter for 12 hours (9am - 9pm). We splurged and got the insurance for an additional 10 ringgit (18.90kr/$3). Luckily we didn't need it. Better to be on the safe side, though! Had to fill up the scooter before returning it, but this wasn't expensive either. It was only 2.1 ringgit (3.97kr) per liter. For my American friends, this translates into 2.38 per gallon. Cheap!

Despite my fears of crashing into something/someone, it turned out to be an absolutely awesome day. We both managed to avoid hitting anything/anyone, and got home in one piece (I don't think Isabelle was as worried as I was. Haha). Driving on the opposite side of the road wasn't too hard either; you just had to keep reminding yourself that you were in fact driving correctly even though it felt utterly wrong.

Our first stop was the Langkawi SkyCab (cable car) at the foot of the Machincang mountain. After a 45 minute wait in line, we were on our way to the top of the mountain in a little cable car. The journey from the foot of the mountain to top took about 15 minutes. The journey covered 2150 meters/1.35 miles, and reached an

elevation of 680meters/2230 feet above sea level. The panoramic view at the top was incredible! We could see Langkawi and the surroundings areas, including parts of neighboring Thailand. 

After the SkyCab we just drove around really. Stopped at a few beaches and along the road to see wild monkeys. So cute! 

Langkawi is a beautiful, green island. I can't believe how much fun we had just driving around. It brought me back to when I was 16, and my friends and I would drive all around Drammen on our scooters. Oh, those were the days! 

The scooters we rented weren't as pretty as my old Peugeot Vivacity, but they could go much, much faster. The scooters were 125 cc (cubic centimeters, the capacity of the engine). I was pretty impressed that they could go up to 80km per hour/50mph. Perhaps they could've gone faster? We played it safe and drove the speed limit for the most part. No need to worry, Mom!

We had so much fun that we decided to rent the scooters again the next day (yesterday) We headed to the secluded beach we found, Pantai Pasir Tengkorak, and spent the whole day there. Great day! 

Today we'll probably just hang around Cenang beach before getting on the ferry to Penang. Now it's time for breakfast!

Love, 

Suzy