Some observations...

1) I saw a kookaburra bird (above picture) for the first time, in the Blue Mountains. They sound kind of like laughing monkeys. Now that I know what they look like (and more so sound like) I notice them around campus, too.
**side note: there is a bush-walking club on campus, that goes on hikes around Sydney. So I went on one in the Blue Mountains on last Sunday. I posted pictures from it and other adventures at this site: http://picasaweb.google.com/Alison.in.Aussie

2) I am taking a math methods class for my major, and people from Australia always says "maths". At first I thought it was someone who mispronounced it, but now I hear the teacher and everyone else saying it with the s.

3) Another thing with the accent, r's are put at the end of a lot of words. For example, "I sawr her at the store."

4) The advisor told us to switch the spell-check feature in word documents to "Australian English". I have already noticed some differences in lecture power points, like: colour and organisation. I'm already not very good at spelling, so this is really going to mess me up!

**Warning this last observation may be somewhat upsetting to some if you are fond of kangaroos...................................................................................................................................



5) Richie & I had this for dinner at a place on the Sydney Harbor:

................................and it was really good! :-O