Life in Sydney so far

How are you doing? I'm doing pretty well! I've settled into my apartment on Monday evening (it's Saturday now). It's a 5-bedroom unit but so far I only have one flat-mate. Her name is Nitya from India i think, and she's very nice and very helpful. I just noticed today that my room has the same setup as my sister's room, concerning desk, bed, window, closet and door. However my room is smaller so I dont have room for a bookshelf, plus if I wanted any extra furniture in there, I would have to buy it myself. I went yesterday to buy some hangers, a wastebasket, a small face towel and a calendar to pretty up my room. I've brought pictures from back home and I stuck them to my wall in the shape of a house. I like it a lot. We have a shared kitchen, living/dining area and bathroom with 2 of each (toilet, sink, shower) plus a heavy duty sink. The kitchen has dishes and utensils and pots and pans left over from people who lived there before and left their stuff. We don't have a microwave or a toaster or a blender. Well, the blender I don't really mind that much, but living without a microwave or toaster is pretty difficult to get used to.

I went grocery shopping a few times already. At first I thought it was pretty cool to be around a whole bunch of new brands, but then I spend about 10 minutes in from of each food section trying to figure out which brand/size/type I should get. Do i get the cheapest one or the one that has the best rebate or the one with the prettiest label?? Also, I have to remember I'm just cooking for one, for 6 months. So I have no idea what amounts to get. And since I don't have a microwave either, I can't really reheat things very efficiently. Also, living at home, I don't have to ever worry about the basic ingredients like flour or oil or sugar because we just always have some, but how much flour am I even going to need if not just a tablespoon every now and then.


It's also hard but not that hard to live without a TV, I have no idea what's been going on in Grey's Anatomy or Desperate Housewives! hahaha, but that's ok. The bigger problem is the internet. Hopefully I'll get another roommate to split the cost of internet, but until then I have to walk 20 minutes to get to school and the only place on campus to use computers in at the library. And it closes pretty early until school starts so it's been a pain. At McGill we have 24 hour labs and it's all accessible by the magnetic strip on the card. Also, computers in the library, you can only use them for 1 hour at a time. It doesn't bug me now, but i'm sure it will when I'll have to do assignments etc.

I'm going to need recipes that have really basic necessary ingredients, the kind that I'm going to use for a bunch of different recipes and that I will finish in 6 months. It's hard to resist buying sweets!! Oh and is Dijonnaise a substitute for both mayonnaise and Dijon mustard, or should I get each separately. Dijon mustard with oil and vinegar makes good salad dressing. And mayo is good in sandwiches.

Here, chips are called crisps and fries are called chips. They also have wedges, which are baked seasoned potatoes cut in wedges (yum). Also, there's "slice" which is just normal cake but instead of putting it in a circular pan, it's spread onto a cookie sheet and cut into squares. "Cheesecake Slice" for example. That was confusing at first because when Sophie my Aussie Mate said she made slice, I thought "slice of.....????what???". But I get it now, and I want some.