Excerpts from Jacob Januszewski's Letters Home:

The idea that I would be spending seven months in Australia was rather unreal to me until I finally flew out of Los Angeles. That's when I felt it. I finally realized that it was actually finally happening, that I was really leaving. If I had worried myself about the whole trip before my departure, I am sure my nerves would have been killing me and the excitement would have led me off track in my studies as well as my regular life.

The first thing I remember after my arrival was the smell of the air outside the airport. I was surprised because it was the same smell and feeling you get in Michigan right when it is about to snow. The air was cold and it was a rainy day. The weather was definitely not what I had expected; winter here in Australia is more like the beginning of spring in Kalamazoo.

There aren't many diferences between Australian and American culture that I have noticed so far. Some of the words Australians use to describe certain things are the major noticeable differences here. For example, if Australians want to express a feeling of disruption, they would say: "oh, bugger;" friends are called "mates;" to skip a class is to "wage a class;" "bludger" is a lazy person; and to have a lot of things is "to have heaps of stuff" (which always makes me stop and think for a second before I finally get what they mean. In the meantime, though, I lose half the conversation.)