Here I go again on my own...

So I'm off to Australia tomorrow. I'm studying at Curtin University, which is in Perth for four and a half months. While I'm unsure what to expect, I don't think it's too far off to expect Men at Work to be playing in my head for most of the time. Really it's supposed to be a nice vacation for a semester, with easy classes and many trips to the bar.

The purpose of this blog is to give all of you an insight into the life of the average American slacker (me) during his semester abroad. Now I'm as American as it gets. I held off registering to vote for the longest time so I couldn't become eligible for jury duty (and really, what's more American than going to extreme lengths to get out of jury duty), however, I can really see myself adopting the Australian people as my own. Only in Australia can a riot start at a tennis match. Ladies and gentlemen, that commitment to debauchery is exactly what I want to see from my new home's citizens. I do have concerns, such as the relative nonchelance Australians seem to exhibit towards the many poisonous animals found throughout the continent. My cousin's husband is from Australia and when I brought up the subject of deadly Australian animals, he shrugged it off, telling me "The only ones you'll encounter will kill an infant, but they will just get you really sick, nothing to concern yourself with." As if being hospitalized from a spider bite is nothing I need to be concerned about.

The trip tomorrow will take a full 24 hours. I will also be celebrating my 21st birthday. I already made sure to book an aisle seat so I can get heavily smashed before my takeoff and easily make the necessary frequent trips to the bathroom during the ride. I have a stop off at the Dubai airport, which will enable me to legitimately use the phrase "when I was in the Middle East". I like believe this will give me more clout than other regarding subjects which concern the region. So that in-of-itself makes this trip worthwhile. We'll see how it goes.

PK