Group Work

G'day everyone!
Technically, it's morning here...which means I should be in bed. But seeing as I have a HUGE project due tomorrow (worth 40% of my final grade) and one partner in the group decided to wank off and not do her part... I am still awake, trying to fix things so I don't fail. That's the worst part about group work. There's always that one person who doesn't do their part, creating more stress and work for the other group members.

Anyway.

A quick update on my life from the last week. xa

I haven't done anything but study. naturally, that's an exaggerated statement meant to make me sound studious and motivated. It's mostly true. I have been doing a lot of uni work (homework) because this week is midterms. Essentially. Of course, all the test and projects aren't actually called midterms, but that's what it amounts to. So I'm totally stressing. It's okay tho.

This week I plan to look for a job. There is a shopping center about fifteen minutes walk away, so I'm thinking I wil apply to several stores there. It's hard to say who is hiring right now, especially since I'm only allowed (by teh Australian government) to work 20 hours a week, and I have no experience in healthcare. There are a few semi-local hospitals hiring, but it is very difficult for me to get places, as I don't have a car and public transportation kinda sucks. It's nice that there IS public trans. but it is unreliable and often only gets you part way to your destination; the trains are very slow. So it's impractical for me to continue working in healthcare when I can work somewhere closer.

Wages for working here are significantly higher than in the U.S., as is the cost of living. Assumably, they are porportional. For example, I pay $149 AUD per week in rent, while in the U.S. I paid $180 a month. However, I was only making $11.00/hr, where the base wage for most jobs here is somewhere around $14.00/hr. The "base wage" for jobs includes jobs like McDOnalds, or retail at one of the shops. I would really like to work at a coffee shop, as there are several at Macarthur Square, including the very American Starbucks, but as is the case with most college towns, many positions are filled immediately following the commencement of university in the autumn.

As an interesting note, the term "Fall" used in reference to a season is very American. The rest of the English-speaking world refers to the season following summer as "Autumn."

I will detail my fun-filled weekend at some later point, probably when I am not supposed to be preparing a massive presentation. Last weekend invovled the World's Scariest Club and a trip to the beach. Actually, that's all there is to the beach story, but the world's sketch-iest club, 209, deserves a blog of it's own!

Good on ya, mates!