Well, after finally getting rid of jetlag, I had a wonderful weekend exploring Perth and Freemantle. I spent saturday at the Freemantle market with Linda, buying fruits and vegetables (which are cheaper here than at the grocery store, but still expensive! peppers (called capsicum here) are about $10/kg!!!) for the week ahead. I had wonderful lunch and didn't spend too much money for everything! Sunday was the first official day of orientation and started off with breaky for all of the international students. Ironically, we sat down with two guys from UW Whitewater...I travel halfway around the world to become friends with people from Wisconsin. We all went by bus to Kings Park in Perth (which has an amazing view of the city...with lots of plants and animals-we saw a kookaburra!), then went to Cottesloe Beach just south of Perth for my first view of the Indian Ocean! It's as gorgeous as any picture I've seen. Even though it's winter, there were still die-hard surfers out in dry suits. From there we went to the Freo (Fremantle) markets again, and ate lunch before heading to the market and buying more fruits and veggies. We were joined by Linda's roomate Karin from Sweden. So far orientation is off to a good start!