Five weeks. I think. Or is it six?

Time is flying. There's nothing I can do to slow it, despite my greatest efforts. Although right now I'd quite like to fast forward a few days so I can skip this whole 'sick' business and get onto fun things like seeing Windsor Castle. I have discovered my favourite cold and flu drug is not available here, and nothing else seems to be quite as effective (of the two I've tried so far...). I still have snot, this wouldn't be the case if I had my favourite vanilla flavoured meds. I should be going to see a local production of The Producers tonight, am hoping I stop feeling so rubbish in the next half hour or so.

Anyway, onto more pleasant things, like butterflies and meadows. I decided to sum up my life here by creating a few lists. Here they are:

Five Linguistic Differences between Australia and England. I cop some flack sometimes because I call things by strange names, but I will not bow to pressure and call a corgette 'zucchini'... oh is it the other way round? Darn.

1. Chook: chicken —> chook, seems fairly obvious to me, but apparently not.

2. Capsicum: is not a pepper, I have tried to explain that they are two different things, that we use the scientific name, but this is not an acceptable excuse.

3. Vacuum Cleaner: 'Hoover'. Say that in a sing-song English accent and you'll understand why I mock them for it.

4. Singlet: I ended up so confused at the end of this conversation I don't know what is called what, but I know I was referring to a girl's spagetti strap singlet.

5. Ummm. Just pretend I didn't mention the zucchini-corgette confusion earlier, and insert it here.

Top Four Memorable Smells of life in England (specific largely to UEA). Ironic considering I currently have a blocked nose.

1. Mud.

2. The bus - smelly people, airless, drunk people, food, wet clothing, standard bus smells, but combining to be unique on Norwich buses.

3. The kitchen's unmistakable odour of burnt toast, mixed frying meats and the label on the bottom of a saucepan that's slowly burning off.

4. The tube - so it's the same as Melbourne and Vienna, but that tang of hot grease, metal, people, foods is unmistakable.

Five unmistakable sounds

1. The fire alarm - a faulty alarm meant we had 4 alarms in 3 weeks (including two in one night), plus they test it every Friday morning. Never fails to make me jump and start panicking slightly.

2. Birdsong - before I left Australia I was sitting outside listening to all the birds thinking 'I'll miss this, I hope birds are just as vocal over there'. Never fear, they are.

3. Kamikaze Squirrels - they're utter nutters, just jump from branch to branch and one would be forgiven for thinking there was a small elephant stampede in the tree tops.

4. The kitchen door - "whoooooosh thud". Right next to my room, whenever anybody goes for a midnight snack.

5. The constant sounds of people - the cooling towers (I think) that never stop, the ever-present hum of distant traffic even when no sign of life is visible.

Some things UEA does better than UTAS

1. Admin. Isn't hard to beat UTAS really, but UEA does.

2. Location. While the university has lots of concrete, it is surrounded by woodlands and marsh, through which run lots of walking paths. Beautiful.

3. On site facilities - shops, cafes, restaurants, bars, laundromats. All signs of a far greater emphasis on living on campus.

4. Ethics - all coffee is fairtrade, and there's a large emphasis on being as environmentally friendly as possible.

5. Centrality - if you have any problem, go to the Dean of Students office and they will point you in the right direction. Usually down a short corridor behind the main desk. The university is fairly compact, and therefore there isn't too much running up and down big hills required.

Some things UTAS does better than UEA

1. The website - never thought I'd say it, but especially their equivalent of MyLo.

2. The library - how does a university operate without a reserve section???? Especially when there's a far greater focus on self-motivated learning.

3. Chips - the chips here are rubbish, worse than the Ref's the day before oil-filtering.

4. Exams - why does a uni need almost 6 weeks for exams? I still have no idea how it all works.

5. Timetables - Here classes go from O'Clock to O'Clock, which means lots of quick walking in between. The lecturers have more discretion about start and finish times, and will sometimes take only 50 minutes, but some will not give up a single minute of their allocated 60.

And that's it. Hope that gives you some ideas of my life on campus. Keep an eye on the Tasmanian Anglican for an article about my experiences looking for a church. I was going to write it here, but was asked to put it in the Anglican. I'm not sure if my article will go online, so keep an eye for the new edition from the first Sunday of March.

And my nose appears to have stopped running so much! Hoorah! Theatre here I come.