So I've been here for 2 weeks now and most of you haven't heard a peep from me since I left Melbourne. You're probably all thinking 'oh, thank god we don't have to read her blathering on about fat Americans and pretending to be interested' but too bad. Now is my chance to inflict upon those of you who care, my insightful and witty banter about my adventures here.


Getting to the land of the fat American

After less than 3 hours of sleep, running the gauntlet of security checks and duty free ladies spraying perfume in your eyes, I finally said goodbye to Mum, Dad and Joel and dragged my sorry self onto flight QF093 where I managed to distract myself for 15 hours by watching movies on demand non-stop, getting chatted up by the gay flight attendants who were having an argument as to whether I was Japanese or Korean and meeting the girl sitting next to me who turned out to also be a Commerce/Arts student from Melbourne Uni on route to the University of Washington doing the same.


Welcome to San Andreas - the shuttle ride

It was trying to get a shuttle to Riverside that I had my first experience of black attitude thrust upon me from a girl who was the shuttle supervisor and yes, I got my very first 'mmmmhm'! I'm now working on my own ability to 'mmmmhm' my way out of any situation.

For those of you who are fans of GTA, all I was thinking when I was riding along the freeways was - 'oh my god, I'm in a computer game'. The concrete, the wide highways, the palm trees dotting the landscape are exactly like they are in the game - but after awhile, especially if you're not driving, shooting or running people over the freeways in Cali get pretty boring, even when you see freeways stacked on top of each other.

[Thus begins Clare & Veronica's List of Stupid American Things will begin now : No. 1 - Why the hell would you build all your freeways in the air when you live on a major fault line?]


International Village, UC Riverside - Suzy homemakers students are not

I've finally settled in properly into my residence for the next 6 months or so at International Village in Riverside. I've started accumulating stuff already after starting off with nothing but my clothes and my one set of cutlery that I had brought from home. For a while my prized possession was my electric kettle as all I could cook was instant cup noodles. But after several trips to Walmart, Costco, Target, Kmart and the supermarket and my roommate Jamie moving in with her huge range of appliances, this place finally has some semblance of home despite the spartan interior decorating theme that I have adopted.

This is my room, complete with crazy red bedsheets bought from Tar-jay.


My desk from which my genius is broadcast to the masses via this blog.


The lovely view from my window of the dirt from the orange groves owned by UCR to carry out experiments on. Sometimes they leave the irrigation system running for a couple of days and its like I have my own personal water feature - Jamie Durie, eat your heart out!!



My bathroom, with the dangerous shower doors that threaten to come off the railings and split your big toes open which happened to my friend Ben in his room.



Our lounge room with the tv that Jamie brought - who would think that even with 100 channels there is still nothing to watch.


Our kitchen with all the appliancey goodness that one should ever need. (NB. for those hardcore Will & Grace fans out there - yes, its a packet of Mint Milanos on the bench)



This is what my place looks like on the outside



So this is my pad for the next 6 months. I've learned to love it as well as hate it and the elephants who have aerobics lessons upstairs. If any of you feel the urge to visit me while I'm here, I strongly advise you to book a holiday to Fiji instead.

In the next episode...Welcome to UCR: Campus of Rocks, Dust and Asians