Small differences

I think the differences stand out so much here because everything basically LOOKS the same, but then it's like, what???

When I got here on Friday I went up to a coffee shop and asked for a coffee.  'What kind of coffee?' she asked.  I was like, um, a small one?  She said 'Yes but a latte, a cappucino, a mocha...'.  I said 'just a regular coffee, a black one?'.  She looked at me like I was nuts, and proceeded to make me a very watery espresso-based black coffee drink.  There is NO percolated coffee over here!  So even at the 7-11 (the cheapest place to get a coffee by the way, it's only $2, everywhere else it's 3 or 4 dollars!), the counter guy has to go and brew you a fresh espresso drink while the other customers wait in line.  So odd!

Also there is barely any wi-fi around.  It's in every McDonalds (where I am now, so I could finally come online), but yesterday I walked past a million coffee shops and there was no wi-fi anywhere.

The prices on everything here are just insane too.  My sausage mcmuffin breakfast (with extra hashbrown, I'm not ashamed!) just came to $8.

All of you back home would lose your minds to see the beer prices!  If you buy two 24s of a certain beer, you can get a deal and get them both for $70.  Otherwise they're $40 each.  At a bar/restaurant, a bottle of beer is $8.  But you don't have to tip - the people serving you are probably making at least $22 an hour, and it's only standard to tip about 5-10% if you receive exemplary service.  Not tipping will take a while to get used to.

The weather here is incredibly gorgeous.  And the sun is up from about 7am til 8 or 9pm.  It's wonderful.  I'm still crazy jetlagged though, which is annoying.  Last night M and D brought me to a party that seemed pretty awesome, there was a really cute new zealand guy there who I recognized from Montreal that I was talking to, but by 10:30pm I could barely keep my eyes open.  Granted I'd been up and out in the sun since 8am...but still.  Big fucking FAIL on my part!  Went home and slept right til 8:30 today.  Lame lame lame.  Was probably my only real party night here in Melbourne and I failed.  Dammit.