Down Under

I arrived in Australia yesterday, and am slowly getting myself up and running. A few notes:

• You apparently don't get contemporary in-flight entertainment on United flights to Australia. The fare for my trip included some movie with Richard Gere as a 20-something; Wall Street; Shrek (the original); and some movie with Sandra Bullock crying a lot and hugging two young girls. Fortunately, I chose to read Bill Bryson's In a Sunburned Country and was enormously entertained instead.
  
• Australian customs and immigration is far more assertive and aggressive even than American customs. Dogs running up and down the waiting lines, really intense questioning about fruits, veggies, etc. It was not a speedy process.
• The flight attendant on the short hop from Sydney to Canberra was 6'5" and named Kylie. Somehow, this seemed appropriate.
• Apparently, Australian magpies will play the role of the American rooster in this adventure. They sing at 6AM, with a call that sounds not unlike R2D2 short-circuiting.
• Regrettably, the housing stock in Australia appears to have been designed by the same folks who designed California's--that is, under the impression that it never gets cold here. So my room loses heat at an incredible rate at night. And it is not warm here either; temps top out around 50-55 degrees during the bright sunny day, but dip below freezing at night. I'm going to have to buy some additional blankets this evening, I think.

It's been a good trip so far. I've got a bank account, internet access, and I've set up my spacious though partially magenta room. Roomies K. and A. seem very congenial and outgoing. Today, I'm off to acquire a cell phone and to introduce myself to the fine folks at Australian National University. I'll post more about Canberra and those adventures later.