It will take more than 30 hours of travel to change certain things. I have safely arrived in Perth, Western Australia. I have moved into my flat — that is just another name for an apartment.

I am now in the process of enrolling for classes and preparing for the academic rigor, they would write “rigour” here, which brings me to the point. No matter where you go, universities have certain things in common.

Once they get you lured in, universities love to inform you of the new fees. I was told, “There’s a new amenities and services fee this year.”

I had already traveled halfway around the world, so it’s not like I’m going to tell them to take a hike, so they charge me for “amenities and services.”

This description could hardly be more vague. I’m just waiting to get an invoice for a $50 fee for “university stuff.”

Even worse is the very facelessness of the enemy. This nice young lady behind the counter is not the one who instituted the new fee. She’s just doing her job as a university employee.

So whose fault is it? I want to know at whom I can scream and rant and rave. But these brick buildings that make up the university don’t care, so I just give in.

Also, universities are slowly getting a place in my mind as those places with all the lines.

Admittedly, they would call them queues down here, but that doesn’t make the time spent shifting from one foot to the other any more enjoyable.

And all universities manage to cancel the most interesting courses because of “budget difficulties.” I am just a short drive from the Australian coastline, and I was really looking forward to an aquatic ecology course. Naturally, that’s the one they decided has got to go.

Those of you at Iowa State that signed up for a class because it was the only one open will understand my disappointment. If I’m going to be in a class, it might as well be something that interests me.

Of course, I do have all the time in the world to give thanks for the weather.

Western Australia, like my home of Wyoming, is going through a drought period. This is too bad for the farmers, but that doesn’t take away from the warmth of the sun and the cool breeze.

Even without air conditioning in my flat, I have no room for complaint on that topic. The trees are green and there are these cool little cockatoos flying around. I had never seen a jellyfish in the wild before last week.

There is another upside to this weather.

The layers of clothing that I was sporting in Wyoming and Iowa before the trip are long gone. This means I am comfortable.

It also means that the women aren’t hiding underneath parkas, hats, gloves and scarfs. With a big city like this, there are plenty of women, and I’m glad that they’re just as comfortable as I am.

That’s another constant for universities and cities across the globe. At the beginning of the semester, you can literally feel everyone looking at everyone else.

I guess there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s definitely human nature, and that is one thing that seems to be impossible to avoid.

All the students are trying to assess just how the semester is going to treat them. Let’s just say that it looks like this one is going to treat me just fine.

Human nature leads some people to be the annoying nose-breather or the too-loud, too-fake laugher. I’ve already had a few run-ins with some of the best of those categories, but I don’t blame them.

Laugh just as loud as you want, buddy.

If that makes you more comfortable, I’m all for it.

I have met some Americans that are also on exchange here. Sadly, I’ve been just a little disappointed. I only hope I don’t come across the way they do.

Maybe American girls were always so mindlessly upbeat, so humdrum cheery and it took a change of scenery to bring it to my attention, but I don’t think so. I think I just got lucky, or unlucky. Two of my neighbors are American girls that serve to remind me to just keep my head down.

It’s always better to say too little than too much.

Nathan Galloway is a senior in biology from Sheridan, Wyo. He is an exchange student in Perth, Western Australia.