In Oz
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Some of what Australians usually encounter in their daily lives.
(Pictured is a spider hiding under the car door handle)
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@Aqua-Letifer said in In Oz:
I so do not miss that kinda bullshit.
How common was it?
On about my eighth night there, I met Matt, a guy I'd be friends with even today. As he was driving off from my and my landlady's place, I waved and put my hand on our fencepost. My hand then got very swollen and very hot. The side of my hand blew up like a balloon and it was Coca-Cola red.
I was concerned, but my landlady kept waving me off. I kept asking questions so finally she said, "Oh for God's sake, [Aqua], there are only a handful of deadly spiders in all of Sydney and that probably wasn't one of them." She was serious.
I checked my shoes every time I put them on. I found huntsmen in them at least every other week. (I never thought about it until now, but maybe that's in part why I'm now partial to sandals. I wasn't always.)
I'd also wake up and find them about my room sometimes.
A lot of bathrooms in Sydney don't have exhaust fans still; you just have the window. So in the winter, when you're taking a warm, steamy shower, and it's actually cold at night, and you have to crack open the window or else you can't see... you start getting friends about 4 minutes into every shower. Lizards, spiders, skinks, bugs and reptiles of all varieties. I learned very early on never to take a shower at night, especially in the winter.
At my university, I was an international student, so they wouldn't even let me register for classes until I went to an all-day seminar teaching us about the dangers of the local wildlife. It took the full 8 hours, and I had to get a card stamped to prove I showed up, then hand it over to the registrar, who in turn lifted the hold on my online account so I could register.
Eh, you get used to it.