Who says there is nothing to do in Newcastle?

RACHEL'S UNI -- No, that's not UNI otherwise known as the University of Northern Iowa. It's Rachel's university or uni for short. She attended the University of Newcastle this fall (remember the seasons are reversed Down Under and yes she had two fall semester and no spring semester during her sophomore year.

In Australia, university is shorten to uni. Breakfast is breckie. Rachel became Rach.

Newcastle was a different experience than the rest of the trip. Here we didn't stay in a hotel or hostel. We lived with Rachel and her flat mates. When we arrived by train late Sunday and walked into her dorm it was clear that this was a college student's home. The filth was incredible. I was pretty sure that Colleen was going to die from the uncleanliness on sight.

But what the Aussies lacked in Pine Sol, they made up ten folds in friendliness. A quick trip down the hall and Rachel returned with two mattresses, pillows and blankets for Colleen and I. All donations from her roommates. I wanted to tell them "thank you," but I wasn't sure how they would chop it shorter.

We visited Newcastle for this experience: to see where Rachel lived for five months, meet her friends and see her campus. Oh, there was another thing -- introduce American food to these Aussies.

We unloaded the bags of Reese's Peanut Butter cups in Rach's room. She opened the first bag and started sharing them. One of the guys, I can't remember his name, had traveled to the United States before and loved Reese's. He said that was the only good about America.

For the rest of the gang, this was their first taste of chocolate and peanut butter together in prepackaged form. It was priceless to watch their reactions. Most said it was good, but you could tell that the candy was too sweet for their tongues. Alan, another one of Rach's mates, ate half and said he would saved the rest for later. That half a peanut butter cup was still sitting in the fridge when I left to fly to Japan.

The other American food Rachel had us haul there was Twizzlers. First they tried the original. Chewy was the verdict. "It tastes like plastic," Sarah, Rachel's friend, said. Really plastic? I took a bite. Yeah it does kind of taste like plastic, but a yummy cherry plastic.

Colleen said she knew they wouldn't like Twizzlers after she tasted Australian licorice. Their licorice, which comes in mango, green apple and raspberry flavors, is chewy, but soft with a more subtle sugar flavor. The fruit flavors are much stronger. I brought several bags of it back with me.

Next up? The Pull and Peal Twizzlers. Rachel tried to describe this junk food staple to the Aussies and they couldn't grasp it. They said it must be like string cheese. Again they were right. Sort of.

So they weren't impressed with American food. Oh well.

My six packages of Tim Tams (an Australia chocolate cookies) were already packed in my suitcase. I was bringing the best of Australia back with me to share. Mmmm. Tim Tams.