FINALLY HERE!!! :)

AHHHHH so my lifelong dream of going to Australia has finally come true! I still can't believe I'm actually here though, it feels so surreal. I wake up everyday in the same state of disbelief that I'm actually in AUSTRALIA! But I am and it's absolutely positively MAGICAL! And so I decided to write a blog to keep everyone from home updated, and because I think it'll be amazing for me to be able to read it later on down the road. I've never kept a blog, and I'm sure it won't be nearly as entertaining as Megan's, but here goes the first post...

After my ninth magical summer at Camp Highlander, I came home to pack and get ready for Australia. Packing wasn't nearly as hard as I imagined it being, especially with Cari's help. Saying my goodbyes was the hard part. I had already had to say goodbye to Katie and Megan before camp, which made it a tiny bit easier, but saying goodbye to my dad and everybody else in the days before I left was really sad. My mom took me to the airport Thursday July 12th, with my two huge bags. I was so worried they would be over the weight limit (50 pounds), but when the woman at the airport weighed them one was 46lb and one was 50.0! So lucky! After we checked in my baggage, I had to say goodbye to my mom, which was the toughest goodbye. Even at school I text my mom on a daily basis, and talk to her on the phone a couple times a week, and always know that she and my dad are only 2 hours away from me if I ever need anything. So saying goodbye to her was extremely hard but she assured me that the time would fly by and that she was so proud of me for going. So then I went and got on the plane to Dallas, Texas. That flight was only 2 or 3 hours and the man I sat next to was really nice. Then after about an hour layover I got on the plane to LA. That flight wasn't too bad either.

The view out of the window on the way to Dallas!

The LA airport was really confusing. Mr. Downing called me and told me he got me a pass to one of the lounges, but unfortunately that didn't work out (Mr. Downing, if you're reading this thank you so much again!). Eventually I met up with the other University of the Sunshine Coast (USC) study abroad students. We all talked about how excited we were and then some of us went to Chili's for our last American meal. We boarded the plane a little before midnight. When I got on the plane and heard the flight attendants' Australian accents my smile got bigger than it's ever been- I was actually on my way to AUSTRALIA! I sat next to my new friend Megan from PA and a guy from New Jersey. The flight was 13 hours and was bad but not as awful as I was expecting. Each seat had a TV in the back of it so I watched "Jane's Journey" (a movie about Jane Goodall) and "The Lucky One", and slept periodically. I took half of a sleeping pill but it still felt like it was impossible to sleep, which was pretty miserable. During the last 2 hours of the flight I just watched the little plane icon on the tv as it very slowly moved across the map and headed to Brisbane and listened to music (Dr. K I listened to "Pacific Ocean Blues" (which you introduced me to!) because we were over the Pacific Ocean for the first time in my life haha, and Papa Sheild, if you're reading this, I listened to "Carolina Girls" which always reminds me of how you used to sing that at the top of your lungs on our car rides up to Wild Dunes!). I was so excited I could hardly stand those last few hours!

This picture doesn't do any justice- the view from the plane window a half hour before we arrived in Brisbane was BEAUTIFUL! Sunrise above the clouds- SO cool!!!

When the pilot announced that we had arrived I cheered louder than everyone else. I tried to get a picture with the pilot as we got off but he was upstairs (yes, the plane was 2 stories!!!). Then we waited in the longest line EVER to get through customs and then got our bags and had to go through another customs check. After waiting around for a bit, we met the drivers who were going to take us to our apartment complex, UniCentral. On the bus ride I stuck my head out of the window and took pictures of everything. I was so exhausted and so exhilarated at the same time- I felt like I was living a dream (and I still do)!

Me and Dennis with our heads out the window on the way to UniCentral!

When we got here we had to wait in another extremely long line to talk about our contract for our apartment, and then another line to get our keys. Our apartment is nice- there are four of us in here (although one of our roommates has yet to show up...), and we each have our own room with a full sized bed and our own bathroom. I'll take pictures later and post them on here.

Once we got a little settled in I called my parents to tell them I was alive. Then a group of us decided to run errands. While we were waiting for our bus we walked around campus a little and I saw my first wild KANGAROOS! Two of them had little joeys which were ADORABLE. Seriously so obsessed with them! I got really close to them to take awesome pictures but learned a few days later at orientation that kangaroos, especially the mothers, will kick you, so you're not supposed to get close to them. I'll probably end up doing it again just to get some more magical pictures though!

Anyways, then we headed to the Sunshine Plaza (about a half hour bus ride away) to get phones ($30 prepaid phones that let you text/call other people with Crazy John's phones for free and make international calls for only 3 cents a minute and look like they were made 10 years ago) and groceries. I'm still in complete shock about how much EVERYTHING costs here. It's absolutely ridiculous. Everything is about twice as expensive as in the US. I've heard that minimum wage here is around $18 and that even working at McDonald's gets you $25 an hour, so it's not bad for the people who actually live here, but for us it's awful. I have no idea how to cook so I bought a huge thing of "Rice Bubbles" (same exact thing as Rice Krispies, same brand and everything, just way cooler name!) and Easy Mac and other microwavable foods. Walking back to the bus and then from the bus to our apartments (about a 5-10 minute walk) was SO painful because our bags were so heavy and a lot of people's bags kept breaking. That night I fell asleep at 9 (earliest I've ever gone to bed) and slept like a baby!

 Cool rolling shopping baskets at Target!

Good thing I'm a chef and know how to make lots of fancy meals!

The next day I went to Mooloolaba Beach with my 3 friends- Amy, Lauren, and Cait. I couldn't believe it- I was FINALLY on the beach in AUSTRALIA (there are so many times everyday when I stop and think to myself (or out loud to my friends) that I can't believe I'm actually here!)!!!!! I had wanted to wear a bathing suit but it was too chilly so we were all in jeans. We took a ton of pictures and walked around in the white sand and then sat on the rocks and watched a bunch of surfers. One woman surfer looked to be about 60 or 70 years old and we all agreed that we want to be like her when we're older!

 Amy, Lauren, Cait and me

 The rocks on the beach all look really cool!

 Mooloolaba Beach!

 So many surfers! Can't wait to learn!

 Super cute dog who kept running out into the water to the random surfers!

 People had written their initials and "England" in the sand so we decided to copy them...

 "All the Way from USA" with our initials

 Super cool trees everywhere!

 And birds!

 My $14 meal

 Posing with Steve Irwin and his kids

After sitting on the rocks for a long time, we went up to the area by the beach where the shops are. We all got the cheapest food we could find because we were really hungry (I had a TEN DOLLAR smoothie and a yummy pastry). We also stepped into an art gallery and talked to the man who worked there who was really nice. He moved to Australia about 8 years ago I think and told us the process was difficult but totally worth it- so jealous! That night a ton of us hung out at the "Pav" (pavilion... Aussies like to shorten all of their words haha), which is a building in the middle of our apartment complex with a big tv, pool table, air hockey table, etc.

The next day was the first day of orientation. It was pretty boring and a complete overload of information. There's not really much else to say about it. That night my roommate Helene (I call her Helen and I absolutely love her- she's one of my closest friends here! She's from Paris, which is so cool!) and I watched a movie and then I fell asleep fairly early. I still feel pretty jet-lagged- I've been getting really tired early and waking up early every morning but then forcing myself to go back to sleep... so weird for me!

The next day, yesterday, Helen and I went to a lecture about referencing for papers, and then joined the student guild (an organization that offers lots of perks to students and organizes cool events), signed up for the Australia Zoo trip (tomorrow), the Mojo surf trip (4 days at the end of August where we go to Byron Bay and take surf lessons and relax on the beach!), and I signed up for a rainforest trip (Friday). That got me so super excited!!! We also watched as an aboriginal group played a cool instrument called the didjerido (pronounced didj-er-ee-doo) and danced (so awesome!) and got free cotton candy!

Then, a little while later, we got on the bus and headed back to Mooloolaba. The weather was beautiful, and the beach looks so much more spectacular when the sun is out, so it was amazing. We also went in a few of the shops but didn't buy anything because everything costs so much money. Then we went to Sunshine Plaza and went to Kmart to buy some essentials (boring stuff like shampoo).

 Mooloolaba Beach again- so gorgeous!

So blessed to be here!!! 

 Helen!

 So many seashells! 

 Crazy looking bird by the shops!

Then last night I got to Skype with Mom for the first time since I got here (it was 8:30pm here and 6:30am there- this whole 14 hour time difference is CRAZY!!!). I had been feeling a little homesick and just talking to her and seeing her (beautiful!) face made me feel a lot better. Then Helen made a delicious chicken curry dinner- best meal I've had here by far!

Helen making dinner!

Then last night there was a toga party at a place about 20 minutes away. Lots of people wore togas made out of sheets but sheets here are too expensive to ruin so I just wore a white tshirt with jeans- boring but cheap! We had to take the "party bus" (that's actually what it was called!) to get there, and it was free which was so exciting haha! When we were there I met Alicia. Alicia studied abroad last semester in Spain at the same school as one of my best friends from App, Kelsey. Kelsey had encouraged me to contact Alicia on Facebook and so I did and we've been talking ever since and she's been extremely nice and helpful, so it was super exciting to finally meet her! I also got to meet a few other Australians and got to hang out with a lot of my friends. It's so cool to have friends from all over the world! Along with friends from various states in America, I now have friends from Australia, Paris, Norway, and other awesome places! Now I have another excuse to travel the globe!

Helen, Amy and I had planned on going to the beach today, but when we woke up it was grey, gross, and rainy (Sunshine Coast is a LIE haha!) I was really bummed because I had really been looking forward to a full day on the beach, but instead we just went and ran more errands at the Sunshine Plaza. We bought more groceries (including food for some yummy meals together that Helen will cook for us!) and other essentials. I almost fell asleep on the bus ride back I was so exhausted. Then Helen made dinner (tacos with chicken in them) and it was delicious. It's only 10:51pm now but I'm going to go to bed soon because I'm waking up early to go to the AUSTRALIA ZOO tomorrow! Apparently we get to hold koalas and pet kangaroos (who hopefully won't kick us...). I'M SO EXCITED!!!!! I'm sure I'll be taking more pictures than any of you will ever care to look through, but I'll be uploading them on Facebook and a few on here!

So, as you can tell if you've actually read this whole thing (sorry about all of the details... I have a horrible memory and so I want to have lots of details so when I'm an old lady I can read this and remember every little thing about the best adventure of my life), I'm having an absolutely positively magical time! I have so many people I want to thank for helping my dream become a reality. Most importantly, I want to thank my parents. I know so many people whose parents would never give them this opportunity, much less be half as encouraging as mine are about the whole experience. I will never be able to thank you enough! I also want to thank Liz McCartney, who was the first person to tell me about USC and has been so helpful! Thank you also to the rest of my family, and to my teachers/mentors (especially Dr. K, Ms. Glenn, Mr. Downing, and Mr. T), who have been super supportive about this adventure. Thanks to my friends for letting me leave them for a whole 5 months and for encouraging me to go. THANK YOU EVERYONE!!! :)