My first few days in the Land Down Under

Hello friends and family!

My apologies for the delay in beginning this blog; everything has been pretty hectic and I haven't had much down time. Due to my lack of time/motivation the past few days, this entry will be rather long but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. Cheers! (my attempt at being Australian).

After 22 hours worth of flying and missing a day of my life, I have made it safely to the opposite side of the world! I have experienced so many amazing things, met a lot of great people, and finally got settled into my rather tiny apartment. I will take you through my journey thus far.

I arrived in Cairns (pronounced "cans") on Tuesday, February 10, which would have been Monday for all of you, for our week of orientation. Upon arrival, we had hardly any time to relax and get settled. We actually only had 45 minutes for all six people in the room to shower and get ready to be on time for our meetings and dinner (and yes, all six girls in my room made it on time). We stayed in a backpackers resort (similar to a hostel) that turned into a club scene at night, so after the meetings and dinner were over, we all walked downstairs and went to the club. I didn't stay out too late the first night since I was pretty exhausted from flying and we had to get up at 5:30 the next morning to go to the Great Barrier Reef. While at the club, the DJ began a game of Simon Says, in which I did not participate for good reasons (though I did take some great pictures). This was not an ordinary game of Simon Says, it was actually Simon Says - sex positions. The DJ would say a sex position, and the team (all the teams were 2 guys for some reason) who did not get in the position the fastest was out. Yeah...Australians are crazy, but very entertaining.

On Wednesday, our group got to go see one of the natural wonders of the world. On the 45 minute boat ride out to the reef, nearly everyone got sick, even after we all took the seasick pills. I was fortunate enough to not fall victim to actually getting sick, but I really thought I was going to at one point and walked around with a white paper bag (I'm not really sure if I was actually seasick or if I was just nauseated by everyone else getting sick all around me). Once the boat stopped it was a lot better and we all got to put on our scuba gear on. So yeah, I got to scuba dive and snorkel the Great Barrier Reef! It was one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced. I was really sad that I didn't get to see a sea turtle (a lot of people in my group did), but I did see a baby shark, a stingray, a sea cucumber, a TON of colorful fish (including Nemo and Dori!), a giant clam, and of course coral. I accidentally backhanded a fish while I was swimming through the reef. I felt kind of bad, but I'm sure it's fine...or at least I hope it is.

On Thursday we went to Rainforestation, which is a touristic rainforest experience (or so I have deemed it). There were many activities here with a very tasty buffet lunch - I have never had better fruit in my life. We rode on Army Ducks throughout the paths and rivers of the rainforest, watched an Aboriginal performance, fed/pet/took pictures with kangaroos, and took a picture holding a koala bear. After the performance, the Aboriginals taught us how to throw a boomerang (I was no good - it went straight up, hit a tree, and then came right back down) and they also taught us how to play the didgeridoo (again, I sucked. Sorry to disapoint you, Nate).

After we got back from Rainforestation, a bunch of us went out to a club down the street having ladies night with free champagne, which was right up my alley! It was our last night out in Cairns, so nearly everyone went and it was a lot of fun. It was here that I lost my camera (or moreso it got stolen, though it was completely my fault). My friends, Gabi and Alison, and I asked a guy to take a picture of us. After the picture, us three girls started talking and forgot to get my camera back (very responsible) and I'm assuming the guy just walked off since we couldn't find him or the camera anywhere. Luckily I uploaded all my pictures right before we went out. So surprise...I am now on camera #5!

We left for Sydney Friday morning and arrived in the late afternoon. I didn't really see much of Sydney the first day since I was trying to get situated in my apartment. I did go across the street to K-Mart, along with everyone else, to buy everything I needed for my room. So my first day explorations of Sydney consisted of me walking across the street to K-Mart and back...so exciting. My apartment is pretty small, but I don't have roommates so it works out well. It's a two level loft apartment; the desk, TV, bathroom, and kitchen (which consists of a sink, mini fridge, and microwave) are on the main level, then there's a spiral staircase that goes up to my bed and closet. The spiral staircase looks really cool, but I've found it to be quite dangerous. They're really narrow and steep and I will most likely fall one day and break something, so just be prepared for that situation to occur. So far I've been safe and haven't injured myself, but i'm not ruling out the possibility.

I went out and explored a little bit of Sydney with my friend, Gabi, on Saturday. We went to lunch and walked around all the shops on the streets near our apartments. While we were in a boutique, the girl who was working was talking with us for a while and then gave us her number and invited us to go out with her for the night to downtown for a "no boys allowed" anti-Valentine's Day party. We called her up and attempted to meet up with her, but we went to the wrong bar and then couldn't get into the bar she was at because it was full. We still had a ton of fun and ended up finding people through our study abraod program at another bar with a live band that played all American 90's music. It was like I was at a middle school dance again - it was great. Apparently the bars don't close here. I was waiting for the bar to close and for all of us to get kicked out, but 4:00 am rolled around and everyone is still dancing to the music and clearly not stopping any time soon. We all finally decided to go home and go to bed around 4:30 am.

Today, which is Sunday, a bunch of us went out to lunch and then went to explore the campus. It is absolutely beautiful (for my fellow Harry Potter fans, it looks like Hogwarts!) and absolutely huge. I'm going to get so lost walking to my classes. Hopefully I'll be able to figure out where they all are and memorize it before classes start on March 2. It sounds like an easy feat, but I'm not so sure. Gay/Lesbian Mardi Gras started today, so a bunch of us went to that festival, but we didn't last too long since it started down-pouring. The festival goes on until March 7, so there's still plenty of time to experience it. This evening/night, we all went on the roof the apartment complex, and it is a huge BBQ area with a fantatsic view of downtown. We stood up there for hours talking, eating, and sipping on wine while looking at the skyline. I'm sure I'll be spending a lot of nights up there, it really is an incredible view.

So that has been the past 5 days of my life. It's crazy to think of all the things I have already done. Hopefully the weather will clear up pretty soon - it's been raining in Sydney since we've gotten here - so I can go explore more of Sydney and go to the beaches! We have 3 days of orientation at the University this week and then we have free time until classes start. I haven't seen any spiders nor large bugs lingering around my apartment. When I was helping Gabi unpack and get settled into her apartment, there was this bug of some sort crawling up her wall. It was really fast and it flew whenever we tried to kill it. We, of course, were screaming the entire time and were really freaked out. Don't worry though, Gabi killed it and we were not injured in any way.

I'll keep you all posted as I continue on my adventure! I hope everything is going well for everyone back at home!

Love,
Whit

P.S. To answer the question you're all dying to ask: No, the toilets do not flush the opposite way. I have yet to see a toilet even swirl when it flushes; they all just shoot straight down. Sorry for that disappointing answer.