Hello from Australia!

It has been very difficult to get internet access, so this will be a long update from the past few days! I left on February 2 at 10 am Central time, and arrived in Australia at 8 am Australia time on the 4th. It was such a weird experience to have no idea of the time! Leaving was a really weird experience. I think that I put the whole idea of studying abroad so far in the back of my head in the last few days that it really didn’t hit me at all. I think I held myself together pretty well. I think most of you would be proud how little I actually cried- I tend to be a mess! My flight from MSP to Dallas, and Dallas to LA were both pretty uneventful. When I arrived in LA is when everything started to go down hill. I was extremely exhausted, but didn’t want to fall asleep so that I would be able to sleep on the flight. I had a five hour layover, there were NO outlets to charge my computer and there was no wi-fi (Of all places, why would LA not have wi-fi at their airport?), and I had a pounding headache. Not fun. The flight from LA to Brisbane was really uneventful. It was 14 hours long and I slept about 6 of them, watched a few . We landed in Brisbane, and then had to hop on another flight to Cairns. We moved into our hostel in Cairns, where we are spending a week.

The first night here was pretty low key. We went swimming, had our first orientation session, and got dinner at a brewery. We were so exhausted, we all decided it was best to stay in for the night. Here is a photo of part of the group at the brewery.


Yesterday, we went to the Rainforestation, a nature park in Kuranda. There were kangaroos laying all over the park, as if they were dogs! It was the strangest thing. They were all just lounging around with humans surrounding them. At the park, we went on a duck boat ride, saw an aboriginal dance show, took pictures with a snake, kangaroo and koala, and saw the crocodiles being fed. Last night we went to out to dinner at a place called The Wool Shed, had a few drinks, and danced! A group of us headed out around 11pm, as we had to get up early today!



Today a group of us went four wheeling up in Kuranda. I am used to four wheeling up at the cabin, but it was really fun to be able to fly through huge mud puddles and down a creek. Tonight we are heading to dinner with the group, and probably out for the evening!

Tomorrow we will be doing a community day, then a day on the Great Barrier reef, and finally heading back to Brisbane on Tuesday. I have been wasting money the last hour trying to add photos to this blog, but they aren't uploading, so check back soon! Until next time!
Xoxo.