I MADE IT TO AUSTRALIA!!!!!! Wow, what an adventure the past few days have been! All the flights over here took f.o.r.e.v.e.r! I left around 12:30 in the afternoon on monday & got here wednesday at 8:00 a.m. What a beautiful flight it is on the way over here. I could've done without all the lay overs, but it's been soo worth it. It was about a 15 hour plane ride... Not as bad as I thought considering I had a human australian encyclopedia sitting right next to me. So now I know everything I wanted to know... and more about australia! We all got in the first day & battled customs. Took a bit to get out, but we fought through it. It's really been great adventure so far. The orienatation is pretty chill. Yesterday we were all battling to stay awake. Our guides gave us our phones, fed us lunch & took us out to dinner as well. I tried kangaroo for the first time... as well as the rest of our table! There's about 20 of us going to james cook university with the exception of 2 guys. After dinner a few of us went to a couple bars, bar century & the bank of australia. The bars here are nothing like america... and neither is the beer. A popular beer they drink over here is called "pure blonde". Taste sort of like carbonated apple cider? Really weird, so we all tried another beer called oscars lager. Much better, but still a very distinct taste. The bank of america bar was really, really cool. It was about 5 levels with live bands. Not too packed, but very entertaining! They played music we all enjoyed.. alternative//reggae. We only stayed til ten then walked back to our place, right across the street. We're staying at the world tower in the heart of sydney. SO JET LAGGED. However, the coffee has done an immaculate job keeping us awake. The coffee absolutely phenomenal here. Apparently, aussie's brought starbucks over here to see how it'd do & they couldn't keep the business going because it's so awful to them! Any little coffee shop here beats starbucks by a long shot. Yes, starbucks sucks.
Today we had a 3 hour walking tour of sydney & stopped for lunch to have meat pies... new addiction. Meat pies are a big australian tradition//icon over here. Kind of like america with hot dogs. Same deal. A meat pie is a puff little pastry with meat, mashed potatoes, mush peas & gravy. There's a vegetarian kind & a few others, but the traditional pie is the best. Really good & simple. We ate at a harbor right at the water. After lunch we went to an animal park. We, finally, saw kangaroo's & koala's!! They're so freakin adorable. We got to feed them & take more pictures than needed. Such a touristy day! Now, we're back at the place hanging at our hotel... paying to use the internet. 5 dollars an hour, so dumb. Australia is sooo behind on technology, it's rather annoying. Our phones... slide... with ABC texting. Oh, aaand they're nokia. Really? No swype texting?! Ugh. Haha. So, essentially, it takes about 15 minutes to write a little e-mail. Ohhh well.
Ryan & I just got to skype for the first time! It was really good to see him, it's so hard being on the complete opposite side of the world. I know he's keeping really busy though with work & school. It's always nice to catch up though :) So odd that he's going to bed right in the middle of my day over here. I really miss my boy!
Well... Me & 2 other girls (kat & karen) are going out for thai tonight! Number one cuisine in Australia, apparently! Shower time. Until later :)
