Program Orientation in Cairns and now to Brisbane

            Sorry for the delay of the blog.  I have been kind of busy and had limited access to the internet since getting to Australia.  I wrote the first entry on word while chilling in the airport.  I am now in Brisbane, Australia, where I will be living and studying.  But I will try to catch you all up on my past week in a half since I got to the Land Down Unda!!

            So my 15 hour flight from LAX to Melbourne went pretty well.  I watched a movie, slept 8 hours, watched another movie, and then it was over!  I got to Cairns around 8pm on February 11^th.  This was the day before the group flight for my program showed up so I was on my own for the night.  I showered and went straight to bed.  The next day, I decided to walk into and explore Cairns on my own so that I could also convert my American dollars into Australian dollars, which are much more colorful and also waterproof.  They also have 2 dollar and 1 dollar coins so I now carry around a lot more change than normal.  Oh and I woke up at 7am that morning, which I know will shock most of you.  So by the afternoon the group showed up and I lucked out with getting the family suite with 4 other girls rather than the dorm rooms.  For the rest of the day we had some introductory information sessions and that night everyone was too tired to go out so we all got a good night of sleep. 

Aboriginal Dancers

            The next day, the 13^th, we were bussed to the rainforest outside of Cairns where I got to pet a kangaroo, hold a snake and koala, go on a ride around the rainforest that felt like the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland with an outback Aussie guy, watch an Aboriginal Dance performance, learn how to throw a boomerang, and play a didgeridoo.  Basically, it was a day of doing every single stereotypical Australian thing you can think of.  It was a fun and exciting day!  That night, I went out to eat with my friends Molly, Finley, and Emily and then Emily and I decided it was time to check out the Australian bar scene since the drinking age is 18 here.  Although, I was also excited to find out that turning 21 is also a big deal in Australia, which I will be doing in uhh, 2 weeks from today…but you all know I am not the type to count down my birthday… J 

Cairns from the Rainforest

Emily, Me, and Molly Volunteering!

            Monday was Community Day, so we went to a nearby beach where we pulled weeds and planted 200 trees with Conservation Volunteers Australia.  It was a very hot and humid day so we took breaks often and reapplied sunscreen religiously…which is quite necessary when there is no O-Zone layer.  Oh and my dad will be happy to hear that I was actually complimented on my weeding and shoveling skills.  I apparently dug the perfect wholes for our trees to be planted in.  It would be cool to someday come back and visit that beach to see how the trees I planted have grown.  After that we had more information sessions on Australia and then had the night free.  So naturally we went out again and Emily and I practically became locals at our favorite bar in Cairns, The Woolshed, which Emily kept accidently calling The Woolslayer.  Maybe a future business idea??

My cute blue protector suit

Mimi, Me, and Emily

Just snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef

            Tuesday, the 15^th, was by far the best day of the week in Cairns and one of the coolest days I have ever had.  It was our Reef Day where we spent the entire day out on a boat exploring the Great Barrier Reef.  Snorkeling was included in our prepaid expenses but I decided to pay the extra to try scuba diving.  If there is one place in the world that is worth paying more to scuba, I think it is safe to say it is the Great Barrier Reef.  It was definitely the best 70 bucks I have ever spent.  Although the reef is a little damaged from the recent cyclone Yassi that hit the area, it was still absolutely amazing.  We got into some super attractive blue skintight suits to protect us from jellyfish stings and got strapped up.  I was happy that I got to dive with my friends Mimi and Emily, and we had a really funny instructor that we joked with all day.  I am not going to lie, the entire time I was scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef, I was replaying and quoting Finding Nemo in my head.  It was awesome…fin, noggin, duuuuuude.  After 30 minutes under the sea, my friends and I laid out and relaxed on our boat.  Our boat sat in the middle of the ocean where no land was visible, 360 degrees of the blue sea.  The sky and the water were so blue and beautiful that it was hard to figure out where the water ended and the sky began.  It was breathtaking.  We then moved to a different sight on the reef were my friends and I snorkeled around or just waded in the 70 degree clear water with the fishies.  I was a little bummed though because I had not seen any Nemos, or as other people call them, clown fish.  I then asked my scuba instructor to please point me in the direction of Nemo and after about 20 minutes of searching, we all began screaming “NEMOOOOOOO!” with our snorkels still in as we found one lone clown fish, who was obviously THE Nemo.  I was really excited.  After this, we headed back into Cairns and also into an intense rain and wind storm.  We had an Aussie BBQ back at the hotel and then hung out for the night.  Basically, the coolest day ever.

            The final day in Cairns was Adventure Day but I had chosen not to pay for one of the ones offered and was happy to find that my friends Sara, Mimi, and Emily hadn’t either.  We all adventured into town to get souvenirs and ended up at the mall, partially for the air conditioning and well, because we are girls.  It was nice to have a little down time after waking up early and being on the go for a few days straight.  We had a Pasta Night with our program and then everyone went out for our last night in Cairns even though we had early flights to Brisbane.  We went back to The Woolshed and made some new friends who we plan to meet up with in Brisbane when they visit here in a week or two.

            On Thursday morning, we left Cairns and I finally got to my new home, Brisbane, or Brissy.  I was originally supposed to live in the International House on The University of Queensland campus but it was badly damaged by the floods that hit Brisbane and a lot of Queensland around Christmas time.  I am now living in a new apartment complex in South Bank of Brisbane called Urbanest.  It is all students and a lot of international students, but still some Australians.  It is really nice and very modern.  I am in a 6 person apartment with 5 other AustraLearn program people.  We each have our own room and full bathroom, we share the living and kitchen area.  It seems to be working out well and everyone is really nice.  My friend Mimi, from orientation is living the floor below me and we made some other American friends in the elevator our first day who are really cool and that we have hung out and gone out with.  Everyone just seems to be really nice and eager to go out and have fun here, which is really cool.  Yesterday, Friday, we went to campus for the first time and got our ID cards and transportation cards.  I am about a 10-15 minutes bus ride from campus, and the bus stop is literally right outside my building.  The UQ campus is gorgeous with sandstone buildings and doesn’t seem to have suffered too much damage from the floods, minus the I-House building.  We did some grocery shopping and such too.  There are a lot of different birds and creatures around here to get used to.  There is a bird called an Ibis, which is the devil.  Mimi and I already had to run away from it as it started to steal Mimi’s sandwich and followed us...it has like a 6 inch long scary beak and is everywhere.  But anyways, later that night, a big group of us from Urbanest went out to the Valley, which is an area of Brisbane with a lot of bars, clubs, and great night life.  It was really cool and fun! 

Walkway through South Bank

View of Brisbane from South Bank

And today, I have basically just been finishing getting settled in to my room and putting up some pictures to make it feel more homey.  I have a limited internet plan at the moment so I can’t skype right now but will let you all know when I can!!  If, you actually made it all the way the end of this, congrats!  Haha.  I will try to update as much as possible and stay in contact so long as I am not attacked by a huge bird!  J