Welcome to Australia

I have finally arrived in Australia!!! It has been a lot of fun and I am still questioning the fact that I have to go to work on Monday. Here is a little bit of what I have been up to.

Flying--Flying this much was not fun at all!!! The flight over to LA was not to bad, i watched some movies and did a little work. I got the LAX and met up with some of the other interns. The plane to Brisbane was huge, I sat in the aisle which was really nice, especially since it was dark and not much to see out the window. The 14 hours really wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I stayed up for dinner (that was served at like 4am on east coast time) and then slept on and off until about there was 4 or 5 hours left on the flight. We then got to Brisbane and had to go through customs, no problems and got all my luggage, only one girl lost one bag. Finally we left for Cairns. The view out the window was absolutely gorgeous, you could see a lot of the great barrier reef. Finally we landed in Cairns after the longest time traveling.

Cairns--We got settled in at the backpackers hotel, had lunch and got our phone. We then went to our first internship session, just to learn about some basic stuff and then off to dinner as a group at a local brewery. I ordered my first legal drink and had a beer with dinner. We all went back to the hotel and passed out. The next morning we were all up bright and early to head out to the reef. We had breakfast beforehand at the hotel and our options included raisin bran, bread (not toast just bread), hard boiled eggs, and spaghetti (which I heard tasted just like spaghetti-o's...weird!) We then headed out to the reef. The boat ride was really cool going out and there was a nice breeze so it was not too hot. We went out about 2 hours from shore. We had the option to go snorkeling or scuba diving. I decided to go scuba diving. It was SO cool. The first place we went, I was in a group and was attached to the instructor the whole time and then the second time I was allowed to go by myself with the instructor. It was absolutely amazing to swim right with all the fish and touch some of the coral and sea anemones. I even saw a couple Nemo's and a small shark. The sites were absolutely amazing and so gorgeous. There are no words to describe absolutely how amazing the sites were. I am so glad I went scuba diving! We took about 2.5 hours to get back and it was a little choppy, which did not settle with me very well. Finally we made it back to shore! We had another short session and then all went out. We went to this bar/club at another backpackers hotel. It was a lot of fun just to hang out with all of the interns and meet some of the locals and people form other countries. I finally went back to the hotel around 1 and had to pack my bags and then get up at 3:00 to catch at 5:15 flight to Sydney.

Sydney--Our flight to Sydney was quick, I fell asleep right away and even missed the breakfast that was served. Qantas serves meals on almost every single flight, which is nice, but at the same time I kind of miss my bag of pretzels I get on southwest. I got lucky and had a really cool view of the Sydney Harbor when we were flying in. After sitting around and waiting to find our ride, we got to our apartment. However, we got there around 9:30 and had no clue how to get in. We sat outside with all of our luggage calling a bunch of different numbers and after about 30-45 minutes we got in. Our rooms are nice, we all have our own room and our own bathroom. The only downfall, my room is FREEZING cold. Apparently heat is too expensive here and not a lot people have it. When I was told to bring warm clothes to sleep in, they weren't kidding. I took a shower this afternoon (my first hot and long shower since the states), but I was still freezing and shivering. I went out and did a little exploring of the area around the hotel and got some little things I needed. Tomorrow we are going grocery shopping and hopefully figuring out the bus situation.

I still cannot believe that I am here in Australia and I am pretty sure it still has not hit me that I am staying here for 10 weeks. It also feels that I am still on a long weekend, I think my first couple days of work will put that back into reality. It is also a little colder than I thought, I knew it would be winter, but it was really warm in Cairns and now I am quite chilly. A couple of other things I have noticed since being here. They don't do ketchup...it has been a hard adjustment. I have to remember to look left first when crossing the street. I keep getting confused when I look into the road and see people on the left side of the car staring at me instead of staring at the road and forgetting they are the passengers. I have barely seen any of the stereotypical really cute, blond hair, surfer, Australian. Heating is a luxury I will be so thankful to have back! Finally, I hate to disappoint, but every toilet I have flushed just goes straight...there is no swirling. I will keep you up to date if I find one that swirls the other way, but as of right now I have yet to find it.

Well, i am off to bed. I will try to upload some pictures soon, but right now it is not working.