Guess what? I'm in Australia!!!
Finally made it to Australia. After months and months of planning, I'm finally here! Want to hear about the journey? okay, here goes....
February 2- left Washington D.C. Very nice airport employee gave me two passes so that my parents could come with me and see me off from the gate. On the shuttle bus over we sat next to another guy who was also going on the same flight to Australia, with the same study abroad program. Nice guy, very nervous about the flight. The actual flight from IAD to LAX wasn't bad... especially considering that I sat next to an adorable Australian surfer, who was returning to Australia as well from a 5 week surfing trip to Brazil. He was from outside Sydney, and we spent most of the plane ride talking. I think I may have actually pissed off the older guy in front of us from laughing too hard. Oh well.
Anyways, next was LAX, which sucked. Alex (the Australearn boy) and I said good bye to Matt (surfer guy) and went to find our terminal. Took us awhile, then we went and found food in the international terminal. Went back to the Qantas terminal and sat around awhile with a bunch of other Australearn kids waiting to check in. It was nice to be able to meet some new people before the flight . Then a group of 6 of us went and had dinner at Chilis, then everyone made their tearful goodbye phone calls while we waiting to board the flight. FINALLY at around 10:30 pm we boarded the Qantas 747 (painted with aboriginal art!!) and settled in for the 14:20 hour flight. I had an aisle seat, which was nice, and sat next to a very nice Australian girl, also from Sydney. She was returning from Las Vegas where she has spent two weeks studying at the LVI dental institute. The flight really went by quite quickly, if you can believe it. I slept for over half of it, and watched movies/friends episodes for the rest of the time. Qantas planes are very nice, you have your own TV monitor and remote, so you can watch whatever you want!
Okay, then we finally landed in Sydney, a little late and had to hurry through security to make our connecting flight to Cairns. The flight to Cairns was nice, I had no one next to me, so that was wonderful!!! I slept for most of the plane ride, and woke up in beautiful, sunny, albeit very hot Cairns!!!!
so grand total: 3 planes, 22 hours, 3 airports, 4 bottles of water, and 4 inflight movies later I am finally in Australia!
Cairns is beautiful, very tropical. If you're trying to find it on the map, look at the top right, near the great barrier reef. The people here are fantastic. I've met a lot of great people, and the 6 of us who are goign to ANU have formed a very laid back, easy going group. It's great! The first day we arrived (yesterday, the 4th) was a very long day. We got to Australia at 8 am, and somehow I managed to stay awake until almost 10:00 pm. We were transported to our hostel (the Serpent- very nice, not what I expected from a hostel!!) and unfortunately my bags didnt make it to Cairns. They couldnt fit 40 bags onto the flight, so mine arrived a little later at the hostel. Which was crap, because it was 33 degrees Celsius here and I was in jeans and a t-shirt. But we had a couple orientation sessions, then some of us walked along the bay a bit, then had dinner and then took a shower and crashed out!
Today was up at 6:30, which sounds early but when you're jet lagged, it wasnt too bad (3:30 pm VT time!). Had a sketchy breakfast, another orientation session, then went to the Cairns tropical zoo. that was a lot of fun, but way too hot. We went around and had our picture taken with a koala and watched the croc feeding show. Saw some other Aussie animals (kookaburras, wombats, dingos, etc) and then had about enough of the heat and went to the gift shop to cool down. Then after that it was off to the Aboriginal park where we saw a dance performance and learned how to throw a boomerang and a spear. Needless to say, I was crap at the boomerang, but the spear throwing was fun. Again, way too hot, so its nice to be sitting in the internet lounge in the AC! Next.. who knows, maybe goign into cairns a little later and getting something to eat.
tomorrow's plan: early morning breakfast, then all day on the Great barrier reef! I cant tell you how excited I am about this!!! We get to snorkel and scuba if we want. I'll post more tomorrow.
If you read this, please leave a comment so I can get an idea of who's checking it! I would love to hear from everyone! My email box was depressingly empty!
Love and miss you all!!!!!!
Lo
February 2- left Washington D.C. Very nice airport employee gave me two passes so that my parents could come with me and see me off from the gate. On the shuttle bus over we sat next to another guy who was also going on the same flight to Australia, with the same study abroad program. Nice guy, very nervous about the flight. The actual flight from IAD to LAX wasn't bad... especially considering that I sat next to an adorable Australian surfer, who was returning to Australia as well from a 5 week surfing trip to Brazil. He was from outside Sydney, and we spent most of the plane ride talking. I think I may have actually pissed off the older guy in front of us from laughing too hard. Oh well.
Anyways, next was LAX, which sucked. Alex (the Australearn boy) and I said good bye to Matt (surfer guy) and went to find our terminal. Took us awhile, then we went and found food in the international terminal. Went back to the Qantas terminal and sat around awhile with a bunch of other Australearn kids waiting to check in. It was nice to be able to meet some new people before the flight . Then a group of 6 of us went and had dinner at Chilis, then everyone made their tearful goodbye phone calls while we waiting to board the flight. FINALLY at around 10:30 pm we boarded the Qantas 747 (painted with aboriginal art!!) and settled in for the 14:20 hour flight. I had an aisle seat, which was nice, and sat next to a very nice Australian girl, also from Sydney. She was returning from Las Vegas where she has spent two weeks studying at the LVI dental institute. The flight really went by quite quickly, if you can believe it. I slept for over half of it, and watched movies/friends episodes for the rest of the time. Qantas planes are very nice, you have your own TV monitor and remote, so you can watch whatever you want!
Okay, then we finally landed in Sydney, a little late and had to hurry through security to make our connecting flight to Cairns. The flight to Cairns was nice, I had no one next to me, so that was wonderful!!! I slept for most of the plane ride, and woke up in beautiful, sunny, albeit very hot Cairns!!!!
so grand total: 3 planes, 22 hours, 3 airports, 4 bottles of water, and 4 inflight movies later I am finally in Australia!
Cairns is beautiful, very tropical. If you're trying to find it on the map, look at the top right, near the great barrier reef. The people here are fantastic. I've met a lot of great people, and the 6 of us who are goign to ANU have formed a very laid back, easy going group. It's great! The first day we arrived (yesterday, the 4th) was a very long day. We got to Australia at 8 am, and somehow I managed to stay awake until almost 10:00 pm. We were transported to our hostel (the Serpent- very nice, not what I expected from a hostel!!) and unfortunately my bags didnt make it to Cairns. They couldnt fit 40 bags onto the flight, so mine arrived a little later at the hostel. Which was crap, because it was 33 degrees Celsius here and I was in jeans and a t-shirt. But we had a couple orientation sessions, then some of us walked along the bay a bit, then had dinner and then took a shower and crashed out!
Today was up at 6:30, which sounds early but when you're jet lagged, it wasnt too bad (3:30 pm VT time!). Had a sketchy breakfast, another orientation session, then went to the Cairns tropical zoo. that was a lot of fun, but way too hot. We went around and had our picture taken with a koala and watched the croc feeding show. Saw some other Aussie animals (kookaburras, wombats, dingos, etc) and then had about enough of the heat and went to the gift shop to cool down. Then after that it was off to the Aboriginal park where we saw a dance performance and learned how to throw a boomerang and a spear. Needless to say, I was crap at the boomerang, but the spear throwing was fun. Again, way too hot, so its nice to be sitting in the internet lounge in the AC! Next.. who knows, maybe goign into cairns a little later and getting something to eat.
tomorrow's plan: early morning breakfast, then all day on the Great barrier reef! I cant tell you how excited I am about this!!! We get to snorkel and scuba if we want. I'll post more tomorrow.
If you read this, please leave a comment so I can get an idea of who's checking it! I would love to hear from everyone! My email box was depressingly empty!
Love and miss you all!!!!!!
Lo
posted by Lauren @ 2/05/2005 04:35:00 PM
2 Comments:
At February 6, 2005 at 5:07 AM,
Anonymous said…
hiit's your mom, it sounds like you are having the time of your life - watch out for those aussie boys!! we are looking forward to talking to you again - which I presume will be sometime after you get to Canberra. Ginger, moe and tori are missing you. Dad and Dan at basketball game - they will be home too soon!!! so far nazi Dan has not raided the cupboard but I am sure it is only a matter of time. I am thinking you have done the snorkeling at the barrier reef at this point - I hope it was great and cooling. I'll keep checking the web site and my emails Dad was the first one to find this. I love you and miss you, but somehow knowing you are having the experience of your life has made it easier for me to take, of course it is only day 3! I found your card, you are most welcome and thank YOU for beong my best friend as well.
love and hugs and kisses forever, mom
At February 7, 2005 at 3:26 PM,
Anonymous said…
Laurie,
I love you!! It's so awesome to hear that youre having a great time so far!!! Oh and I bet the plane rides were the best part!! Hahaha just kidding. Thats awesome that youve met people and already formed a little bond. So now where you are staying now isnt where the school is is it? When are you headed there? I havent read your other blog entry yet, but I wanted to say hi since I wasnt online at 6 am. ok gotta run. I will talk to you soon!!
Post a Comment
<< Home