Back from Cairns!....best vacation of my life

Hey everyone!

Got back from Cairns on Friday--sorry it's taken me so long to update this. I'm sure you've all been checking this hourly to see if I've written anything--it's okay, I get it :)
So on Monday we got up at 5am to go to the airport for our 7am flight to Cairns. We got in around 9:15 (it's an hour earlier there). The hostel we stayed at (Nomads Serpent) provided complimentary shuttle service from the airport so we called them up and arrived at the hostel about 20 minutes later. We checked it and got to our room which had an...interesting...smell to put it nicely. Although we tried to mask the smell with hairspray and sunscreen, the moldy/wet dog/gym sock smell stayed and we learned to get used to it. Luckily we had air conditioning in our room which helped, especially since it was 100 degrees everyday!

We were about a 5 minute drive from the esplanade which had all kinds of cool little shops and delish restaurants. There wasn't really any beach that we could go to but there was a man-made, public lagoon which was amazing and perfect for cooling off in. Monday and Tuesday were mostly spent lounging around by the lagoon (rough life, i know).


Wednesday we took a boat cruise out to the Great Barrier Reef at 7:30am. (p.s. I advise against drinking the night before you have to be on a boat at 7:30 in the morning...) It was a little cloudy at first but as soon as we got a little farther out the sun came out and we had amazing weather. I've never seen more beautiful water in my life. The boat crew was so much fun and not bad to look at either. We even nicknamed one "curly" on account of his curly hair...creative I know (see picture...gorgeous). The boat took us to two reef locations. The first one was alright--couldn't really see much but the water was so warm and I've never snorkled in the ocean before so that was an experience...a little scary at first, but eventually I got used to it. We stayed there about an hour and then went on to the second location which was so cool. We were only a few feet above the reef and I even touched it a few time (don't tell anyone, I think it's illegal). We saw all kinds of really cool, colorful fish including NEMO!...yep...the real, live, non-animated nemo. On the boat ride back we got complimentary cheese and wine..delish! We also got complimentary sunburns which were NOT advertised on the brochure...sad :(

We went out the night and met up with a couple of the guys who worked on the boat which was a lot of fun. The hostel also runs a bar in town and gives free shuttle rides to and from the bar until 3am which is very convinient and best of all FREE!

Thursday Becca, Emily, Lauren and I went white water rafting for half a day. Our guide was, surprise, surprise, really good looking which made it much more fun. Em and I almost fell in a couple times, but no big deal, we made it out alive. At one point we had to get out of the rafts alongside the river and walk along the rocks because that stretch of river was way too rocky and the water was moving so fast that the guides couldn't take us down it. We were out for about 2 horus on the river and it was the only day it rained (even though the forcast called for thunderstorms the whole week) which was fine because we were SOAKED anyway. Since it was out last night we went out to dinner at this really good Italian restaurant. Ate and spent too much, but it was so worth it. Staying at the hostel for $14/night allowed for a little splurging :)

We got back Friday afternoon. All in all I'd have to say that this was the best vacation I have ever been on and it's going to hard to top. It's strange because I've only know the girls I went with for a few days, but we've grown so close and we have so much fun together. I'm really glad I met people on my trip that I actually like since I really don't like that many people...haha. Classes start tomorrow and I have yet to print out my schedule, see when my classes are or figure out if I'm actually staying in the classes that I was put in. Hopefully I'll figure that out a little later today (don't worry mom...I'm on it). This week though is pretty flexible with classes. We can basically go around to any class we want and sit in on a lecture, get a feel for the class and then decide if we want to take it or not so that's my plan for the week.

Once I get my schedule sorted out and know which classes I'm taking I will be sure to fill all of you in. I hope everyone had a good week!

xoxox

Touristy things

The past couple of day have been SO amazing. My friends and I have done all kinds of touristy things. So far we've been to the Opera House, Darling Harbour, Bondi Beach and the Toranga Zoo in addition to walking around the whole city and getting much more acquainted with it. The public transportation is super easy and convenient here. There is a train station just up the street from us which we took to Bondi. There are buses that run all over the city and we took a ferry to the zoo which was very cool. The weather has been beautiful (80s and sunny) and I'm having the best time. I got a pretty decent sunburn at the beach. Turns out there is a hole in the ozone layer directly above Australia and even though I put 30 sunscreen on probably 15 times while at the beach I still look like a lobster. Oh well though, soon enough it will become a tan and then you can all be jealous...even more so than you already are :).

Unfortunately my camera has not been working lately. Every time I take a picture it looks like I'm taking it through window blinds which is a. creepy and b. annoying. My friends have been putting their pictures up on facebook and I'm pretty sure you can all see their albums as long as I'm in some of their pictures, but I've uploaded their memory cards onto my computer so I'm going to try to set up a shutterfly account or something like that so I can upload them onto the internet. I'll post a link as soon as I get it set up.

Today's been pretty low key. Its cloudy and a little rainy today so we went shopping and are going to see a movie later today. I'm so exhausted from walking around everywhere, but it has definitely been worth it. I also can't seem to sleep past 9 o'clock and the past two nights have gone to bed after 4 in the morning (bars are open all night here!) so it feels nice to relax a little bit. Monday the five of us in that picture (Me, Kate, Lauren, Emily and Becca) are going up to Cairns to snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef. I'm super excited, even though the weather is not looking so good. We're staying in a hostel on the beach until Friday and going on the reef cruise Wednesday. I probably won't have internet/phone access up there, but I'll be sure to update this when I return.

Hope everyone's well and I miss you all!
xoxox

Pictures!

For those of you non-facebookers, here is a link to an album I just posted of some pictures from the first few days here....more to come in the near future!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2138788&id=7411464&l=7d2f8

Let me know if that link doesn't work and I can try to figure it out.

Also, I just put credit on my skype account so that I can call landlines and cell phones in the US for 2 cents/minute which is incredibly cheap and convenient. SO, if you don't have skype, you should get it and add me: laura.simons11
I also got a cell phone which I think you can call me on (from skype is the cheapest I think) and that number is +61 0466 566 718..so try it out!

Today was the second and final day of mandatory orientation (even though we skipped the first half today and second half yesterday...oops). We got our list of classes today and on my schedule now (by the way they call schedules timetables here) I have two econ classes, history of ancient greece and a business class. I'm pretty sure I'm going to drop the business class and trade it in for a more exciting class having something to do with Australia. After orientation I just came back to my room and hung out with a few girls from Northeastern and relaxed. I can't tell if I'm tired because of being so busy the last couple days or if it's from jet lag. Hopefully my body will figure itself out in the next couple of days!

As I've been exploring the city and going to various orientation activities these past few days I've started to pick up on the "Australian English." For all of you (and this includes myself) who thought it was going to be easier for me in an English speaking country, you were wrong! Here's a list of just some of their unique vocabulary:

bottle shop = liquor store
tomato sauce = ketchup
timetable = schedule
details = information (as in, write down your details on this form)
how are you going = how are you doing

etc, etc.

It's been very interesting trying to understand what everyone is saying and learn how to not sound like SUCH a tourist when speaking to native Australians. So far though we've only really interacted with other international students who come from just about every country you could think of, with the majority from the US. Next week all the local students come back (all 50,000 of them) and I'm really excited to start meeting people who can tell me all the cool places to go/things to see that aren't in any guide book or touristy brochure.

I think that's all for now. I'll probably be updating this a lot in the next couple days/week or so as I experience new things so stay tuned!

I'M HERE!!!

I've finally made it to Sydney and it still seems so surreal. As it turns out, Friday the 13th is a TERRIBLE day to fly! I got to the airport around 12:30 and met up with Kate. We got on our plane as scheduled around 2 and then proceded to sit on the plane for another 2 hours due to maintanence issues. As our pilot put it, and I quote, "Uhh....welll....umm...we're uh experiencing some maintanence problems and uh everytime they go in to fix something another problem pops up sooo uhh that's all I know for now...we should be flying shortly." Clearly this is not something you want to hear before taking off on a 7 hour flight across the country but we finally took off, only to land 3 hours later in Minnesota for a fuel stop during which one of the passengers had an allergic reaction to.....SPINACH! Spinach? Yep, spinach. If only he had read page 77 in the United Airlines Magazine, he might have found out that every single item offered as a meal contains spinach...hmm. So after a brief delay we were on our way to SF and about 30 minutes into the flight the pressure in my sinuses built up so much that the entire right side of my face was in extreme pain, so much that my top teeth (only on the right side) all went numb. A terrible experience to say the least. I tried to sleep but the pain made me feel like I was going to throw up so all an all a pretty bad flight to SF. We finally made it with only about a half hour to spare before our next flight.
The flight to Sydney was VERY long, but not as terrible as I was expecting. I slept for about the first 8 hours on and off, which was a good way to pass the time. We got to watch the sun come up over the clouds which was really pretty (I took pictures) and landed just before 8am on Sunday. Saturday, Valentine's Day, was non-existant for us which was just fine with me :). One of the girls on my trip's mom arranged for a van to pick her up so Kate and I went with her to UniLodge where we got checked into our rooms and settled in a bit. The rooms are loft style which is pretty cool except the only way to get up to the beds is up the TINIEST spiral staircase I have ever seen. So to avoid injury, Kate and I threw the beds down to the first floor and are now sleeping about 3 inches apart on the floor!
The time change has been a little bit of a struggle although I think I'm starting to get used to it. Kate and I took naps from about 3-7 and then went out to dinner with the group to a German restaurant which was....interesting....
We came back to the room and went to bed around 10:45. I woke up just before 6 and couldn't sleep anymore which was alright since we had to get up anyway for orientation which we have to leave for in about 15 minutes, so I should probably end this crazy long post. Hopefully orientation isn't too terrible and the name games are kept to a minimum :)

5 days to go!

I cannot believe I'm leaving in 5 days! My last full week/weekend in the US is over and it was a memorable one for sure. The week started off with me getting the Flu for the second time in a month which must be a sign for something...although I'm not sure what. The week ended well on Friday though as I toughed through my cough and fatigue to attend my "good-bye" dinner which was put together by my roommate Kate and future roommate Laura (junior). We started off at PF Chang's (which I think was delicious although I couldn't really taste anything), and then I was taken on a "last chance to see these thing in America" scavenger hunt around Boston. Kate and Laura made up the clues and ran ahead of the rest of the group so that they could put them in each new location which included some of my favorite spots (Sephora, Urban Outfitters, Dunkin Donuts, and of course, my apt last year). The final spot was at the dorm that I lived in first semester. When I walked in there was one sign that said "Goodbye America" with an arrow pointing down the hall and another sign which said " G'day Australia along with a GIGANTIC cake in the shape of Australia, including a little, tiny, Tazmania on the right. It was AWESOME and way more than I ever expected!

So that was Friday night. Saturday was my mom's (and dad's) birthday(s) and Joy and I made the most delicious (again couldn't really taste/smell anything) dinner/dessert in the world and threw my mom a little party which was a lot of fun...mostly for her :)

Now here I am on Sunday morning trying to make a mental list of all the things I need to do before I leave and I'm starting to feel a little overwhelmed, but as long as I don't wait until Thursday night to do it all (which I'm going to try VERY hard not to do), I think I'll be okay!
Maybe I should go write this mental list down.....

Ready to leave!

Hey Everyone!

I'm leaving in less than two weeks and thought I should get this blog up and running before things got too crazy. I feel like I've been waiting forever to leave but I'm sure these next 10 or so days are going to fly by and then before I know it I'll be one a 15 hour plane ride wondering what on earth I was thinking. For now I'm trying not to think about it and only imagining my final destination where it will be sunny and 80 degrees and most importantly--there won't be any snow on the ground =]. The weather we've been having this winter really isn't making it hard for me to leave and I cannot wait to be able to wear flip flops every day!
Well, I guess that's all for now. I'll definitely be updating this regularly once I actually get settled in Sydney so stay tuned!