I made it to Australia!!

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I survived my 22hrs straight in a plane!! The plane ride from Los Angelos to Brisbane wasn't bad at all as I was expecting a 14 hour flight would be. I slept probably about 80% of the trip, which definitely helped! The flight attendents were all Aussie, so I already fell in love with the accent at 3am CDT. It was weird because they served us dinner pretty much like an hour after we took off from LA. I fell asleep for probably about 10 or 11 hours must have been and woke up and listend to some music, ate breakfast, and before I knew it the Captain came on and said we only had an hour and a half left until we landed in Brisbane! However, that wasn't the end of my journey. Although I'm studying in Brisbane, we had a 4-day orientation up at Carins, which is in northern Queensland in the northeast end of Australia. So we arrived in Brisbane and had to connect on to Cairns. Customs is always such a pain to go through, and then we had to reclaim our bags and Brisbane and then lug them across to another terminal to fly to Cairns. Everyone was miserable at that point, not only were we exhausted but each of us had about 2 huge checked luggage as well as a carry-on and personal item. It was miserable but we got through it. As soon as we landed in Brisbane, I was already sweating at how hot it was. It's so hot here in Aussieland, but also beautiful.
We finally get on the plane to Cairns and had a smooth flight over. Once we landed, we were met by Australearn leaders (Australearn is the program in which I'm going through) and grabbed our luggage and headed for the bus which would take us to our hotel/hostel for the next 3 days. That night we didn't do too much but have a couple meetings and had dinner. Surprisingly I went out that night because it was our first night in Cairns and we had a great time. The next day we were to head to Rainforestation in Kuranda. This place was pretty cool. We saw the Aboriginal culture present some of there dances as well as showed us how to throw a boomerang and try to make music through this thing called a 'dingery-doo' (sp). We also had a chance to see many plants and trees unique to Australia. I got to play, feed and pet kangaroos, even a baby one, called a Joey. They are really cute. I saw a few crocodile there and held a snake. After we played with the kangaroos, I go to hold my first koala bear!! They are the cutest things!
After we returned from the Rainforestaion, I got to play in my first game of Cricket. It's very interesting, kind-of like baseball, but at the same time, not at all. We went to dinner at a pub called the 'Woolshed' which was good. There were goldfish races going on as well. I ended up going to bed after that because I was exhausted and had a big day ahead, at the Great Barrier Reef.
We had to be up at 6am the next morning to eat breakfast and catch the boat to the Great Barrier Reef, one of the seven natural wonders of the world, and it truely is a wonder. All I can say about this day is 'wow'. We were all on a boat the whole entire day, and definitely got my fair share of some Australian sun. I was brave enough to go scuba diving for the first time because I knew this was something I would never regret doing. It was one of the best things I've ever done, out of this world! The Great Barrier Reef was amazing to see; the fish and everything were swimming right there with us, even got to see a sting ray and a couple friendly sharks. I'm so glad I got to do this- even though I felt sea sick the first half of the trip, but felt better later on. This is one thing I'll never forget doing; I was nervous at first because the whole breathing under water thing isn't easy at first, you really have to control your breathing. But once you're used to it, it's very fun!! Not only did I scuba dive the reef, I also snorkeled as well afterword, which was also amazing. The water was quite warm because it's pretty much like 100 degrees out there. Overall, it was a very awesome and fun filled day!
On Feb 20th, we flew back to Brisbane. I'm going to miss Cairns so much because I had so much fun there and it's so pretty. I'm finally settled into my new apt for the next 5 months. I live in a unit with 5 other people besides me. It's 3 other girls and 2 guys. I have the best roommates; they're awesome. We each have our own bedrooms but share between 2 bathrooms, a living room and kitchen. We've driven through the city of Brisbane but haven't gotten a chance to physically go out there yet. The city is probably only like 15-20min away. The only thing that stinks is that there is no air conditioning and my room is small with a twin bed, but definitely survivable and worth the experience I've alreayd began to embark on. It's so hot here, but it's awesome at the same time.
So it's about midnight on the night of Feb 21st and I'm about to go to bed. We went to the grocery store today and some other stores to get stuff for our apt. I feel like things are so much more expensive over here but oh well. I've been having so much fun, I'm so glad to be here. Australia is amazing and definitely do not want to leave anytime soon! I'm tired, but will write more in a few days and let you all know about Brisbane and my university. Orientation starts this Monday, so I'll let you all know how it goes!! I'm excited for my classes, but don't want to study at all right now!

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Photos

Kangaroo!
Me with a Kangaroo! :)

Great Barrier Reef
me enjoying the ride on the boat taking us back from the Great Barrier Reef...what an awesome day!