Monday was an adventure! It was a hot and sunny day out and we decided to go grocery shopping! It was not really the best decision because it was a 20 minute walk to our grocery store, but we really need food! We did all of our shopping and that went pretty smoothly. Then we had to push the shopping carts back to campus with all our food in it! It's nice that the store lets us take the carts back to campus and then someone comes and picks the carts up. Let me tell you, we were quite a sight trying to push those shopping carts back to campus! We do not plan on going shopping for a while, or at least until we find someone with a car! After shopping, I headed down for my first class! First, I went to the bookstore to get some books I needed. Then I went to class, Communication and Thought . It is so different from SNC because I was in this big lecture hall with maybe 200 people in them! I am so used to my small education classes! But the lecture went well and I really liked the teacher! We basically went of the syllabus, and I think that some of the concepts will overlap with the communication class I took at SNC! I believe I will like the tutorials we have to take with each lecture. In the tutorials we have a smaller group where we work together on projects. I think I will be able to meet more people and feel more comfortable in the tutorials.

Yesterday was not very exciting. I did get to talk to my family and some friends back home, which was wonderful :) Then I went to my creative writing class! I think this is going to be my faborite class! Again, I really liked the teacher! We just went over the syllabus, but our main assignment is to write a short story, which I am kind of excited about! I wonder what I should write about! When I was done with class I hung out with some of my friends for a little bit, then I went back to my room and made dinner. I got to talk with my roommates throughout the night, my French roommate had some French friends over for dinner. I just did some homework, watched a show, and went to bed!

Today was another slightly boring day! I truly think technology despises me! After I woke up this morning, I found that my internet did not work :( I was really scared that I used up my gigabites and I would have no way of getting a hold of my family, since my phone still doesn't work, grrr! I went to the office to make sure I did not use up my Gigabites and they said I had plenty left. They gave me a number to call, which I did. We still could not figure out what was wrong, so the guy on the phone said that he would call the tech guy in Unicntral and have him come over to take a look at it. Well, the guy did not show up until 8:30pm, therefore I spent my day without the internet. Thankfully, the tech guy got it to work! Oh yeah, I also still don't have a USC email that works, apparently they're still working on that one. Anyways, I did all my laudry, emptied the garbage, and vacuumed my room today. I also finished my creative writing homework for next week. I actually enjoyed reading the short stories that were assigned. Well, at least I had a productive day! Tomorrow I have two classes, Environmental science at 10:00am and Understanding Society at 2:00pm. I think they are going to be my two hardest classes. After class we might go out, but on Friday we are planning on going to the zoo!!! Yeah!

On Friday, it was an interesting day! First it started out by me and some friends going to the university to get some things done. I realized that two of my classes were scheduled to be in Noosa which is 40 minutes away! I of course was freaking out and desperately wanted it fixed. So, we went and got my schedule fixed first, which went really well! :) I fixed all my classes and I can breathe now! Then we stopped at the library, and I visited the IT person because I could not get my USC email to work. I am telling you, technology must hate me. The IT person and I went through a whole bunch of things and my email still doesn't work! She had to send it into someone bigger and I will get an email when it does work. Then we went to the bookstore and I got one of my books for one class. I am still not sure of what books I will really use in each class, so I am waiting to find out. On the positive side, I got an umbrella.

Once we got back the four of us girls (Mandi, Steph, Jenee, and me) went to Sunshine Plaza. By the time we got to the mall it was almost five. We then found out that the mall closes at 5:30! We stopped at one shop and went to the bathroom and that was it. We have now come to realize that everything basically shuts down at 5:00 here! It's nuts! Anyways, we then caught the bus back to the campus and when we arrived.... (dramatic pause) it was pouring!!!! We then made our ten minute walk in the pouring rain. By the time I got back to my apartment I was soaked from head to toe and left my clothes out to dry for the night. On top of all that, I got my phone in the mail, but I can't get it to charge. I got an Australian plug adapter with it, but I think the voltage here was too strong and blew out the cord. Now I don't know what I am going to do! I am so frustrated with my 50 dollar phone!!

Thankfully, yesterday went much better than Friday. We went to the mall, again, but this time we went there around 11:30. We had lunch at the food court and spent a good time shopping. I got odds and ends at Target and there was a nice food center where I grabbed some much needed groceries. After our mall trip, we went back to our apartments and had dinner. Then I got together with Mandi, Steph, and Steph's newest roommate Olof. We ended up hanging out till 2:30am, just talking, and the others drinking. Olof is Norwegian, so it was nice to talk about our different cultures.

Today was a fabulous day! We chose the perfect cloudy yet breezy day to go to Underwater World. Once we finally figured out where we were going, we found Underwater World and had a blast! We saw a ton of fish, otters, sharks, seals, and sea creatures a like! I LOVED going through the underwater tunnel! I saw the coolest and biggest stingray. I also saw some sharks up nice and close! After the tunnel, we went to a seal show. It was fun! The seals did a great job showing off their amazing skills! AND after the show, I know you will all be jealous, I got a kiss from a seal! After Underwater World, we went to the little shops on the boardwalk. I got a few souveniers for home, including a boomerang! We then went to eat a nice restaraunt. It was a nice family restaurant that had good food. I was glad I got to have a decent meal! We then walked for a little while longer and waited for our bus. We definitely plan on going back! Tomorrow I start school! I am a little nervous! I hope everything goes well! Even though, I'm sure it will!

Alright, two days ago was barbecue night at the pavilion. I can barely remember what I did before that night....oh yeah, I finally got my ID. I waited one hour and forty minutes just to get my picture ID. I still have to go back and get my health care sticker put on it. Once barbecue night started, I invited my roommate Jason to go with me and he agreed. We went to my friend's apartment to see if they were ready to go. Then we went to the barbecue. I ate with Jason and then he left. Then I went to find my other friends, but did not stay long because they were drinking and I felt a little out of place. I just went back to my room and watched a movie. The next day was a rainy day. I started off by going to a writing assignment class, but me and the girls I sat next to decided to leave early because it was not worth it. Then I hung out in my room for most of the day. I believe I talked to my family and made sure to get 3gigabites for my computer.

Later that evening I went and asked my French roommate what she was doing that night. The snc girls were going out for a birthday and I wasn't sure if I was invited, they were basically going bar hopping. My French roommate said she and some friends were going to this restaurant place and I could come with if I liked. I said I would love to, but we could not find a bus to take us. Instead we ended up going to her friends apartment and hanging out. They wanted pizza from Dominoes and were so excited that there was an English speaking person to order for them lol! I ordered the pizza and we all continued to hang out. There were French girls, a French guy, a German guy, and then later a guy from Finland, some Austrians, and some Australians. I truly had a wonderful time getting to know all these people. The French and German guy were easy to talk with because they had better English then some of the French girls. I am so fascinitated by other cultures and countries that it was wonderful to talk to these people. We went as far as comparing what a rooster says in each of our languages. For example, in America a rooster says "cock a doodle doo" (spelling?) and it is different for other countries. In all, the night ended up much better than I expected.

Today, the day started off slow again, but I went to bed late the night before. I thankfully got to talk to every member of my family! Then I went to the pool for a little while, it was such a hot and sunny day out! I sat with my roommate and her French friends. It is not always easy because they talk in French a lot. They always say, "okay in English" and then they talk in English for a bit and go back to French lol. After the pool I hung out in my room. Then my French roommate, Naomi (figured I could just use her name), invited me to have dinner with her and her friends and go out to a club. I agreed and found out that one of the snc girls I had not seen yet was her friend's roommate. I finally got to see her and the other snc girl I had not seen! I had a nice pasta dinner with the French girls. Was able to talk to my salsa teacher Scott and met an English man, Andrew. We then went to a pre-party, but the three of us Americans felt out of place and decided to go to the clubs without the others. We ended up going to a place in Maloolaboo (spelling?). It was pretty nice. We did not stay too long though. I am really glad I finally found the two snc girls I was missing. They are really nice, and even though the drink a little, they are fine with me not drinking! I think it will be a good day tomorrow!

Yesterday was a great day! First, my friends and I decided to walk around the campus and check things out. It is a really nice campus. I really love the architecture here in Australia. Everything is colorful and original; I feel like the houses say warm weather. It is different how on my campus you walk outside to go from class to class. There are not a lot of buildings that have classrooms inside with things like hallways. Most of the campus is outdoors, which I guess works when you live in Australia. My friends and I also saw, you guessed it, KANGAROOS! It was amazing! The first set we came across had so many! They were right outside of the campus too! We were all whispering and sneaking up on them like they were deer and then two women came right passed walking and laughing at us. Then we got out our cameras and started snapping! It was amazing how they just stared at us. We also ran into two more kangaroos right in the middle of the campus. We were so close to those kangaroos, it was a bit frightening, but they just kept chilling out on the grass. We have been warned to not piss off a kangaroo. They actually can stand on their tails and kick with their legs!

After our walk around the campus we went to Sunshine Plaza, a mall. We decided to eat in the food court, and I so had Chinese, lol! Then we walked around and got some of the essentials we forgot. I need to mention that everything down here is so much more expensive than back in the states! I finally was able to find an electronic store and get my plug adapters. YEAH! I was so excited to be able to plug in my computer! Although, when I got back I plugged in my alarm clock and blew a fuse, so now I do not have an alarm clock :(

After the mall we went to the BEACH! It was a wonderful sight. I absolutely love the ocean and was so excited we were able to go! Once we found a spot on the sand we jumped into the waved filled ocean! The waves were pretty big and really swept you up. I wish I would have had a body board because that would have been a blast! I definitely enjoyed that ocean and even though I put sunscreen on, I still got burnt! We also did some walking around the ocean and just took everything in! It really felt like I was in Australia once I hit that beach! I can't wait to go again! There are so many trips I want to take, it is hard to keep track of them all!

Today was our first day of orientation. It went okay. We were not able to get our ID pictures taken because the line was ridiculously long! We sat through a couple sessions, not the most enjoyable, and then went back to our rooms. Later we ran to the post office and, you bettcha, we had Subway for dinner! It brought back some great memories of home and the good old dance studio! Then we sat by the pool for a while and watched a movie in my friend's room. It was a relaxing night, which is fine with me because I am exhausted! I still feel like I have not totally found my place here. I would like to meet new people and hopefully fit in a bit more. I do not drink and I feel like that is the main thing that Aussies do. I have no problem with people drinking, but I feel like they might look down on me for not wanting to do a whole lot of drinking. I guess I will continue to try and enjoy myself and not let my worries get the best of me. I have a lot to look forward to!

OK, I have finally arrived in Australia! It took me forever to be able to sit down and write this! I wanted to do some blogging in the LA airport, but the internet did not work there. I got into Brisbane, Australia around 8:30am Saturday morning. I then had an hour bus ride to the Sunshine Coast. Trying to find the bus we needed was a little hectic. Imagine 5 of us wandering around with big luggage carts. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that while sitting in the LA airport, I met up with some girls from St. Norbert going to USC and some other people going to USC. It turns out that more than half the flight was going to USC. You could definitely say that it was a student flight. That flight was 14 hours and surprisingly it wasn't that bad. We got two meals (they were fairly decent), we got to choose movies to watch, and sleep! Only the last four hours were really that long.

Once we arrived at Brisbane it was pouring out! We made it to the sunshine coast, but it wasn't really that sunny. Me and my SNC friends unloaded our bags and got our housing assignments. I really like the housing we live in. We have our own room and bathroom. Then a nice living and kitchen area. It works out well! I have only met one of my roommates. She is French and I did not see her much at all. She has two other French friends, which they spent the day together, somewhere. Once I was in my room, I tried to get my internet up and running, but, of course, it would not work. I worked on it for an hour and definitely had a bit of a meltdown. I really wanted to get in touch with my family and could not do that without the internet. Finally, it worked, I have no idea how I did it! The bad part is that everytime I want to go onto the internet I have to re-connect my network. It is a BIG pain. Speaking of BIG pains, I also found out that Australians use different plugs (like for electronics) than we do. I did not know this and therefore did not have an adapter that would allow me to plug in and charge my electronics. So, on top of not getting the internet to work, I wasted all my computer batteries. The only reason why I get to write this blog at the moment is because my friend let me charge it on one of her adapters (thanks!).

Even with the ups and downs of the day, it ended on a wonderful note. I was able to meet two of my SNC's friends' rommates, and they are all really nice! I had a blast hanging out with all of them tonight! At this campus, and maybe at most Australian campuses, there is a lounge/pool area in the middle of our apartment buildings, and everyone just goes and hangs out there for the night. It is like one big party. I never see that at SNC. It also is crazy how they can all drink! The security guards are so nice lol! They love seeing everyone having fun! I found out that there are so many nice people here. We went to a store and at one point I was trying to get through an isle and this lady was like "I am sorry" and I said "no, it's my fault", and then she was like "no it's my fault" ( I sounded kind of valley girl right there lol). I am pretty sure that it was my fault lol! Anyways, as I struggle to keep my eyes open, I should really get some sleep so that I am ready for tomorrow! Good Night!

Well, it is almost time for me to leave! Only five days left! I have everything situated, just need to pack! I am so anxious! On one hand, I am very excited to leave, and on the other I am sad to have to leave my wonderful family and friends. I know it will be an AMAZING experience, but I still cannot help but be a little nervous! I wish I did not have to say goodbye to my family, yet I wish I was there and settled in. Yikes! I cannot believe I am going to Australia! I know I picked the right place to go, and this will be an experience of a lifetime!