Kick off to Australia

July 15th, 2018

Helloooo everyone and welcome to the land down under!! I arrived in Brisbane, Australia about five days ago ready and eager to meet new people and explore the beautiful land. The flight here wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, maybe because I slept through most of it. I got onto the plane and found my seat right away in premium economy because all princesses have to travel comfortably. This girl named Jasmine sat next to me, and we soon found out that we were attending the same bridging cultures program in Byron Bay. I am already planning a visit to her up in Cairns sometime throughout the semester, so as you can tell, we hit it off immediately. The food on the plane was better than I had ever thought airplane food would be. To start off, the flight attendant came over and offered us champagne or juice. Talk about some classy service. We were then given a menu to see what would be served throughout the flight, socks, a sleep mask, a blanket, and a few other things to make our flight a little more enjoyable. Jaz and I both passed out and before we knew it, breakfast was being served.

We got off the flight, and found the rest of our group and started to mingle with people as they arrived. I soon learned that me and another student, Cole would be attending UNSW. Everyone else in the group would be traveling elsewhere to their universities. The reason they do this program with people that are going all over, is because you make connections with these people and then have a reason to visit new places throughout the semester (and you have a free place to stay). Once everyone arrived in the airport, we got onto a bus and drove about two hours south of Brisbane City to a little town known as Byron Bay. When we arrived at Byron Bay it immediately reminded me of a little beach town. We unloaded the bus and had to lug all of our stuff 15 minutes through the town because the bus was too big to fit down the side roads. I think my arms were just about broken when we arrived at our cute little rock ‘n roll themed hostel, Nomads (maybe next time I will pack lighter). We got settled into our rooms, and hit the town for some food. We found a cute little burger joint, grabbed some food, and headed for the beach. We ate our lunch, as we were starving from only being fed airplane food. After we were all happy again because there was finally food in our tummies, we just sat on the rocks and enjoyed the view of the waves crashing on the shore. It is so beautiful here, so I will have no problem spending the next 4.5 months here. After we soaked up some sun, we headed back to the hostel for an information session about Australia, and enjoyed a nice barbecue. I went to bed immediately after at 7pm because flying really takes a lot out of you.

July 16th, 2018

Good morning everyone!! Today we all woke up at 5:45am to watch the sunrise from a lighthouse at the top of a cliff overlooking Byron Bay. IT WAS BREATHTAKING!!! One of my new friends Lindsay was taking tons and tons of pictures of me and everyone else, and they came out so good (she is an amazing photographer). We walked all the way down this rock formation on the beach, which was the farthest point east of the country. After a little photoshoot on the beach, it was time for the dreaded walk back up to the top of the cliff. It took us an embarrassingly long time to get back to the top (I guess I should have listened to Mom more when she told me to start doing cardio back in April). When we finally got to the top, I was so out of breath, I thought I was going to die from lack of oxygen. I snapped out of it real quick though when we realized the bus had left us. We were panicking because of course we didn’t have any of our leader’s numbers or contact info, nor did we know where we were. After waiting for a bit, a taxi was sent to our rescue, and we made it back to the hostel just in time for breakfast. After breakfast, we had some time to roam around, but had to be back by 12:30 for our surf lesson.

We got on the bus that took us about 25 minutes outside of town to a public beach. We were handed a wetsuit and surfboard, and started making our way down to the beach. We put our boards in the sand, and went over the basics on how to surf (how to paddle, put your feet up on the board, and ride the wave). Next, we headed to the water. I was so scared to try it so I waited for everyone else to take their turn, and then I went. Of course, it was a total wipeout. Throughout the lesson, I only stood up once, and that was when the instructor was working one-on-one with me, and pretty much holding the board steady for me the whole time. I did get to my knees a few times by myself, but they always resulted in a wipeout before I could fully stand up. After the lesson, we returned our gear, drove back to the hostel, and got ready for dinner. Tonight, was girl’s night out to a cute little Mexican restaurant for margaritas and tacos. We were told the Mexican food typically isn’t that good here, but it was surprisingly so delicioso. After dinner, we were off to bed because this jetlag is still kicking my butt.

July 17th, 2018

Today we woke up and headed out to a local farm for the day. At the farm, there were ten-week-old puppies, which immediately caught everyone’s attention. They did a whole presentation on how people in Australia farm, and we even got to plan some stuff. We took a quick break for lunch at the brewery attached to the farm for fresh burgers. They tasted super weird, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they were made of kangaroo meat. After lunch, we had a presentation on the aboriginal people of Australia. It was so eye opening to hear about the culture and the history behind these people (very similar to the Native Americans in America). We got to see original paintings, hear songs, and even dance the traditional dances. After, we headed back to the hostel to get cleaned up for dinner. We grabbed some slices of pizza, and sat on the sidewalk to listen to some street performers. We made out was to “The Northern” which is a theater to hear an Australian band called the Chaps. This was no concert like I’ve ever been to. There was a massive mosh pit, so we stuck to the outskirts so we could actually enjoy the music. Once the concert ended, we headed back home and were off to bed.

July 18th, 2018

Today we woke up and had to have our bags ready and in the lobby of the hostel by 7am. We had to carry our stuff back through town to catch the bus. We headed an hour north to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. There, I got to hold a koala bear and pet some kangaroos (the items already checked off my bucket list). After, we were dropped off at the airport to head to our universities. At first it was sad to leave all the great people I’ve already met, but now I have even more of an excuse to travel.

By the time I got to Sydney, it was late. I was brought to my room and headed to bed, even though it was only 7pm.

July 19th, 2018

This morning I woke up and had to meet Laura (one of my program managers) for a tour of the city. She helped Cole and I get a bus card, since that will be our main form of transportation. Cole and I are the only ones from the group going to The University of New South Wales. We hopped onto the bus and rode it for about 20 minutes into the city. We got off at the main park and walked through a market that was going on. We walked all the way through until we got to the harbor and got to see the famous opera house. It was almost as specular as Cinderella’s castle. We continued walking through the city as Laura pointed different museums, bars, and restaurants to us. We took the train to Chinatown where we stopped for lunch at a market. There is lots of Chinese, Thai, and Japanese food in the city, given that Australia is so close to Asia. I got sushi which was the best I’ve ever had. After lunch, we took the bus back and I got to squeeze in a little nap. When I woke up, I got dinner at the dining hall quick, and we headed to a local rugby game. Rugby is huge here but I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it. It was so crazy and intense but I loved every minute of it. When we got back it was about 10:30 which was way past my bedtime so I hit the hay.

July 20th, 2018

Today I woke up just in time for some brunch in the dining hall. Australians sure do know how to do brunch. There was everything from pancakes, to fruit, to bacon. I felt like I could eat for hours. After brunch, I came back to unpack everything. I then went for a walk around campus. This place is so beautiful. I can’t wait for it to fill up with students. After I grabbed dinner and, now I’m relaxing in my room. This trip is already off to a good start!