March 6th

Today I had orientation for all of the study abroad students and I skipped out early because I decided to go to the doctor because I've had a terrible cough and haven't been able to breathe and basically have just been miserable. My experience at the doctor was not painful at all. I walked in at 10 til 11:00 and they told me to sit down and they could see me in 10 minutes. I went back and talked to the doctor about my symptoms and she said alright well i'm going to give you a prescription for this and i went to the pharmacy and they gave it to me in about 5 minutes. I was very pleased!

March 5th

This morning I met everyone up at Uni to register for courses and I decided to take Anatomy, Sport Law and Society, Marine Environment, and Gender in Australia. After registration Rob and I went and dropped everything off at his apartment and then he came with me to Bondi and we laid out on the beach for a while and then we came in and showered. Then we went to dinner at Bungabar where we just shared a couple appetizers which were really good and then we grabbed some gelato and then walked on the beach. It was a really nice night.

March 4th

Woke up this morning at 8am and packed up all of my stuff because I was leaving Coogee Sands Hotel and moving into my apartment in Bondi. On the bus ride over to Bondi I was having hesitations because I didn't want to be that far away from everyone else in our orientation group because they were all living in Coogee but once we rounded the corner on Bondi Rd all the hesitations went out the door because Bondi Beach is absolutely beautiful. I live right off of the main road in Bondi and I'm only a minute walk from the beach. Once we got to my apartment Merlin and I didnt have the swipe card and we were trying to use my keys to get in the main door and having no luck and then a girl who ended up being my roommate Rachel came down and let us in and helped me carry all of my bags into the apartment. My apartment was a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be and I got really lucky and ended up being in the double room by myself because one of the girls had already moved out to Coogee because she didn't want to be soo far away from school. After I unpacked my roommates Rachel and Spring and I went and grabbed lunch at little restaurant up the road. After lunch I went to go meet my orientation group up at Bondi Junction to get mobiles (cell phones) and other things that we needed for our apartments.

Blue Mtns

On March 3rd, Merlin took our group on a bus up to a wildlife park where we got to see koalas and take a picture with one and then at another part of the park we got to play with kangaroos and feed them. I just sat down beside a couple of them and would talk and play with them. They have such great personalities and I thought it was so awesome how the personalities came out so strongly through their body language. After the wildlife park we drove up to the Blue Mtns and went on a 2 hr hike. At one point on the walk we went up 4 at a time on this rock and laid down and peered over the rock down at the drop off. At this moment I just took a deep breath and tried to savor every second of that amazing landscape and the overwhelming feeling that took over me.

March 2- 2nd day of orientation

We woke up and got ready. Merlin had an information session for us to tell some really important things to know about Australia. Then we grabbed a bus to the city. Got off and walked through the Paddys Market to Darling Harbour. We saw the Real World house along the way. Then we boarded a jet boat to ride out onto the habour. The boat ride out of the harbour was slow but when we were about to go underneathe the bridge it kind of hit me that I was actually in Sydney. The rest of the boat ride consisted of twist and turns and was insanely fun. After heading back into the harbour we grabbed lunch at Blackbirds and Rob ordered kangaroo and I figured I had to atleast try it. Its kind of sad to say that I've eaten it. But they overpopulate Australia. I was told there is 2 kangaroos for every one person in Australia so over 40 million. It tasted like steak too...After lunch we grabbed a monorail to Sydney Tower which is the tallest building in Sydney and we were able to look out over the entire city and get a grasp of where everything was located. Afterward we took this virtual tour of Australia and thats when I realized that I really should go to the outback. Maybe just for a weekend with a group friends to camp out underneathe the stars. Who knows when I will be back here so I should def go while I'm here. After our adventures in the city we headed back to the hotel to change and then headed down to the beach for an hour or so. Then we all showered and ate at this amazing Thai food place on Coogee Bay Ave. Then we bought some wine and went back to the hotel to drink and watch/learn the game of cricket. Then we went to Leora and Samara's house for a party.

March 1st= 1st day of orientation

I arrived at the hotel and dragged my luggage over the lift (elevator). Met my roommate Sarah once I got into my room and dropped my luggage off and gave her sometime to herself because she had just flown in about 2 hrs earlier. Then I ventured outside to see the beach and to take a couple pictures. On the beach there was an iron man and woman contest about to start up and I was little disappointed we were going to miss it.

Then I went back to the hotel to meet everyone up on the roof. Once I got up there everyone introduced themselves as we waited on Merlin our IES advisor to arrive. Whenever he got there is was a little flustered because one of the guys' planes was delayed and waited on him at the airport to get him back to the hotel. Once Merlin got there we all headed downstairs to board onto the most amazing party bus that was double decker so all of us sat upstairs to see all of the sights. We drove along the coast to Maurbra Bay and then we parked and ate lunch. After lunch we headed into the city of Sydney and saw the Harbour Bridge and Opera house and all of the other great buildings downtown. We got off and walked around and saw the War Memorial, St Marys Cathedral, the Botanical Gardens. In the gardens there were trees just covered in these huge bats that were just chilling. Then we rounded a corner and saw the Opera House. We walked underneathe of it to get to the ferry. The ferry took us all around the harbour and allowed all of us to get some really great shots of Sydney. After our adventure in the city we returned back to the hotel and then Merling took Rob, Sarah and I to Westfield shopping center in Bondi to get mobiles (cell phones). When we got to the mall we were sprinting through like mad men because it was almost 6:00 and about to close. We ended up not making it in time so we weren't able to get phones. Then we came back to the hotel and changed and then went to dinner and chilled at one of the bars in Coogee because we decided not head downtown for the Mardi Gras parade because we didn't want to get stuck with no way back to the hotel and we had to be up early the next morning.

OMG

So its really late at night and I'm flying out tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 from Charlotte and travel for a complete 24hrs before arriving in Sydney. I've had such a great time catching up and spending time with all of my amazing friends in Columbia SC and getting sad about leaving. Even though I was in Tampa for 2 months I still felt that nothing changed while I was gone. Its been great spending quality time with my roommates before I left. The plans as of right now are to arrive in Sydney on Friday at 9:00 and then check into the hotel and then sightsee. Courtney was thinking about coming down from Newcastle so maybe I will be able to walk around the harbour with her. I'm looking forward to finally getting there... Watch out AUSTRALIA here I come

February 3rd

In just a few short weeks I will be traveling to a world unknown. A country that is thousands of miles away from the one I'm in right now. I will no longer be beside my best friends or family. I'll be one person in the sea of 4 million people in Sydney. Hopefully the adventure that stands before me that is scary and lonely will in return become the greatest 4 months of my life