Hey!

Tonight is my last night in Brisbane and we will be leaving the hostel at 4:00am tomorrow morning to catch a 6:00am flight. I don’t even think I’ll sleep tonight – more like take a quick nap! The flight itself wont be too bad, we are flying right into Townsville and will be arriving there at around 8:00am. After touching down in Townsville we will head to JCU and get settled into our dorms. Orientation or “O week” begins on Monday (I believe) so we will have a couple days to get our feet on the ground and figure things out around campus.

Today we went to the Koala Sanctuary and I had the chance to hold a koala and pet kangaroos! I also fed a baby goat from a bottle but I suppose that’s not quite as interesting. Oh, and I saw a platypus! What a funny animal – very weird looking but cute in its own way.

It rained today by the way – and when I say it rained I mean it poured. Everything in Australia seems to be in extremes, extreme heat, extreme humidity, extremely wet rain! Is it possible for rain to be wetter here than in New England because it sure feels that way! Regardless, I had a great time and a pretty good lunch of chicken, rice, fruit and salad. It was the first time I was able to have fruit since being there (other than the fruit I bought because I had a craving!) Fruit here is extremely expensive right now because of the recent flooding. Also, we had salad dressing which was a first – since I’ve been here all my salads have consisted of wet lettuce – yum!

After the Koala Sanctuary we headed to a placed called “RiverLife” where we watched an aboriginal dance and were able to ask some questions and learn a bit about their culture. After we discussed tomorrow’s flights and were given the opportunity to kayak or repel down a small cliff. Due to the fact I didn’t have closed toe shoes and it had poured all day me and a couple friends opted to take a nice leisurely walk back to the hostel. We meandered down the road and walked across a huge walking bridge and throughout the whole city. The city of Brisbane is actually a very clean and beautiful city – I personally like it better than many of the cities I have been to in the states.

I’m getting so excited to go to JCU and have a routine. I’m looking forward to getting some roommates and not living out of a suite case! We found out today we will most likely be sharing dorms with freshmen and it is actually their first semester of the year here. In Australia the schooling system is much different and most students start at 17. We also found out that they have gyms but you have to pay for the use, we are limited to 40 hours of internet access per month and can only download 5 GB per month. We are so spoiled in the United States!

Since being here I have also learned so many new phrases and words for the craziest things. Also, I didn’t realize that Australians are quite the sarcastic bunch. Literally everyone will be sarcastic with you, no matter what you say. Every single interaction I have had with an Australian since being here has begun (and pretty much consisted of) sarcasm. Good thing I have such a sarcastic family to give me some practice in communicating with them!

We also learned about how to save some money through discounts and stuff. They told us as soon as we get to JCU we need to make a list of all the places we want to visit because the earlier you book flights the cheaper (but I guess that’s obvious!). We were also told that most Australian grocery stores have fresh bakers and if you want a discount on bread, muffins ect go towards the end of the afternoon because they have to sell everything by the end of the night and make a new batch fresh the next day. And finally, there are apparenty farmers markets everywhere that sell fresh fruits and veggies at much, much cheaper prices – for instance at the grocery store a red bell pepper (they call them something ridiculous here) is $16.00 a pound and at the market you can find it for around $7.00 a pound.

Anyway – I guess I’m going to go get ready for our last dinner here! We are walking down to a hotel near by and enjoying a meal as a large group. Ta, ta for now!

<3 Sara