TOGA!

Tuesday night was the campus-renowned Toga party. I think just about everyone showed up for it! Julie, Ashley and I all got ready here at Rotary and then headed to meet up with some other girls. Julie and I ended up using our bedsheets, which kind of worked. Mine decided to be special and come untied later during the night, but I was smart and wore clothes underneath:) We walked over to the club and were lucky that the line wasn't insanely long just yet, but when we got to the door, Julie realized she didn't have any ID...oops! So she and I walked back to Rotary, added an extra spritz of bug spray and headed back to the Club. Well, this time the line was INSANE! Everyone decided to get there while we were gone, but no worries, we found another group of Australearners and started talking with them while we waited. We also had fun commenting on other togas. Some people went all out with these elaborate outfits and some just had a lot of fun with the fabric...this one guy was wearing a Bratz toga. I tried to get a picture for you guys, but it turned out blurry:(

Once we got inside, the place was packed out, with barely enough room to move! We walked around outside for awhile and it was really, really hot everywhere. I'm talking sweating like crazy hot. Then we decided to hit the dance floor. We had the traditional group of girls in a circle just dancing and having fun. Annie did get her Aussie dance partner though! lol...good times. We stayed there until it closed at midnight, then just headed back to our dorms, a shower and bed. All-in-all it was a good night of fun!

Hey guys! Once again, not much has really been happening...I'm still waiting for all the students to get moved in and start meeting everyone. It's crazy humid and hot here, so just walking outside makes you break out into a sweat. It does give you an excuse to not wear makeup or make a really big effort before you go out:) Here's a picture from me wandering around campus:

On Saturday, a bunch of the Australearn girls and I went to this place called the Tavern. We ate dinner (the chicken parmigiana was delicious!) and just hung out there for a while. There was a really intoxicated Canadian who amused us for awhile, but we got him to leave and then we got in the cab back to JCU. We all stopped by Kristin's room for awhile in Uni Hall. It was the one I'd really wanted to live in, and I'm now glad that I didn't get my choice. The food's pretty bad and there is no air-con. It feels like 95 degrees outside and no cooling off? No thanks! Here's a picture of us sweating our butts off there:
Yesterday I went shopping with Annie and we bought some random stuff and a couple of dresses. Woo sundresses. So much more comfortable than anything else in this heat. I plan to buy about 50 more...lol. I also went to a couple of meetings and got my schedule finalized for this semester. It looks pretty fun...and two of my classes have built in field trips, which should be awesome! Here's my weekly schedule:

Monday: Free day!
Tuesday: Social psych lecture and practical (9am - 1pm)
Wednesday: Photography lecture and practical (9am - 12pm)
Thursday: MB lecture (11am-12pm), ZL lecture (2pm-3pm) and MB practical (6pm-9pm).
Friday: MB lecture (11am-12pm), ZL lecture (3pm-4pm)
**MB= Functional Biology of Marine Organisms
**ZL = The Australian Vertebrate Fauna

I did laundry for the first time today. Apparently, the dryers here don't work quite as well and you have to hang everything up. Awesome. Here's what my room currently looks like:Tonight there's a big toga party for the entire University. They say you have to get there super early to get in, because everyone goes and they eventually stop letting people in. I'm hoping to go buy some fabric for a toga/future curtains later, but if not, I'll just be using my sheet. Lol...fun times. I'll post pictures later!

-Jess

Program Orientation

The program introduction was really, really fun and amazing! On Tuesday we went to Rainforestation, which is a place in the rainforest where you can meet animals and aborigines. We broke up into three groups and went to different stations. First, we went to see the aborigines. We each got a chance to throw a boomerang and listen to the guys play the didgeridoos. After that, we went to see them perform dances and a couple of our group members even got to join them on stage. It was really neat to meet some indigenous people and learn a bit about their culture. After that, we headed to the Army Duck. It’s this giant bus-type thing that can also act as a boat if the need arises. We drove into the rainforest and looked at some of the plants. There is one that is called the “Stinging Tree” or “Gympie Gympie.” It has tiny hairs on heart-shaped leaves that break off into your skin. It’s like tiny pieces of glass in your skin that can cause pain lasting up to a year after you touch it. There’s a fun plant for you Jessie! While we were in the rainforest, we tested out the boating capabilities of the Army Duck. It was pretty cool. The last thing we did was to meet some of the native animals. We got to pet and feed kangaroos and wallabies, see a croc and even hold a koala! It was pretty cool.

Wednesday was my favorite day. We went diving on the Great Barrier Reef! We got up really early and hoped on a boat for the 2 hour ride out to the reef. We were diving in a marine park where some scientists study giant clams, so they were everywhere. I was lucky and got put into a group with a bunch of my friends and we got everything together to dive. The actual dive was a bit of a letdown because the visibility wasn’t the best due to the recent rains. I’m hoping to get out there again for some more vibrant pictures:) Anyway, I took a ton of pictures and saw lots of sea creatures. It was just amazing being under the water at the GBR…it’s just one of those things that will stay with me forever. After our dive, I was going to eat lunch and then dive the second one, but I wasn’t feeling too well. I didn’t get sick, I just felt bad enough not to dive. I’m definitely going to pack some seasickness pills the next time around! I want to get both of my dives in.

Thursday we woke up and left Cairns for Townsville. I was so ready to get to my dorm and settle and go shopping at Stockland. It’s kind of like a mall with a grocery store (Woolworths) and Walmart (Big W here) attached. It’s pretty cool. I can’t wait until I get a chance to go buy some nice sundresses…I think they’d be the best way to beat the heat! Yesterday (Friday) when we were shopping, I made a big purchase in the form of a phone. Because Verizon is silly and doesn’t do SIM cards, I had to buy a handset and a pre-paid plan. It wasn’t the ideal set up, but I’ll just sell it at the end of the semester to another study abroad kid:)

I think I’ve gotten you up to date on things with me. Don’t hesitate to leave me messages or emails or anything like that. I even have skype if you want to call me from back home! Talk to y’all later!

-Jess

Oh Traveling...

So, I haven’t been able to post the past few days because they have been insane and packed with all kinds of fun stuff. Let’s start with the whole traveling adventure. It was crazy and much more stressful than I thought it would be. I took my flight from GSP and got to Charlotte fine. Well, the US Airways people told me that my flight was leaving about 40 minutes later than planned, so they told me what gate to go to and I grabbed some lunch and sat down to wait. We’ll they told me the wrong gate. By the time I realized it, I ran across the airport and got to my gate as my flight was taking off. Great. Well, I started to freak out a bit, but the American Airlines lady was really nice and got my on the next flight to LA. Silly US Airways people. Anyway, my bags were on the flight I was supposed to be on, and the lady told me that they would be locked up safely waiting for me in the LA airport. So I relax a bit and get my flight to LA. On the way I met a awesome kid named Laura Cain. She’s a pretty big deal, hanging out with people like Patrick Dempsey and Katy Perry (shameless shout out to Laura). But anyway, I went to ask for my bags, and they had no clue where they were. Minor freak-out on the inside. I had to wait for all the bags from my current flight, then I went to call my mom. Apparently some woman on my original flight thought that my bag was hers. So she grabbed it, took a $75 cab ride to her hotel to open up the bag and see my clothes. So, she was nice enough to bring it back and pay for that cab ride again. The only drawback was that she dropped it off on the other side of the airport. I don’t know if you know much about LAX, but they don’t have transportation from one side to the other. So I had to walk across the airport to find my bags. Luckily, I did find my bags, which was a relief.

Then there was waiting in LAX. A bunch of kids were there already, and we just kept adding people to our giant group. There were about 70 Australearn kids on the flight, and we just sat there and got to know each other. It was pretty fun. The only downside was that our flight was delayed for 2-ish hours. So by the time we got on the plane it felt like I’d been awake for 24 hours and I had a 14 hour flight ahead of me. We jumped on the plane and I sat next to Lindsay J. She’s really nice and we talked a lot. I have to say one thing: long Quantas flights are about the best flights ever. We had personal television screens and care packages and all kinds of good stuff. I watched Australia and some of The Duchess, but I slept a lot of the flight. Since we had such a big delay, we were really late for our flight from Brisbane to Cairns. They held the flight because we were such a big group, but there were still a bunch of regular people on the plane that had to wait for at least 2.5 hours for us to get there. When we boarded, you could tell they weren’t happy at all, which was completely understandable. We got to Cairns, but they had left our luggage in Brisbane for another flight, so I was without my luggage yet again. It didn’t get in until around midnight, so Gilligans (the hostel we stayed at) kept them in the lobby for us to pick up the next morning. I was just tired and ready to be in a bed, so we all passed out and slept all night. That’s about it for this travel post…more about the program introduction to come!

-Jess

Packing

So, packing for 5 months in another country is a little difficult. I've never had to worry a lot about forgetting something, because my trips aren't usually that long, or I'm at college 45 minutes away from home. This is a whole new ballgame...but then again, I don't have too many clothes so it could have been a lot worse. I'm just worried about the clothes I'm going to buy in Australia. I have no idea how I'll be getting that stuff back, but I have 5 months before I have to worry about that:)

I'm pretty much packed up now, with 40 pound suitcases:o It'll be super fun carrying those around. I'm just ready to be there...the wait has been so long that this isn't quite as exciting as it should be! My first flight leaves at 7:25am, so I get to wake up super early. I fly from GSP to Charlotte to Dallas to LAX....then I sit around for 10 hours and board my plane to Brisbane and Cairns. Fun!

The only bad news came in a phone call from Australearn today. Apparently, the rainy season is going crazy in Queensland. After our program introduction in Cairns, the students studying at JCU - Townsville are supposed to get on a bus for a 4 hour drive to our campus. However, the main road is currently closed because of the flooding! So, we might have to pay an extra $125 to fly. I'd rather use that money for traveling myself, but on the bright side, it would be a much shorter trip!

12 hours, 20 minutes until my first flight! Ah!
-Jess

Less than one week!

Once again, not much has been going on since my last post. I've been running random errands, doing some last minute shopping and just counting down the days. I've got one suitcase packed, and I should probably start on the second one soon...ah! Packing everything you'll need for 5 months is crazy...how do you do it? One piece of exciting news is that today I got my $200 Australian. Exciting! Each bill is a different color and different size. Here's a picture:)

Speaking of pictures, I have set up an account on flickr to share all of my pictures. Hurray pictures! Click here for them!

I had my little webinar with Alicia from Australearn, which is the third party provider that I'm traveling with. Woo fun! We got to ask any last minute questions and talk to a few other kids who were going. It was pretty nifty.

Yesterday I got to hang out with my Clemson buddies for the last time before I leave. We all went to Chris and Corry's for the Superbowl (Go Steelers!). Pretty awesome. Just hanging out was really fun, especially since I haven't seen most of those guys since the bowl game. I don't know what I'm going to do without my crazy friends for 5 months! I'm hoping to meet some pretty cool kids at JCU (which I'm sure won't be a problem), including the 6 other people living on my floor. I just can wait to get there!

4 days, 14 hours and 34 minutes until flight numero uno!

-Jess