Today I had a realization. I am so unbelievably lucky and could ask for nothing more! As I was sitting on the ferry on our way back from the island to the mainland, I was completely blown away by this thought. I probably should have realized this before now, and I have, but just not to this extent! I have the most amazing people in my life, people who made this summer happen, encouraged me to do this, are supporting me while i'm here, and will be waiting for me when I get back! From all the crazy trips I've taken to finally ending up in Australia I really am so fortunate! And all of you are the best! From the vets and techs who taught me everything I know so that I could even do this internship to the people who everytime I almost backed out, said no way! So to all the outrageously wonderful people out there, thank you!!
This weekend was mind blowing! Friday I went to work and got to work on a blue tongued lizard who although had a nasty run in with a car will be okay! And from there Ian (my boyfriend's dads friend who lives here..yeah its difficult to keep explaining to people!) picked me up from work and I went to his apartment where his wife and a few of their friends were popping a bottle of champagne and celebrating his wife's birthday! This was such a fun group of people and we did the whole wine and cheese thing and it ended up being two married couples and me! HA! I was a fifth wheel but I had a great time and I think they enjoyed themselves as well! They were so unbelievably nice to me and bought me dinner and even paid for my cab home! I had some fabulous conversations about business owning, the legal system here, the politics, the history of Australia! Gosh, I am such a nerd. I took notes! ah! How embarrassing of me :)
So they got me home around midnight and 5:30 am we are up again and catching a cab! Today we caught a ferry to Morton Island and wow this was an amazing day! We started the day hiring (renting) our snorkel gear, wetsuits, and kayaks. We kayaked through some intense aussie waves to a site with tons of shipwrecks. We docked the kayaks and swam out to the shipwrecks and snorkeled around them, and it was sooo spooky! I am a thrill seeker to the max but this was a bit creepy! Snorkeling around these rusty old ships with fish everywhere. My mind of course went to finding nemo when the sharks hang out around a wrecked ship! haha So after we got our fill of that we swam back to shore and kayaked back! This kayak trip was against the current and super intense.. my arms are very sore!
After that we hired paddleboards. Which is like a surf board and you take it out in the water and stand on it and use a paddle to get around. This required a lot of balance, therefore I clearly sucked at it! But I turned it into a version of knee boarding and had a blast! Finally, we went sand tobogganing! Which is sand boarding at the third largest sand island in the world! You had to climb up the sand mountain which was exhausting!! but then you basically just sled down this huge sand mountain and hike back up to do it again! But it was tons of fun! Then we caught the ferry back to Brisbane and rode along while the sun set and are all now settling in for a comfy night at home!
This has been a really long blog. Sorry! Pictures will be on facebook of this day soon!
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Come Sail Away
I don't like thinking of titles and will very often name them the song currently playing on my itunes. now you know.
Today I go to work already knowing it was going to be a slow down but I was not prepared for this slow! Within the first hour of being there one of the vets was like "Kim, Oxford street isn't a far walk from here and its a great little place to walk around and shop if you want to go explore!" So I was like sure! I set off walking and chatting on the phone with my brother and all was wonderful!
ATTN: this paragraph might be a bit graphic, if you are eating this might gross you out :) haha I don't get grossed out very easily so I see no problem with posting this on my blog!
So I am walking and I see a cat lying on its side and here is how I can best capture my thought process: CAT! HEAD TRAUMA! ITS BREATHING (there was a deceptive gust of wind at this moment)! ITS EYE BALLS ARE POPPING OUT! IT HAS A COLLAR! I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING! EUTHANASIA! GET A PULSE! ITS DEAD! ITS EYE BALLS ARE NOT IN ITS HEAD! I STILL HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!
yes friends and family, there was a dead cat whose eyeballs while still attached, were hanging out of the sockets. I told you there was head trauma! Well I am now like, I work at a pet hospital, I want to be a vet, I can't just exactly walk away. So I get off the phone with my dear brother who listened to my entire not fluid thought process and call my pet hospital and they come with towels and we collect this poor kitty!
So naturally, I continue on my walk. I explore Oxford street which has nice shops and find a bookstore! I really enjoy bookstores. So I go in and peruse for an hour or so almost getting sucked into a few good books! Then I get a smoothie and head back to work! The aforementioned cat had a microchip so we contact the owner, who wants to come pick it up which we STRONGLY advise against but I didn't see how the rest of that dilemma played out. Quick side note: this is exactly why you should have your pets microchipped :)
After being back at work an hour so they suggest I go catch a movie. (There was literally nothing for anyone to do, two workers had already gone home. I just feel the need to include this so it doesn't sound like my coworkers just didn't want me around! haha) At this point, I was like if I can go catch a movie can I just go home? To which they say is okay and off I go! As soon as I step on my bus and say an enthusiastic HI to the driver, he turns around and goes "you said one word and I can tell you are not from around here" geeeeeeeeeez just when I thought I was getting better at fitting in!
But he was from Brazil and we had an interesting conversation about travels and instruments for the duration of the ride! The long talk about playing music made me realize, and I hate to admit this, but mom you were right I wish I hadn't quit the piano after 9 years!
So now I am home! I had big plans for a productive afternoon but now I am thinking a nap sounds mighty fine as well :)
Today I go to work already knowing it was going to be a slow down but I was not prepared for this slow! Within the first hour of being there one of the vets was like "Kim, Oxford street isn't a far walk from here and its a great little place to walk around and shop if you want to go explore!" So I was like sure! I set off walking and chatting on the phone with my brother and all was wonderful!
ATTN: this paragraph might be a bit graphic, if you are eating this might gross you out :) haha I don't get grossed out very easily so I see no problem with posting this on my blog!
So I am walking and I see a cat lying on its side and here is how I can best capture my thought process: CAT! HEAD TRAUMA! ITS BREATHING (there was a deceptive gust of wind at this moment)! ITS EYE BALLS ARE POPPING OUT! IT HAS A COLLAR! I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING! EUTHANASIA! GET A PULSE! ITS DEAD! ITS EYE BALLS ARE NOT IN ITS HEAD! I STILL HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!
yes friends and family, there was a dead cat whose eyeballs while still attached, were hanging out of the sockets. I told you there was head trauma! Well I am now like, I work at a pet hospital, I want to be a vet, I can't just exactly walk away. So I get off the phone with my dear brother who listened to my entire not fluid thought process and call my pet hospital and they come with towels and we collect this poor kitty!
So naturally, I continue on my walk. I explore Oxford street which has nice shops and find a bookstore! I really enjoy bookstores. So I go in and peruse for an hour or so almost getting sucked into a few good books! Then I get a smoothie and head back to work! The aforementioned cat had a microchip so we contact the owner, who wants to come pick it up which we STRONGLY advise against but I didn't see how the rest of that dilemma played out. Quick side note: this is exactly why you should have your pets microchipped :)
After being back at work an hour so they suggest I go catch a movie. (There was literally nothing for anyone to do, two workers had already gone home. I just feel the need to include this so it doesn't sound like my coworkers just didn't want me around! haha) At this point, I was like if I can go catch a movie can I just go home? To which they say is okay and off I go! As soon as I step on my bus and say an enthusiastic HI to the driver, he turns around and goes "you said one word and I can tell you are not from around here" geeeeeeeeeez just when I thought I was getting better at fitting in!
But he was from Brazil and we had an interesting conversation about travels and instruments for the duration of the ride! The long talk about playing music made me realize, and I hate to admit this, but mom you were right I wish I hadn't quit the piano after 9 years!
So now I am home! I had big plans for a productive afternoon but now I am thinking a nap sounds mighty fine as well :)
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Once In Your Life
So before I left for Australia , so many people told me how much of an experience this summer would be, how much I would "grow" and learn my "independence". Today on my run, I reflected on these statements. Am I growing? Learning independence? I don't really think so, I was pretty independent before this summer started but I do think I am learning about myself! Maybe freshman year of college was the ideal time to learn more about Kim but I was way too caught up in...well everything that your first year of college can be to learn about me! And then I got in a routine filled with the same people and the same things for three years. But now I am living in Australia with only the people I met in the LAX airport before boarding the plane! And I have learned a lot about myself!
I am a morning person (okay dad I know how much you don't believe me but trust me :) )
I really prefer to do things by myself
I see nothing wrong with sitting at home on a saturday night.
I am more creative in the kitchen than I ever thought possible.
I hate public transportation
I have had a blog with a group of friends for awhile now, and I realized by having this blog I neglected my own journaling, and now that I am journaling again I am realizing how much I enjoy that!
And so so much more!
I would like to touch on the cooking thing just because I am so proud and want to brag :) for the first week I was all about chicken nuggets and mac and cheese but with this new eat healthy be healthy kick I have been on I decided to start cooking more! I made homemade apples and cinnamon oatmeal. I added hot milk to granola and oatmeal, then diced and squeezed the juices out of a couple of apples and added cinnamon! SO DELICIOUS! And tonight I made homemade tsatzki (i so butchered that spelling) but its a cucumber dressing from Greece and made chicken wraps with baby spinach and tsatzki for dinner!
At work I did SKIN SUTURES!!! ahhhhh! okay I am slightly excited about this! The day started with me successfully placing three catheters on the first try! Then the doctor was like so kim wanna give stitches a go?! I scrubbed up with the surgeon and did the tissue layer and skin stitches after a spay! At first I was a little bit nervous and had a major adrenaline rush going but after a little bit I got super comfortable! I was laughing with the other nurses and surgeon in the room while doing a double throw, single throw interrupted stitch (haha I just had to throw in some lingo to emphasize my bragging) The surgeon approved and I got to talk to the owners at the end of the day about how the operation went and post op instructions!
tonight we are going to the ferris wheel :) There's a ferris wheel right on the river that is huge and we are hoping for great pictures then we are going to try our luck at a casino! Haha don't worry mom and dad I am only taking thirty dollars into that casino and leaving when it is gone! Then tomorrow morning after skype with the rentals a few of us are making a couple hour journey to the Steve Irwin Australian Zoo! Woo!! Should be a great time!
If you haven't been watching Miss TN you should watch the final night, this Saturday and cheer on the beautiful Chandler Lawson!
Cheers!
I am a morning person (okay dad I know how much you don't believe me but trust me :) )
I really prefer to do things by myself
I see nothing wrong with sitting at home on a saturday night.
I am more creative in the kitchen than I ever thought possible.
I hate public transportation
I have had a blog with a group of friends for awhile now, and I realized by having this blog I neglected my own journaling, and now that I am journaling again I am realizing how much I enjoy that!
And so so much more!
I would like to touch on the cooking thing just because I am so proud and want to brag :) for the first week I was all about chicken nuggets and mac and cheese but with this new eat healthy be healthy kick I have been on I decided to start cooking more! I made homemade apples and cinnamon oatmeal. I added hot milk to granola and oatmeal, then diced and squeezed the juices out of a couple of apples and added cinnamon! SO DELICIOUS! And tonight I made homemade tsatzki (i so butchered that spelling) but its a cucumber dressing from Greece and made chicken wraps with baby spinach and tsatzki for dinner!
At work I did SKIN SUTURES!!! ahhhhh! okay I am slightly excited about this! The day started with me successfully placing three catheters on the first try! Then the doctor was like so kim wanna give stitches a go?! I scrubbed up with the surgeon and did the tissue layer and skin stitches after a spay! At first I was a little bit nervous and had a major adrenaline rush going but after a little bit I got super comfortable! I was laughing with the other nurses and surgeon in the room while doing a double throw, single throw interrupted stitch (haha I just had to throw in some lingo to emphasize my bragging) The surgeon approved and I got to talk to the owners at the end of the day about how the operation went and post op instructions!
tonight we are going to the ferris wheel :) There's a ferris wheel right on the river that is huge and we are hoping for great pictures then we are going to try our luck at a casino! Haha don't worry mom and dad I am only taking thirty dollars into that casino and leaving when it is gone! Then tomorrow morning after skype with the rentals a few of us are making a couple hour journey to the Steve Irwin Australian Zoo! Woo!! Should be a great time!
If you haven't been watching Miss TN you should watch the final night, this Saturday and cheer on the beautiful Chandler Lawson!
Cheers!
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
The 4 stages of Culture Shock.
During orientation we went through the four stages of culture shock so that we would be prepared when it happened to us, and how to handle it. I found this amusing and thought you might as well
Stage 1: "The Honeymoon Phase" the phase where you love everything and nothing could be better! This is the phase where you book future adventures for later in the summer so that when the less unpleasant phases hit, you have something positive to look forward to.
Stage 2: "The Freak Out" this phase can creep up on you or hit fast and hard. Usually a bad day or frustrating series of events set this phase off. This is where you all of a sudden hate everything Australian. The thing to do here is vent your head off to a fellow American. And not one who will try to say things like "you really just need to be patient" because that will only make you more angry. You want someone that will be like "yeah that sucks, etc" and let you just get it all out! This is also the time to treat yourself to something nice, like a shopping splurge or a sporting event!
Stage 3: "Acceptance" this is where you realize I am here for a while and you get a determination to essentially suck it up and get through this.
Stage 4: "Acclimation" where you have finally learned the differences of your culture verse this new one and accepted them and are so used to them that you are now fond of them and don't want to leave them .
We're all sitting around booking our trips for July so we are clearly still in a good phase, not that I would ever be honest on here if I was in the freak out phase anyways :) I'll save those rants for skype! haha
Today was a rough day at work, I handled more dead animals than live ones, if that says anything! But I came home and its one of our housemates 21st birthday so we had a big feast of Kangaroo meat and cake, so things are looking up already!
Here are more Aussie observations:
Potato, Banana, Tomato are all pronounced differently here.
My favorite pronunciation difference is aluminum. you know like the thing you might use when you are roasting veggies in your oven. Well here it is pronounced, (and this is my best attempt at phonetically spelling it): owl-u-min-eum. a lot of emphasis on that "u"
Stage 1: "The Honeymoon Phase" the phase where you love everything and nothing could be better! This is the phase where you book future adventures for later in the summer so that when the less unpleasant phases hit, you have something positive to look forward to.
Stage 2: "The Freak Out" this phase can creep up on you or hit fast and hard. Usually a bad day or frustrating series of events set this phase off. This is where you all of a sudden hate everything Australian. The thing to do here is vent your head off to a fellow American. And not one who will try to say things like "you really just need to be patient" because that will only make you more angry. You want someone that will be like "yeah that sucks, etc" and let you just get it all out! This is also the time to treat yourself to something nice, like a shopping splurge or a sporting event!
Stage 3: "Acceptance" this is where you realize I am here for a while and you get a determination to essentially suck it up and get through this.
Stage 4: "Acclimation" where you have finally learned the differences of your culture verse this new one and accepted them and are so used to them that you are now fond of them and don't want to leave them .
We're all sitting around booking our trips for July so we are clearly still in a good phase, not that I would ever be honest on here if I was in the freak out phase anyways :) I'll save those rants for skype! haha
Today was a rough day at work, I handled more dead animals than live ones, if that says anything! But I came home and its one of our housemates 21st birthday so we had a big feast of Kangaroo meat and cake, so things are looking up already!
Here are more Aussie observations:
Potato, Banana, Tomato are all pronounced differently here.
My favorite pronunciation difference is aluminum. you know like the thing you might use when you are roasting veggies in your oven. Well here it is pronounced, (and this is my best attempt at phonetically spelling it): owl-u-min-eum. a lot of emphasis on that "u"
Saturday, June 11, 2011
short skirt. long jacket.
My mom got onto me for almost going a week without blogging, I am glad I have such avid readers (cough cough Katie Strickland)
So I have officially been in Australia for two weeks! I feel like it has been so much longer though just because I have learned so much and gotten adjusted to this culture so quickly and thoroughly. But that is how Australia is, like aussies really want outsiders to "have a go" at everything Aussie! Also since I am actually working and not just doing touristy things everyday feeling like a part of the culture is a lot easier.
This weekend we had our first go with Brisbane night life and it is completely different than anything I have seen in America! We haven't really found pub type places yet so we have mostly been at clubs. The most entertaining thing is how the aussies dance! Picture someone doing dance dance revolution, but on the dance floor and speed it up by about 100%!! Also since the drinking age is 18 and up the other American girls I am with always have to first find out how old a guy is that they meet since we are all 21 and 22! I however, am a wonderful wing woman and find this just as amusing as watching my friends run away from the 18 year old boys! (sadly my wing woman skills dont include knowing how old the guy is)
Tomorrow is the Queen's birthday so we get the day off! woo!! I plan on going into the mall, maybe getting my silly leg checked out by a doctor! If you don't know the back story there, just know that I am a klutz but it will be ok :)
There is a lot going on at home this week, friends going through some pretty crazy stuff, birthdays, Lakeshore staff is three weeks in (I'm hearing GREAT things about yall btw) and things of that nature so I wish you all the best of luck with all that!! In Australia however this week is the Queensland vs. New South Wales rugby state of origin match (I am living in Queensland for those of you lacking in Aussie geography) so it will be pretty crazy to go out and watch that! Maybe I'll blog about it :)
until next time..
So I have officially been in Australia for two weeks! I feel like it has been so much longer though just because I have learned so much and gotten adjusted to this culture so quickly and thoroughly. But that is how Australia is, like aussies really want outsiders to "have a go" at everything Aussie! Also since I am actually working and not just doing touristy things everyday feeling like a part of the culture is a lot easier.
This weekend we had our first go with Brisbane night life and it is completely different than anything I have seen in America! We haven't really found pub type places yet so we have mostly been at clubs. The most entertaining thing is how the aussies dance! Picture someone doing dance dance revolution, but on the dance floor and speed it up by about 100%!! Also since the drinking age is 18 and up the other American girls I am with always have to first find out how old a guy is that they meet since we are all 21 and 22! I however, am a wonderful wing woman and find this just as amusing as watching my friends run away from the 18 year old boys! (sadly my wing woman skills dont include knowing how old the guy is)
Tomorrow is the Queen's birthday so we get the day off! woo!! I plan on going into the mall, maybe getting my silly leg checked out by a doctor! If you don't know the back story there, just know that I am a klutz but it will be ok :)
There is a lot going on at home this week, friends going through some pretty crazy stuff, birthdays, Lakeshore staff is three weeks in (I'm hearing GREAT things about yall btw) and things of that nature so I wish you all the best of luck with all that!! In Australia however this week is the Queensland vs. New South Wales rugby state of origin match (I am living in Queensland for those of you lacking in Aussie geography) so it will be pretty crazy to go out and watch that! Maybe I'll blog about it :)
until next time..
Monday, June 6, 2011
Dogs don't change
Wow where to even begin?!
Okay so on Saturday I caught a short flight now to Brisbane and Sarah, Chloe and myself found our bus and headed to the Minto Student House in Highgate Hill! We got all moved in and set up in our new home for the next ten weeks!
This house is sort of like a hostel but definitely nicer than the one in Cairns, we all have our own room for starters and there is a kitchen! But there are guests who come and go, not everyone stays as long term as we are. For this week we have some really friendly aussies who have showed us how to make coffee here (vital) and even cooked us a spaghetti and veal meal! But saturday night we caught some thai food then crashed early.
Sunday we decided to tackle the bus situation. We walked to the market where we got our bus passes and groceries! While trying to figure out which bus would get us the closest to Minto a friendly Aussie helps us out. We end up riding the bus with her for awhile since she lives on the same street as us! She's our age and lives in a house of about four other aussies and one french girls who is studying here. They had us over for a delicious dinner last night and then we went to the park on the river where they attempted to teach us how to skateboard! It was SO much fun, and good to start meeting people. We already have plans to hang out with them again :)
Today was our first day of work! After a rushed morning mostly due to all of our nerves finally exploding I caught my bus to the complete other side of town and made it to work ten minutes early! woot woot!
I had a great day at work!!! Within the first thirty minutes we are prepping dogs for surgery and placing catheters and one of the nurses was like well Kim, you want to have a go? Thats something I had to work at the pet hospital at home forever before I got to try after begging and pestering! haha We also had a baby ringtail possum brought in that I got to hold whenever I got bored! Pretty awesome. In the second part of the day things got really slow so I was helping stuff envelopes and as I was sitting there listening to the post op dogs wake up and seeing two techs try to wrestle a particularly wiggly dog into a hold for blood work I can't help but laugh. Because all day I had been stressing about how different everything was! The procedures, machines, techniques, etc. But the dogs don't change and that in itself was comforting and I really think I am going to like my job just based on that if nothing else!
I got slightly lost on the way home, took the wrong bus and got off at the wrong stop but I am here now! Time for the housemates to all catch up on our days!
Cheers
Okay so on Saturday I caught a short flight now to Brisbane and Sarah, Chloe and myself found our bus and headed to the Minto Student House in Highgate Hill! We got all moved in and set up in our new home for the next ten weeks!
This house is sort of like a hostel but definitely nicer than the one in Cairns, we all have our own room for starters and there is a kitchen! But there are guests who come and go, not everyone stays as long term as we are. For this week we have some really friendly aussies who have showed us how to make coffee here (vital) and even cooked us a spaghetti and veal meal! But saturday night we caught some thai food then crashed early.
Sunday we decided to tackle the bus situation. We walked to the market where we got our bus passes and groceries! While trying to figure out which bus would get us the closest to Minto a friendly Aussie helps us out. We end up riding the bus with her for awhile since she lives on the same street as us! She's our age and lives in a house of about four other aussies and one french girls who is studying here. They had us over for a delicious dinner last night and then we went to the park on the river where they attempted to teach us how to skateboard! It was SO much fun, and good to start meeting people. We already have plans to hang out with them again :)
Today was our first day of work! After a rushed morning mostly due to all of our nerves finally exploding I caught my bus to the complete other side of town and made it to work ten minutes early! woot woot!
I had a great day at work!!! Within the first thirty minutes we are prepping dogs for surgery and placing catheters and one of the nurses was like well Kim, you want to have a go? Thats something I had to work at the pet hospital at home forever before I got to try after begging and pestering! haha We also had a baby ringtail possum brought in that I got to hold whenever I got bored! Pretty awesome. In the second part of the day things got really slow so I was helping stuff envelopes and as I was sitting there listening to the post op dogs wake up and seeing two techs try to wrestle a particularly wiggly dog into a hold for blood work I can't help but laugh. Because all day I had been stressing about how different everything was! The procedures, machines, techniques, etc. But the dogs don't change and that in itself was comforting and I really think I am going to like my job just based on that if nothing else!
I got slightly lost on the way home, took the wrong bus and got off at the wrong stop but I am here now! Time for the housemates to all catch up on our days!
Cheers
Friday, June 3, 2011
Finding Nemo
"aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" my room just had an explosion over our first australian critter! There are five of us in this room at the hostel and we are all just getting ready for bed and packing when one of the girls screams bloody murder (see above) we all think that something epically horrible has occurred and well it was a really gross cockroach crawling up her neck!
haha it was orange and striped so another roommate (shes from hawaii shes a trooper with the bugs) wraps it up in a towel to go throw it over the balcony. To top the evening off a british backpacker asked us to be quiet because he "was trying to party"?? hahaha oh how i love living in a hostel!
The last two days have been amazing!
First we went to the Rainforestation and there were just kangaroos and wallabees jumping around, no big deal?! We got to feed them and pet them and then go and hold a koala bear!!! Afterwards we went and saw an aboriginal show with dancing and then an aborigini man taught us spear throwing, didgeredoo playing, and best of all a lesson in how to throw a boomerang, I think I need some practice in that field though! Then after a brief tour of the rainforest in one of those trucks that can also be boats (chattanoogans you know what I am talking about!) we headed back to the hostel for a free afternoon.
Today we woke up super early and headed out to sea! We took a boat out to the Great Barrier Reef!! First we snorkeled around and words will never adequately describe the beauty of the reef. I don't know what was more amazing, the reef or the fish! I think I saw every fish that lives in the fish tank in Finding Nemo, and Dori as well! Things got real crazy when we did an introductory scuba diving course! After about ten minutes of training in the water one on one with an instructor they put the weights on you and let you go! We got to scuba around the reef for thirty minutes and not only is scuba diving super awesome and I would love to get certified but seeing even more of the reef and getting so close and swimming through its crevices was unbelievable, I mean as I am typing about it now I can't believe it! We then sailed to an island and snorkeled around some more reefs before sailing back to shore!
This Orientation program has been awesome! I feel a lot like its freshman year of college all over again and I just got done with an orientation weekend. Everyone is trying to meet everyone and random hangouts are always happening whether its a trip for some gelato or a pick up ultimate game! And now we are all about to head to our cities and start the real reason we are here, our internships!
I am so excited to go to Brisbane tomorrow! It will be nice to move into my actual residence so I can stop living out of a suitcase and then to explore the town that will house me for the next ten weeks!
Some neat observations about Australians thus far: they really do say "no worries mate" all the time! they love to see Americans trying typical aussie things and they call this "have a go". They have the best chinese and japanese food because it doesn't have to be imported as far but their american beers are super expensive! Who knew a Budweiser could cost so much?! They only work about four days a week and believe in a lot of vacation time, at least four weeks a year.
Also, I am learning to like seafood. I never thought I would see the day!
haha it was orange and striped so another roommate (shes from hawaii shes a trooper with the bugs) wraps it up in a towel to go throw it over the balcony. To top the evening off a british backpacker asked us to be quiet because he "was trying to party"?? hahaha oh how i love living in a hostel!
The last two days have been amazing!
First we went to the Rainforestation and there were just kangaroos and wallabees jumping around, no big deal?! We got to feed them and pet them and then go and hold a koala bear!!! Afterwards we went and saw an aboriginal show with dancing and then an aborigini man taught us spear throwing, didgeredoo playing, and best of all a lesson in how to throw a boomerang, I think I need some practice in that field though! Then after a brief tour of the rainforest in one of those trucks that can also be boats (chattanoogans you know what I am talking about!) we headed back to the hostel for a free afternoon.
Today we woke up super early and headed out to sea! We took a boat out to the Great Barrier Reef!! First we snorkeled around and words will never adequately describe the beauty of the reef. I don't know what was more amazing, the reef or the fish! I think I saw every fish that lives in the fish tank in Finding Nemo, and Dori as well! Things got real crazy when we did an introductory scuba diving course! After about ten minutes of training in the water one on one with an instructor they put the weights on you and let you go! We got to scuba around the reef for thirty minutes and not only is scuba diving super awesome and I would love to get certified but seeing even more of the reef and getting so close and swimming through its crevices was unbelievable, I mean as I am typing about it now I can't believe it! We then sailed to an island and snorkeled around some more reefs before sailing back to shore!
This Orientation program has been awesome! I feel a lot like its freshman year of college all over again and I just got done with an orientation weekend. Everyone is trying to meet everyone and random hangouts are always happening whether its a trip for some gelato or a pick up ultimate game! And now we are all about to head to our cities and start the real reason we are here, our internships!
I am so excited to go to Brisbane tomorrow! It will be nice to move into my actual residence so I can stop living out of a suitcase and then to explore the town that will house me for the next ten weeks!
Some neat observations about Australians thus far: they really do say "no worries mate" all the time! they love to see Americans trying typical aussie things and they call this "have a go". They have the best chinese and japanese food because it doesn't have to be imported as far but their american beers are super expensive! Who knew a Budweiser could cost so much?! They only work about four days a week and believe in a lot of vacation time, at least four weeks a year.
Also, I am learning to like seafood. I never thought I would see the day!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Tuesday? No thanks
Well I am here in Australia!!
The trek to get here began in Memphis with a little over an hour flight to Dallas. I love sitting by random people, actually I really don't like it at all but I love the stories that almost always come out of it. Memphis to Dallas was this super southern Mississippi girl who wanted to be an archeologist without going to College. So I just went to sleep instead of talking to her! Oh and also on this flight was another Germantown High 2008 grad that I hadn't seen since ummmm probably graduation day? So that was cool!
Dallas to LA 3 hours and 15 minutes. I was sitting next to this cool architect grad student from Hawaii. She cracked me up, but also sharing this row was this old Asian lady who talked us through the ENTIRE "six steps to salvation" and no matter how many times we told her yes we are Christians and yes I already own a bible she was very persistent! But nonetheless she was sweet and now I laugh about it.
In LA all the AustraLearn students met up in our obnoxiously orange tshirts and then endured the 17 hour flight to Sydney. Yes ladies and gentlemen it took 17 hours.. Talk about a bonding experience? Then we flew another three hours to Cairns (pronounced cans) and on those flights I was just next to fellow interns.
So the title of this blog. yeah I skipped Tuesday May 31st of the year 2011. Completely was never in it because of the time zone changes and the travel direction. Weird??? I thought so too. Try to wrap your mind around that one :)
I am going to LOVE Australia though! The lingo is just awesome and the culture and atmosphere is just that much better. Aussies work to live not live to work and think Americans are fools for always working so damn much (in their own words) Here, if you have a doctorate or PhD you still go by your first name even to strangers, no formal titles because that would put you above everyone else. Slightly communistic? maybe. but still I love it!
Tomorrow we go rainforesting then the next day scuba diving at the coral then fly out to each of our intern sites so it might be awhile before you all hear from me again. The scuba diving is an extra cost, but hey go big or go home right? :) Other than that this three day tourist extravaganza is all the interns just getting to tourist to the max before dividing up to really jumping into aussie culture!
G'day mates (bahahahaha i have a loooooong way to go before I can master the accent but I am working on it!)
The trek to get here began in Memphis with a little over an hour flight to Dallas. I love sitting by random people, actually I really don't like it at all but I love the stories that almost always come out of it. Memphis to Dallas was this super southern Mississippi girl who wanted to be an archeologist without going to College. So I just went to sleep instead of talking to her! Oh and also on this flight was another Germantown High 2008 grad that I hadn't seen since ummmm probably graduation day? So that was cool!
Dallas to LA 3 hours and 15 minutes. I was sitting next to this cool architect grad student from Hawaii. She cracked me up, but also sharing this row was this old Asian lady who talked us through the ENTIRE "six steps to salvation" and no matter how many times we told her yes we are Christians and yes I already own a bible she was very persistent! But nonetheless she was sweet and now I laugh about it.
In LA all the AustraLearn students met up in our obnoxiously orange tshirts and then endured the 17 hour flight to Sydney. Yes ladies and gentlemen it took 17 hours.. Talk about a bonding experience? Then we flew another three hours to Cairns (pronounced cans) and on those flights I was just next to fellow interns.
So the title of this blog. yeah I skipped Tuesday May 31st of the year 2011. Completely was never in it because of the time zone changes and the travel direction. Weird??? I thought so too. Try to wrap your mind around that one :)
I am going to LOVE Australia though! The lingo is just awesome and the culture and atmosphere is just that much better. Aussies work to live not live to work and think Americans are fools for always working so damn much (in their own words) Here, if you have a doctorate or PhD you still go by your first name even to strangers, no formal titles because that would put you above everyone else. Slightly communistic? maybe. but still I love it!
Tomorrow we go rainforesting then the next day scuba diving at the coral then fly out to each of our intern sites so it might be awhile before you all hear from me again. The scuba diving is an extra cost, but hey go big or go home right? :) Other than that this three day tourist extravaganza is all the interns just getting to tourist to the max before dividing up to really jumping into aussie culture!
G'day mates (bahahahaha i have a loooooong way to go before I can master the accent but I am working on it!)
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