Hey guys! So this blog has been a long time coming. I've been busy. Let's see, last week I went to the aquarium which was pretty sweet. The was a lot of coral fish and turtles. It was really quite beautiful. We got a behind the scenes tour which was interesting since I've never been behind the scenes before. Besides that, I spent most of O week feeling a bit under the weather, so I stayed in a lot. I did go to the beach on Sunday which was wonderful. I only got slightly sun burned and had a lot of fun swimming in the ocean. Becuase it's stinger season, we swim in nets which kinda feels like you're swimming in a pen but it's not to bad once you get used to it. Plus, the water is really warm.

Classes have finally started this week which is awesome. I've had the intro lectures for everything but Children's Literature so far, and all of my classes look really interesting. This is going to be a really short entry, but that's mostly because I'm going to include another video. As a warning this video made me slightly nauseas watching it because I move around a lot, so just be prepared. I've also attached a few pictures from the aquarium and beach. Enjoy!

So the video didn't actually work. I'll try it again later...

Hi everyone. So it's now orientation week or O week as they call it down under. This means lots of boring meetings to sit through, and very similar computer programs to learn, and all sorts of fun stuff. I signed up to go to Reef HQ today which is a neat aquarium here, and I'm contemplating signing up for the students association because they get discounted prices at the on-campus club. I have pretty much decided that I'm not going to join the gym. They seem to have interesting classes but it would cost me $300 for the semester, which is about $100 more than I was willing to spend. I've also decided for right now at least that I'm not going to sign up for the social sports since it's $40 per sport, and they don't have any that I know I will enjoy. I'll just have to content myself with playing volleyball, and swimming all the time :). On a happier note, there's a toga party tonight which I'm super psyched about. I'm a little less excited about being a frosh again and all of the crap that's attached to that, but it'll get better after this week.

Over the weekend I went clubbing with some friends which was great fun. I also went out to a bar with most of the residents in Uni Hall which was interesting to say the least. This weekend I'm planning on going to a pool party and probably visiting the beach which should be pretty sweet. It does, however, have to stop raining before that can happen. There are some downsides to living in a tropical climate.

Anyways, I'm going to attach a video and a picture from a cruise I was on last week!

Forgot to add pictures!

Sorrento Beach

Finally here!

Hi everybody! So at this point I have already finished one orientation (Arcadia), and am moving on to the freshman orientation at James Cook which will be caled JCU from this point forward. So during my first orientation, after being picked up at the airport we immediately went to get lunch at this adorable seaside village called St. Kilda, discovered that we don't tip in Australia, and swam in the west side of the Pacific for the first time. We then got on the bus and drove to a state park to look at kangaroos. We were cornering three when they hopped off, and were momentarily dismayed until we walked 15 feet and saw at least 30 more. They were so cute, and I got such good pictures of them! We then drove to our villa by the sea where we stayed for the next couple of days. While we were there, we went for a couple of hikes, went swimming again, and explored Sorrento, the town we were in. We also had the necessary lectures regarding Australian culture and what to expect. It was quite enlightening. I also registered to go on the mini Reef and Rainforest Excursion in Cairns which should be an awesome time. We also went on a cruise where we saw birds, seals, and more kangaroos!

After spending a couple of days in Sorrento, we returned to Melbourne (where we flew in), and had a mostly free day. I bought a phone, and that night some of us went out for a couple of beers which were ridiculuously expensive at A$6 a glass! It was fun though, and I liked the city. Yesterday, we finally made it to Townsville, and I'm now at least slightly settled in University Hall, Uni Hall for short. I have a single with communal bathrooms, and I'm in a townhouse. This means that there's 11 that share 2 bathrooms, 1 kitchen, and a common room. We don't have air conditioning, but after Mississippi for so long, I can honestly say this isn't too bad. We have amazingly efficient fans.

This morning we had an orientation session that was a bit boring but still informative, and tonight I'm supposed to be going out with some friends. However, we were supposed to leave an hour ago... Hopefully we'll leave soon!