ADELAIDE my new home away from home =)

SOOOOOO Beautiful...the walkway to the beach!

1/30/2010

I am now a professional flyer, I have flown 6 different flights in 5 days…one of them being almost 14 hours…which is why my bodies equilibrium is outta wack! Jayme and I are experiencing some serious jet leg/motion sickness. Not like throwing up but when we sit still or bend over it feels sooo weird like I’m on a boat or something. It’s kind of annoying and I feel like my body is like “LAND!!!!” Let’s hang out on some terrain for awhile, lol.

So while dealing with some serious jet leg, Jayme and I managed to make it from Cairns to Brisbane to Adelaide just fine. There was cute older maxi-taxi driver waiting for us by baggage claim and on our way to our new home he continued to show us where some things were around town. We were dropped off outside our apartment and some nice fellow let us inside. He proceeded to tell us that there was no such thing as move-ins on Saturday and Jayme and I started to freak a bit. (Later Jayme was making fun of my nervous smile and my calm, oh um ok thanks response.) But then walked in a RA and handed us our keys. She showed us the way to our apartment and how to use the fan above the stove top and vanished. So there we were, in our naked apartment, dizzy and tired. We decided we would grab a map and try and find our way to the beach.First time riding the tram...and what an experience it was;)

We started walking down our street and saw the tram driving away (other than the idea of the tram going straight to the beach we had no idea what we were doing) So it stopped a block away and Jayme and I started jogging to get on it…I looked at Jayme and was like “we can’t just jump on a tram we have no idea where it’s going!” She’s like “let’s just get on and then ask questions.” So we jumped on sat down and tried to figure out if we were even going in the right direction, we almost got off but then we asked someone and they informed us we were headed the right way.
We made it to the beach but only stayed for 45 minutes because we felt like the sun was burning the heck outta our bodies. It was beautiful tho, prolly the best beach I’ve ever seen anyway. The sand was white and very soft and the water was a beautiful turquoise/sea green. Afterward we walked around the shops and located some jazzy restaurants, took the tram back, found the bus station and purchased a 10-way bus ticket and headed home to shower. By this point we were dog tired and still felt like we were spinning/rocking on a boat.

Before we left, Dr. Tornabene gave us a contact to connect with once we got here. At first I wasn’t even sure if we’d take her up on the offer but when we got here and didn’t even have toilet paper in our bathroom and had no idea where the nearest grocery store was-we decided to give her a jingle. She offered to take us to the store with her car the next day to help us gather some things. We were sooo excited for this!

Soo jet legged and tired, Jayme and I ate some dinner from a restaurant down the road and typed a bit more on our journals. We were only able to stay awake till 9pm and then we needed to hit the hay. Kind-of disappointing considering it was a Saturday but definitely what we needed!

Hope to have better internet soon so I can chat with ya'll!

Cheers,

Shar

The beach by our house...just fabulous-softest sand I found thus far;)

Great Barrier Reef = EPIC

Julie, Jayme, Me, and Matt sporting our sexy blue suits!!! =)
1/29/2010

Right before the Great Barrier Reef Trip!
It’s 2:20pm at home but about 6:00am here in Cairns…just about to go to the reef! Soo excited but nervous to burn. Wish me luck! I’ll need it!
Well well…where did I leave off? Ok right, the Great Barrier Reef! So yesterday we went on a boat called “PASSIONS of Paradise” (for all you health friends out there I hope you find that a bit ironic.) Jayme and I did giggle when we realized it…although we didn’t realize it until we were snorkeling right next to the boat-ha!

It took 2 hours to cruise out to the first spot of the reef, during that time the scuba crew had us sign our life away and teach us a little bit about scuba diving and snorkeling! Afterwards we were offered the opportunity to rent a jelly fish resistant suit…since the instructors said we wouldn’t be able to see the poisonous jellyfish because they were soo small and I didn’t want to spend the next week in the hospital I got a sexy blue suit. Ha, wait till you see the pics! Lol

Since I was in group 3 with Jayme…they dropped us off on this little island with more birds than you can imagine. We put our snorkel stuff on and we were off...when we first started out we had trouble keeping the water out of our mask because every time we would look at each other, we’d start laughing! When you see how sexy we looked, you’ll understand.

Regardless, we had heaps of fun checking out the reef and saw soooooo many fish from Finding Nemo! We also saw about 34 pink jelly fish (sorry I forgot the name of them), which at first we would freak out every time we saw one and swim in the opposite direction…but later learned that they were harmless and I even touched one while on my scuba adventure. Once we were finished with the snorkeling we switched over to scuba diving. I WAS FREAKING OUT…the instructor told us no matter what happens we “had to remember to breathe and never hold our breath”…and I hold my breath when I’m nervous so you see where I’m coming from here;) But I survived of course, and our scuba instructor showed us sooo many fascinating creatures living within the GB Reef. I could name them all but I’d be here for awhile but here’s some things that stood out, 2 sting-rays, 3 nemos, touched the inside of a clam (very cool and very soft surprisingly) touched a jelly fish twice, 2 different star-fish and these water slugs (I think that’s what they’re called?) were pretty cool to touch too.

We had an amazing lunch after we were through scuba’ing and then the boat took us to Paradise Reef which was unbelievable. First of all, Jayme and I decided to save some money and just snorkel rather than scuba another time. And we dragged Princess (who is deathly afraid of water, because she can’t swim) in the water so she could enjoy it too (which was quite the process, let me tell you!) So Jay (remember he’s like our camp councilor) was pulling Princess around on a raft, Jayme, Matt and I are tagging along and just checking out the reef. When all of a sudden I’m like OMG THAT’S A EFFIN SHARK! I popped my head up and was like, “I think I see a shark! I pointed towards the direction I found it and everyone confirmed it really was a shark!!!! Sooo cool, but I was bigger than this shark so I wasn’t too scared, just fascinated=) And all day I got to tease that “Shar found the shark” because we had practically the same name, lol.

All in all, the Great Barrier Reef was so much cooler than words could describe, I had the time of my life out there just swimming around with all those animals!!! I highly recommend doing a boat tour with “Passions of Paradise” for anyone who’s considering checking out the GBR in the future=)

Later that night, we returned home to our hostel and showered before our last orientation session. Afterward we (Jayme, Princess, Caty, Matt, Julie, Rachel and myself) went out for a few drinks…it was kind-of entertaining to watch the Aussies rock out to our music-with a techno twist. We didn’t stay out too late because Jayme and I were feeling a little jet legged still and Jayme Matt and I had to leave a 4am the next day...

Last flight to Cairns

Well we’re finally on our last flight for a longggg time (or 2 days lol) but we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the nice people of Australia…seriously. We were just waiting for the seat-belt sign to go off so we could jump up and grab our stuff and run off the plane…and then the captain said that the airport forgot about our flight coming in so they didn’t have a walkway set up, we arrived ten minutes late but and then the crew on the group directed the captain to the wrong line to pull up to which followed by a sweet machine coming to push our plane a meter so that it would a line up wonderfully.

The lady sitting next me on the overnight flight was uber nice…she started talking to me from the beginning and then when we landed she told us that we had to run and get through customs and collect our baggage because there is only 2 flights that travel to Cairns…and the other one wasn’t leaving until later tonight. The only thing I could think of is shit, we really need to get on that plane!

Ok, so it’s me, Jayme, Princess, and Caty and this nice Australian lady (we’ve decided to call her our flight mum) running through the airport trying to get to where we needed to be… we were waiting in line for a bus and then our flight mum told them what flight we needed to be on and then they pushed us ahead to a A/C orange bus (which was amazing because we all had HUGE pit-stains by this point-gross but its so true) I quickly texted Ben to tell him to tell everyone that we were alive while not paying attention to the crazy bus driving on the LEFT side of the road-I know this is common here but until you see it, you just don’t know how weird it is!…The bus dropped us off at the domestic part of the airport and made it past security. All along the way flight mum was helping us, telling us what we should be doing and going. We got there just in time to use the restroom ( just changed into my flip-flops) and then boarded our next plane…phew! Jayme and I were just joking that if someone was filming us we would have made a hilarious scene for a movie…4 sweaty girls, plus a random stranger we adopted as our flight mum, scrambling for their luggage, crusin’ through customs, jumping on orange busses, cutting in line, just to make it for the next flight! Haha…if you don’t think this is funny then maybe you just had to be here;)

Anyway-So like I said, last flight and we’re all soo pooped…it’s a lotta work traveling across the globe! Princess is from Ohio and Caty is from Arizona so we’ve all done our fair share of traveling in the past couple days. This flight is only 2 hours long and after a 14 hour one I feel like I got this in the bag;) …So I’m trying like hell to stay awake so I decided to use up what was left of my computer battery to “blog” (which on the plane consists of typing on a blank Microsoft document) Well, it looks like it’ll die any minute so I’m gonna get going. I miss home so much that I’m here but find this to be the adventure I needed to finish my degree. Cant wait till I blog next time. Take care and I love you!

Love,

Shar

International Flight-14 hours and counting...

International flight:

Just as we were getting on the plane…Jayme takes off her pack and from behind this nice younger man goes, “ma’am, would you like some help with that?” (in a jazzy Aussie accent) “clunk”…she got it up there and he goes “never mind”…lol Then one of the flight attendants and the same gentleman offered to help me and I just tossed it up there real quick….this was just the start of the wonderful Australian hospitality we were offered… Jayme and I decide we could stop being such he-women and allow those gentlemen help us next time. =)

Later that flight:
No idea what time it is right now…the mini flight tracker on my tv imbedded in the headrest in front of me says 3:03 hours till arrival. I just got done watching “love happens” which I truly enjoyed, but that was after my seven hour nap (on and off..because I really couldn’t sleep that well on the plane.) Then I walked around and stretched my legs (someone please tell grandma that I actually did this please, lol) and used the facilities…It’s currently 12:30 or so at home, which makes perfect sense as to why I can’t sleep anymore.

My ankles are gone…I currently have cankles…no joke. NOW, I know what it’s like to retain water in my legs…maybe they should make us wear ted sox on these long flights? Haha, jk I wouldn’t wanna put them on! Anyway, I can now sympathize with my residents from the Pines=)

Right before Jayme and I boarded the plane we bumped into Princess and Caty(Katie is how I spelt it initially) both in the AustraLearn Program. Princess will be working in Syndey and is sitting like 8 rows ahead of us and Caty, who is also going to Adelaide, has got the window seat, Jayme is in the middle( thanks to some really nice Australian lady who offered to switch so we could be next to each other) and I have the seat next to the aisle. Once we got situated and were in the air for a bit they fed us dinner, chicken with penne pasta and veggies…meh it was alright for airplane food. And the pineapple upside down cake was prolly the best part=)

Pretty soon they’ll be feeding us breakfast which will be nice cuz I’m kinda getting hungry (surprised? Didn’t think so) I’ve got to admit that the plane and the service is great on this Quantas flight. And no wonder why it costs so much…they have given us headphones, a pillow and blanket, snack bag and like I mentioned before dinner and breakfast.

There is a serious orange glow coming from behind the shade of the window…I kinda wanna peak to see how bright it really is but there are several people sleeping around me and I’m positive it would be blinding….Well I can smell breakfast so I’m gonna check the menu and choose something to eat! I love you all and can’t wait till I can talk with you soon. Take care.

Love,
Shar

P.S. Jammin Jess…there was a crying baby on this flight…but only cried for a bit. =)

Here goes nothing...

Day 1-2 Travel Time

Didn’t decide to get outta bed until 6:38…showered (because I knew how long it would be until I could do that again) and finished gathering my belongings. Planned on leaving Dtown at 7:30 but didn’t really leave until 8 (typical me) I said some sad goodbyes to the roomies and pretty much continued to cry until I left Duluth…

I remember threatening Duluth to be warmer than this when I returned…and Ben just laughed at me and said don’t worry it will be. The highway was still pretty slick from yesterdays snow/ice/grossness/slush so we took it easy until we passed Black Bear.

Ben’s silly car kept building up frost on the inside of the windows and stupid fast cars were splashing the brown/grey drops all over his windshield. And we were too afraid that using the windshield wipers would make it ten times worse so we agreed to stop in Hinckley and clean off the windows and such. (I let Ben in on a little secret about the a/c button in his car and the frosting on the windows disappeared after that.)

After our stop we continued on our way…the roads got better and I became more sad. The thought of saying goodbye to Ben kept popping up in my head and made me shed some tears, every so often. I’d start to cry, wipe my tears then blow my nose and be ok for awhile. Ben probably thought I was insane or was just having fun mimicking a faucet… But anyway we finally made it to the airport and then I wished the ride would suddenly be longer.

Ben and I sat there and waited till Jayme got dropped off and then we checked it…or tried to. Turns out my suitcase weighed about 62.5 lbs and was only allowed to weigh 50 lbs and if I wanted to bring everything with I would have to pay fifty dollars, I was like F THAT. I’ll just take some stuff out…so after getting rid of extra tanks, shorts and such I finally got it down to 49 lbs and then decided to add my lotion back in the bag just because I could=)

Then gave Ben 5 hugs and a few smooches and stumbled through security. Finally the crying stopped and Jayme and I found Subway…it was delicious (FYI) I decided to go pull myself together and Jayme and I took the first of what will be many pictures to follow. Boarded the plane to Chicago…which was a nice little 50 minute flight. Trying not to sleep during the day I decided to write some more on my “predeparture paper” and read My Horizontal Life, recommended by my room-roommate Steph. Pretty funny so far, I guess I never knew of any women to have so many one-night stands! Lol

Once we got to Chicago, I made some calls used the restroom and boarded the next plane to LA. Watched the plane take off and daydreamed awhile, read my book and then wanted to take a nap. But I didn’t…I took out my comp and finished my paper…1000 words-donzo! Darn it feels good to be done with that non-sense=) Now I’m just rockin out to my iPod and writing a lil blog post while I remember and to help keep me awake.

….This morning when I left Duluth it maybe was 10*F then Chicago was 26*F and when we land in LA it’s supposed to be like 54*F…I see that the US is gradually preparing me for weather in Oz.

I’m started to more excited and less sad which is good… because I’m dehydrated from crying. I was soo jacked to go to Australia I didn’t realize how hard it would be to say goodbye to everyone… I miss you all and can’t wait to Skype. But I think the LA arrival is coming soon so I’m gonna go. In LA, I plan on feasting before the never-ending-flight to Australia. Hopefully I’ll write soon. Take care and I’ll talk to you soon!

Love,

Shar

Hello & Welcome!

1/6/2010

Hello family and friends!

Welcome to my online journal while interning in Australia! If you choose to follow me you'll be reading about my adventures, thoughts, and life while living abroad. The purpose of this blog is to keep all of you updated on my life and to allow me the chance to reflect on all my happenings in Australia and New Zealand. (This is not for academic credit and its not required to maintain this blog. Therefore, I plan to share as much as possible through my posts.) With that said, I hope you enjoy following me abroad!

Love,
Shar