Welcome to Wollongong!

Well, I got here a day later than planned because of a cancelled flight, but I finally made it! The flight took ages, but I did meet a few really interesting people. I sat beside one guy who worked for the Weather Channel in LA. He had lived in Sydney for two years when he was younger and was so excited that I was on my way here. On another flight there was a professor at one of the universities here in Australia.

So I got in at around 6:30 AM and caught the University of Wollongong (UOW) shuttle back to my dorm,

Weerona College. I rode the bus with several other American students, and it was really exci

ting to have other students to talk with who were living in my building. After we arrived we got all checked in, dropped our bags in our rooms (I was relieved to see that everyone brought as much as I did), and had an informal tour of the building. It's got a very homey, comfortable feel to it, and I instantly decided that this will be a great place to live. I haven't met my roommate yet, but she an Australian named Allison but she goes by Soni. She has lots of horseback riding photos on the wall, so hopefully we will have a lot in common! Everyone says she is so, so nice, and I can't wait to meet her!

My CIEE directors came and picked the other student in the program, Justin, and me up and we toured the campus and the town of Wollongong (pronounced wool-ongong). Campus is absolutely gorgeous. I felt like I was going on a nature walk through a park instead of walking around campus. Instead of crows and robins, they have parrots and cockatoos. There are duck ponds all over campus, and countless trees, the Eucalyptus trees smell so good! After touring campus we saw the town. Wollongong is beautiful. It is caught between the mountains and the ocean, and the harbour is especially pretty. The boats and lighthouse against the ocean with the mountains as a background all create such a pretty image.

After picking up a few essentials, I realized that I was

absolutely exhausted. I had hardly slept at all during the past 36 hours, so I pulled the lame-o jet lag cart and opted for an early bedtime. I woke up the morning refreshed, and I am looking forward to going for a run, and continuing to meet all the awesome people in my building. Today (Sunday) starts "Flood Week," a kind of orientation week with activities for our dorm. I have no idea what it entails, but it will be so fun finding out! We start this afternoon with a barbeque in the backyard!

Australia Bound at Last!

I'm sitting in the Greenville-Spartanburg Airport waiting to board the first leg of my flight. After what feels like ages of preparing for this trip, I can hardly believe I'm finally on my way. Last night I packed what felt like every belonging I owned into my two giant suitcases (yes, I will be that American), and this afternoon as my parents dropped me off at the airport it finally hit me that I'm going to AUSTRALIA!

It will take around 20 hours to get there, and I'm sure the flights will be less than thrilling, I am certain that Australia will be absolutely incredible. I'm studying at the University of Wollongong. It's about an hour away from Sydney. Wollongong sits at the base of Mt. Keira and is a short walk from the beach. The description alone sounds incredible, and the pictures I've seen make me feel like I'm headed to a vacation spot instead of school. I can only guess what it will be like, but I'll do my best to blog regularly to keep everyone updated. I'm out for now, but the next time I blog it'll be from Australia! Can't wait!