Hello from down under!

Hello everyone! I’ve decided to keep a blog about my semester down under to keep everyone back in the states updated on what I’ve been doing. I’ll try to post regularly and update with some pictures too.

I arrived in Sydney on Wednesday Feb 4th after a very long flight. I was traveling for almost 24 hours! It wasn’t too bad though, I slept a lot more than I thought I would. I cleared customs fine and the IFSA Butler (the program that I’m studying abroad with) staff met me right away. We then took about a half hour bus ride from the airport to Narrabeen Beach where we would be staying for the next few days. It’s kind of like a little suburb of Sydney. We were on a camp ground in little cabins right across from the beach. I lived with 5 other girls who all are at the same school as me. The beach was absolutely beautiful and really warm. It was over 100 F every day that we were there. It is also super easy to get sun burnt here since there’s almost no ozone layer over this part of the world.

The cabin where I stayed for my orientation in Sydney.

While we were in Sydney we had some time to just hang out and relax, we got our new cell phones or mobile phones as they call them here, we went to the Taronga zoo, took a harbor cruise around Sydney harbor, got surfing lessons, and had a presentation of a traditional smoking ceremony by aboriginal people. We also had some information sessions on life in Australia, traveling, and on the school we would be at. The last day we were in Sydney a bunch of us got up early to watch the sunrise and it was gorgeous.

My first kangaroo sighting! It was at the zoo, but still pretty cool. Koalas in the zoo. They sleep for about 20 hours a day!
Sydney Harbor from the boat we were on.

Me with the opera house and Sydney harbor bridge.

Me after surfing. I was able to get up once for about 2 seconds!

Me and a few other girls from my program with one of the aboriginal men.

Sunrise on the last morning in Sydney.

We then left our beach vacation to head up to Townsville where we would be living and studying for the next 5 months. We had to take a flight first to Brisbane and then to Townsville. The flights weren’t bad, but when we got here the weather was terrible! Townsville gets over 300 days of sunshine every year, but the remaining rainy days all seem to happen in a row! It had been raining for about 43 days when we got here! Luckily it has stopped, but now it is very humid. The good news is that the weather is just going to get better from here on out.

I am staying at John Flynn College at James Cook University. It is definitely the best place to live on campus and everyone is very nice. I have my own room and share a conjoining bathroom with the girl who will be living across the hall. She hasn’t moved in yet though. Right now I am the only one on my floor except for my RA. All of the RA’s are here for training now and they are really helpful. There are 3 other people from my program living at John Flynn too and our RA’s all took us out to the tavern our first night. A few days ago me and two of my friends saw 2 big and 2 little wallabies (joeys) walking around right next to our dorm! My room at JCU. The air conditioner is the best part!

Today we’re taking a tour of Townsville with our study abroad group. We’ve all been hanging out together and have gotten pretty close already. So far everything here is great. I’m trying to work out my classes now but it looks like I’m going to get to take everything that I wanted to.

Some of you may know that I’ve been having some trouble with my computer lately so I might not be able to post very often until I get that all settled out, but I will try to keep you as up to date as possible!

I miss you all a lot, but I am having a great time here. Keep me posted on what’s going on at home!

Lots of love,

Jennie