The Outback!

So finally, my reflections on the trip our ASC group took to the Outback...

    -     4 days of travel out to the middle of nowhere ie. "Back of Bourke" or "whoopwhoop" 

    -   12 hour bus ride both ways

-       Stayed in an awesome hotel (well...it seemed awesome after hostels and such)

-       actually only 2 full days in Outback

-      it felt longer though because we just could do whatever we wanted and explore

-        I signed the "No Shower” pact with the group (4-5 days ish) yum.

-       Where we stayed was called Trilby Station, Louth-- a 300,000 acres sheep farm-- they herd the sheep with not just dogs but also planes, yes, planes.

   ^ That is the sheep farmer, Gary.... you can find out more crazy awesome info. on him and his wife and their farm by looking up their website for Trilby Station!)

-       Saw my first wild kangaroos hopping by while I was on the bus! 

-       Most amazing star-gazing ever! Saw a huge possible meteor (ball of fire thing, need to ask Dad, lol)?

-       Tons of shooting stars, saw a very clear Orion, and saw my first Southern Hemisphere constellations like the Southern Cross!

-       Twinkling stars! So bright and clear and twinkly! (Red, whites, blues/purples)

-       Saw Mars distinctly, but no moon because it was a new moon, weird

-       Canoed and relaxed viewing the beautiful scenery on the "Billabong" ie. creek 

-       Practiced enjoying the moment (easier there than in Sydney)

-       Slept outside under the stars the first night (not much sleep but still awesome)

-       Got to play with the sheep- herding dogs, the Kelpies! (Rudy, Tanny, Plugger)

-       Was part of a little worship team some of us created for the ASC group

-       Sang improv and harmony by the fire at night with some talented ASC friends, so fun

-       Saw Kangaroos everywhere on the property, and on the tour our bus driver, Ian, took us on around the Outback, also saw rare pink-winged cockatoos

-       Worst part: the AWFUL annoying loud huge amounts of buzzing FLIES, the do not back off! lol just group of them land on you and stay there and buzzzzzz. ick.

-       The ground was covered in burs, which were felt like little thorns that just work their way into your skin and clothes, they were annoying also!

-       Still finding burs in my clothes (socks mainly, although i painfully discovered one in the back of my athletic shorts while dancing in hiphop class, that was fun :p)

   -        Loved the gorgeous red dirt! White socks and a t-shirts are permanently stained, and there's still some red dust and dirt on my camera and bag, but it's like i'll always have part of the Outback with me now ;)

   -       Some of us went Mudding in the billabong! Just like a foot of mud on the buddy, didn't want to know what else was down there, sketchy! But super fun! Except when it dried, it dries like cement :p oops

-       But it was nice to cool off/take a half shower in the pool ;)

   -  It was super hot by day, super cold by night

-       Got ANOTHER cold while there (fun fact)

-       Went on a sunrise walk last day to find some kangaroos and get video of them hopping!

The scenery was beautiful:

Red, bright dirt; green, twisting trees; blue, clear skies; white, puffy clouds

The horizon went on forever and ever! Breath-taking.

-        I had a few moments where I just was so calm and I felt God there, as cliche as it is I know, but it was something I'd never felt that strongly before... comfort, peace, security..

My Goals While There:

   -    To get red dirt on my face, of course :D

   -  But also, I wanted to grow closer to God, and it happened in finding time and silence and relaxation to just sit and listen and pray and read

   -      I wanted to be more open and outgoing with others, and it happened through the sharing time with our ASC group and through good conversations and bonding, still struggling with being quiet and shy overall, but this trip helped me feel more comfortable in myself

-       I loved being on my own with God and nature, but I also stepped out of my comfort zone to let others in more and to just enjoy all the interactions and fun, new experiences together

I definitely miss the Outback, it was just overwhelmingly peaceful (minus flies) and comforting.  It was also like a whole new world, hard to believe people still live that remotely (reminds me of the Dominican), but it was cool to be integrated into that type of life even for a few days...Makes me realize more and more that I'm definitely not a city person.  But I am not a country person in terms of that type of remoteness either, lol, but I think I've decided I'd like a happy medium... :) preferably a place with skies that go on forever and kangaroos that hop past you on the road, nbd.

New Zealand: Wellington

So for the first part of break I went with 5 girls to Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. It's on the North Island (southern part) and is a beautiful harbor city.  Overall, it was an amazingly challenging but awesome trip, it was not what I had exactly dreamed of or expected, but God has been teaching me a lot that I need to be more grateful and enjoy what I do have-- I realized how spoiled I often am...Anyway, although it wasn't the typical New Zealand views you think of (kayaking through waterfalls with dolphins or hiking to snow-capped mountains, lol) it was still beautiful and relaxing nonetheless! And so cool to have seen just a glimpse of that gorgeous country!

So here's a day by day itinerary:

Day 1:

-       Got lost, (got laughed at! lol) got told wrong place to go in searching for a waterfall hike

-       Ended up finding a great hike to Mt. Kaukau

-       I think it would be considered a normal hike to any local, but to us it was phenomenal!

-       It was so green! Soo many shades of green-- I loved it!

-       The view was full of yellow, tan, green, with blue sky and puffy, fast moving clouds (and unfortunately lots of fog while we were there all week--which is why the sky looks white^)

-       Cameras don’t do it justice, so picturesque

-       Not the view I’d imagined, but was just as good because we worked to get there

-       I will never forget just running up the side of a steep cliff to the highest part we found at first, it was so windy we were tripping and falling and that made it all the more memorable and worth it :p!

-       We hiked and got lost and wandered all day, and it was exhausting but I just kept walking and was not bothered because everywhere I looked was interesting and new and gorgeous (we even walked all the way back to Wellington, got lost for over 3 hrs)

-       “Just 30 more minutes…” (that's what everyone kept telling us as we wandered trying to find Wellington after our hike, haha)

-       After first day, nice to relax and not have a plan all the time, stressful but freeing, my mind kept racing with all that I wanted to do there, but it’s a group and it’s limited time and money and I had to learn to go with it and adjust and appreciate what we did do, which ended up being awesome!

-       Learned that I need to go with the flow more, trust God more, not let frustration and expectations overwhelm me so much! (Below pic is the beautiful harbor, Wellington was just gorgeous, esp when the skies cleared up!)

-       Learned to THANK GOD more: creation, means, opportunity, safety, etc.

-       Found that the time and the views gave me opportunity to reflect and feel overwhelmed with emotion and thankfulness for God’s grace and love for me and his creation that he allows me to enjoy and experience

-       Random realization: BEING IN NEW ZEALAND MADE ME MISS MY FAMILY EVEN MORE!

-       Wanted them to be there to experience it-- Dad would love it (seclusion, peace, silence, wildlife, never-ending hikes and trails), Jami and Jase would love the adventure sports and such, and Caleb would love the LOTR references everywhere!

-       Overall, the visit was like a “TEASER” for me, I didn’t see all I wanted to, and I’d love to go back, especially to South Island!

-       But I still loved it because I did stuff that stretched me (literally sometimes :p ie. ropes course, haha!), challenged me, and was completely new to me. 

-       Fun fact: budget was $800 and I made it! (With six girls it was awesome because we split and shared and packed meals each day and cooked huge, awesome meals each night at the hostel! I learned to make pancakes :D) Food overall: $25 (score!)

Day 2:

-   Zip-line (“Flying Fox”) and high ropes course! Super high in the trees, hard to reach stuff cause I was too short :p, but still awesome to complete it and feel proud that I could

-       Physically hard but rewarding and beautiful and scary and exhilarating!

-       Indiana Jones rope swing! Aw yeah.

-       There was a literal skateboard on a rope across a wire and you just glide across on it--sweet!

-       Body- slammed a few times after ziplining to fast without breaking (fun! and woops! haha) and almost fell off twice from the rotating logs on ropes which were super slippy and hard to figure out, and there was a zipline hanger thing where my hands slipped at the end--eesh!

Day 3:

-       Mountain biking!

-       Hard, fell off twice! (cut & bruised...) haven't fallen off a bike since I was like 5 (not cool & embarrassing lol)

-       It was scary at times because it was a tiny trail right by the edge of the cliff..

-       Pushed my bike up 50% of the time (not gonna lie ;p)

-       REFUSED to give up! Although I was not physically completely able to do it, I still wanted to make it to the top, there was no way I wouldn’t after being halfway up lol

-       Minimal view at top (FOG and clouds...but still cool views on way up-- see below pic with windmills!)

-       But still felt proud and accomplished since it's something i'd not normally do

-       Going back down was fun, fast, and bumpy :D best part.

-       Same day: Wharf Jumping! (2 diff locations)

-        First one was this staircase thing ^, it was so fun and i'd never done something like it before! So cool, plus it's a tourist spot that locals tell you about but don't warn you :p (unknowing tourists get splashed/soaked because we stand too close to the edge when ppl jump off, hehe)

-       The other wharf jump we did was on a wooden “plank” over the actual harbor, supposed non-stinging jellyfish in it that locals told us about, but I didn't feel/see them :(

-       So COLD but exhilarating and cool feeling of adrenaline (esp of the high staircase one)!

-       Random: sweet, friendly woman asked to take our photos while on the plank lol, she told us how to pose haha

  *Trip Highlights:

o   Friendly, warm Kiwi people

o   Stumbling upon Mount Kaukau and loving it

o   Mountain biking to the top!

o   Wharf jumping!

o   Time for growth, prayer, reflection, and appreciation for my family & friends back home!

Visit to the Great Barrier Reef!

So I know I have taken forever to update this. Sorry! Crazy busy few weeks.  

The highlights of March:

Going to Manly beach (I love Manly!) for sunset-- some of us got in the water in our clothes--yeah....regretted that afterward traveling home :p, but it was so warm and so fun! … plus we stayed out late and heard some music in a park and people dancing and the nightlife at Manly was super chill and different but so cute! After a long night, we went home via trains and buses and barely caught the last ones (those of us who live in Concord have to deal with the annoying public transportation closing early on weekends—so weird)

Then Saturday we went to Featherdale Wildlife Park! A petting zoo! It was amazing, fed kangaroos, played with wallabies, saw a joey in a pouch, petted a koala and got the tourist pic with it, saw a quokka which I didn’t know existed, but is my new fav! Crocodile was huge and didn't move at all and was terrifying! Saw a sleeping dingo, Tasmanian devil, some vibrantly- colored birds, and lots of big, poisonous snakes and reptiles…eek. Also learned that Emus are mean.  Saw an echidna and a wombat. Koalas are super slow-moving and lazy and just really do look drunk and grumpy.  Kangaroos are super aggressive for food (one grabbed my hand with both paws, so cute but kinda hurt, lol). They also bite a little bit…

The only frustrating part was when my camera died after three pictures.  I was so upset, and I know its just a camera blah blah, but still, I was so looking forward to this moment to capture all these animals for memory and for people to see, so I was just really frustrated. My friends took pics for me though, which I am so thankful for!

Saturday night was awesome! I went and chilled with some friends and made a picnic and then went to Strathfield park to play around on the playgrounds until the movie :D. We laid on a blanket and ate popcorn and watched Sherlock Holmes under the amazing stars—all free! So relaxing and muchly needed!

Sunday was also a great day but with frustration! We as a whole group wanted to go to Bondi Beach for the first time, but we all went at different times from different places and it took me and my roommate almost 3 hours to get there. Then I could only stay 2.5 hours and had to leave to go to night church that I wanted to visit.  It ended up taking just as long to get back and we ended up not going to church because we were so late!

The following weekend was the best...because....I went to Cairns, Queensland and snorkeled on the Great Barrier Reef! One of my life dreams achieved!

Cairns Weekend:

 

- Got kissed on the cheek by an Australian who showed us how to get to the train station for the airport

- $4 burger and soda at hostel in Cairns (yay poor college travelers)

- 6 am, walk to marina, excited to discover that our tourboat for the reef was not sketchy! Yay, however, my debit card didn’t work. UGH. Thankfully my friend covered me. 

- Got wet suits! (covered head to toe because of the jellyfish).

- Got lunch and snacks and coffee and watermelon and coconut cake while on the boat!

- Tanned/ burned on sun deck of boat

- Had a great moment reflecting and admiring God's creation as I just watched the gorgeous views of mountains, cliffs, islands, and blue-green water go past.

- The first snorkel trip was kinda scary—we had to swim through deep cloudy water until all the sudden: bam! the reef was right under me...amazing

- First time snorkeling: choked on water and bad at mask and breathing, had my mask too tight and literally my forehead was bruised and hurt for days after. haha! woops

- Surprisingly got a little sea sick on the first time around...weird.

- Spent a lot of time taking spastic videos and pics (underwater camera case worked!)

- Amazed by vibrant colors on fish and coral, fluorescent greens and purples and yellows

- Amazing textures, big fish, tiny fish, metallic fish, anemones moving in the currents

- Saw a big squid! and some mini ones in groups (my friend got one to ink! haha)--  the big one scared me because I saw some bubbles and took a pic like "oh whats this from?" and then AH! it came shooting out of the trench! (Those were the bubbles--so cool right?) Little did I know ;)

- Saw no sea turtle while snorkeling (SAD) but saw one while up on the boat deck

- Some parts we snorkeled were soo deep and scary and hard to see, others so shallow I was afraid to touch and break the coral

- It really was just like Finding Nemo: With the “drop-off” and the trenches

- Didn't see (or feel) any jellies :p! Yay (BUT did see some huge White Box Jellyfish floating while up on the boat deck on the way back! EW)

- Second time around snorkeling was much better, didn’t hurt my forehead or choke or get water in goggles as much

- Much more relaxed and focused on taking things in

- Dove down a lot more, more comfortable holding breath with snorkel and being closer up was way cooler!

- Saw nemo!

- Saw gill!

- Favorite fish: huge purple and green fish that was so weird looking and swam around eating things and spitting them out

- Saw the ripply, weird thing that is in the beginning of finding nemo?  It was cool cause it looks like a big shell just chillin there but it breathed through a hole on to. (I think it's a giant clam?)

- Loved the drop off and the contrast between deep dark water and the shallow reef-- the depth made it feel like an endless world and so creepy but awesome!

- Swimming back to boat each time was scary because you could see nothing around you but cloudy water, hard to even see other snorkelers at times

- Loved being on the boat both ways, just laid out and talked and relaxed

- The crew was super funny and nice and not sketchy :p

- At times I felt fear and excitement and AWE, just being able to see God’s immense works like the mountains on the way to the reef versus the intricate works like the detailed coral..

- I just kept thinking: this is why I believe in a CREATOR

Later that day, after our reef tour was over, we walked around Cairns and discovered a community pool type thing which was FREE and had fountains and food and music and sand that led into it (Cairns beaches are muddy and gross so I think they made this pool as an alternative :p)

The next day:

- Got up at 5:45 AM for sunrise on marina, sail boats and contrast of sun and mtn shadow on water was gorgeous

-       got food for picnic, went back for free pancakes at hostel (fail, so small..haha)

-       slept some more! Sooo tired! Snorkeling is exhausting!

-       Got up and checked out of hostel, then walked 1 hr to Botanic Gardens!

-       Explored, ate picnic, rainforest boardwalk, lakes, CROCODILE WARNINGS

-       Played cards, talked, relaxed

-       Went to flower gardens

-       Saw Aboriginal context of rain forest uses

-       Saw more Aborigines in Cairns than ever before in Sydney or anywhere

-       Loved the relaxed, sleepy, beachy, touristy feel of Cairns

-       Loved the surprising scenery of mountains, marina, boats

-       Mountain horizon reminded me of the DR

·      God moment on boat on way to the reef, just in AWE!

·      Loved seeing the reef like in Finding Nemo! (lighter colored in water and could see it in the horizon!)

So that's all for now...Saturday March 30th I'm off to New Zealand for break, I return Wednesday, and then I leave Thursday for the OUTBACK with our ASC group! I'll be there for another week! So goodbye reality and technology for a while! :) Thanks for the prayers and support!

So it's been a stressful first two weeks here. Probably due to my tendency toward worry and such, but with re-arranging classes, booking flights and hostels to the Great Barrier Reef and New Zealand, and just adjusting, I have been feeling really stressed and overwhelmed. It's hard to take time to just stop and appreciate, which I told myself I would do! Ah. I hope now that I booked these trips and such that I will be more relaxed. Anyway, all that aside, I am so grateful and blessed and excited that I get to do these trips! I will be super poor :p, but I know that I will not regret it-- the travel, the experience, the beauty-- I'm so thankful! I only wish I had my family here to share it with me.

Let's see, I'm not sure what I posted in past posts, so sorry if I repeat myself! Here's the past week:
- I am officially pro at hailing buses, I feel sooo cool when I do it. Not. It's super awkward, like when a bus comes that you DON'T want, I look down and back away and act all awkward like, "Hey Mr. Bus Driver, please don't think that I want this bus and please don't pull over for me and make all the riders get mad--this is me definitely not hailing you." Meanwhile, when I want a bus, I put my hand awkwardly in the air trying not to look like a waving lunatic but to still look like I know what I'm doing. So I try to look all cool and casual flick my wrist with my bus pass in hand, like yeah I know what I'm doing pshhh.. lol
While on the topic of buses, most of us have found that ALREADY, they are the bane of our existence. Most people think "Oh you're going to Australia! You're going to surf and tan and play with kangaroos..." BUT nope. Instead, most of my time is spent studying bus schedules, trying to find coordinating ones, then of course waiting for them (many are late or don't show up), and then being on the bus, which from my hostfamily house is usually at least a half hour per busride and I take two buses to get anywhere...so yeah add all that up and getting anywhere takes foreverrrr. Therefore, buses = frustrating and bane of existence.

Fun Facts time:

1) P Sherman 42 Wallaby Way does NOT exist, much to my chagrin.
2)  I have been to one beach so far, Manly, and I am outside often, however, the weather has been super rainy and cloudy so NO I am not as tan as you'd think.
3) I have not yet seen any wild Australian animals, except for Rainbow Larkeys which are bright red and green and yellow and gorgeous! BUT they live outside my house and in packs and they are the most annoying birds ever. They start screeching and like making really obnoxious noises starting at 5 AM outside my window. You'd think they have pretty singy-songy bird calls, but noo way. They ruin their exotic-ness :p.
4)  I have not even seen any zoo animals either, but this weekend we get to feed kangaroos and pet koalas and feed wallabies! So excited.
5) If I haven't mentioned this before, I did see my first official celebrity at LAX and I walked right past Fergie and Josh Duhamel (who is in the movie "Safe Haven" which I had just watched a few days before). Incidentally, that day they officially announced they were pregnant. How cute :) Oh and true to the common pics of celebrities in LAX, he was wearing a baseball cap and she was wearing sunglasses, of course. So yay, claim to fame.
6) True to the stereotype, most people here are beyond friendly. Like if you're lost, which of course I often am, you can ask anyone for help and they go way out of their way to help you. Despite some accents and weird phrases that are hard to understand :p, it's often quite helpful and easy to get around with locals' help.
7) So yes, most people are friendly, but there are those exceptions...which often seem to be bus drivers. So here is my first bad, sketchy story of public transportation in Sydney (which I have not yet told my mom...sorry mom)--

My roommate and I were coming home late to our house on a super rainy, gross evening. It was around 9:30 PM and we caught our regular second bus to get home. Well it was a more shaky, bumpy, speedy ride than normal, and buses are already crazy and somewhat scary to ride on due to the driver going so fast and such, but this one was worse. The driver must have been in a hurry. For example, our friend got off a few stops before us, and the driver literally closed the doors on her, which pushed her off the bus into the rain. Not cool. So then when we got to our stop we pushed the button and it didn't work, so we missed our stop. The bus circles around so we figured we'd be fine to stay on til then. But a few minutes later the driver literally stopped the bus and said "Okay last stop, get out." We were confused because that was not the last stop. So we asked him if we could stay on til our stop and he said "No get off, I'll be back in five minutes."...?... So we got out and were in a back alley, at night, in the pouring rain, and we had no idea where we were.  Unsure of what to do, we waited for a while and he came back, and I got on and said "Can you please tell me why you did that?" He said, "I had to pee." Now....the bus reeked of cigarette smoke and it had not before... SO. My roommate and I decided that this driver had dropped us off in the rain and stopped his route to go smoke for a bit...just because. When we got off the bus again, my roommate said to him, "I'm sorry, but that was not okay." And the driver said, "Oh really, what ya gonna do about it?" When we got home and told our host dad, he said that this was actually illegal for the driver to not complete his route and to kick people off the bus. So we called and filed a complaint but that is all we know.

So wow this is a long post, well I guess I'll finish it by saying, if you'd like to pray for me you can of course pray for safety, but also pray for my frustrations with things like public transportation :p and even frustrations with myself sometimes.. I just want to enjoy my time here and not overthink and analyze and worry so much. Also, I'm feeling much better from my cold! My ear is still messed up, but my dad says nothing's wrong so yay :) Thanks for the prayers!... and thanks for reading this if you lasted that long! ;)

My thoughts on Australia thus far...

It kind of reminds me of the US, the Dominican, and Italy all combined into one..

although I realize those are the only countries I've ever been to, so maybe everyone who visits Australia thinks it reminds them of everywhere else they've been..if that makes sense..

For example, the humidity, the fact that almost no one and no where has air conditioning, and the architecture of many homes and the trees and plants that surround them ALL remind me greatly of the Dominican Republic.

Meanwhile, the cafes and restaurants that are on every curb and street with people chilling outside drinking espresso and gelato along with the relaxed feel of many places here reminds me of my visit to Italy.

Then, of course, the fact that people speak English and the center of the city is so busy and full of rushing people and buses and taxis, etc., reminds me of good ol' USA.

Another observation:
The land down under AKA 'straya AKA OZ is very diverse! Like... more than the US almost. Their three most common languages are what they call "cultivated" australian, "bogan" australian (think steve irwin...also their word for "hick" or western) and chinese australian.

The Asian population is probably just as high as the white population here, most restaurants I see are not seafood but rather Thai food---yum! As a result, most of the fashion, architecture, ads, etc., are Asian-culture inspired. It's very interesting and fun to see the mixture of it all together! Meanwhile, I've met people who are Greek, Indian, British, Mexican, Japanese, Fillipino, and more...very cool.


Those are my thoughts on Australia for now, meanwhile here are some fun facts of what has happened to me while I'm here :p

1) I got lost on the first day of class, but here's the thing...I was literally one block from my house and had no idea.
2) I suck at hanging clothes on a clothes line, maybe it's because I could barely reach it...that's my excuse.
3) I saw a conch shell the size of my head and a snail shell almost as big...and despite the warnings that many shelled creatures here can hurt you, I tried to touch them and pick them up BUT it was with a stick so it's all good.
4) I watched Australian tv with my host family--- some of it is like recreations of American shows like cooking shows and singing shows, but other shows are low-budget shows that are quite terrible but awesome. One of the shows is shot in my homestay town (Concord). My host family got asked if the camera crew could use their house for some scenes but they declined because they had "American girls there and didn't want them to feel uncomfortable". :p oh well.. There goes my shot at fame. haha
5) I rode a bus by myself from Circular Quay to my homestay, which is like 1hr and 40 mins but during rush hour yesterday from the city it took 2 hrs. But I didn't get lost, and I felt oh-so-grown up. Woot. 

I'll add more fun facts later I'm sure, now I'm off to start my 3rd day of class!

Hey guys! Thanks for all the prayers! This is my first official post in Australia and it's gonna be a short one because right now it's 8am and I'm at my university "uni" just so i can have internet.  I start class at noon! eek! One thing to let you know is that I love it here for sure! I'm still feeling the effects of jetlag but the biggest thing to pray for is the fact that I'm really sick... ever since my flight out of D.C. my ear hasn't popped? Super weird, and I also have a really bad cold for over a week now. Not too fun, but it's not awful, I'm still loving it and having a great time with my two roommates and the other students here at Wesley Institute and in ASC. My host family is Greek and really nice, I have a cute room to myself with a great view of the Sydney skyline! And it's pretty far from Wesley -- it's about 45 mins and 3 buses away--hopefully I don't get lost when i start going to class on my own! lol Oh also, the biggest dilemma of the first week is: spring break--do I do great barrier reef or new zealand? First world problems :)


-Gabi

So I wanted to post a quick paragraph about how I'm feeling pre-Aussie Adventure...just so later on while I'm in Australia I can look back and see how silly I was for being so nervous. :) But I am so nervous! And excited, of course, and so anxious! I guess as I mentally prepare myself right now, my main goal is to focus on enjoying the moment while I'm there: to be thankful every day to God for the opportunities and experiences...and to take in all the sights and sounds and smells and tastes that Australia has to offer me and just appreciate them all!  I always over-think so much and worry a lot, but I want to just go into this with a clean slate and an open mind.

Meanwhile, I can't wait to begin my Aussie Adventure and to post pictures and write about  experiences and emotions and who knows what else. I'm so excited/nervous I can't even really sleep...I mean, it is 1:30 AM right now...haha oops. But I assume I'll be blogging really late at night over these next few months quite a lot anyway. :)

So tomorrow is going to be a day of panic-mode packing and spending time with my awesome family.  Then Monday (18th) morning I leave bright and early to fly out of D.C. around noon, and then a layover in LAX until the group flight that night with all the other Australia Studies Centre (ASC) students. We will lose an entire day flying into the future over the international date line :p, so I will arrive in Australia on the 20th and the adventures will begin!

Well.. there is the first official blog post of my life! :)
More to come once I'm safe and settled in Australia!

-Gabs