Home Sweet Home

First and foremost, sorry for the delay! My electrical wall converter busted within my first couple days here so I was unable to charge my computer until last night! Last night I went to the local shopping center and bought two replacements just in case. Well, I arrived in Rockhampton at midnight on Saturday and have been slowly adjusting since then. When I arrived it was completely dark of course and I couldn't see any of Rockhampton's landscape or even most of the buildings! It was quite a shock the next morning when I pulled back the curtains and looked outside my window.

 

Sunday was a beautifully sunny and humid day so I decided to participate in a bit of independent exploring! I like to call it getting lost on purpose. I find that you discover the best places when you have absolutely no idea where you are! While I was out and about I saw my first kangaroo- they are more intimidating in person than I thought they would be! I would say that CQU has at least a dozen full-grown kangaroos and a few little joeys around campus. And yesterday morning I saw two males fighting and it was quite the sight. Their arms and tails would actually balance them while their hind legs kicked up at the other. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures or videos of that!

 

The CQU campus is stunning! Incredible native bushes, flowers, and trees give the campus a rural feeling and a "wildly tame" look! I'm still adjusting to the humidity/ heat but I'm really looking forward to studying and relaxing outside once my body can handle it! To best describe the campus layout, I would say that it's organized into three side- by- side layers. The first layer is the residence area with multiple dorms and the dining hall, the next (middle) layer consists of all of the sport fields, gym, pool, and outdoor arena, and then the last layer is the "Uni" campus where all of the education buildings, cafes, bookshop, support services, chapel, medical building, and library are found. It is quite the walk that I'll be taking to classes and everything else!

 

So far life at CQU hasn't been all that eventful. This first week was orientation week. This is when all of the first year and international students are introduced to the campus, what's expected of us, and what we can expect from the university. There were a couple hundred students on campus for that! Today, Friday the 21st, was the last day of orientation that was dedicated solely to international students. Information overload! Otherwise, I've been hanging out in my dorm trying to overcome the heat and jetlag- I think I've taken more naps in the last week than I did all last semester of school! I'm struggling a bit more than the other American students on campus (there are eight of us total) in terms of overcoming jet lag and participating in the fun activities that residence had planned for us this week. - I'm also battling a cold that flared up during my travels over here. I always seemed to fall asleep at mid-afternoon and maintained a deep slumber until about 11 at night! I'm getting better and will be out and about in no time!

 

The food is FANTASTIC. I haven't been exposed a multitude of new foods yet but I'm sure I will soon! Fruit is in abundance here and I'm definitely eating my fair share. Our dining hall here serves fruit with almost every meal and it's a double-win because they also cut it up for you. Call me lazy but that always played a huge role whether I'd eat fruit or not at home! Too lazy :)

 

I had my first car- ride yesterday being the passenger on the wrong side of the car.  My friend Jess drove to Stockland's (a local shopping center) located in the middle of Rockhampton. I finally was able to purchase some necessities like sheets and bug spray! Seeing all those cars driving on the other side of the road made me slightly nauseous surprisingly! Also, it seems that the general consensus is that red lights are optional here in Rockhampton- makes for some pretty interesting moments in the car!

 

Classes start on Monday and we shall see how that goes!

 

Toodles,

 

Tina

   
 

Staking Out

             I’ve come to the conclusion that traveling is simply waiting. You wait to get on a plane, then wait until that plane takes you to your destination, and then wait for the next one. The vicious cycle repeats itself until the journey’s end!

 At the moment I’ve set up camp in the Brisbane International Airport. The flights all have gone incredibly smooth with no worries! Although, a fun fact that I’d like to share from my last flight is that first class has these amazing seats that recline almost to the point of being parallel to the floor! No, I didn’t fly first- class but I was sitting in the row right behind first- class and had the pleasure of having a nice, elderly gentleman sleeping in my lap for fifteen and a half hours! My favorite part was when he asked me to move my knees because they were in his way. For those of you that know me, you know that with being five feet tall, it’s nearly impossible for my knees to be in anyone’s way while sitting! Oh well, his snoring was actually quite soothing.

So far, all the airline personnel have been amazing. Whenever I had a question, they were very kind in answering or finding out the answer for me if they didn’t know. Nothing too interesting has happened thus far. Ooo! Except for when I was in line at customer service in Chicago. A multitude of flights destined for the east coast were cancelled due to weather so the line was about a two- hour wait. At the end of the line, there was a girl who looked my age in military uniform. She was on the phone and sobbing hysterically. I couldn’t really understand what she was saying on the phone seeing as I was at about the halfway point in the line. The lady that was waiting ahead of me and I were talking about what might the problem be and she decided to let the girl cut ahead of her and asked if I would be okay with that. Of course I responded along the lines of “heck yes!” So we get the girl up to where we were and she tells us that she was coming home on leave to see her husband before he was deployed overseas. (He was a Marine and she was in the Army.) She only had three days until he left and her flight to Charlotte had gotten cancelled with the next available flight not until Monday morning- (effectively cutting out about half of her three available days.) Isn’t this story just awful? As she was telling us this a man who was a couple people behind us came up to her and told her that everything was going to be okay and that they were going to fix things. Turns out, this guy was a retired Marine and let’s just say, he got the problem sorted out real quick-like. Within 10 minutes of him talking to United Airlines personnel, they had a seat for her to meet her husband in Atlanta, a ticket for him from wherever he was to also get to Atlanta, and a hotel reservation there for the three days. Isn’t that awesome? Kudos to United for being fantastic!

Other than that, nothing has happened worth mentioning yet. Soon I will be boarding a charter bus for 13 hours to Rockhampton. There, a lady from CQU will meet me and take me to campus!

After a while crocodile,

Tina

P.S. The weather here is sunny and humid- it’s about 27 degrees Celsius. That’s about 80 degrees Fahrenheit! Annnndd it’s only nine in the morning.  Sunscreen is one thing I unfortunately neglected to buy- yikes!    

'Twas the Night Before Boarding

My procrastination skills have once again amazed me. Here I am 15 until lift-off and I can honestly say all I have packed is seven pairs of shoes. What can I say, pack the most important items first right? In my defense, today I've made a last minute trip to Wally World and bought some great books for the flights, went to the bank TWICE, downloaded about 20 hours of music on my iPod, booked a bus pass from Brisbane to Rockhampton, and stress ate my way through a box of Girl Scout Thin Mints. 

I'm so very excited for this new adventure. I've always dreamed of seeing neat places with diverse cultures and rich histories. I believe that Australia is the perfect destination to fill that quota as well as a nice place to ease myself into international traveling. Getting to this point has been bumpy with numerous hurdles. (I never thought that receiving my passport through the US Postal Service would be one of the EASIEST tasks I needed to complete!) Surprisingly, the hardest parts of planning this excursion involved contact with my overseas university, Central Queensland University- CQU for short. But mostly I blame that on the different time zones and miscommunication.

**Advice for future international students- don't feel bad about pestering your overseas contacts with questions and emails, it's sometimes necessary and get's the job done! One day I sent 23 emails to an advisor. Let's just say, he was very patient and we eventually figured things out together! Also a shout out to Liz Hannum for journeying with me on this and learning along side with me. We both got frustrated at times but in the end, I'm where I need to be! She also was super patient with me and all of my questions.

 Okay so plan for tomorrow, my sister Jessica and I will be leaving Mitchell around 6:30 AM to drive to Sioux Falls to board at around 11 AM.
                  -Side note- Jessica welcomed me into her awesome townhouse for the past two months and didn't even expect me to pay a dime in rent. That just is one example of how fantastic she is. I'm surprised, in two months the only thing we fought about was leaving lights on upstairs. (It was an accident Jess!) In this past year we've both grown quite a bit and I now feel closer to her than ever. I think that we needed to be separated for some time in order to fully appreciate our time together. Thanks for everything Jess!

Sorry! Back to the schedule- I fly from Sioux Falls, to Chicago, to Dallas, and then finally to Brisbane, AUS. My estimated arrival date is February 15th at 6:15 AM.  (That's Australia's Feb. 15th- it would be Feb. 14th in the US). Speaking of time zones, I believe that Rockhampton is 16 hours ahead of Central Daylight Savings time. It'll make for interesting Skype session times! Once I reach Brisbane International Airport, I'll just meander around until 10:30 AM where I'll board a Greyhound bus and then take a 13 hour trip to Rockhampton! Oh boy how I love road trips! I think this will be an amazing chance to see some of Australia's countryside and to take some great pictures!

I'm so grateful for this opportunity and also all the family and friends who have supported me with well-wishes, cards, money, and prayers. All are necessary for a successful and meaningful adventure! Thank you to each and every person that lent a helping hand. Words cannot express how much I appreciate the people in my life. They are incredible!

Well unfortunately these bags aren't going to pack themselves so I better go and actually do something about it! I'll do my best to write in here as soon as I touch base in CQU. Here's to finding adventure in Australia!