Ok guys….here
it is my first blog post in Australia….still feels really weird to say that, or
even think about it. It’s been so much fun already, but I shall start at the
beginning. First off was the flight from Nashville to LA, which was surprisingly
ok for being the first plane ride I remember. Next came navigating LAX…which was INSANE….the
size of that airport is crazy…my plane landed in terminal 6 and I was told by a
lady at the info desk that I had to go out front and catch a shuttle to
terminal 3…the first part of this adventure was trying to find the front of the
terminal…thankfully eventually I ran into a nice elderly couple that thought I looked
lost and helped me find the area I needed. They were so nice J we spent the majority
of the walk talking about his old job for an airline, my school, and his love for
old cars…my boyfriend would be so happyJ.
We then parted ways as they went to retrieve their luggage and I went to flag
down a shuttle. About 30 minutes later the appropriate shuttle arrived and took
me to terminal 3. Once there I saw the place to check in and get boarding
passes for Virgin Australia…but I did not see any gates for Virgin Australia…so
I found another info person and asked where I needed to be, she told me my gate
was in terminal B with all the other international flight…great. Luckily enough
terminal B was next to terminal 3 so I quickly ran over to find where I needed
to be. Once there I was surrounded with so many different languages it was
insane J I
located the info desk for Virgin Australia and asked where to go…through
security…again…which took a good hour. Once through, the task that lay before
me was the maze of hallways and stairs to gate 123. Eventually I found my gate
with about an hour and a half to spare and proceeded to call my mother and
boyfriend for the last time before boarding my plane. While boarding I met a
girl from New York who was living in the same place as me and we decided to
stick together through customs on the other side. The flight was so cool…I
lucked out and got an aisle seat so I could stretch out a bit; each seat had a
touch screen TV with games, movies, and music. After 21 hours total on a plane,
we finally arrive in Brisbane. However, it still didn’t feel real…I went
through customs grabbed my luggage and went through the last bit of customs, rushing
because I was already 10 minutes late from getting picked up by my shuttle to
campus. I checked in at the info desk and waited in the meeting area for the
driver to arrive. Once he arrived began the decent bus ride to Sippy downs. Once
here I checked in moved in to my room, where one of my roommates was already
living; her name is Brittany and she is from New South Wales. My internet wasn’t
working yet, so I met up with Sara, the girl from my flight, ad her roommate Sam,
who was from Australia. We walked down a bit to one of the shopping centers and
grabbed some lunch at a little bakery called Brumby’s. After which we walked
back and Sam drove us to Mooloolaba beach, where we spent the next couple hours
learning to body surf on the waves and swimming in the ocean. After we had been
there for a bit we saw a fin off in the distance…was it a shark or a dolphin???
We didn’t know…so we kept an eye on it for a bit and saw it jump up a little
from the water J
it was a dolphin. From the beach we rinsed of the salt and sand and wandered
down the beach front shops, they were all so bright and festive J we stopped and got
some gelato, because Sam said it was tradition if you went to the beach you got
ice cream. Mine was forest berries and passion fruit and it was delicious!! We then
went back to the apartments so me and Sara could set up our rooms. My roommate
was nice enough to allow me to borrow her Wifi for a bit so I could get on
Skype and Facebook and talk to my mom and boyfriend. It was an amazing first dayJ. 
My
second day began when Brittany came back from work; she offered to drive me to
Woolsworth, the local grocery store to get some food to cook. We stopped first
at a little athletic store on a separate beach front so that she could get a
suit for her triathlon stuff; here I got to meet a couple of her friends. We
decided after that that it was noon and we were starving so lunch was a must.
She took me to a little sushi place near the grocery store called Sun Sushi. It
was really cool getting to watch them make the sushi behind the counter. They have
a conveyor belt that they put the sushi on and it runs along the bar and you
have a menu to identify what everything is; when you see what you want you grab
it. If you didn’t see what you wanted, you could ask and they would make it for
you. The color of the plate indicated the price of what you were eating, so at
the end of your meal they would add up everything based on your plates. From
there, we went to the grocery store. It was very interesting seeing all the different
brands and products that they have in their stores, however, their store did
remind me of our Kroger. I didn’t pick up any fruits and veggies, because
Britany said she knew a place that was much cheaper, so we decided to go there
another day because she needed to go as well. We came back to the apartment to
relax and unpack, and put some aloe on my poor sunburnL. I will be making another
post soon, but I hope you all enjoyed the updateJ
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