Well everyone, I’ve made it. Let my try to recap…

LA was extremely rushed, hence my not being able to get online. I landed at 9pm, and had to go to a different terminal, very far away, by foot. I then had to wait in an extremely long line to get my ticket to Brisbane. Luckily, I only had my carry-ons and didn’t have to go the bag screening with was the longest airport line I’ve ever seen. So after getting through I rushed to my gate and only had about 40 minutes before boarding. I got on the Qantas flight to Brisbane, and had a window seat. We luckily had individual TVs and the food and service was great. The majority of people on the flight were students. I slept most of the plane ride, and watched a couple of movies. We landed in Brisbane at 7:30am on Friday, Feb 9. All of my bags made it safely to me and through customs okay. I was greeted by a nice representative from the Uni (yes, I will start using Australian slang in here cause it’s funny). There were also about 30 other students from my flight who were studying abroad at USC, including the other person from state! We all crammed onto a bus and headed to our new home for the next 5 months! The other Americans were…ehh. I don’t see myself becoming best friends with many of them, but I didn’t come to Australia to make American friends.

So, I checked in successfully to Unicentral 26A. Two other roommates had moved in, but weren’t there. This is a great place to live. (pictures are up, see link at the bottom!) I got settled in and took a much needed shower. Then I met two of my new roommates! Rhiannon (Australian) is a first year Dietics and Nutrition major. She loves to cook (she made pumpkin risotto for dinner!), has been to Japan, and is fun to talk to. Christine is from Germany studying abroad here for a semester. All three of us like the OC! hahaha. Christine’s friend Sonja (we call her Sonny, also from Germany) hung out with us all day, and she’s awesome too. All of us LOVE SUSHI and want to find a place to get good sushi, and also want to make it. We later discovered our kitchen came with a sushi mat?!? Don’t know why, but we’re gonna us it! Jezinia is the other girl (Australian) who seems nice (and loves gilmore girls) but I haven’t gotten the chance to talk to her much. She is also a first year.

Lizzy (ncsu), Sonny, Chrstine, and I all went and checked in together with the International Relations office (who are all SUPER nice). On the way, we saw our first KANGAROOS! Yay! haha. We all felt dorky for getting so excited, but who cares! It was fun, and they were cute. At the office, we also signed up for several activities coming up. We’re all going to go on the shopping trip to Brisbane next weekend, and then a trip to the Australia Zoo the weekend after that! After leaving the office, Lizzy and I met up with her roommate MJ from Korea, and her boyfriend Un-Gee (not sure of the exact spelling). We all walked to the grocery store (Woolworth’s) which was fun. I got some much needed food, but I’m going to go back with Ri (what Rianan goes by) sometime because she has a car.

Tonight, Sonny, Christine, Ri, and I all ate dinner together. It was nice and homey. Then we watched some Aussie soap operas. Tomorrow morning we’re all going together to the Sunshine Plaza, which is a big mall, to get some more random stuff, which I’m excited about.

My internet is FINALLY up, so I can get connected with everyone. I hope to be online at a normal hour sometime soon. Overall, I am extremely happy and excited, and it’s just the first day! This is such a great place, and perfect for me, I just know it. Get ready for awesome stories!

Just an FYI, where I am is 15 hours ahead, so it is 9:12pm now. I think I’m going to start each post with a “My Time: ___” for comparison purposes, and leave the automatically logged time in the east coast usa time! so, my current time: Fri, Feb 9, 9:13pm.

Pictures will be up tomorrow because I’m too exhausted…but I did put some on Facebook!