Thursday was a fun day. I had my issues and themes in contemporary writing class in the morning, and even though it was the class I was most worried about I think it will probably be my favorite course while I'm here. The teacher is very energetic and I like that I don't know anyone in the class because I will meet more people this way. Thursday night was trivia night down at the UniBar, so Maggie and I went down with our RA Seamus and his friend Sam, a.k.a. Brownie. We actually didn't play as a team, but only went down to watch the other teams and make fun of some of the stupid answers we heard. We left after about round 4 to head back up to campus and then Brownie and Seamus went out to a bar and club known as Cocktails since they didn't have morning class.

Friday I had class all day. Started off with Digital Photography with some of my other international friends and we're all excited for this class because it seems pretty easy for us. We ended a little early in our photo lab, so all of us went to the plaza for lunch. After lunch Lexy and I went off to our Indigenous world-views class and that was a very different type of class than I'm used to. The teacher isn't actually in the classroom with us in Lismore, she's actually teaching in Coffs Harbor and we have a video feed of her. It was probably the worst class I've ever been in. I was so bored and it was a three hour class! I was so happy when it was over.

Saturday was a really fun day.  During the day, Maggie and I watched chick flicks with Rachel and her friend Alyse. Then around 5 Maggie and I met James, Ben and Caitlin and we headed down into downtown Lismore to watch the Lantern Parade. While Caitlin, Maggie and I were waiting for our coffee to come out, Ben had the brilliant idea to call his friend Lincoln who lived in town. We ended up watching the parade from the best place. The top of Lincoln's house was amazing to watch the parade from and we didn't have to worry about not being able to see anything. The parade went on for about an hour and a half and when it was done we all headed back up to campus.  James invited all of us to his room before we all went out that night, so we went there after dinner and were listening to music and staying away from the out of control party going on at the rec deck. We all went out to cocktails to dance and had fun as a big group.

Sunday was a massive lazy day for our whole room. We watched four movies. We started our Lord of the Rings marathon and made it through two of the movies. Maggie and Rachel never having seen it before were questioned by the boys when the movies were over.

Monday was my first class here at uni, and I already withdrew from it for a new class. I realized about an hour into the class that there was no way that the head of the history department at CLU would accept this class as a history class, so I withdrew and registered into a philosophy class.  So Tuesday morning when I would normally not have class I went to Ethics and Society with Kendall and sat in. The class was very interesting and I'm glad that I've switched into it.  Plus I now have a friend to study with. Tuesday night was fun because there was a party going on, on the rec deck so a few of us checked it out for a while and when everyone else left to go to a pub, we decided to go to James' room and listen to him play guitar and hang with a few other friends. We were up pretty late, so I was quite happy that I didn't have class on Wednesday. 
Wednesday morning James, Caitlin and I went to the gym for an intense workout and I realized that I really am horrible at running. There is a reason I swim, I fall on land. Ok I didn't fall while I was running, but it came close a few times. But it felt good to have an intense workout again, and when we all made it back up to Orion we put on our swimsuits and laid out by the pool with some other people. My goal is to get a tan during Australia's winter because everyone here thinks I'm crazy for wearing shorts and a tank top in this 'cold' weather they are having.

Saturday was probably one of my all time favorite days. We started off sleeping in which was very nice, and then we were informed by our friend James that we were going to a waterfall and the beach that afternoon. I jumped at the chance to go and I'm so glad I did. There were about 20 of us who went out that afternoon to Dalwood falls. It was kind of a hike to get out there through some woods but it was a gorgeous view. There was another group of guys at the falls and we pretty much made a giant group hanging out. A few people jumped off the falls, so Kendall, Lexy, Jaimie and I decided to do it also. It was about a 10m jump. The water was freezing!!!! But there were pictures and videos taken so it was worth the jump, but after we swam to the group of people with our towels Caitlin and Jess wanted to jump also but they wanted someone else to do it with them. So being the nice people we are, Kendall and I jumped again. After we all climbed back up to the top of the waterfall, we all dried off and headed out to Byron Bay. It was a fun drive out there and when we got to Byron we went to the Beach Hotel and ate some nachos and watched some rugby on t.v. After everyone finished eating we all left to head up to the lighthouse. It was almost sunset, so we stayed up there and watched a gorgeous red sunset. It was a fun day with friends and when we all got back we got ready to go out dancing. A small group of us headed out early to see a band that some of the guys knew and it was a lot of fun just listening and playing pool. After the band finished at 11 we headed out to a club known as One because it's only open one night a week. We met some of the other international students there and had a ton of fun dancing. At about 1:30 we all headed back to campus and Maggie and I had a roommate bonding session with our roomie Matt until about 3 am. All three of us slept until about noon the next day. Then we all pretty much lazed around the room and watched movies. Not really wanting to get ready for uni to start the next day.

Friday was technically our last day of O-week, but instead of being around campus we were taken to Gold Coast, I think, to Carrumbin Wildlife Sanctuary and the Surf Museum. It was a pretty early morning, so most everyone was sleeping on the bus. I was sitting next to Caitlin and we were attempting to take pictures of the scenery, it was an EPIC FAIL. We kept getting blury photos and foliage that we didn't want in the photo, it pretty much became a joke for the two of us. When we arrived at Gold Coast, we first stopped at the Surf Museum where we saw the world's largest surfboard ridden by 47 people. We also saw some of the first surfboards created and some amazing surf photos. After the museum we finally made it into Carrumbin and right away Lexy and I went to get our photos taken with the koala. Lexy went first and took her photo, but when it was my turn the photographer had to fix something, so I was left holding the koala for a good couple of minutes. The zookeeper that held the koala in between people told me that it was very rare what I was doing because they generally don't let people hold the koalas for too long and I found out why. It scares them and they will poop on you! So the koala pooped on me and it was luckily not too bad since all they eat is eucalyptus, but seriously now koala poop at the start of my visit not so much fun. After I cleaned up my shirt, Lexy and I went to find the kangaroos and ended up staying there for a long time feeding and petting them. Thus the reason why there are so many kangaroo photos on my facebook. After the kangaroos we walked around some more looking at the animals and we saw a high ropes course. We both had wanted to do something like that while we were here in Australia, so we asked a worker how much it cost to do the course. When we were told that it was included with the ticket we both knew we were going to do it. Luckily we made it into the last group of the day, and set off on our high ropes adventure for about 2 hours. When we were finished, we ran into a bunch of other people and they were quite jealous they didn't do the course, but Lexy and I think we weren't told because it would have taken too long for everyone to participate. We saw a few more animals like the Tasmanian Devil which looks like a giant rat and some Dingoes. And we then left to meet the bus and head back to Lismore and home. When we got back I crashed.  It had been a pretty long day.

Tuesday through Thursday was orientation week for us and it was a major bore. A lot of safety talks and rules about Lismore and SCU. However the fun part of orientation week was Wednesday night when the State of Origins rugby league match was being played. This match is between New South Wales and Queensland and everyone describes it as the Superbowl of rugby but it's a best out of 3 series.  Well a big group of people were watching it down at the UniBar, so I went early with a few friends to watch a band play because they were some new friends. While we were watching them play a guy we knew came up to Caitlin, Jess and I asking if we wanted to get in on a bet. The bet was a dollar to get in and you would draw a name out of a hat and that would be the player you had to see if they scored first. I put in two dollars and got a player from both teams that were apparently really good because the guys were jealous of who I had. The game started at 7:30 and we all sat around watching, pretty much all of the girls found a guy to explain all of the rules to us, I had my roommate Matt help me.  So after almost the full half the New South Wales player Brett Stewart scored a try (a goal) and the guy that got me and my friends in on the bet yelled out "who has Stewart?" Well it was me. So I won 34$ after living in Australia for 5 days at that point. It made for a very fun night since I had no clue what was really happening. After I won a lot of the guys that were also in on the bet came up and congratulated me and kept trying to get me to buy everyone drinks.  I didn't really care for that though since it's expensive and it helps if I want to go out and travel somewhere. All in all though it was a fun night.

Monday after we arrived was a public holiday in Australia as it was the Queen's birthday. Ironically enough her birthday is not in June. We heard from people that it is in February, October and March, but nobody was actually able to tell us when it is. The senior RA in Orion, Hanna, set up a Midday tea for everyone as a celebration. She also made it as a welcome to Australia event for all of the international students. She made a bunch of different Australian foods like meat pies and some deserts, and she also made vegemite the correct way. (Yes mom that is directed at you.) Aussies make vegemite on toast that is slathered in butter with only a small amount of the nasty brown stuff. It didn't taste horrible this time around thankfully. It was still pouring outside, so everyone was huddled around the hot water heater for all the tea and milo (hot chocolate brand here). Overall, the event was fun and it was a good way to get to know people in Orion.

Byron Bay on Sunday started off as a pretty decent day. We waited outside of Orion college for our bus and it wasn't raining thankfully. The group pretty much included everyone from the airport and we added Caitlin from Paris. We met our trip leader Dan and off we went. It's about a 30min drive to Byron and in that drive we got to know each other a little better and Dan became a member of the group. While we were all getting to know each other, the weather changed and started to rain a bit. But none of us were really fazed since we were going inside for a lecture on ocean safety. I pretty much laughed my whole way through it because it was basic information on rip currents. After the lecture Dan asked us if we wanted to go see the lighthouse in Byron and us noticing that the weather wasn't too bad said sure. Well after about 20minutes the rain started again and we were hiking through a trail in our jeans and flip flops. We stopped at a coffee shop for some warm drinks and were told there that the lighthouse wasn't that far away maybe about another 15minutes. Well instead of following the actual trail we followed Dan and took a VERY WRONG turn. We went into a neighborhood and were being pummeled by rain. In the end we decided that it wasn't worth getting to the lighthouse, so we turned around and made our way back to downtown Byron Bay. We all split up for lunch and Kendall, Maggie, Brianna and I made our way to the Hog's Breath Cafe. It was really good food for a pretty cheap price which was super nice because everything is super expensive here. After lunch we made our way back to Lismore and school where we all tried to dry off and warm up.

So sorry that this post is so late. I'll just try and break everything up into different posts to try and get everything in order of events.

So I've officially arrived and survived my first night here in Lismore. The flight while being the longest I've ever been on was also probably the one that also went by the quickest it seemed. Kendall and I lucked out and didn't have anyone between the two of us on the flight, so we were able to spread out while we slept. When we arrived in Lismore we had to wait for all of the other International students before we could drive the 2.5 hours to the school.  Seven hours after landing all 9 of the international students left the airport. The drive from Brisbane to Lismore was pretty quiet, everyone really was looking around at the scenery. About an hour from Lismore we left the freeway and went on a pretty scenic drive through some hills. It kind of reminded me of home except that the trees weren't evergreens.  When we actually arrived at Orion College (the name of the dorm we live in) we had a small orientation about the rules in the rooms, and then recieved our room assignments. I live with Maggie, who I met at the airport. We live in a 6 bedroom apartment with 4 others who are on break right now.  After we all moved in we went on a little adventure known as trying to shop to survive the night.  The nine of us ran into a little snafu because we had been told that a woman was picking up another student at the Lismore airport and would take us all to the shops when she arrived. So she showed up with 3 students and then left to go back to the airport, however, since we were told that she would drive us to the shops the 9 of us attempted to get in the van with her. Luckily as soon as we were about to leave, the actual shuttle bus that was to take us to the shops showed up. We had about an hour to all buy our sheets and some food to get us all through the night.

I survived the night here at Lismore, but I was definitely cold. I hadn't bought a comforter or a heavy blanket thinking I would be fine in my room, but that was not true. The dorms don't have either central heating or air and the building is brick, so heat doesn't really stay. So this morning I went out and bought a comforter and some other essentials. After I returned a few of us decided to go explore the campus, but were delayed due to a torrential downpour that lasted for about 2 hours. Definitely had not expected that since it had been relatively sunny in the morning. However, a few hours after the rain we decided to venture out and see the campus.

We had all been told that there was a hill we have to go up and down to reach the main part of campus, but I was not expecting it to be that steep! Because of the rain the concrete was pretty slippery, and me being the klutz I am was slipping and sliding down for most of the way. The campus was pretty easy to get around, but the class buildings we found are kind of far from where Orion is. On our adventure around campus, we saw wallabies and a few koalas and being the Americans we are the five of us looked at them in awe and started taking pictures.

The weather is supposed to come back with a vengeance tomorrow with thunder and lightning, but I really hope it won't because the International students are being taken to Byron Bay to go to the beach.

So about 1/8 of the way to Australia, also known as my layover in LA. I definitely remember why I enjoy going to smaller airports.... I can't get lost! My two and half hour flight from SeaTac to LAX felt like it took forever, so I guess we'll see how this 14 hour flight will go. At least I'll have my friend Kendall with me so I have someone to talk to.

Hey everyone, this will be the first post of many about my time studying abroad in Australia.

 Well this trip has been in my plans since I started attending CLU in 2010, and I can't believe it's about to finally happen. Packing and getting ready for the past three weeks has been a little hectic, but I am finally ready for this new adventure to begin! Not looking forward to this 16hrs on a plane though.... There will be more posted when I actually get to Lismore, Australia and see where I'm going to be living for the next four months :D