Update number #1: the first week!

Dear family and loved ones,

hello hello from australia. I decided that a little blog type deal would make my life wayyyy less complicated when it comes to showing you guys pictures from my travels.

Alright, here we go.... my trip thus far (because i put up so many photos, they may take a while to load- sorry!

Also: if for some reason a link doesn't work just go to http://s87.photobucket.com/albums/k137/aalbers3/ and look towards the top of the page. you will see 5 links to 5 different sub-albums [ex "Aboriginal dancers, "Kangaroos and sunsets", etc] just find the album that corrisponds with what i'm talking about... you shouldn't have a problem.) :

I departed from home on July 19th ready to head out into the world. Apparently, however, the world wasn't so ready for me because i experienced INSANE delays at Ohare. We were delayed.. and then delayed again... and again and again until finally we were put on "no gate", which is something i didn't know existed, but basically meant that they were having so many issues trying to get us off that ground that NOT ONLY did they not have a plane for us, but they also didn't have a gate. it was so frustrating, and i ended up just curling up on the ground and nesting amoungst my varies pieces of baggage. Roughly 4 or 5 hours after we were supposed to take off... we actually left the ground. Both the flight to LAX and to Brisbane (located a little ways north from Sydney) were pretty good, and i though "ah, finally i'm on the road, no more problems." WRONG. When i arrived at the Brisbane airport i discovered that they had lost one of my bags... and OF COURSE it was my BEAST bag, which had most of my stuff in it.... of COURSE! Well, even though they couldn't "find [my] bag in the system" they said it would turn up and that people lose bags all the time. I was forced to take their word for it, and although i was still nervous i would never see it again, i tried to just enjoy my first few moments in Australia. I found my group and we headed to the little resort where we spent the next 3 days getting over intense jetleg:

(the resort):


(The little cabin thing i lived in my first 3 nights in Australia):


Like i said the main purpous of these days was to get over jetleg, and NEVER have i experienced such intense jetleg. The butler (institute for study abroad) staff tried to keep us as busy as possible so we wouldn't fall asleep. We little meeting sessions where we learned about dangerous animals, how to act in pubs so we doing experience antiamericanism, and how to understand aussie slang (there is sooo much of it! ah! i feel like i'm learning a whole new language). In regards to the last of the mentioned sessions, it totally won an australian slang guide book. here are some examples of aussie slang:
Aussie: Australian
Barbie: Barbecue
Bickies: biscuits; dollars
Bikie: motorbike rider
Chalkie: school teacher
Chappie: man
Chewie: Chewing gum
Postie: mail deliverer
Smoothie: smooth talker; drink made with blended fruit

and the list goes on.. and on... and on... and on.. the book is 247 pages long.. so yeah.

but anywaaayyyy.. different activities took place at night. One night a ladies with a bunch of animals that are found in Australia came and talked to us...

(My new best friend and me.... do not mess with us!)


another night some Aboriginal dancers came and preformed for us and taught the boys some of the dances (their culture says they cannot teach women. I believe that only women can teach women and men can teach men):



To see more photos from this event - copy and paste the following address into your browser. sorry, for some reason the i cannot turn it into a link:

http://s87.photobucket.com/albums/k137/aalbers3/Aboriginal%20dancers/


we allssssooo got a surfing lesson! it was so fun, and although i only was able to stand up a couple times, i really want to do it again:





something we were warned about was that beach we were surfing on was also a highway. meaning... when we existed the water we had to make sure we FOR SERIOUS looked both way because cars drive down that beach really really fast. so yeah... an australian highway:


also: my favorite sign of all time:



Each day we also had a few ours to ourselves to hang out or explore the area. One day we came across this FIIEELLLDDDD of kangaroos. I was so angry because i hadn't brought my camera. The next day, however, i returned to the location to see if they were still there... and sure enough, THERE THEY WERE!!



Here is another link to more photos from this moment in time (and also some shots i took of a beautiful sunset):

http://s87.photobucket.com/albums/k137/aalbers3/Kangaroos%20and%20sunsets/


The third day we were there we took a day trip to Fraser Island. It was a really really rainy day, which was a little disappointing, but we were determined to make the most of it. In order to get there we got to experience the beach highway. IT WAS SO INTENSE (and increadibly increadibly beautiful):





For more photos from this trip go to:
http://s87.photobucket.com/albums/k137/aalbers3/Butler%20Orientation%20trip%20to%20Fraser%20Island/

on the way back from fraser island we stopped to go for a brief walk in the rainforest. The trees were really really tall!



it as sooo green and so beautiful:


For more pictures from the rainforest go to:

http://s87.photobucket.com/albums/k137/aalbers3/rain%20forest/


Now i am in sydney and am having a great time. I think i'm going to stop there for now. I haven't gotten any photos up online that i have taken in sydney and this entry is already really really long. I hope all the links and pictures and stuff worked. Sorry for any crazy typos. I would proof read... but i really need to do some homework (ah! homework?! i know.). but yeah. i hope this counts as an ok update. will update again soon.

i love and miss you all! hope everyone is doing great!

love,
Alex