I've been lying my whole life when I said I wasn't afraid of sharks

p.s. had my information WAY wrong. we are going diving with the sharks without a cage. what did i do??? 150 non-refundable US dollars!!!

I know I have been terrible about posting on here, as I am sure y'all expected, but i have had probably the busiest three weeks of my life. The first three days I was at Narabeen beach near Sydney for orientation with the program that I came through. Those were the days when we went to the zoo and did the harbour cruise. That is where I met Vanessa (on the right on the picture above). Me, her, and Tara (on my left) have all gotten pretty close and normally stick together when we go out and stuff. They're both from New Jersey and pretty much all the Americans here are from up north. I always get a surprised look when I say I am from Texas and follow that with "where are y'all from?" So, the first week that I got to Macquarie campus it was orientation week and the dorm I am living in plans out all 5 days with different activities and themes parties. They took us on another harbour cruise but it was a whole new experience at night. The harbour is so beautiful and there are so many amazing places around it to go. They showed us around the city and we did a 'pub crawl' where we got to see all of the popular bars and restaurants downtown. Here Wednesday is the big night to go out so we went to this place called The Ranch where I, very proudly, had my first legal glass of wine. After orientation week we had a couple days to relax but then I started school on Monday. School and my classes are so different over here and will definitely take some getting used to. I am only taking 3 classes but it is transferring back as a full load. The classes are much bigger than I am used to and no one really goes to class because you can listen to the lectures online. For most classes there are about 3 assignments throughout the semester, which I'm guessing makes it pretty easy to procrastinate. But I am studying abroad so I will put the money to good use (thanks Dad). Last night we randomly found all these textbooks on the bench at the bus stop so we could show everyone how much studying we are going to do over here. Scouts honor :) So now that the first week of school is over we are all starting to realize that we aren't on vacation, although it felt like that for awhile. But I am going scuba diving with sharks on Thursday so pray for me because although I will be in a cage it is terrifying to me. I'll post pictures. Love y'all!

more pictures...

Cheers mate

I've been in Sydney for a little bit more than a week but somehow it feels like I have been here forever. Things are so different here (mostly little things but it does make me feel far from home) and we are all just trying to get used to it. Australians are VERY sarcastic so we have to make sure not to take things personally. They don't say 'you're welcome' when I say thank you because I guess it is really formal. They use 'compulsory' for 'mandatory', goon is wine, and when you have a lot of something you actually have 'heaps' of it. People are much more friendly than they are in the states and it seems like you see a lot more smiling when walking down the street. The weather has been cloudy and rainy which has been a bummer but we still have had an awesome time. We went surfing in the pouring rain and I came to the conclusion that I am absolutely terrible at the sport. It is so much harder than it looks! I start school on Monday so I will let everyone know how my classes go (to think that I actually have to study while studying abroad). Hope y'all are doing well. Cheers!

the zoo and darling harbour

On one of the first days we went to the zoo and harbour in Sydney. It is even more beautiful than I imagined it would be. We got to take a two hour ferry ride and I was in heaven.