HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!! It has been just about 5 months since I arrived to Australia and it has been possibly the best 5 months I have and maybe will ever have in my entire life! I just want to thank everyone who has been a part of it and all those who helped make it happen! Thank you to my parents and family for supporting me on my exchange! Thanks to the Rotary Club of North Haven, Conn. for sponsoring me for this exchange, specifically Debbie Volain for her help getting this done! Thanks again to the Rotary District 7980 for doing the same, and for the help of Sue Horton and all the other committee members for helping prepare me and making sure that I was ready for this awesome time! Thanks to the Rotary District 9710 for hosting me and to Rohan Gleeson and John Britton for organising my exchange and making it actually happen. Thanks to the Rotary Club of Moruya for hosting me here in one of the best places on Earth! Thanks to Carol Young, my counsellor for supporting me and helping me while I'm here! Thanks finally to all my host families, those who have already hosted me and had to hire a cow ;) and to those who will host me in the future! It has been great and has meant a lot! THanks also to all the fantastic friends I have made and the great fun you have given me! It wouldn't be the same without you. Thanks again to everyone who made this happen for giving me the best experience ever! Happy New Years! GOOD LUCK AND GOD BLESS IN THE NEW YEAR!

Even more stuff, stuff, and stuff from November

Come Mon, 18 Nov, it was a normal day at school, and I played basketball with Will in the afternoon, which was fun, but annoying with the sun directly in my eyes for half of it! Tuesday, at Cadets, I got my black ceremonial belt, and prepared some more for March Out. Wednesday was a relaxing day and I got into town a littler earlier than usual and just explored. At the running club, I was doing well until I got to the hill, then it just didn't work for me and I finished with a time of 20:36. Rotary was interesting as the Area Police Commander was speaking. :) Then came the weekend, where I had another relaxing day Saturday, when I should've done this, before going down to Bega with the Whitings an early Sunday for a Christmas dinner! :)

At school on Monday, we had an excursion for Society and Culture about our PIPs (Personal Interest Project), which is basically a hige research project that is a part of their HSC (High School Certificate) mark. I decided to do mine on Gun Control and its effect on culture. I still have yet to narrow down the topic to a specific question. Anyway, it was fun day and I got out of class! I even met someone from Arizona who attends another school! However they seem to think Australia is much better... Don't get me wrong, Australia is awesome, and amazing, yet I think it would be best to put them equal if not the US just a bit higher up on the scale. ('Cause we're obese as a country, get it? tehe)

Tuesday, I was blessed by my hospitality class to hold a Thanksgiving dinner with them. We are learning cross-cultural things at the time so it worked perfectly. It was awesome for them to do that for me, though, and I really enjoyed it! Thanks guys! :D We even had an extra turkey which I got to take home. :) Then come Thursday, which is actually Thanksgiving, my awesome host family gave me a Thanksgiving dinner as well! So, Tuesday, I made 2 apple pies from my family's awesome recipe, which everybody loves, of course! Thursday I went to school and came home to the house smelling of Turkey, as Julie had kindly started the cooking. She really did most, nearly all, of the cooking herself, and did an amazing job! For her first turkey, it was delicious, as well as the other food we had! We also invited my first host-family, my counselor's family, and another friend. It was just amazing! I really enjoyed it and am so thankful for all the wonderful people I have here to call my family! :D Thank you guys!

Friday morning I video chatted with my family as it was then Thanksgiving back home and it was really nice to see everyone that I haven't seen in several months. That afternoon, the Whitings took me up to the Rotary orientation meeting for us exchange students. Friday night we went into Canberra and saw Catching Fire, which was amzingly good. I even got a hat with dangly things that should keep the flies away from my face when I go out to the outback. :) Saturday morning came with a ride to the Rotary meeting and a morning of boring, yet necessary I guess, workshop things with the inbounds and outbounds. In the afternoon though, the other inbounds and I got to head off to a local fair, which was interesting and fun to go to. I won a little blue hedgehog which I called Sonic after paying $5 for a carnival game. :) I also got a pacman tattoo after we all decided to get tattoos together. It was a good time, followed by spending a half hour at the local pool. :) I must say it was my first time I've ever lost a contact! I guess thats why your not supposed to where them in the pool. That night the outbounds got presented with their jackets in a nice ceremony, followed by a mini-party that got shut down around 11. So, of course, we all piled into one room and preceded to stay up past 2am. Most of us did end up going to sleep at some stage, yet a couple did pull an all-nighter. It was a fun night. :) Sunday was more boring things until noon, when we all went off in our own directions. It was a little sad that this was the last time we would see the outbounds before they leave. It was a fun weekend all together and I can't wait to meet up with the other exchange students again!

Tuesday was an interesting day at school, as there was a teacher's strike so no classes were held until 11am, which just gave me a bunch of time to waste in the morning. Which I did so unproductively! Due to the strike, the school was pretty empty as kids didn't bother coming to school. It was nice, though. That evening was March Out at Cadets, which is the last parade night of the year where we invite parents and people to come watch a small ceremony where we march onto the parade ground, have awards, and then change over those in charge of the unit. It was a nice ceremony and I enjoyed it. :) I even got to meet a Major in the Australian Army. Wednesday at Rotary was interesting as it was a geologist speaking and telling the local history of the land, which was fascinating. Also, apparently, there is a point only 5 km from me that is an international hotspot for geologists! The Moruya granite, that built the Sydney Harbour Bridge, even has a special name, which I cannot remember at this time. Friday was nice and relaxed and I played cricket for the first time with Will! Its pretty cool and I think almost as good as baseball. :)

The weekend was fun filled with a biv with Cadets at a local property. We arrived in the morning, followed by splitting the unit into two groups and then heading off into the bush to create bunkers for the teams. THis consumed the morning, besides setting up the CP of course. In the avo, after lunch, we played capture the flag between the two teams, and the senior rank (of which I'm included) operated as a renegade force. It was a fun time, followed by teaching the newbies about the rations packs, before heading off to dinner. Once back we had a little down time and let people modify their hoochies as rain was possible, before heading back out in the dark to play capture the flag again until 10pm. The unit even has 1 pair of night vision goggles, of which I got to play with for the night! :) Finally, we stayed up around the fire until 1ish after sending everyone else to bed around 11 after having some awesome bbq chicken cooked in the camp oven. Sunday was more war games in which the two teams had to capture a FOB that us senior ranks set up and then acquire an intel package which we had hidden. It took them about 30min to get the four of us, even with them respawning, and another 30 to find the package. We then headed back to CP, where we broke everything down and then sent the teams back to play capture the flag again if they so wished while we waited for rides to show up. It was a pretty fun weekend that I wished could've lasted longer. Sunday avo I met Will's dad, who seems like a nice bloke from my interaction with him, and we played a short game of cricket with the family!

Come this past week, not too much has happened. I've spent most of it trying to catch up on assessments that I have procrastinated until then. My run at the running club wednesday was poor. I was doing great up until the halfway mark, where after turning around I got a huge stitch (cramp) in my back followed by not being able to breath well, causing me to have to walk to catch my breath. I still came in at 23 min but for me, that is just horrible... I feel a lot better now, and have gotten more into a better running routine lately. :)

Friday was Presentation Day at school which is basically when we have a ceremony (2hrs about) where the school gives out awards to the best students, mostly those who came 1st in a subject, and some athletes who excelled. There were also a couple small talks relating to various things. Such as Will, my host brother, gave a talk on culture relating to the school over the past year, so of course that led me to talk to the school since I am from another culture! It was good though, I basically just told them who I was and a little about myself, and highlighted a little bit of the cultural differences between the US and Aus. It was a good talk I felt and I barely even looked at my notes! Afterward, just because our year advisor felt they needed to give me an award, he gave me a Parents and Citizens award really just for being me! haha Although with the awards they gave out $30 vouchers for the local bookstore and newsstore, etc for education, which seems as a pretty good incentive to try to place high in your class. One person received almost $200 in vouchers! It was good though and I enjoyed it. However, since I was out of class the whole day to prepare for it (was supposed to practice but just sat there...) afterward it felt like it should've been the last day of school...

The weekend came and went pretty quickly. Saturday was filled with writing postcards to various people. I think I sent out about 8 or so. This consumed about 3 hours of my day, followed by homework! WOOOH!
*****
So, I set out the paper excitedly and grabbed my special black pen that received at Presentation Day, and began to work... I worked effectively and efficiently with great zeal! This was the case though only until my hand began to cramp up unexpectedly, yet nothing was going to stop me! I ran to the kitchen with fright, got myself a tall cool glass of Milo, and raced back to my seat! I gulped down the Milo as quick as humanly possible; the milk was gone within a minute. Then I was at it again! I hit the papers with my pen ad fury flew out as I wrote an amazing several thousand words!
*****
So, really, it was just a boring day, yet surprisingly it didn't bother me to do homework all day and I was very productive. This continued Sunday and before dinnertime Sunday, I was finished with all my assessments and it felt sooo great to be done!

Additionally on Sunday, Julie, Peter, Will and I set out to our camping site down the coast to set up early, so it was all done, and our spot is reserved! Its actually a pretty good site and we have a great setup, especially since we may have been a little greedy grabbing our spots. But it will be nice when we go down there on Thursday and camp until the New Year! Yesterday, Mon 16 Dec, was an alright day at school, I did one last bit of school work that I had to finish and the only class that we actually did work in was English and Modern History. :) It helped that my teacher wasn't here for 2 of the classes. It was the same today, although they didn't ring the bells so I was pretty much halfway late to history, but it was all good. :) In hospitality, the two of us, plus another who came just for the ice cream, ate some fresh mango ice cream that we prepared yesterday. It was delicious. :D The afternoon consisted of running errands such as mailing those post-cards ($2.50 each!) and finally paying off my safari trip! I also got a new pair of running shoes for only $90 which was great! For the shoes I got, I may have paid that back home. It was a good day and its great that school's over until 2014! Until February actually!

Now I am finally caught up, I believe! I doubt I will get in another post until 2014 so MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HOLIDAYS, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Stuff, Stuff, and more Stuff...

This post must go back to Halloween, then wrap all the way back to now... Prepare for a long one, and as these types of post usually go, it will be less detailed and more just be listing what happened.

When Halloween came, the day itself just felt like another day in time. Nothing too special  happening. Although, I did get some free lollies from the pharmacy! :D The afternoon was a relaxing one, and while people here do celebrate Halloween, its not very big at all. I remember a comment from someone at the pharmacy where they were all dressed as skeletons, etc. This guy walked in and asked with an attitude, "Why are you celebrating an American holiday?!" I guess the comment was warranted, but Halloween is all about fun, now, and what's wrong with having an extra day of fun her in Australia? Since, some people do celebrate it, there was about 2 small groups of kids that came around and went trick or treating. THat was nice to see, and made it feel a little more like Halloween. It's interesting how some traditions can just spread around the globe in this vast, interconnected world we live in today.

Come Friday morning, I got up early to go for a run, on which I got to see the sunrise up out the Pacific Ocean. It was cloudy so the view wasn't too great, yet I still reckon it was pretty darn cool, probably because it was the first time I've seen the sun rise off the water! Come the early morning, I had to head up to the Bay to catch a bus with Rotary. Rotary had organised a great trip up to Tumut, NSW for the exchange students in this district. Although it included a 7hr bus ride to pick up the others before finally heading to Tumut, it was fun! :) Once there, we went off to a park where we got an Aboriginal experience. Throughout the afternoon, we learnt how to play the didgeridoo (other than circular breathing which I don't quite understand), make rope and string from tree bark, grind and smooth rocks to make axes, etc, and also how to throw a boomerang, which isn't nearly as hard as it looks! It was pretty fun and I have since made bracelets for people from the tree bark and bettered myself at the didgeridoo over the weekend. I just need to get the breathing down! Afterward, we were billeted off to Rotarian's homes for the weekend who were just the most welcoming and nicest people. Saturday was a fun filled day when we travelled to caves of which I cannot remember the name. They were pretty large and extravagant. Afterward, we headed over to a naturally heated swimming pool, where we had lunch and just made a muck as we exchange students tend to do. ;) It was a nice, yet challenging, hike back to the car park, the path to included a pit stop for myself and one other to see the Glory Arch, which is a cave structure that opens up to be probably 30 metres high in the shape of a dome. (You can see the pictures under the 'Tumut' folder in the 'Pictures' tab.) This was followed by spending time with our hosting families in the later afternoon and a bbq that night! This was a lot of fun and I wish things like that didn't have to end. :) The next morning consisted of breakfast at a park and some shenanigans before saying goodbyes to our lovely hosts in Tumut and heading back to our homes. (I suggest not to be spun around really fast for 5 min and then try to run across the park.)

Come Monday,  it was back to school. However, that evening I went out to the movies with some friends to see the new Thor. :) Over the night, my liking of KFC in Australia has improved to meet par and it was a greatly fun night! The next day was Melbourne Cup Day! This is a day of a horse race in Melbourne (fancy that might be where its name comes from ;) ) and is considered the "Race that stops the nation." Its a pretty big even that I guess would equate to Super Bowl... Not quite as popular though. Yet, people in Victoria get the day as a public holiday! To celebrate, at school we had a dress up as if we were going to the races. So, for a dollar donation, I dressed up in a suit and tie and swag ;). The festivities included a fashion contest thingy to see who was the best dressed, and a sausage sizzle! Overall it was a great day, although I forgot to bet on a horse! :/

Wednesday was pretty normal except for making apple pie for my host family, which they reckon is fantastic! Thursday came as was again normal with everything and nothing of interest... Friday was a fun day at school because we threw a mini party for a student teacher who was leaving us to finish her training. Saturday was a pretty interesting and fun morning. At the local airport, they held a training plane crash simulation, in which Hannah and I participated as passengers! At the airport, they set up a makeshift plane crash using pvc piping and canvas tarps which they then sat all the volunteers in an informed us of our injuries, etc. I had a leg injury, which I was given a picture of, so the responders knew what I had without the need for makeup. I posted the picture on Facebook, yet I neglected to inform people of the simulations, so... It was fun though, as they left it open for interpretation by the 'victims,' so there were some interesting characters. With my injury, I couldn't walk, and at the beginning, the responders mentioned getting off the plan in case of an explosion, yet they were slow to get those off who couldn't walk, so I dragged myself by my arms! It was hilarious, especially as someone decided to walk over me! haha I have to say, though, despite it being an interesting scenario, I have lost confidence in the first responders at the airport. :/ They are still great people, just could use a little more training. The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet and relaxing. :)

Come Tuesday, 12 Nov, it was time for the Year 12 Formal! This is equivalent to Prom in the US and was loads of fun. :) It was a nice occasion, and although its comparable to prom, the dress code is a little more slack. Also, the actual Formal wasn't really a party like it should be... even people here said that. It was pretty much dinner and a small ceremony in addition to way too many pictures (haha) and drinks for those 18+. Afterward, though, was the after-party which was heaps fun! To the Formal, I accompanied my sister, Hannah, who looked very lovely and is going to the US in Jan and will hopefully get to experience a Prom!

Friday night was spent hanging out with some great friends attempting to watch Harry Potter start to finish, yet we lacked the determination considering we started at 11 and everyone had to work the next day. It was still a fun night, though! Saturday consisted of relaxing with not much to do. In the evening, I got to meet Peter's parents and have dinner with them. :) Sunday was another relaxing day doing pretty much nothing. In the morning to early afternoon, Julie, Peter, and I went for a nice 2 hour walk around the National Park with one of the dogs.

To minimize the delay of posts and to keep from having too long of a post, I will post this now and get to you later with more of my adventures, trying to catch up before Christmas!

No posts?!

I had just realized that I completely neglected to blog throughout the month of November. My last post being Halloween, I will be sure to do my best to get another up in the next few days!

Changing Families!

Last Friday was just a nice relaxing family night with the Whitings. In the afternoon, Kathryn, Hannah and I went for a walk along the beach (I was going to run but decided against after I was running for about 20 minutes). While on the beach though, there was a family of whales almost putting on a show for us, it seemed! They were breaching and playing around just offshore, which gave us a great view! They seemed to even follow us along the beach, which was really fun and exciting!

Come Saturday, we went up to Old Mogo Town, which is a small gold rush themed park set up as a small town letting visitors see what it would have been like to be in Australia during the gold rush. We went there in the afternoon for a couple hours, in which we explored everything there and went panning for gold. I can proudly say that after that, I won't have to work a day in my life if I want to starve and live in a box. I only got one tiny speck of gold. :/ The people there were very nice though, which made for a good experience. Kathryn's parents and aunt also came up to watch me race the next morning so we had lasagna for tea with them.

The next morning was race time! The race I'm talking about is the Moruya SLSC Town to Surf Fun Run, which is an 8 km race from the town to the beach, or surf, put on by the SLSC (Surf Life Saving Club). The race began at about 9 am in the town and went down the road to the beach. Along the way though, there were several small hills followed by one really huge hill that everyone hates. That is about the 5k mark, and from there its all downhill. I did really well at the beginning with a 17 minute 5k, but by there, I had a blister for some unknown reason and I was just about exhausted. I went from about 7th place overall to around 19th, for the next 2 km. When I think about it, if I wasn't thinking so much about the blister on my foot, I would've held my position better. Once I got to the 7 km mark, though, I was able to push the pain out of my mind and speed up for another 4 minute kilometer, in which I past 2 people to finish in 17th overall out of over 350 people. I finished 6th in my division of 13-17 year olds with a time of 33:31. Overall it was a good race, and I'm happy with my time for my first 8k, although I know I can do better and possibly break 30 minutes in the future.

That afternoon just consisted of resting, packing, and spending a nice last night with the Whitings.

Come Monday, it was an average day at school, followed by an alright afternoon. When I got home, I finished the last minute packing I had to do and then Hannah and I commenced playing Egg Roulette. If you like, you can see the video here. After, my counsellor came to pick me up to bring me off to my next family. It was a little sad to leave the Whitings, but that's part of the exchange, and its a nice thing to be able to stay with even more great people. So, that afternoon I moved in with Peter, Julie, and Will. :)

Tuesday came with school as usual, just with a slight twist on the morning routine. Then for cadets there was some confusion and miscommunication as to how I was getting there, but it has since been resolved, which is good. We did more drill to prepare for March Out, before also having 2 class periods. Wednesday came and I did nothing in the morning besides hanging out and catching up with YouTube. In the afternoon, with nothing else to busy me, I did homework and caught up with everything before going to the running club, where I ran 20:25 this week.

If the link above doesn't work, here is the url: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAzfVkj__Rk

Catching up...

Over the past few weeks I haven't posted anything with the exception of pictures, mostly out of laziness, but also from my time being used up, so that in my free time, I am too tired to write up a post, but now, I'm on my way up to Canberra for my last weekend with the Whitings, so I have a two hour trip ahead of me, and although I won't be able to post this until I get a wifi connection, here I go attempting to give you an interesting post.

I believe the last post (not the video) was of my week long travels and adventures with the Australian Army Cadets to Singleton. I feel it is only right now that I pick up from there to tell you of my past 3? weeks.  This would bring me to start with the Monday after, which was a very good day indeed,  and for those of you who are FB friends of mine, you would know it's the day I got a surfing lesson! That morning was a decent morning with good waves for a beginner, which was great! We started around 9 in the morning for a two hour lesson with Hannah accompanying me, in which we were lucky because there were two instructors and we were the only two in the class, which allowed for one-on-one instruction. It went very well, and by the end of the first hour I could stand up on the board, and just spent the next hour practicing standing and riding the wave forward. I even tried to use a shorter board for the last half hour, which although I was met with difficulty, was still great fun! I'll just give them some free advertising and say it was 'Surf the Bay' where I got my lesson. :) That afternoon I also had tea with my WONDERFUL counsellor, Carol. (that's just for you, Carol. Lol)

Tuesday morning we went down to Bega and then to Eden, which is an old whaling town, who's business now comes mainly from tourism. When we got down there, we had lunch and then planned on going sight seeing. However, by the time we finished eating, it was pissing down rain with very strong winds. So, we quickly ran out of the car then straight back in at a few spots so I could get a quick look and some pictures. Of course, though, once we left, it cleared up... The next morning, we went to the Bega Cheese Factory, got lunch, then split off. While Hannah and Kathryn got their hair done, Kathryn's parents, their nephew, and I went for a drive to see some sights. That night, we then moved to the farm, where we stayed for the rest of the week. The next day, I got to ride a horse! It was really nice and fun, and apparently I did well. Afterward, we got lunch, then I got to milk some cows. :) That was interesting and kinda fun, if you like getting crapped on by cattle. That took most of the afternoon, then we had a fun night. The next morning, we got up and went to Mumbla Falls, which is a pretty good swimming hole and small water fall. Sadly though, we left by lunchtime to get home. It was a quiet afternoon after lunch with Geoff's mom.

Saturday morning, we left around 10am for Alpine, which is a great camping spot on private land. We got there early afternoon, set up, had lunch, and relaxed. Hannah, Kathryn, and I had a nice hour long walk on which I found a walking stick which I plan on carving with different events from my exchange. Sunday morning came bright and early, and after breakfast, while waiting to start the days activities, I climbed the pine next to our site, nearly to the top, about 50ft up. After climbing down to get my camera, then back up again, we then decided to start the day. Of the 10 of us camping, 4 went on a long hike up the mountain that took them 3-4 hours, while 2 stayed at the house, then Geoff, Kathryn, Hannah, and I went for a drive up the other way, and around exploring 4wd. On the way, we found an amazing breathtaking view, where we could see the ocean from 24 miles away. After, we went back to our site to eat, then relaxed for most of the afternoon while I continued carving. Monday morning, we left by 1030 am to get home by 4 after stopping for lunch.

Tuesday it was back to school, then at cadets, we started doing drill to prepare for March Out. Wednesday, no school, so I spent the day making my treats for the District conference for Rotary, as I had to provide something American for morning tea. I made S'more brownies. At the running club, I ran 20:07, then at Rotary I had to speak to the club again, this time accompanied by 5 others as we were talking about our time at MUNA back in August. Thursday was just another day at school, and Hannah and I went to the beach in the afternoon to cool off. Friday, went to school as normal then left almost immediately to Merimbula for the District Conference, where I met up with the other exchange students and had a great time. Saturday morning, we spent at the conference, and during morning tea, I met someone from CT! How funny, what a small world! In the afternoon, after lunch, we went to the beach, before getting changed and going to the formal dinner and dance party at the conference. Sadly, we had to depart before lunch and head back home after a talk from Layne Beachley, a 7 time surfing world champion!

Monday was a normal day at school and that night I tried shark for dinner which was pretty good! Tuesday was normal school and same as last week with cadets. Although I got my slouch hat! Wednesday came, and I made apple pie for my family, which they loved! :) With the running club, I got a new PB with 19:28, then at Rotary it was a normal meeting. Thursday was just school, then Friday, school again. Yet that afternoon I went for a nice 12km run down the beach which was pretty good, and although I should be doing that more often it was my longest run since getting here.

On Saturday I got up at 0630, which, with the exception of AFX, was the earliest I've gotten up all exchange. We drove up to Canberra, and after running errands, we went to the Australian Institute of Sport, where we took a tour of their facilities where world-class athletes can train daily. We also got to see a couple events at the Track and Field section of the Oceana pan-Hellenic Games. AFterward, we went to Geoff's mum's place for the night, and Kathryn and I walked around Bungendore at sunset where I got some great pics. Sunday, we went to the Royal Australian Mint (RAM), where, although we couldn't see them in action due to it being Sunday, we saw some pretty cool exhibits including the key to Parliament House. Afterward, Kathryn and Geoff dropped me off with other exchange students, where we got lunch and went to the National Museum of Australia. Also, while waiting for the bus, we tried some Taiwanese tea, where I tried Pearl Milk Tea, which was good, although I'm not sure how I like the texture of the bubbles, which are tapioca balls. Once at the museum, although we spent an hour in the gift shop, it was an awesomely fun time.

Monday was just an average day at school, then I did hill sprints in the afternoon, where I was called crazy by a runner passing by... That night we had sloppy joes as Geoff ordered some mix online! We played some pictionary and I got an early night at 10pm. Tuesday was another day at school and average night at cadets.

Vegemite and banana?

It's actually a pretty good combination, salty and sweet, right?

AFX-13

AFX stands for Annual Field Exercise with the Australian Army Cadets and was one amazing week that will definitely be one of the best parts of my exchange! There were some parts where I was bored or cold or hot and wanted to go home, but they were far fewer than those where I was having great amounts of fun, especially towards the end of the trip to the Singleton Army Range. Throughout the week and specifically near the end, I met so many great people that I will remain friends with for a very long time. I want to send a big thank you to everyone who was involved in getting me approved to go on the trip to which I would normally not be allowed to go! Thanks!

The trip started Saturday where my unit, 222, departed from Macca's in Batemans Bay at a nice 0500, arriving to Singleton around 1230 after two stops at other McDonald's. Once we got there, we went through all the admin stuff that needed to be done, before sitting around for several hours before moving to our first night loc. Once at the night loc, I was assigned my position in the company to be company 2IC, which basically just made me a servant to the CUO of Delta company. We set up our hoochies for the night before eating and then we set up anything else the company needed and went to bed around 2130.

The next morning I was up at 0530 with reveille at 0600, where everyone packed up and ate before moving on to doing exercises by 0730. The first was to teach the cadets how to harbor so that whenever we approached a new loc or checkpoint, we would harbor to secure the area. This was followed by learning brick formations so cadets knew how to properly move through the bush with tact. When I first arrived on the trip I thought I was going to use the first several days to just figure myself out and realize how the AAC actually worked before I would properly take my position as a Sgt. However, right away at 0800 Sunday morning, the CUO had to go away for the day for a class about child safety, so I was almost immediately in charge of the company and had to make sure the day ran smoothly because he wasn't back until late afternoon. This was going alright for a while until we had issues with comms and had to leave our loc an hour late. It then continued to run smoothly from there until we tried to get the Ingasabians to come with us to Bn HQ. We finally got there just after sundown and then had to quickly move back to out night loc to set up for the night in the dark. :/ We were given orders around 2100 and got to bed at 2200.

The next day we were told we would have the Ingasabians until further notice and it was our responsibility to look after them while continuing our other mission of collecting satellite pieces at the checkpoints. That took all day, and the Ignasabians were annoying, as they should be. At one point, once they discovered my accent, I became the "pretty sounding man." Then I was made to play 52 pickup while narrating every card! That was... interesting. I was also painted on due to my accent and became the "Rainbow Warrior." When we got to our new night loc, we had time left with before sunset, so I attempted to make my hoochie into a hammock, in which I succeeded. Even though some wanted to cut the line on it, they all knew it was awesome and were jealous of it. That night, we were given a scenario of a car accident with several people and several types of injuries. At first everyone, except those involved, thought it was real, so the staging was obviously excellent. However, we discovered that night that no one knew how to treat a spinal injury or some others.

The next morning was an early one, and we had all the sections out from the night loc and clearing checkpoints by 0730. Meanwhile, I sat around HQ doing basically nothing other than trying to establish comms with Bn HQ. Finally after 2 hours of trying, we finally got the lightweight antenna up and connected and was made able to communicate with HQ. We always had issues like that every morning and night. In the afternoon, we sent out the sections on a night operation to observe a road, in which they had to establish a retrans station and a operation point. However, we had to call them back early because HQ needed information. That night, I was also put on radio picket and had to ask for a delivery of supplies and for two requests to move supplies, which just confused the heck out people on the other side of the radio as it seemed they had no idea of what was happening and it was hilarious.

Wednesday, since the company was only platoon size, our command structure was too big for the situation so it was shortened and myself and 3 others were taken out of it. We ere put into a DS role where we would basically act as role players when needed, which only happened once, later that day. In the morning, myself and the kids from Norfolk Island from my company went off to do a live shoot at the range. When we got there we each got 12 rounds on the steyr and although I missed the target with all 12 shots, it was due to the sights not being aligned properly. I did, though, have the best grouping the guy has seen all day, all within several mm of each other. Afterward, when I finally made it back to my company, I had to walk as quickly as possible to get down to be a role player. Once there, the scenario was that we were captured by communists, drugged, and interrogated, so, I acted to be going insane due to the drugs and started to eat grass and leaves, and even forced others to eat grass. That was pretty fun but the leaves didn't taste very well. Afterward, I did nothing but several QDE's to keep busy while waiting for the other sections to arrive at the RV point. Then we walked to the farthest south we were allowed to go for our night loc where the trees were not right for me to set up a hammock, sadly.

Thursday was our last day navigating through the bush and I was put in charge of it. With this, Delta HQ and the Ingasabians had to hike up "retrans hill" which is the second highest point in Singleton, to clear a checkpoint and it was a spectacular view. They were testing bombs and stuff at one spot in the distance and it was very interesting to see the explosion and smoke trail before hearing it several seconds later. Afterward, we met up with the other sections and went to bring the Ingasabians to their last loc, yet they didn't want to go there and had to get them a new loc. Once there, we had to participate in sacred "rituals" before we could leave them there. Once they were out of our hands though, we set up our last night loc just outside of Bn HQ, so I was then able to make some great friends from HQ.

Friday morning, the whole Bn got together and split up between 16 years and up and everyone else. The 16 year olds went to the weapons simulator, followed by the obstacle course, while everyone else went to the museum and weapons simulator. And everyone got a much needed shower. :) On the weapons simulator, I scored 50 with 17 shots fired at 10 targets, so I did pretty decent. Then on the obstacle course, my team came very close to winning if not for a mix up resulting in our team, the Llamas, getting a penalty. Even with the loss, it was super fun and a great day. Afterward, we did nothing until an award ceremony for the Bn, and then got to see bush masters, which are pretty cool machines and I would love to own one if anyone happens to be selling one. ;) In the awards, my unit, 222, was awarded the skull, which is for the best unit over the past year! Throughout the day, everyone was signing t-shirts and getting names for Facebook, and I always (with one exception) drew the American Flag with all 50 stars and 13 stripes on people's shirts. The one exception was an eagle that said, "GO USA."

Finally, on the last morning, we got up at the normal time of 0600 and had range clearance at 0630, from which we just sat around in our units until the buses picked us up. It was annoying though, because everyone was trying to saying their goodbyes, yet we weren't supposed to leave our units. We did manage to get all the goodbyes out, because we are just that awesome. When my bus finally arrived at 10, we left at 1030 after packing up and saying final goodbyes. We then stopped at Macca's for lunch, where I ordered, 2 McDoubles, McBites, Lrg Fries (Yes they call them fries at McDonald's not chips), an apple pie, and smoothie. It was all very delicious for something that would normally be disgusting. We finally arrived home just after 1800, and then my host-parents took me to KFC for dinner. Which, sadly was disappointing. It tasted like plain old breaded chicken as I did not taste the 11 secret spices. I'm not sure if thats Australia or just that one restaurant, but it was not up to par. Then, the week was over and now I wish I could do it all over again and hang out with those amazing people more than I got to.

A+39

This week we started Year 11 exams at school, and while normally the exchange students don't take the exams and just get 2 weeks off from school, I plan on getting credit for the year so I elected to take them, and they may or may not count depending on the results. Monday was just a normal day at school so in class we just did final preparations to the exams. That afternoon, after returning home, I decided to do hill sprints, however, I quickly realized how out of shape I got since I could only do 5 when I should've been able to do more.

Tuesday, at school I had two exams: English in the morning and Hospitality in the afternoon. For the English exam I took a slightly altered exam since I was not here for the books the exam was on. Then I had 2 and half hours before the next exam so some friends and I went downtown to have lunch before taking the Hospitality exam which was mostly common sense stuff except for the legal things. That night, at AAC we mostly just did classes in preparation of AFX to Singleton. I also got some more gear: some patches, hootchie, sleeping bag and day pack so I just need a couple more things for the week long trip.

Yesterday, I woke up early for a Wednesday (around 0730) and had a relaxing morning other than the blo incident which I talked about in the last post. Around 1030, Hannah and I went down to the beach for about 2 1/2 hours, in which we forgot sunscreen. When we first got there, the water was absolutely freezing and we could only spend about a minute in the water. After a little while, we decided to go to the "cave" which is a little rock outcropping that people jump into that also has a small cave nearby. It's about a 3 meter drop and is pretty fun to jump into, although it was high tide so we didn't venture into the cave. Additionally its pretty annoying to climb out of, but by the time we got to the cave, the water was warmer and wasn't that bad to swim around. When we got back to where we set up shop, we went for another swim in the now warmer water, before I dug a hole about a meter deep and a meter and half across just because. It took me an hour to do and my back is still in pain, but it was fun. Later in the afternoon, I went to the running club again. It started off great and although we were against a huge headwind on the way down and most of the way back up, we were making great time and I was on track to make a PR by a minute. However, when we got back up the big hill, I was hit with a huge stitch (cramp), and could barely breath and had to give up my position next to the other guy in my skill level. If it wasn't for that, I may have even beat him yesterday. The cramp was probably due to the digging and sore back whilst not stretching before the race.

Today, I only had one exam: Legal Studies in the morning, which I think I bombed because I wasn't here for the material. After the exam, I hung out downtown again with some friends for about an hour and half, then wandered around town until my mom and dad got off work for lunch. I finally found my way around town and checked out everything on the main strip. After lunch, Geoff took me home, where I had a very unproductive afternoon as it took much longer than it should have to copy the photos and upload them to the blog and Facebook. Tonight, we had hot dogs for tea and I showed my family how to make s'mores! They were a little different as they don't have graham crackers here and the marshmallows are slightly different, but they were still good. Now Hannah will already know how ot make them for when she goes to the States!

A MONTH!!!!

I previously had a very long post explaining how great this past month has been, and describing the past two weeks. Although, after never finding the time to write it, once I finally did this morning, when I went to publish the post, I lost it all but the first two paragraphs, and I don't have the heart to rewrite it all, so I saved what I have, and I might finish it some time in the future, but for now, it's on the back burner and I'm skipping over the two weeks in terms of detail. I'll just very briefly describe the past two weeks, and if you want to know more, comment below and I'll post more.

I can't believe I've already been here for a month now! These past several weeks have been amazing, and it has been really great to meet many new people (and animals) and to gain a new family in the complete opposite part of the world! As Maccer's (McDonald's) would say, "I'm lovin' it!" and I want to thank everyone who helped me come to Moruya.

Over the past two weeks, at AAC, we did PT one week, where at one point, during the beep test, it became a "battle of the nations' of sorts because it was just myself and one other kid left. In the end I beat him out. (GO USA!) This past week learned a little bit more of their drill and got some more gear to prepare for AFX (Annual Field Exercise) to Singleton. After, that night, I saw an echidna, which sadly, was hit by a car, but was fighting to live and a couple days later, we saw him borrowing, which meant he was recovering alright. Last Wednesday was my presentation to my hosting Rotary club, which I feel went pretty well, and my host club, and my host families got to learn a bit more about me. (If you want to read it, you can click on this link here.) Thanks to that presentation, one of the Rotarians, Marie, introduced me to a local running club, which I started with this past Wednesday. I ran the 5k in 20:08 after not running much since I got here in Australia. This past Thursday, I had to get my picture taken so I can get an ID card to go on AFX with the AAC. Apparently, it's a huge thing for me to go on this trip and I'm the first to do this (as an exchange student) so my CO had to get high clearance and it doesn't hurt that he has friends in high places. After learning how big a deal it was, I'm now even more excited to go! Last Friday, I went down to the lookout with Kathryn to look for whales and then stayed for the most beautiful sunset. This past Friday at school was International Day, where people dressed up as different cultures, and there was an international food stall at lunch. I'm not creative so I just went as an American, and apparently, I nailed the accent! Additionally, there was a Year 12 vs. Teachers soccer game, in which I played on the Teachers' side. (Teachers lost 2-0) I forgot how much I like soccer before that. That night, I made Aunie's mac&cheese and everyone seemed to like it, even though it was slightly different due to no monterey jack here. Last weekend, was Hannah's 18th birthday, so Saturday, we went out with the family to meet to rest of the family in Narooma. That was a fun day once I got to know everyone a little. Then Sunday, it was a nice bright and early morning, and since 18 is the legal age here, Hannah and Geoff celebrated with shots of vodka; Hannah's face was the best after the shot. Later, we went to her soccer game then she went out with friends to finish off her birthday. Needless to say, we had to take the bus the next morning to school. Finally, this past weekend wasn't nearly as busy. Saturday, Geoff took me up to Deua National Park, about an hour and half out from Moruya. We spent about 2 hours out there and saw plenty of 'roos before heading back home. When we got home, we had Thai for dinner and watched 2 movies before heading off to bed around 12. Sunday, went for a nice run down to the beach and then to the second half of Hannah's soccer game and of course, she did well when I wasn't there, but in the end her team hed the lead 3-2 to advance to the Grand Final this upcoming weekend! We had a late dinner of wings and played Pictionary until we ended with a tie at midnight.

Week 3

I can't believe it's already been 3 weeks in Australia! The past weeks have gone by so fast, the only time time doesn't fly is during school sometimes because I'm a little lost in some classes due to hopping in in the middle of the term. When the exams come up in a couple weeks, I'm gonna take the exam and just try my best for most of them, though not quite sure what will be done with them. Math should be alright, though, I'm just about caught up to the class, and except for the trig and calc, I've done it all, and with the calc, I'm already caught up with the class.

Last week, school went along as normal, and Tuesday I went to Cadets again, another normal night. Then Wednesday, I did maths all day before going out to lunch at a local cafe, where I had a great burger that I actually couldn't finish due to its size! Afterward, Geoff took me up to some park somewhere 30min away from Moruya, that I don't remember the name of, but it was very nice. It was very serene and beautiful and I finally saw a kangaroo in full detail, close-up. The kangaroo paused only about 20 feet (about 6m) and stood there looking at us for about a good 2-3 minutes! Later, on the way out we saw several kangaroos right outside the car and a group of wallabees later on. When we were almost back in town, we even saw a wombat! They are kind of like overweight gophers but pretty cool and can run pretty fast.

Friday, my great counselor, Carol (just for you, Carol) picked me up to bring me to Tuross for the orientation weekend for all of the inbounders and outbounders (inbounders = exchange students from elsewhere eg. Me!, outbounders = exchange students going to another country). Friday night was just for the inbounders so we can get to know each other and hang out. It was great to meet everyone, and had tons of fun. That night myself and the other inbound boys stayed up till about 1 playing texas hold'em until it was just three of us and we decided it was too late. Saturday morning the outbounders arrived, including my sister, Hannah, who by the way, is going to the USA!!!! Wooh! During the day, it was mostly aimed at the outbounds, with a couple short activities geared to both. One of the activities, they paired up the inbounders with the outbounders going to their country so they can ask whatever questions they wanted about where they are going. Although, that didn't quite work out because Hannah and I live with each other and can ask questions all the time, so we didn't have much to talk about.

That afternoon, we had a surf safety lesson, though, to make sure that none of us die at the beach in Australia, which is good I guess. After the lesson though, we went down to the beach and originally just 3 of us (later more joined in) went for a swim in the 12 degree water (56 F). It was just a little frigid, and after about 20 minutes, the waves were starting to come farther and father in between, and my feet were numb, so I got out, while the Norwegian, Sondre, of course stayed in for a half hour! Once we got back to our accommodation, and finally warmed up, it was time for a formal dinner, where we all (the inbounders) wore out Rotary blazers, afterward exchanging pins, signing flags, etc. as well as having a mini party, until 11 when we were told we were supposed to be in bed already. Afterward we all went back and hung out in a room way too small for the amount of people, but it made all the fun! At that point, the poker game was also finished, by myself and Phillip (from Germany) both going "all-in" blind, because we wanted it to be over. The result was him winning by a higher pair. Then we all (inbounders and outbounders), that didn't already go to sleep, stayed up socializing until 1, when the girl's counsellor decided it was too late. When everyone finally went back to their "dorms," it wasn't until after 2 that my room actually went to bed.

The next morning was a short meeting with inbounders, outbounds, parents, and even a couple rebounds (those who came back from exchange). The rebounds told their stories and offered advice and then it was time to go home around lunch time. Instead of going home with my host parents, though, Rohan took me to meet Rob Richmond, my other counsellor (the one to do fun things with, as it was explained to me), and then he took me to a Rugby League game! It was nice and fun once I started to understand how the game worked. The Moruya Sharks won to move on to the semi-finals, which I guess is a good thing. It was a pretty fun afternoon, before returning home to stay past midnight to finish my speech for Rotary. I finally did finish it, as well as my slideshow, and feel confident for the meeting Wednesday night.

2nd Week

I may miss some things now that I haven't posted in over a week, but here we go:

Last weekend I moved in with my first host family, the Whitings! Geoff, Kathryn, and Hannah were all very nice and welcoming and only a week later, I feel right at home as part of the family. They even have a cat, Winnie, that reminds me of my own cat back home. I still don't feel like I adjusted quite fully yet because I've had a very full, yet fun-filled week, but I imagine that it won't be long.

This week at school, the kids in my year were back from their snow-trip so now I met everyone in my classes and was able to see how to school functions on a normal day. Its a bit smaller school so most of the classes are a bit smaller as well, but I like it. Because I'm in year 11 and don't take the extension courses, I get to take Wednesday off from school, which is really nice to only have school 4 days a week, although this week I only had 3 days due to MUNA (Model United Nations Assembly), which I will get to later in this post. Also, the school buses here are much different from the buses back home. Here they use basically coach buses with bench seats instead of individual seats, and are pretty nice compared to ours back home.

Tuesday night, I officially joined the local Australian Army Cadets (AAC) and received most of my uniform. The people there are a very welcoming and it is a bit more relaxed than I am used to, but the change is why I am on exchange, so this should be good. It's fun to go crawl around in the bush for a couple hours!

Wednesday, since I don't go to school, my host-father, Geoff, took me up to Batemans Bay so I could get an adapter for my laptop charger since the one I brought over here, I realized, wasn't grounded. So we got that, had coffee/ hot chocolate, and head back home. It was a nice drive and a good start to the day. When we got back, I ate lunch then head off to school to practice for MUNA because we scheduled a practice debate with 2 other schools in the area to help us prepare. At the practice, we realized that we really needed to do A LOT more work to prepare for the weekend, which we did, and it worked out. After, I took the bus home, and prepared for MUNA. In the evening, it was then time for the weekly Rotary meeting, which is nice to go to because its good food and is usually interesting.

Thursday was more preparation for MUNA after school got out and I was up till almost 2 just doing my research. Then Friday morning, my group, consisting of myself; a friend, Sam; and my future host brother, Will; representing Malaysia, set out from our school to Australia's capital, Canberra, along with a nearby school, representing France. We stopped for lunch along the way, where I tried my first meat pie! I don't remember having them before, but it tasted oddly familiar... Once in Canberra, well just outside the ACT (Australian Capital Territory), where we were staying, we checked in and relaxed for a little while, socializing with other teams that arrived from other areas of Australia, such as Victoria, Queensland, and Tasmania. Then, we were off to Canberra for a tour of ANU (Australian National University) since they are the major sponsor for the event. We came back to the lodge, had dinner, then got a very interesting talk from someone, who's name escapes me right now, who has had 42 years experience in foreign affairs. Then, we voted for the resolution we would debate over the weekend. The order was set for the resolutions: the Sovereignty of Palestine, Renewable Energy, Conflicts in Africa, and LARs to be debated on Saturday, with "The Situation in Syria," and Nuclear Disarmament on Sunday. Saturday, our group, spoke for the later three resolutions, letting the first give us the idea of how the process of debating worked. We had a designated spot as the Second For Renewable Energy and Sam took the reigns to debate that topic. I feel she did well supporting the resolution and in the end the resolution passed without much against it. Will spoke for the resolution on Africa, speaking very well, and I spoke against the resolution on LARs (Lethal Autonomous Robotics). At the end of the day, all of the resolutions were passed, mostly without much opposition, even with much debate. That night, there was a nice formal dinner at Bruce Hall in ANU. Present at the dinner were many Rotarians and sponsors of the event, as well as some diplomats who made time to come support the program and the kids representing those nations. It was a nice meal, and a professor at ANU spoke on NGOs, and was very interesting and I enjoyed it, other than him delaying dessert. At the end of the night, we went back to the lodge and had an okay night of sleep. Wake-up was at 0630 so that we had plenty of time to shower, dress, and clean up the rooms after the weekend before breakfast at 0730. After breakfast, we went back to the Old Parliament House, where we were debating, and began our fifth session, this one being on the Situation in Syria. Speaking as Malaysia, I took the reigns from team to debate in favor of this resolution and, in my opinion and that of some others, debated very well. In the end the resolution was passed 13-7 (with 3 abstentions). After, we had a short recess then returned to debate the final and most popular resolution, Nuclear Disarmament. Will did the most work on this resolution so he was in charge of the debating this one. He did very well and even used a "Point of Information," which was the first for our team. This was again passed through, though with 12-9 (with 2 abstentions). It was close, but successful as we noticed that there were some teams that did actually change their minds during the debate. These last two sessions were the most controversial and therefore, the most lively. This made these the most fun, and the most popular. On both of these resolutions, the second more so, some people didn't get the chance to say everything that they wanted/intended to due to the popularity and nature of these resolutions. Overall this was a great, fun-filled, mind-testing weekend where I met many great people who made the weekend all the better. I wish I able to do stuff like that more often.

A+4

Last night was my first Rotary meeting here in Moruya, where I met some more very fine people and gave a short intro of myself to hold some curiosity until my presentation to the club at the end of the month. Among the new faces, I also realized that my counselor, Carol, deserved a much better description than I gave her last time. She's a very kind lady who is also a great deal of fun to be around. (You're welcome Carol.) Moving on, at the meeting I thought it was very interesting the way that the club fines it's members for the things that should've done differently, some silly, some not. I feel that's a much more fun way of doing things rather than just giving it up to the club. It was a nice night and I look forward to the next meeting.

This morning I started school at Moruya High School and found mostly everyone the most welcoming. The school is a little different than my school back home in the atmosphere. Most of my class is away on a snow trip at the moment so I can't say really how it is, but I imagine that it won't be that much different in between classes, just the classes themselves will have more than 5 people in them. Even with full attendance, the school only houses 700 students in years 7-12 with mine back home having 1300, years 9-12, so a bit smaller and I think I might like it. I'm not quite sure yet how to feel about the campus. It's different being outside and 4 seperate buildings but still a smaller campus, of course, than mine back home.

It feels a bit odd getting out of school at 1515 instead of 1400 but I won't argue with school not starting until 0830. After getting back home, I relaxed until dinner where I got to eat Australia's symbol. Kangaroo! It's tastes a bit like beef but it's a little tougher and leaner. It tasted well and was enjoyable. Come to think of it, I don't think I've encountered an Aussie dish that I haven't liked. The Vegemite is a bit salty but still good as well as everything else I've gotten to try.

A+3

So yesterday I went out with my counselor, Carol, and got myself enrolled in school at Moruya High to start Thursday. While I was in the process of enrolment, one of the teachers came by and gave me my first assignment! He wants me to read the papers he gave me for MUNA the weekend after the next. MUNA is Model United Nations Assembly where I'll be going to Canberra with my future host brother, Will, and his cousin as a mock delegation for Malaysia to debate as the UN! That should be a fun weekend. Now tomorrow I just need to show up, sort out the uniform, and I will be all set to start enjoying school in Australia! After, we started to sort out my banking in Australia, which will be finished later this week. We had some tea at a nice cafe and along the way I met some nice Rotarians. It was an enjoyable morning where I returned home to go for a nice 10 km run around the town to explore and get my bearings straight. I took a relaxing afternoon before visiting the local AAC, Australian Army Cadets, to see about them and I think I might join them for the year. Last night seemed pretty fun, crawling around in the bush for the first time.

Now today I slept a little later, (I think the jet lag is finally behind me) and then Rohan took me up to Batemans Bay while he ran errands and to show me around. Its a nice town about the same size as North Haven but during the summer I guess it attracts a large crowd to the beach. We had a nice lunch up there and I saw my first pelican! It was nice day, that will end with my first rotary meeting with the Moruya Club, where I'll just give a brief introduction of myself until my presentation later this month.

A+1

The day after I arrived in Australia and I think I may have beaten jet lag. Yesterday I was able to stay awake with not much opposition until it came to a normal bed time and I woke up bright and early at 7, after gaining 10 hours of sleep. The truth will come later, but as of right now, I'm in Australia and feeling great! :D It's winter right now, so a little chilly, I think I can compare the current weather to late October back in CT.

After showering and getting dressed, I sat down to breakfast with Rohan and Pauline, and tried vegemite for the first time! My thoughts about it: its definitely different, but its not bad. Upon my first bite I thought it was nice, but not something I would like to eat regularly, but after then it did seem to taste better. I think it's something that I will have to get used to but won't be bad. I feel like my first bite wasn't the most pleasant because it was so different and new to my palate.

Now, back to my arrival: I really enjoyed my flight. It was a 14 hour plane ride, but it went by pretty quick and the 2 meals Qantas served were great for "plane food." I think they were even better than some restaurants serve back in the States, definitely better than diner food. All the crew were very friendly and welcoming and made for a pleasant ride. When I landed though, things didn't go quite as smooth, I got through Customs and Immigration nicely, but not through baggage claim. I waited at the carousel for about 40 minutes before it was made known that there were no more bags on the plane, and mine was not there. So I had to spend the next 15 minutes claiming it, and at least I received $100 mastercard from the airline. But the bags will be in today, I just found out!

Upon getting all that straightened out, I was greeted warmly by Rohan, he brought me back to his hotel so I could shower (finally, after 3 days!) and change. Then we briefly explored around the Opera House and harbor, before taking a nice, but long, drive down to Moruya, my new home! For this week I'll be staying with Rohan and Pauline, who have been very kind so far and have made my first day very enjoyable. Pics will be up later.

A-0

This is the day I've been waiting for since I was first approved for Rotary Youth Exchange! I AM ON MY WAY TO AUSTRALIA! This morning when I got up my parents and brother (only in it for the food) went out to IHOP for breakfast before going back to my house to say goodbye to my aunt and cousins, one of which wanted to tell the TSA that I was a terrorist to keep me from going! 

After that my brother went to work then my grandparents accompanied myself and my parents to the airport. After checking in, we just stayed outside the security checkpoint for an hour because my grandparents couldn't come through. Once that was over, my parents saw me to the gate and I took off to Dallas, which is where I sit now. The flight was a little bumpy with some turbulence, but I managed to get some sleep.

A-2

So Monday I finally received my travel package from the travel agency with all of my final flight plans and stuff, including a drawstring bag with their logo on it, which I packed to bring with me. That said, Monday I also packed almost all of my stuff except for the gifts and some things here and there that I may have forgotten at first. However, now for this week until I depart the States, I have to live out of my suitcase and make sure I put pack any clothes I take from the suitcase. I plan to do laundry Thursday and then I will double-check that I have everything that I plan to bring.

Then today I spent a long day getting things ready to go to Oz. This morning I went to North Haven's Rotary Club meeting and briefly spoke to the club and said goodbye and thank you for sponsoring me. From there I, after a doctors appointment, I spent some time looking for gifts and trinkets, making a stop at the Yale bookstore. Then I closed up anything outstanding with the Marine Cadets when I went to lunch with my CO. So after all that, I am just about set to go come Friday! Almost there!!!

A-6

This afternoon my family threw me a great going away party, with my grandma making banana split cake and my aunt making her great taco dip and hot wings! It was fun to see a lot of my family 6 days before I embark on a great adventure and I'm going to miss everyone a lot. My family helped me out and gifted me some moolah to use on my trip and now I need to take a trip to the bank to exchange some of it for Australian Dollars. Thanks to everyone who came, it was fun! :) I just only wish my mouth didn't hurt so I could eat more of the good food without pain. Who was the silly one who decided to give us wisdom teeth?

A-7

7 days, 1 hour, 45min. That's how long until my scheduled departure to Australia! Only one week away and it's getting very exciting but I'm also getting more nervous the closer it gets. I'm starting to pack now and finding it hard to figure out everything to bring for a whole year. I just need to pack and get my travel packet from the travel agency, then I'm all set to go! The travel packet has my plane tickets so it's a little important but they should be here tomorrow or Monday. I can't wait! :D

A-24 Days

That's Australia minus 24 days. I just felt like using the format they used for D-Day in WWII. Today I got my itinerary and I leave on 2 Aug to arrive in Sydney on 4 Aug. My flight was reserved and just have to confirm and pay, now. Now that I can count down to my exchange, though, the time left here is gonna go by fast and pretty soon, I'll be in Oz. I can't wait!

My Visa

I woke up this morning to my a FedEx envelope sitting on the kitchen table, addressed to me from the Australian Embassy in D.C. Upon opening, my application for a year-long student visa was approved! Now if only I had my travel plans set... I don't like waiting.

Do a blog they said. It'll be fun they said.

So, I guess I decided to do a blog for my upcoming exchange to Australia with Rotary Youth Exchange, and this is going to be it! When I can, when feel like it, I'll post along my journey in Australia. More often, though, I'll probably just post the many pictures I'll be taking. You'll get those under the pictures tab above. Now, I just have to wait until I launch, the most unexciting part of the trek. Enjoy!