Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Stuffing the suticase and other last minute details

I leave later today and still haven't finished packing...maybe I should be doing that instead of writing... Nonetheless, I cannot wait for this trip. When I arrive it will be summer, and the parts of Australia I am going do not get super cold so I packed mostly summer clothes and light jackets to layer with. I'm not going to bring any school supplies because I can buy them there. Ideally I want to only pack one rolling luggage piece, one suitcase, a backpack, and a purse. That way I can carry everything easily between my destinations since I'll be traveling before I get to school.

To get in the mood for the trip I went with some friends to an 'Australian' restaurant today. It’s called Matilda’s/Mad Macs and it serves an odd combination of Australian food and macaroni and cheese. I got the Jumping Jack which is macaroni and cheese with kangaroo chili. It was very good, but under all the flavorings and spices I could not taste any difference in the chili compared to normal beef. I wonder what real Australian food will be like?

My goal is to get around 6 hours of sleep tonight. This ensures that I will be tired enough to fall asleep on the looooong plane ride, but not be so tired I’m grouchy on my last day. A mix of Big Bang Theory reruns and facebook should suffice to keep me up late. The real trick will be getting myself to get up early in the morning. For the plane ride I've got Suduko, a new novel, and a bunch of travel books on Australia, in addition to a fully charged laptop and ipod. I get fidgety on 3 hour flights to Florida, so I'm not looking forward to this one. The next time I write a post I will be on the other side of the world. Good bye US, and g'day Oz!


Saturday, January 21, 2012

T minus ten days until the land down under

G'day mates! And welcome to my blog. To start off, my name is Jenny. I live in Wilmington, DE and I am a junior at Washington College in Chestertown, MD. I will be spending next semester in Australia! I'm an environmental studies major with minors in chem and bio. I play volleyball on my college team, and some of my other hobbies include Scuba diving, working out, playing sports, hanging with friends, and eating.

Since I enjoy traveling and adventures, I figure what better place to go than Australia? They have some of the coolest animals in the world- I mean what is more unique than a platypus?  And some of the best accents. Hopefully I'll pick one up while I'm there. Everyone I know who has visited speaks highly of the country. I can't wait for this trip! Oh yeah, and while it is winter in the States, it is summer in Oz. Forget bundling up for below freezing and snow storms- I'm hitting the beaches!

Here's the itinerary for when I first fly in. On Feb 1st I fly from Philly to LA, then from LA to Sydney. This trip takes a total of 22 hours-uggggggg, but will definitely be worth it. I'm staying a hostel central to most of the major sites in Sydney for 5 days, then flying up to Cairns for a scuba cruise on the Great Barrier Reef. 3 days- 11 dives on some of the best coral reefs in the world :-) After that, I fly back down South to Melbourne where I will be starting orientation at Monash University.

I'm going to try to keep updating the blog with pictures and posts as often as possible, but no promises how frequently I will do this. Thanks for following, and I hope you enjoy!