I spent the next three days at this location, which made up for the unfortunate journey. Ignoring everyone's gruesome jetlag, our orientation program had activities planned for the next two days, which required us to wake up at 5:30 each morning. I thought waking up at this time was going to be difficult, but at four in the morning all the wildlife begins to sing at exactly the same moment. It was extremely startling, especially the birds that sound like laughing monkeys.

Needless to say, waking up at 5:30 wasn't as awful as I thought it was going to be since I was already awake. The first day I spent two and a half hours learning how to surf ... well attempting to learn. Surfers make it look much easier than it is and I give them much more credit after doing it myself. By the end of our lesson, I was able to stand up, but this was after receiving countless bumps, bruises and other minor injuries.

After fighting the urge to pass out at six every evening, we were fed delicious food and then given a presentation. Our first presentation was a slideshow on all the dangerous critters in Australia, such as spiders, snakes, jellyfish that can kill you before you realize it. To top this presentation off, we then had a presentation of snakes, lizards and alligators. It was kind of ironic. Had I not been so exhausted I would have enjoyed the fact that I was staring directly at a python and baby "freshie" (or salty... I forget which it was). There was also a cute baby wallaby, which I focused my attention on, particularly because it was too young to hurt anybody.

The next day, we woke up again at the crack of dawn and traveled to Fraser Island. This is apparently the world's largest sand island. We went off-roading on tour buses that cruised around on the beach as if it were a highway. Actually, that is exactly what they called their beach, a highway. Had I not been wearing my seatbelt I would have an awful concussion right now.

During this adventure, we saw whales, sea turtles and jellyfish. Once we arrived at the rainforest within this island, we encountered a python. Obviously this was a beautiful trip and once we got back we had a presentation by a group of aboriginal people. After we all participated in the dances I was once again ready for bed, only to wake up the next day and get on yet another airplane.

The hour and a half plane ride from Brisbane (pronounced Bris-bin) to Sydney was nothing compared to the two days worth of traveling, however, it was still the last thing I wanted to do.

Since the Pope was in Australia for World Youth Day, it took even longer to arrive to our apartments. I'm living in Bondi Beach (pronounced Bond-eye) which is apparently where lots of backpackers visit, so this location is much more diverse than for instance Coogee Beach (pronounced Cu-gee), where most of the other students from my orientation are staying.

It's Tuesday morning for me, so this is my third day in Sydney. (It's Monday evening for those in the States). Despite waking up at 7:30 this morning, I feel more together than I have so far on this trip. I think I've mastered the bus system, but only because I was lost on it for more than two hours yesterday. I guess it's the only way to learn, right?

My classes start on Monday, although somehow I managed to have my classes on only Wednesdays and Thursdays, I'm not quite sure how that happened. Those are going to be real-l-l-l-y long days, let me tell you. So until classes begin, I have random things to buy for my apartment and I must go down to the beach. It's only a couple blocks away and I still haven't gone down!