Sunset behind Sydney's skyline on our Hostel's rooftop
As I sit in my dorm room reflecting on my past two weeks, I can't help but smile. I know... It sounds cheesy, but it is incredibly true. I am completely in wanderlust.
So what have I done in the past two weeks? Great question!
I flew over twelve thousand miles, snorkeled on the Great Barrier Reef, went white water rafting in the Daintree Rainforest, saw the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House, went to the highest and lowest places in Hobart to see the sun do its magic, AND got settled into my new home for the next four months.
Crazy? More like exhausting! Cairns gave me a couple of my life's favorite memories, while it gave me heartache as well. I snorkeled three different locations on the Great Barrier Reef and got to see one of nature's most incredible features. I did get a little bored because Erika and Cristina were able to scuba dive every location so I was snorkeling alone, but the beauty took my attention for the most part. Two days later, we booked a trip in the rainforest to go extreme white water rafting. We got picked up from our hostel a little after 6am and made our way two hours south to the Tully River. Four rafts of tourists took on 3 and 4 grade rapids, cliff jumping, rapid swimming, and picturesque waterfalls and I got it all on video with my YI Camera (like a GoPro) mounted to my helmet. With less than a kilomoeter to go on our ride, we flipped the raft one last time and my camera got knocked off. It was gone for good and my heart was broken from the costly accident. I finished Cairns with an outrageous sunburn on both my thighs and arms, so an active Sydney trip was out of the picture.
Before traveling to Sydney we wanted to climb the Harbour Bridge, maybe see Olympic Park, go to the Opera House, and much more, but my sunburn kept me from that because my attention was applying Aloe every 10 minutes. We left the airport and got into a shuttle that took us right to the hostel. Once I got settled in, I took my laptop out to work on it. The laptop never turned on and wouldn't charge. Suddenly, my focus changed from staying out of the sun to fixing my laptop in Sydney because there are no Apple stores in Tasmania. Long story short, they were able to fix my laptop and I received it before I left, but that consumed so much of my time that I was only able to see the Opera House and go out to eat. I enjoyed Sydney as much as I could considering my conditions, but will need to travel there for a long weekend trip to truly experience everything that I wanted.
I arrived in Hobart the day before Orientation Week was to start. With little time to get settled into my room, I walked to Sandy Bay (where I'm living and my campus is) to buy necessities. I'm living at John Fisher College which is like a residence hall. Every room houses one person with the floors being co-ed. Orientation Week has constant information meetings, University BBQ's, and fun activities put on by John Fisher College. I settled in to a group of Americans and Danish where we all wanted to see what Hobart and surrounding areas had to offer. It's a comfortable group for me because we are all on the same boat and we work well together. John Fisher's social events included a boat cruise and get-to-know-you activites which were fun to participate in. Overall, am excited to see what this University has to offer in the upcoming months and to meet more people.
The past two weeks were unbelievable because I was just to traveling/exploring and did not think about school, but now classes have arrived. Cheers to the start of my semester and to getting to know Tasmania better with my new friends.
My next blog will be about how I am adapting to the differences at Australian Universities compared to Iowa State.