Wollongong- the begining

Hello everyone! Just checking in to let you know how things have been going since I moved into my new place. The first night was a little rough and lonely but other than that I have been having a good time! I have met lots of really nice people and have been spending most of my time at the beach! My friend Krissy and I have gone exploring around the city and surprisingly I am the one who is the direction master! And those of you who know me quite well I have NO sense of direction what-so-ever. You will occasionally hear me say that I probably couldn't find my way out of a cardboard box... BUT to my surprise this lovely adventure has made me pay close attention to my surroundings and be aware of the streets that I am on so I have been able to navigate my way around! Ryan I am sure you are thrilled :) No more me calling you to ask you where to go because I am lost.

The last few days have been really nice and sunny. Krissy and I have gone to the beach every day and gotten some sun along with some burns from missing places with the sunscreen. The worst is the back of my ankles- taking a shower hurts when the water pelts it! I went out with some friends to Karaoke that was pretty fun. We didn't get to sing American Women because there were too many people waiting to go up on stage and it only lasted 3 hours before they just played music... bummer maybe next time!

I went to the University and had a tour- wow I am going to school on such a neat campus!! I cant wait to have a school that each building is its own and not all connected. I start class on Monday and the walk to school everyday may get old after a few weeks. It takes me about 40 minutes to walk to the edge of campus so Ill most likely be leaving an hour before class starts everyday. I am NOT looking forward to the rainy season- that walk is going to suck.

Anyway I will write soon about my adventure next weekend! I am going to Sydney to the Gay Mardi Gras Parade and staying with my close friend Myka from school. Boy that weekend is going to be a hoot. I hope everyone is doing well!

Love and miss you all :)

Nikki

Cairns: The Great Barrier Reef and Rainforestation

Hello everyone!! I just got moved into my new room at Kieraview. It is well... a little dirty but it will do! Good thing my mom taught me to be a clean freak with Chlorox wipes! Dont worry mom I wiped down every nook and cranny :) My room isnt bad, its the kitchen that is nasty cause there are some boys that OBVIOUSLY share with me! So the last few days I was in Cairns which is where the Great Barrrier Reef is located. Yesterday we took a bus up in the mountain to a place called Rainforestation. This is a nature park, and as you can see this is where I got to hold a koala!!! He smelt kinda funny and the poor little fella probably is man handled many hours through out the day. I also fed some kangaroos and one of them had a wee baby in its pouch!! It was pretty cute! I was very brave and held a snake around my neck- It was soo not cool when he put his face towards mine, that was NOT okay. At the park we watched an aboriginal Australian dance, learned to play the didgeridoo and got to throw a boomerang! This place was SO cool. At the very end we went out on a duck boat with this old man who I could not distinguish when he was joking and when he was serious. The Aussies love to joke and say the exact opposite of what they mean.. At our place we stayed there is a market only open on the weekends. They sell fruit and all kinds of trinkets. I bought a little fruit called a Rambutan and a passion fruit. I had never had either and they were very yummy! Today was the day that I tried the most new things in my life! When we got back to out place I went out the the park and played Cricket- interesting game. I had a lot of fun but didnt understand what I was doing half the time and just ran when people were screaming. After that we walked down to the beautiful lagoon that overlooked the ocean and the mountains. Our Australearn group then met up to talk about what to expect this semester and to my disappointment I found that nearly all my favorite foods do not exist here.... sooo when I come home I am buying a huge bag of recees, stuff to make smores, a jar of peanut butter, oreo cookies, chips and salsa, any and all mexican food, and tons of cereal and eating it allll!!! Later after our meeting a few of my new friends walked down to some night markets where they had some really neat things. I got two small didgeridoos and a sweatshirt since I also found out that Aussies do not celebrate their school by dressing in all Uni apparel. Apparently they do not like others to know they study- I guess that universities here do not really sell clothes that advertise the name. Bummer for me I packed one sweatshirt for the fall and winter... On our way home I passed a little gilado shop and got some Coconut gilado. OMG that is a party in your mouth if you ever had one!

Today we flew out to Sydney- unfortunately our flight got diverted to Brisbane because there were some wicked storms in Sydney. We landed in Brisbane for about 20 minutes refueled and were on our way once again. There are three of us staying in Kieraview and were dropped off last once we got to Wollongong. I was on a plane for 4 hours and a bus for 3 what a long day. Once I arrived here at my new place I met up with Chrissy to go down stairs to meet some of the people here in what they call the fishbowl where you can watch tv or go on the computers. Unfortunately you have to go trough some of the connecting kitchens and balconies to get outside and downstairs. So as I was walking in front of her to go downstairs I walked directly into a glass window in which I misconceived as an OPEN glass door. Yeah I have a HUGE bruise with a popped blood vessel on my wrist bone and a big bruise on my knee from where I hurled myself into the door. I thought poor Chrissy was going to have an asthma attack she was laughing so hard while I tried to pretend like I was fine because I was so embarrassed. I can imagine it was hilarious- great first impression...

Anyway I am off to bed for tomorrow I have to search for groceries a cell phone, hair dryer and straightner while I look like a poodle in the humidity. Take care and I will write soon!

-Nik

In the land they call down unda

G'day mates!! I finally made it to Australia and so far am having the time of my life! I was really nervous at first when I arrived at the Minneapolis airport but very quickly I found a friend who also was going through the Australearn program and we kept each other company. The flight to Los Angelas seemed really long because I was OF COURSE sitting in front of the stinky restrooms... gross. Once I landed in LA I found the group of 38 students and we all hit it off together really well. I have met some really cool people and 7 of us are all from Minnesota! The plane ride to Sydney was so much fun and surprisingly went really fast! I sat next to my new friend Kelly and an old rich lady from Australia. She was pretty funny and she didnt get up once on the flight! I checked on her a few times to see if she was dead because she never moved haha. The plane I was on had 450 passengers and was a two story plane. It is the biggest plane in the entire world and each seat had a personal touch screen tv in the head rest on the back of the seat in front of us! I watched the secret life of bees, nights in rodanthe, four christmases, and high school musical 3. I only slept about 5 hours in two days so we were all pretty tired. After we flew to Sydney we had ANOTHER flight to Cairns.

Cairns is beautiful and we have so many amazing opportunities here. Today for example we went onto a huge boat and went out the the Great Barrier Reef!! We could scuba dive for 70 AUD and snorkeling was free. We had to fill out a form and I was honest and because I said that I had asthma and haven't used an inhaler in 3 years they did not let me... I was really bummed but I was snorkeling as deep as the other people were diving and I still had an amazing time. I rented a camera for 65 AUD I split that with 6 other people so it was 10 AUD a person and we took over 400 pictures. I will do my best to get those up once I get to my own room in Kieraview. The place I am staying now is a Hostel called Gilligans- check it out online its pretty cool. There is a night club connected which is a down fall because we could hear the blasting loud music until about 4 this morning, and we had to be up at 5am to get ready to go out to the reef. Tomorrow we are going to a national park and getting to hold some kangas and koalas! That is going to be so much fun :)

I am having a great time so far and I look forward to writing some more about my crazy adventures!

~nik