The Beginning

I fly out of the country in fourteen days. This is how my journey will go:

• Drive from Kirkland to McMinnville (hopefully) on the afternoon of Feb. 7th
• Drive from McMinnville to PDX on the afternoon of Feb. 8th
• Fly from PDX to LAX at 5:50pm on Feb. 8th
• Fly from LAX to Sydney International Airport at 11:50pm on Feb. 8th
• Arrive in Sydney at 9:25am on Feb. 10th
• Fly from Sydney to Cairns at 1:25pm on Feb. 10th
• Arrive at the Cairns airport at 3:30pm on Feb. 10th
• A shuttle/greeting service from James Cook University will meet me at the airport and take me to the Cairns Student Lodge (the awesome apartments where I will be staying)

Then, holy moley, I will be in a different country, 19 times zones away. And I will be there for roughly six months. SIX MONTHS. The longest I've ever been away from either home, Kirkland or McMinnville, has been when I've been at the other place and it's incredibly, incredibly weird to think that I will be going somewhere completely different and strange and new for such a long period of time.

But on the other hand, it is a massively exhilarating feeling. I will be in a completely new place where I can develop whatever sort of routine I want, or simply live without a routine. Other than classes and orientation, there's nothing that I am required to do. However, I plan on exploring the campus and town, scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef, poking around local markets, cooking new foods, and figuring out the metric system, as well as meeting lots and lots and lots of new people, both Australians and other foreign students. I hear everybody in Australia is incredibly friendly and nice and I can't wait to meet people there.

But first, I have to collect the rest of my things from my apartment and check out. And then tackle packing. AHHHH!!!!!!!

:D