I have internet! I have been in Australia for 5 days now and this is the first time I have been able to use my computer. I left for Sydney on Monday at around 11:45. At the airport we met about 20 other Americans in our program. We had a 13 hour flight to Auckland, New Zealand. Luckily I was able to sleep most of the way because of the red eye flight. We landed in New Zealand on Wednesday which was crazy because we skipped Tuesday completely. We then flew directly to Sydney where we were greeted by our group leaders. We were all pretty delirious by then especially after going through customs and luggage claim. We then hopped on a bus and drove about 40 minutes to our living accommodations. On the way, we drove through the city and went over the Sydney Harbour Bridge where we had a direct view of the Sydney Opera House. This was a spectacular sight. Never in a million years would I think I would be able to see this landmark in person. It looks exactly like it does in photos or in the movies. We arrived to the Sydney Academy of Sport and Recreation, which is where we stayed for orientation, at around 11:30. This is the training camp for one of the rugby teams in Sydney. It is located out the outskirts of the city and looks like its in the middle of the rain forest. Everything was green, trees everywhere, and loud birds that woke us all up at 6:30 every morning. At this point, we didn't know what to expect of orientation. We didn't have anything planned for the remaining of the day except shower and get settled.
Me and Jaime in front of the lake at the Sydney Academy of Sport and Recreation.
Pretty flower on site of our orientation. 
Training field for the rugby team
That looks an awful lot like roughing it. Tony would have been doing target practice on those birds.
ReplyDeleteI want to see a picture of a kookaburra! It was really good to see and talk to you this afternoon (or morning).
ReplyDeleteLove,
Mom
Well... sorry to tell you this ladies, but the reason it looks like a rain-forest at the sports academy is because... well it was. You were in the middle of the Amazon, not near Sydney... Sorry :) It looks amazing.
ReplyDeleteShirley! Thanks for calling me this afternoon. Sorry it was hard to hear me but sounds like you've already had quite the adventure. And good luck with classes and all starting next week. Hope you're getting settled in at your school now. I'm so jealous of your kangaroo pix! That's still one of my life goals lol! Stay safe & have a blast! Love & miss you tons.
ReplyDelete-Laverne