Finally in Aussie


Hi everyone!


So, I'm finally here. I've been here since Wednesday, but I haven't had an internet connection. I've moved into my apartment. Hailey & I are living together. We have American roommates, which was kind of a disappointment.

Wednesday - We landed in Melbourne and from there went to St. Kilna for lunch and some nice beach time. After St. Kilna we went to see kangaroos in the wild! Finally, we went to Sorrento. We had apartment style housing and I stayed with Hailey, Erica and Georgia. That day we met the kids going to our schools and split up by state. After our sessions we had dinner and went on a night walk to the beach. I saw the most amazing stars. We could see so much from Mornington Peninsula.

Thursday - Today we had some sessions in the morning. After the sessions we went to the beach and walked on the rocks while the tide was low. It was so beautiful. We were on our own for lunch, so Erica, Georgia, Hailey & I went into town, got the makings for lunch and walked to the beach for lunch. It was great, minus the seagulls. We had a few more sessions, then we took a nice little cruise and had fish (shark) and chips for dinner. It was a lot of fun, very pretty. We then had talks, separated by sex. Very interesting.

Friday - Today we went to Melbourne, what a gorgeous city! It was so much fun. We took a walking tour of Melbourne and were then let loose. We grabbed lunch, I got sushi (yum!) and we ate in a graffitied ally way... But it wasn't sketchy, I promise. Everyone got phones today (I already had mine though). That night we went out and ate at Nando's, a Portuguese restaurant. It was so good! And the manager was hilarious! After Nando's we just ran around Melbourne and took pictures. Poor Jeff, we made him our official photographer of the night. There was also a street performer that Hailey & Cresentia were really enjoying, so we listened to him for a while. In the meantime, some Aussie was getting people walking around to look on the ground while he pulled his pants down and his butt was there for everyone to see when they turned around. It was pretty hilarious. Some of us called it an early night, and went back to the hotel. That included me.

Saturday - Saturday we left Melbourne for our schools. We boarded a flight to Brisbane, and I slept most of the way. Once we got there, UQ and Griffith students split up and we made our way to our new homes. GUV (Griffith University Village) is nice. Lots of international people. Two and a half bathrooms, five bedrooms, kitchen and a common area.

Sunday - Hailey and I went to Surfer's Paradise today to do some shopping for both our apartment, and ourselves! It was a lot of fun, and really hot. We ate at Hard Rock Cafe for lunch and went to Macca's (McDonald's) for a Frozen Coke. Delicious. We also met our new roommates today. We met a few people down at the basketball court too, two girls from Australia, a boy from Dubai, a girl from Arizona, and a boy from Zimbabwe. We chilled with them for a bit, then went to bed.

Monday - Today. We went to get our student IDs today so we can get discounts (Woo!). We then went back to our apartment and chilled. It was much needed. At two, we had the study abroad and exchange student orientation. They gave us free drink vouchers for the UniBar, and we met a lot of people there. I met THREE Germans! We're about to go to a barbeque, and afterwards we're maybe going into Surfer's for some kid's birthday party? I don't really know.

So that's all for now. I'll update as much as I can!

♥ caitlin

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T-Minus 1 Day


I leave tomorrow. Sometime in the morning I'm going to the Philly airport and boarding my flight to Phoenix & then LA. I'm really looking forward to seeing Hailey and some other familiar faces!


It's not quite sunk in yet that I'm actually leaving. I went to campus last night to spend the night and go to church today. It was a lot of fun. I got to see Beth and Emily as well as Andrew and Katie. Again, it was a lot of fun. It was hard when I left after church today. I cried a bit. More like a lot. Which is why I didn't say goodbye to some people: I hate crying in front of others. Other than my little crying incidents everything was great. I really enjoyed seeing almost everyone once before I left.

My things are packed... Except some of my carry ons. I'm excited. I'm (mostly) ready to leave.

♥ caitlin

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T-Minus 2 Days



Today was a good day. I was more excited than anything today. I did have a mini panic attack earlier, but it's cool. Everything was just kind of catching up to me, but now I'm excited again!


I don't have too much to say right now, I didn't do too much regarding Aussie today.

This is a picture of Byron Bay that I took in 2006.

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T-Minus 3 Days



It's only three days now until I leave. And I'm strangely calm. A little too at ease. I'm kind of a little terrified that this is the calm before the storm. I guess we'll find out.


I am nervous/excited to be going back to campus for a brief, probably-less-than-24-hour, visit. I think it will open (semi)old wounds. I'll just have to deal. I did it once; I can do it again.

My packing is finished! Woo! Who isn't excited about that? Three days to spare and my packing (except for what I'll need up until Monday) is all done. I've managed to fit all my clothes and shoes in one, thirty pound bag. Are you impressed? I am. I'll still be bringing two bags with me though. My other one has toiletries and such in it. In other words, I have TONS of room for souvenirs. :)

Being as packing was the accomplishment and highlight of my day, I didn't actually do anything else.

I am definitely, at this moment in my life, feeling SIGNIFICANTLY better about all of this. As much as I don't want to be rude about this, I am ready for a change of pace. It's something I'm just realizing. I've been doing the same thing day after day for the last year and a half. A change is in order. A change for the better.

♥ caitlin

The picture is from Brisbane, QLD from my last trip to Oz in 2006.

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T-Minus 6 Days



In approximately 6 days and 11+ hours I will be boarding a plane to Phoenix, to LA, and finally to Melbourne.


I'm anxious. The bad kind and the good kind. I really wish I could just pack up everything right this moment and teleport to Melbourne just to get away from my pre-departure jitters/anxiety.

It's still pretty surreal, however saying my goodbyes on Sunday made it a little too real for my liking. I tried really hard not to cry. I failed. But I didn't cry as much as I had anticipated, which is good I guess. I can, however, say that I am more mentally prepared for this trip than I was about a month ago.

On a less sad note, I am getting quite organized. I have my folders: Important Things (with Demetri Martin), Happy Things (photos, tickets, memories), and finally Course Things (course outlines and my course schedule). I've printed so much in the past 48 hours I'm pretty sure I've used up a majority of the black ink. Oops. I've got 20+ pictures printed, and probably 50+ pages with my itineraries, schedules, course outlines (they take up A LOT of paper), and other such things. I'm feeling good about where I stand currently, in regards to my packing list and my organization.

I also recently received an email from my homestay family from the last time I was in Australia. I'm really hoping to meet up with them during my time abroad, because they're such a sweet, old couple. I've been in contact with them for nearly four years now, and it would be lovely to be able to see them again.

That's about it for now!

♥ caitlin

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Round 1


So, my first set of goodbyes is quickly approaching. I can honestly say I'm pretty sure this will be the hardest round because I will not be seeing some of these people for almost seven months. That's 58.3% of the year. In other words, a really long time.

Sure Skype will help, but it won't be the same as actually seeing their faces or being able to hug them if I want to, etc. It will be interesting for sure.

I've been talking to Hailey and Erica and both of them have started packing. I definitely haven't. At all. In the least. I've got my (more or less) sacred list and am hoping to start packing next week sometime, but for the time being I'm trying not to focus on how soon I'll be leaving.

Well, it's time for me to get going, I told Christie I'd be by to hang out right about now. I need to get converters from her too.

♥ caitlin

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