Went to sheep farm

So today i after school i went over to my friends house. they live on a sheep farm which was soooooo cool. They have about 1000 sheep but they have 2 farms so they aren't all on that farm. And about 2,000 acres of land. I posted some pictures on facebook but its so much fun living on a farm. or looks like it. they drive motor bikes. which is basically 4 wheelers around and they have dogs that heard the sheep.

First Day of School

Well my first day of school was today, which was a lot of fun. its VERY different from ours. in many ways. but for one thing their uniform. its not too bad of one, and people always try to break it by wearing sneakers instead of black shoes and stuff. but the teachers dont really mind all that much. So one big difference is they have 3 classes a day. each class is 100 mins long. So today i went to Gym, math and History. tomorrow i think its French english and maybe science i'm not sure exactly yet. but it changes depending on the day. But the school day is from 9-3:30. Their gym is a lot of fun though. we had croquet today, and we walked about 20ish mins to the croquet place and then they broke us off into groups and we played. which was really entertaining. doesnt sound it, but it was actually fun. i know... croquet being fun. weird. but everyone seems to be pretty nice there. the school is much more relaxed then school is in the states. just as a whole, homework really doesn't exist all that much. and its no where as intense and such. I also got asked a lot today by practically everyone if we have cafeteria's in my school. They dont have them at their school and they think its basically the coolest thing ever. They eat wherever they like on campus because everyone has lunch at the same time, so you just eat wherever. They have a place where you can get food but its not the same. They all said they'd like to be able to get a tray, go up to the lunch ladies and tell them what they'd like and then go sit down at tables and such. also the fact that we dont have school uniforms were an amazment to them too. All the school's have uniforms and the fact you can go to school in sweatpants and a tshirt is just awesome to them. Mostly they asked questions based on what they know from the movies and stuff and i had to explain that its not really all like that. somethings are but many aren't. Anyways first day was pretty good, i knew one girl before i went today so she showed me the ropes and stuff and then tomorrow i have plans with another girl that i met, and next week since my host family has to go out of town i was going to stay with a rotarian but i think i'm staying with one of my friends for the week. So everythings going pretty smoothly so far.

first rotary meeting

well today's been a long day, but a good one. I survived the 3 min shower rule. since australia is in such a drought all throught australia you can only take a 3-5 min shower. which sounds hard but its really not too bad. but you never waste water! you get it in a cup, you drink it! So anyways i went to my first rotary meeting. it was good we eat dinner we talk they have a guest speaker and that's basically it. i'm the guest speaker in about a month since there is all these functions for the rotary meetings for the next few weeks. But i'm a pernament guest in their book so i guess thats fun. I have my first rotary weekends with the other students next weekend so i'm really excited about that. my host parents said to find out where the kids live and that either i could have them here for a weekend or i could go there for a weekend since its nice to be with other exchange students especially since they're going thru the same thing as you are.

In Kyabram

Well i'm currently in Kyabram staying with the Luke's. They have 1 daughter and 1 son, but the daughter goes to boarding school. I have my own room which is pretty nice, and spacious. Their house is fairly big compared to the others i've seen around here. I dont know when i'm going to school but it will probably be in a few days. I get some days to sleep and such. Tomorrow is my first Rotary meeting so i'm planning on going there. So after i got picked up i was shown a bit of Melbourne. And first we saw 3 kangaroos and a joey. However when we got closer to Ky we saw a group of 30! it was cool we got closer to see them and they kept running and running away. At certain parks you can go pet them and such which they said i'll be able to do shortly. Anyways i'm in desperate need of sleep so i'll keep you posted on such. Bye

Sydney

In sydney airport onto melbourne next. gotta go flight is boarding now!!!! let you know when i get to melbourne. 

O'Hare

Just spent 5 dollars to use one of the computers because its not free wifi. it took 6 of the 15mins to actually get going. and i had a mini panic attack becasue i thought i lost my passport!ahhhhh. flight is delayed to LAX. so here for 2 more hours. okay my time is running out. but i have my cell so text/call me

NOT LEAVING TILL THE 26TH!!!!

So, as you all know i'm suppose to leave today, i'm actually suppose to be boarding the plane to LA as i type this, however change of plans. The plane i was suppose to take from Syracuse to Dulles decided to break down on the runway.It was in Vermont and coming to Syracuse was moving and getting ready to take off and then the engine broke and stopped. This plane was a brand new one and was just made 4 days ago. It wasn't in the air luckily so no one was hurt but i wasn't able to get onto any flight that would get me to LA in time for my flight to Australia. And we checked, albany, binghamton, scranton, new york city nothing. Not a seat. we tried different airlines too. But on everything i would have arrived to late for my last connection. So now i'm leaving tomorrow at 12:04pm

In Syracuse

So i'm in Syracuse with my family and maria, and were just waiting for my plane. Its less than an hour until i go thru security! still mind blowing! i know! umm ya so i'll be in Dulles at somepoint in the afternoon and wil give an update from there. Oh so when i tried to carry my suitecases they all fell down, and it was bad, i ran into some other lady's bag and knocked them down, and the security people were laughing at me. Kinda entertaining, and maria took a play by play by pictures so you can see how pathetically weak i am in those.

Leaving Day!

So its about 45 mins before i'm about to leave my house to drive to the airport, which still sounds extremely strange to me! I still cannot believe today is the day! i feel like it shouldn't be for another month. But it has finally arrived and i'm right now very excited, nervous, and a million other feelings but we'll see how i am when i'm actually on the plane. So 'm sorry now if there are quite a few posts from the airports, but i get very bored and this might be the only thing i can think of doing.

not ready to go yet, but its only hours

Well at about this time tomorrow, i will be driving to syracuse to catch my plane. Sorta crazy to think that a few days ago i had no idea when to leave and now its almost getting down to just the hours. I woke up freaking out this morning, i couldn't sleep i have so much still to do. and really i dont have any time. but i hope i'll be able to get some of it done. Anyways. the fedex guy came to the house maybe 2 mins ago, and i now have my visa, passport and everything!

oh p.s if i told you i come home on the 10th. sorry i was wrong. read the wrong spot. its june 17th. 2010. my bad.

Tomorrow is Last Night

So tomorrow is Friday, Friday is my last night home, meaning that if you would like to stop by in the evening around 7 or so, please do so. I will be hanging out for most of the night so come as you like. Also contact me if you need contact information for when I'm there if you don't already have it.

P.S. desert will be served.

Where I'm going

Well i'm obviously going to Australia but i'm going to the town of Kyabram which is in the state of Victoria. i'm told its about 3 hours from Melbourne. But i might be mistaken on that, so don't quote me on that one. Anyways. I know my first and second family, and will hear about my third at some point during the year. But apparently everyone knows everyone in that town since its so small that i might meet them before i know i'm staying with them. Its about 6,000 people in the entire town, my grade has about 50 kids. So i'll get to know everyone for the most part! I'm going to Kyabram Seconday College which i'm pretty excited for. i've looked on the schools website and it seems like a pretty nice school. The closest town to me is about 30 mins away, its Shepperton. One of my host sisters goes to school there, so they go to shepperton quite often. Many people will drive there for food and such. since their perception of far is nothing like it is here. Going on a day trip that's 300 or so miles is no big deal. Going 30 mins for milk is also no big deal, so i've been told i'll have to get use to taking long drives. Other than th at i'm been busy getting ready, i have a ton of stuff still yet to do. but if i dont have your email or anything please let me know it so i can have your contact information. So if i dont see some of you again before i come back. Bye! and see you in a year!

Finished Packing!!!

at about 1am i decided that i was ganna make margaret help me pack. It was an adventure in itself. I was first going to put everything into 2 checked suitcases. and 1 carry on suitcase. However with many switchings we finally got everything into the smaller size checked bag, and a duffel bag. as of now everything weighs about 50lbs. both bags together. i still have 50lbs left to pack, if needed. This was an very tiring activity we found out, and also found out that we are extremely weak when trying to pick up a 30lbs bag. haha. Well i'm packed, and now i just need to wait for the big day to come.