I'm finally in Sydney!!! :)

As some of you know it was quite the adventure getting here. I left on Friday the 12th and got to the airport in more than enough time for a flight leaving from Raleigh and was told that my flight to Newark was delayed. Also, my flight from Newark to LAX was overbooked so I wouldn't be able to get on that one and the next one after that would be full but I could be put on standby. If I couldn't get on either of those I would be able to get on the third flight to LAX putting me there at 9:30pm in time for my 11:30pm flight to Melbourne.

This all seemed like it would work out until my first flight, which was scheduled to leave at 12:55 didn't leave until 4pm. So, I missed the first two flights to LA anyways and then the third one was delayed. I ended up getting in to LAX at 10:41pm and still needed to pick up my luggage, check in, and get through security by 11:30pm. Needless to say I didn't make it.

To add to the frustration they had lost my luggage. When I arrived in Newark I had bolted across the entire airport to get to my gate with 5 minutes to spare until our scheduled boarding time to find that the sign said "Amsterdam" not "Los Angeles". After I had a small heart attack the sign changed to "Los Angeles" and naturally they announced that the flight would be arriving late. Luckily I had talked to the woman at the desk about this fearing that I would miss my flight to Melbourne and she informed me that I wasn't even scheduled to be on the plane. Apparently when the woman at RDU gave 3 separate tickets for Newark she never actually scheduled me to be on any of them.

So to recap day one of my journey:

RDU flight: delayed by 3 hours

Newark flight: delayed by I don't even know how long

LA flight: missed due to delays

So now it's about 11pm and I'm in LAX on the phone with Mom, Jesper, and Rich. Jesper and Rich both work for Arcadia and were incredibly kind and helped me out. It turns out I wasn't the only one to miss my flight which may have been the only stroke of luck of the entire day. Erin, one of my new best friends after all the craziness of our trip, had also missed the flight so we were able to get a hotel because the next flight wasn't for another 24 hours.

So Erin and I headed off to the Four Points Sheraton and enjoyed our amazing beds, which had headboards that were taller than me. In the morning we took a us tour of LA which was a lot of fun. We saw the Hollywood sign, Rodeo Drive, Venice Beach where I touched the Pacific ocean for the first time, Hollywood High School, the hotel where Janis Joplin died, the Chinese Theater, and all sorts of other things. I ate alligator for the first time at the Farmers Market which was actually really good and a chocolate cup which consists of a cup made of frozen chocolate and then filled with chocolate whipped creme and topped off with a cherry and chocolate drizzle. We also drove in the same lane that the bus in "Speed" drove in.

Once our tour ended we headed to the airport and ended up sitting there from 4pm till midnight because to keep with the theme of our travels our flight was delayed. The flight wasn't that bad but we flew in to Brisbane instead of Melbourne where we were trying to get to and missed our flight to Melbourne because of the delays. Luckily we were able to be put on the next flight to Melbourne and finally got to leave the airport. But of course our travels weren't done just yet. We had to take a cap to Flinders Street station and then take the train to Frankston and then take another cab to Sorrento where everyone else was. We finally arrived at our hotel just after everyone finished lunch and immediately had to go to a meeting and then on a nature walk. We were absolutely exhausted and desperate for a shower but the walk was breathtaking. We finally got to take a shower, had dinner, and spent the night looking at the most amazing stars I have ever seen in my entire life. We were actually able to see the milky way. I didn't even know you could see that many stars with the naked eye.

Erin and I were so happy to finally have made it to Australia. While the traveling was actually pretty awful I met a lot of nice people along the way such as Matt on my flight from Newark to LAX and Peggy who flew from Brisbane to Melbourne with us. Rich and Jesper were a huge help and really great in general. We did get to spend an entire day in LA and we were really happy that we weren't alone for our adventure. Once we finally made it to LA everyone was incredibly nice to us and went out of their way to introduce themselves to us so we made friends fast.

The next day we left Sorrento and headed to Melbourne for the day. We took a short walking tour and saw some of the sights and the Socceroos themselves at Federation Square. We went to this great asian place for dinner and then headed upstairs to the rooftop bar. From there the night only got better.

The next day we finally headed off to Sydney!!! Upon getting there we split up and headed off to our separate houses but we met up later for dinner. My apartment is ok and my roommates are really really nice. Dinner came with a surprise walk all the way across Sydney and we ended up eating on a rooftop. I had Salmon that was in a pastry basically and was kind of like a hot pocket but more delicious. Then we headed out to the bars. First we went to the 3 wise monkeys which is quickly becoming our go to bar and has three levels of fun and live music on the third floor. Then we headed off to Scruffy Murphy's which also had live music.

Then we spent the next day running errands and trying to get phones and things like that. We all eventually tried to meet up at the Ross Street house to hang out after we went out to dinner but the alcohol had run out and the stores had closed. After a really long walk that we didn't originally intend on taking we made it into the center of the city and headed back to the 3 wise monkeys and when that closed it was on to Cheers.

After about 4 hours of sleep we all got up and headed to class. Naturally, we got lost going there but this time it wasn't our fault! Patrick, our coordinator, had given us the wrong address. Class was long and pretty boring for me but Patrick took me out in the middle to go meet with the supervisor of my internship at Captain Cook cruises. I work right off of Darling Harbor on Pier 26. Tuesday will be my first day and after going through an accreditation process I get to go on a cruise. After class we split up to get ready, met up at Tony and Erin's for a while and then headed out to The Ivy, one of the best bars/clubs in all of Sydney. I have never seen a place more packed and it was a lot of fun. Bryan, Ryan, and I made it to the highest level we could find and ended up in reserved seating feeling really special about ourselves. Then we had a sleepover at Tony and Erin's apartment which is on the 54th floor of 56 floors and has a spectacular view of the city.

Today was spent sleeping in, running more errands, and we'll go out later. So far I'm having a phenomenal time. Everyone here is great and I've made some wonderful friends. We've already started planning our future reunions and we've only been together for a week. We're all happy to be in Sydney and are trying to make the most of every minute. It's a beautiful country and I'll be putting up pictures later so keep on checking in. Until then, Peace, Love, & no delayed flights.