Orientation and Sightseeing

I've been pretty busy the last few days. We've been having orientation week which involves going to lots of meetings and basically hearing the same stuff over and over again but also getting free food which is nice and meeting people. I've joined a club called QUEST which is for international students and they organise trips for you, so that will hopefully be alot of fun!

We went out on Tuesday night to a bar called Down under. It was a very good night! I kept on bumping into people who I'd met earlier in the day at orientation as well which was cool as I wasn't expecting to know anyone in Australia. Drinks are quite expensive here, beer seems to be the cheapest when you're out or "goon" which is boxes of wine for pre-drinks. So it seems I'm gonna be drinking alot of those while I'm here as I definately cannot afford spirits. It's going to be very different from back home! Luckily I don't seem to get a hangover from these drinks at all though, so I'm hoping that will carry on! Bad times though I have 8am lectures every day except fridays when I have the day off. No going out in the week for me I guess. I'm very pleased about having fridays off though as hopefully I might be able to go away for the weekend sometimes :D

Yesterday me and Ryan did some sightseeing. We went to the botanical gardens at mt coot-tha. They were very pretty and so different from anything at home. Absolutley huge as well, we were there for hours!

The lagoon.













Me in a big plant













Me trying to take a photo of us at the lookout.





You could see the whole city from the lookout. I hadn't even realised we were so high until we got there. Until that point you're pretty much surrounded by trees so can't see out.














Totem poles by the lake. I'm not really sure what the story behind these is but in my head they were carved by the aboriginal people.

After we'd looked all round the gardens we thought we'd head for the summit of mount coo-tha and there was an arrow on our map of the gardens that pointed towards it so we decided to walk that way. It was AWFUL! We walked for so long up the steepest hills along the grassy verges in the middle and at the side of what was quite a busy road. It felt like at least an hour or maybe 2!
It was probably actually only like 40mins but it was horrible! Saw this on the way which was something of an ominous sign.....
We stopped for a little rest in a field and then Ryan got stung by a horrible insect/plant. It was a long, long walk with no bus stops and I definately do not reccomend it! But at least I have some slight sense of achievement from doing it. The view was worth it though, amazing. And then we got nachos.

Me being exhausted.
The CBD from mt coot-tha.
Viewing.

We saw kookaburras for the first time while we were there! They seem naughty though one of them swooped down and stole chips from a lady's plate whilst she was eating them! Also, the other day I saw a pelican! I had no idea they even had them here. It was amazing!

There are so many huge birds here, they are so different from home! I've seen so many odd looking things. Havn't seen a parrot yet though. Anyway I think I might head down to South Bank today, we went there the other day and it is lovely.

Lots of love
Claire xxxxxxxxxxx

Getting used to being upside down

The 2nd flight wasn't so bad. Managed to sleep a little bit and no horrible people sat by us. When we got to Brisbane airport we were picked up in a minibus with other students, mostly from asia. It was v exciting seeing the city for the first time and was such a nice day with no clouds at all. We were dropped off at the college we were staying in and shown to our rooms. It was just basically halls. Met some nice people while I was there though who I am now living with! Had a wander round the campus on the first day then went to bed at 7 as sooo tired. Next day I went to a meeting about accomodation and a general getting started meeting. Then headed into the centre to get an australian number but we went on a boat! It's called the citycat and is basically a water bus, so much better than a normal bus though. Like, like, like.

The next day I got round to viewing some places and the 1st one i went to made me want to be sick. It was the dirtiest house I had ever been in and all the floor was peeling up and it was absolutely awful! So I left asap. I went to see another one after lunch though, I just happened to be talking to people when Rich got called by a landlady who offered to pick us up and show us her place with 5 free bedrooms. And there were 5 of us and it is so sooooo nice. My bedroom has a dividing wall in it so that I have my own little study, i love it. There's 2 bathrooms, 6 bedrooms, an open plan kitchen/diner/living space. Then downstairs we have our own mini party flat. Its ceilings are supposed to be too low for it to be let or something, don't understand why though as they are much higher than ours at home. But it's got its own bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and living area so were gonna make it our party room. And it's always good to have a spare bathroom and kitchen. We've also got a little garden with a BBQ. The area is a little way from uni, about a 40min walk but I think I'm gonna get a bike.

My flatmates are Rich who is from near Bristol, Guy from Cheltenham who is also doing biology, Louisa from Chicago, Eymeric (not too sure how its spelt, sorry) who is French and an Australian guy called Graham who I havn't met yet.

We moved in last night, but we walked all the way with our stuff. It was AWFUL, i thought my arms might die! And THEN we walked all the way back to a friends for some drinks, but then all the shops were shut! Ended up getting some pizza instead though. The uni culture seems really different here, there's no student union bars or clubs and hardly any in the area either. It seems to be alot more study focused than in the UK.

Today, I'm planning to head to South Bank Parklands where there's an artificial beach so hopefully should be a good day :)

Miss you all lots xxx

Goodbye England!! :(

I am writing this sat in Singapore Changi Airport!! I am over half way to Australia! The pictures are of how pretty the airport is!

Last days in England were a little sad though :( Had a good time doing things the RIGHT way with Mel and Jamie. Although Jamie wasn't too keen on the One Tree as it made him want to die but Mel had all the sits and giggles taking us on a mystery tour there! Did end up having a sit and a cry though. Worst times ever leaving my besties!! But they will both come and see me and have the best time so it'll all be okay.

Had a nice meal that night with both mine and Ryan's families as well. Had trauma on the day I was leaving though as Jamie came over to say goodbye when I wasn't there and I thought I might never see him again but it was all okay in the end and he came back :)

Going to the airport was sooooo scary! Especially leaving my parents, that was the worst! Was so, so, so sad! But I'm trying not to think about how sad it is now and just look forward to how exciting everything will be. And a year really isn't that long.



Getting on the plane was very exciting. It was HUGE and for about the first 2 hours I enjoyed it, but we were sat by a really scary looking man who was drinking all the way and had his headphones on so loud we could hardly even sleep. So I wasn't really a fan of the journey although we did play an amazing game called Scramble Dash where you had to unscramble anagrams against the clock which came up with some pretty funny cities, foods and animals, such as the elepanto (which i really thought I was getting right and really was an Antelope).

Was so pleased to get off the plane at Singapore, which is the nicest airport I've ever been in. There's tropical gardens everywhere and it's really quiet. Everyone just seems so calm and relaxed, not stressed and frantic like at Heathrow! Had some yummy rice and noodles here too :) And they're giving me free wifi which I am definately a fan of seeing as we are here a fair while.

Anyway, next stop Brisbane and finding somewhere to live!

Missing you all loads!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

2 Days To Go

I am starting to realise that I'm actually going to Australia... It hadn't really hit me until my bestie Mel got offered an internship starting tomorrow so I might not ever see her for a year :s I'm now feeling rather scared and might have to have a sit and a cry later.

But I am mostly packed now apart from my hand luggage and would like to thank everyone who came over yesterday for all the cards and presents!

This is my first ever blog and I don't really have anything to say yet, hopefully when I do I will make lots of updates, be able to keep in contact with everyone and be able to look back on it all when it's all over. That's the Plan. Perhaps I will write something at the airport...where I will be so sooon!

Claire xx