I'm here

Well I made it to Townsville where I will be living for the next year. I like it a lot here and my dorm room is pretty nice. I got here a few days ago, and before that I was in Cairns for 3 days. While there, I went to a rainforest park where we got to throw a boomerang, watch an aboriginal didgeridoo show, and also got to pet some kangaroos and hold a koala. We also took a ride through the rainforest on an amphibious truck, so we went into the water and it became a boat. This place was really great and it was probably my favorite part of our program introduction.

The next day we took a catamaran out to the Great Barrier Reef where we did some snorkeling. the ride out there was great, and I saw a lot of cool marine life. A lot of the people we were with got pretty sunburnt since there is no ozone layer over most of Australia. It's a lot different than back at home where you'll be okay to go out in the sun. Here, you are guaranteed to get burnt if you stay out for too long without sunscreen, meaning about 30-45 minutes of sun exposure.

We took a bus from Cairns to Townsville the next day, and were lucky that the road in between them cleared up from the recent flooding that they have been having. Townville is also pretty much rainforest so when it rains here, it dumps with lightning. I like it.

Here in Townsville, I have met SO many people that I have become pretty good friends with. Most of them are Americans from the midwest and east coast, but I have also became friends with some Aussies that are alot of fun. And I'll tell you that they drink like Aussies, the stereotype is 100% true that they are wild drinkers, but they are really great. I have orientation week this whole week and there is a lot of activities going on, so I am pretty excited about that.