Arrival!

                I have slept a total of 5 hours over the past two and a half days, and I'm so excited to go to bed.  But before I do that, I’ll write one more post about what a ride this day has been.

                First of all, my sense of time is all kinds of messed up right now.  I just went through a wormhole where Thursday lasted 3 hours and I arrived at the end of my day in Australia where it was the beginning of a new day.  Thus, my body had to struggle to adjust, but after a nap and some time to chill, I feel like I’m almost back on track!

                I moved into my dorm at International House today!  I’m living in a single room that’s actually a great size for me.  Not having a roommate has been a blessing—I need my alone time to nap and watch goofy cartoons.  The room is still kind of a tornado of unpacked clothes and open suitcases, so I’ll upload pictures once it looks a little more presentable.

                Most of the day today was spent turning myself back into a human being after all that travelling.  Needless to say, today’s shower was my favorite shower I think I’ve ever taken.  Before I was able to do that, though, I was definitely very irritable and stressed and anxious and snappy at everyone around me.  Therefore I’m so grateful that the master of International House is such a beautiful person.  Her name is Susan and she’s a sweet tiny Asian lady, and she was pretty much my mom today, making sure I took care of myself before doing anything else.  I already absolutely love her.

                Once I was alive again, I also stocked up on some snack foods.  The convenience store I went to reminded me of some sort of Asian market, filled with labels I couldn’t read, and weird knock-off cereals that looked a lot like American ones, but weren’t quite there. 

                I’m not sure why every food here looks like a bootleg version of something American, but they taste about the same, so I’m fine.

                Probably my favorite part of the day today was dinner, which was my first meal since airline breakfast food at 8 AM this morning.  I met up with a Japanese girl down the hall from me named Mayuko, who was also starving to death, and we set off in search of something—anything—to eat.  We ended up at a cheap Chinese place that I can’t remember the name of because literally everything was written in Chinese.  I’m actually not sure why we went in there, because neither of us spoke Chinese, but for some reason we decided it looked good.  As it turns out, none of the workers there knew English either, so we communicated through simple words and hand gestures, and actually navigated the process of ordering and paying for food.  It felt like a real accomplishment.

                The meal was absolutely worth it.  I’m not even sure what half of my plate was, but it tasted amazing, and the portion was big enough to fill up a whole day’s worth of empty stomach.  It also came with free soy milk, which tasted awesome and cold with the spicy food I accidentally got.

(Yes, I was that white American chick taking a picture of her food, but it was my first meal in Australia, so shut up.)

               

                As I’m sitting here writing this on my bed, a whole flock of screaming cockatoos flew by.  It honestly sounds like the jungle out here, and it’s amazing.

                Alright I can’t wait any longer.  I need to go to bed.  Goodnight friends and family; I’m thinking of you all tonight and missing you a ton!  Message me on Facebook any time!

Airline Effect

                For my first post, I’m writing on a very small amount of sleep and a very large amount of being awake, so bear with me.  I’m currently on an enormous airplane, 4 hours away from Sydney, and I can’t sleep, so here we are!  This plane is a weird warp of time and space where I feel like I’ve kind of been removed from the universe, but more on that in a minute.  Just getting to this seat has been an adventure all its own.

                As some probably know, I was supposed to leave on the 16^th of February, and somehow arrive on the 18^th in Australia.  The tickets were set; I was going to fly from Chicago to San Francisco, hang out there for an hour, then get on that 15 hour flight to Sydney.  On the 16^th, my bags were packed, my goodbyes were said, and I was fully emotionally and mentally prepared to leave my whole life behind and start another one in Australia.  My travelling partner Jenny (also from Wheaton!) and I slogged through security with our enormous carryon bags, ate some really expensive yet mediocre food, and sat down at our terminal, ready to take off. 

                At least, until the delays started.

                We sat there sweating in our seats as our gate person announced delay after delay, until it was obvious that we would not make our connecting flight in San Francisco.  “Aircraft maintenance” was keeping our plane on the ground for what ended up being 4 hours before it took off.  So, we picked up our bags and dragged them over to customer service to book us on another flight.  The man at the counter was really nice, but also told us there was no way we were getting on a flight to Sydney today.  He offered to put us up in some scary motel in San Francisco for a full 24 hours once we got there, but we opted to stay a night at home instead.

                It’s kind of weird having to call your parents to pick you up at the airport after you just said goodbye to them for a half a year, but that’s what we did.  (Jenny described her goodbye posts on Snapchat and Facebook as “awkward,” now.)  When I got home, my sister was actually surprised to see me; she thought my dad was joking when he said I was coming home again.

                Anyway, it all worked out in the end.  I got to sleep another night in my bed, and we booked new flights for the next day.  The only hitch was that our luggage was on its way to San Francisco, and we had no way to track it without a “baggage receipt” that every customer service person assumed we had but he definitely did not.  But that worry could wait til morning.

               

                On the 17^th, I did my second round of goodbyes, began the mental preparation to leave the only country I’ve ever known…again.  It was a weird feeling.  Almost like I failed an airport-themed level in a video game and I had to go back and try it again the next day.

                Jenny and I breezed through O’Hare security this time, having had a dress rehearsal the day before and no bags to check this time.  We sat down at the terminal and waited.

                And waited.

                And waited.

                Our flight was delayed another 3 hours, this time due to “high winds” around San Francisco.  So we sat, and read, and charged our phones, and talked every once in awhile about how if we miss our flight again we are going to fight someone in person.

                Luckily, the nice customer service man from yesterday had booked us 5 hours in between flights.  When we got to San Francisco, we would still have time to relax!  Everything was good.

                Then we got on our first flight, and it was not good (for me, anyway.)

                It’s kind of a messy blur now, but what I remember about the flight is feeling queasy, cramped, and overly emotional about everything I was doing.  I cried a lot, but I’m really not sure what started it.  I remember crying because a guy on the podcast I was listening to said his dog was awesome and he loved his dog.  It was a comedy podcast that usually keeps me laughing on the ground, but for some reason in the air it was the most beautiful, touching thing I’ve ever heard.  I cried a lot more after that, but honestly I couldn’t tell you exactly why.

                Then we landed!  In San Francisco!  The first step of our journey was over, but the war was far from won.  Because of all the delays, we had an hour and a half to get to our next flight, and also make sure our baggage was on the flight with us.  So directly off the plane, knees still shaky and stomach still turning, we stood in line for a full hour to talk to customer service.  They told us they couldn’t help us, and to run to the international terminal (across the airport) because our flight was boarding in 10 minutes and they might give away our seat.

                So that’s what we did.  Heavy bags flying, Jenny and I speedwalked and did this weird half jog as fast as we could to the other side of this huge, beautiful airport.  By the time we found the terminal, we were sweating and breathing like we’d just run a marathon.  But we made it right as they started boarding!  In a sweaty frenzy, we asked the people at the gate if our luggage is on the plane with us.  They said yes, but I don’t really believe they looked anything up, so we’ll have to see when we get there.

                So, that puts us on the biggest plane I’ve ever seen.  The battle is finally over, and we made it.  I’m happy to say I’m much less queasy and much less emotional than on the last flight.  It’s actually kind of cozy in here, and the complimentary movie selection isn’t half bad.  I haven’t slept much yet, but I hope writing this will make me more tired so I’ll actually sleep and be lucid tomorrow to move in.

                That’s the end of my first post, then!  This was way longer than I thought it would be, but I guess 48 hours of stress and sickness deserve a full description.  Thanks so much everyone who was talking to me and comforting me between flights.  You made it bearable.

                We’re currently about three and a half hours away from landing, so I’m going to start up Animal Crossing or something until I hopefully fall asleep.  See you later!

(Disclaimer: This was not proofread not even once so I apologize for the dribble that just came out of my head.)

The Bucket List

Since I'm going to be down under for quite a long time, I've made a list of things I hope to do while I'm there!  My goal is to get every one of these crossed off, and hopefully add some along the way!  As I complete each one, they'll be crossed out here, and have a link to a post detailing the experience.
(Okay, so the last two are things that I hope don't have to happen, but honestly they probably will.)

• Swim the Great Barrier Reef
• Learn to surf
• Hike in the bush and/or the outback
• See a show at the Sydney Opera House
• Try Vegemite
• Try crocodile meat
• Try emu meat
• Spot a wild parakeet
• Spot a wild kangaroo
• Hold a Koala
• Visit the Australia National Zoo
• Visit the Sydney Aquarium
• Hug a wombat
• Swim in Jellyfish Lake
• Visit the Sydney Aquarium
• Visit the North Sydney Olympic Pool
• Spot a wild shark (hopefully not up close!)
• Get stung by a jellyfish
• Slay a huge spider