with break comes flights

there really is no place like home.
thanksgiving break has been amazing so far--still have one night here before i head back to school tomorrow.


I GOT MY FLIGHT SCHEDULE!


i'm really excited about it, but i honestly cannot even string full sentences together, that's how exhausted i am. so i think i'll just hit the hay and update again tomorrow when my brain is working correctly.

i'm just glad to have everything coming together. as terrifying as this experience may be, bring.it.on.

home!

So I'm home for thanksgiving break! It's honestly so good to be here!
I faxed in my housing forms, so that's all set.
Tomorrow, my Dad and I are finally figuring out my flight plans!


Yay for the five bedroom apartment!
For those of you who want to see the floor plan of where I'm living:

it's 18 degrees here...

did i mention how psyched i was to be going to australia! warm warm warm!

i got some more paperwork off the australearn website, i need to fax some of it in before the 25th to let australearn know i accept the housing they gave me.

I am living in a single in a five bedroom apartment, and i am psyched!!

Today, i need to go to the library to fax the information in and then i need to make a copy of my health insurance card!

Lastnight, i applied for scholarships and signed up to do a volunteer weekend while abroad. Hopefully everything works out and I get a scholarship. I'll go to Murdoch with or without the scholarship, but recieving money would definitely be a big help.

I'm honestly so exhausted right now, after I fax the info in, I have to go to CVS because I have an ear infection and I need ear drops. exciting, i know.

I honestly cannot wait. There are so many beaches around perth, and I'm imagining me lying on the warm sand right now...

little bird, brush your gray wings on my head

first off, i got my computer back (pause for applause)

so I'm psyched. Finally a new keyboard with a new shift key!
and I can listen to my music without my computer freezing. choice music right now, the weepies.

I've been working out the kinks in scheduling the flights. I got in touch with my boss at Camp Jewell and told him I wanted to work there again, but he still hasn't gotten back to me about staff training.

I'm thinking of heading to Brisbane on the 6th and staying there until the 12th, maybe heading to Sydney for the 13-14th, and then heading back to the states on the 14th. It seems like a perfect plan--seeing my roommate and ant for a couple of days, maybe seeing a couple more people in Sydney, I don't know, it just seems like a good idea. It all depends on if I will travel during my spring break, which is from April 10th to the 13th. Not quite sure if I'll be staying on campus or not or what I will be doing then. Who knows?

I am excited though, once I get the flight schedule finalized I can finish all the paper work that has taken me about a month to file through, and I can turn that into the International Programs office.

Today, I'm going to hand in my withdrawal from housing form for Bridgewater because the deadline is coming up!

can't wait can't wait can't wait.

interruption

we interrupt regular programming to announce that i, alex, got an 88 on a math exam.


yes, i realize this has nothing to do with australia. just thought i'd share the good news.

more on australia later.

seventy-nine

I am sitting in the library using the only computer i have access too. My laptop is broken and I decided to get it fixed before I headed down under. I brought it to IT because they can fix it for free. I expected the process to take no longer than a day.

It's now wednesday--I turned it in on Monday. Three days can go by so slowly.

And guess what? I just went to the IT desk here and they say it could take until monday! Something about a part being shipped and getting lost? I also don't get a loaner laptop because they ran out.

Oh how life has a way of throwing you curve balls. It's just that I want to be able to update from the comforts of Scott 311 and I don't want to have to duke it out for a computer at the library just to work on my persuasive speech due tuesday.

But guess what?!

79 DAYS

that is all.

pictures off of websites

I can't wait until I'm there to actually take pictures of Murdoch myself, but these are some pictures of the University taken off of the website.

It's seriously so pretty!

the roommate!

So, my roommate Hills is amazing and she applied to Griffith University in Brisbane a couple of weeks ago.

She got the phone call yesterday--she's going!

People always ask us if we're going to the same university. They'll say "aww, you guys are going together?"
Answer: No.

My boss lives in Brisbane and he says I will be about as far away as California is from Mass as Perth is to Brisbane.

To help you out, I provided a map!

My friend Matias will be about an hour away from Hillary at Bond University. Since classes get out for me June 5th, I want to go to Brisbane on the 6th to visit them, and my boss, Ant, of course.

Then take a weekend trip to Sydney before I fly back to the states.

time difference

There is definately something to be said about a 12 hour time difference.
Could it be that I'm actually already having problems with it?

Here's the story:
"I am pleased to advise that you have been successful in gaining admission to the Study Abroad program at Murdoch University in 2009"

pause for shreiks of joy!

okay, so here's the problem. In the acceptance letter, let me just say that again--ACCEPTANCE (i feel like this experience has already changed me!!) I was told my student number. So I was instructed to go to the website and enter my student number and my birthdate (let me just remind you that in australia, I wasn't born may 8, 1989, I was born 8 May 1989--talk about confusing). So yeah, I was entering my student number and my birthdate and the system does not recognize my student number.

In this case, if it were not a 12 hour time difference, i would call them up and have them figure out why the system wasn't acknoledging me. Unfortunately, I entered my information at 5:30pm...meaning that at my future home, it was 5:30am. NO ONE WAS UP.

Thank god for e-mail, right?
hopefully they will get back to me as soon as possible and then I can get my murdoch e-mail address!

"We look forward to welcoming you to Murdoch University. The University staff will do all they can to make your period of enrolment (yes, they spell enrollment like that) here as happy, challenging, and fulfilling as possible!"

my life already feels different. let's get the show on the road.

obama!

Probably going to Sydney for a little bit while I'm down under, cannot wait!
I also need to make appointments with my two advisors to have them sign off on my classes. Good thing i don't need to make drop-in advising to create a schedule for next semester at Bridgewater, that's always so stressful.

The travel plans are coming along, I got my acceptance letter from Murdoch, and signed the consent form and sent it to AustraLearn.

Honestly, the people at AustraLearn are so nice. If you want to study abroad in Asia, Europe, Australia, etc. check out http://www.australearn.org/
They're great people. I'm so thankful to be headed off to Australia.


In other words, OBAMA IS THE NEXT PRESIDENT! I honestly feel so safe, secure and at peace already, I am so happy. I'm going to the inauguration--see you there?