And just like that, it was over.

Made the mistake of listening to this while writing this post: Listen while reading

How did I get here?

I'm 21 years old. Every college kid's dream age.

Why was this the day that I had come to dread?

I was about to return to everything that I had ever know, while at the same time leaving everything that I had grown to love. 

The day began at 6:00 am on June 23rd. Sarah, Jacinta, and I woke up and gathered all of our crap together (mostly my crap). I ate a little more chocolate cake for breakfast than needed but, hey, it was my birthday. Finally, at 6:30 we headed off to the bus stop. I should mention that, by this point in my trip, my largest piece of luggage had only one wheel and weighed around 53 lbs. Manoeuvring it to the bus stop while the bottom of it was creating sparks on the sidewalk was a difficult feat.

We finally arrived at the bus stop. Three girls, two suitcases, and a large backpack. The bus ride to the airport was around four hours long. I was expecting to sleep for most of it, but we just ended up talking and recounting the last four months.

And then we arrived. I made my way to the check-in counter where I found out that my check-on bag was a little over-weight. It had to have been my lucky day because the guy working allowed me to check it on anyways because he saw on my passport that it was my birthday. Thank you guy who was at the United desk but didn't work for United. You made one girl very relieved.

Then it was time.

The time that I had pretended wasn't going to happen.

Goodbyes.

I found it quite funny how the hallway to the international area of the airport was paved with red carpet. It seemed almost exclusive, in a daunting way.

There, in front of that elegant red carpet, I hugged my two best friends for the last time. We exchanged notes and quite a few tears. As I walked down the carpet and turned back to see them for the last time, it felt as though something inside of me broke. A piece of my heart fell from the hole in my pocket and will remain with them forever.

Fourteen hours. One movie (The Awkward Moment), three meals, four Diet Cokes, six episodes of Sex and the City, and 45 minutes of sleeping later, I was in Los Angeles.

I must mention that I departed Australia at 11:20 am on June 23rd and arrived in LA at 10:20 am on June 23rd. Back to the future, right Sarah?

I had a five hour layover, so my fabulous cousin, Kelci, came and picked me up in her convertible and drove me around LA. I couldn't have asked for a better 21st birthday than the one that I had. I got to see the Hollywood sign (which you can see from her apartment balcony!). And that was the least of the exciting moments.

We picked up her friend Chelsea and headed to "brunch." Although our brunch consisted of peach bellinis. Which also doubled as the first legal alcoholic drink that I had ever drank in America. 

After drinks, we went to a little gem of a massage parlour and all three of us got massages. After a 14 hour flight, a full body massage felt like pure ecstasy. 

Thank you, Kelc, for giving me such an amazing 21st birthday. <3

We then went to pick up her dog, Tinkerbell, and we were off to the airport. Once there, we ran into a major bump in the road. Kelci wasn't going to be able to get on the flight with me because somehow we were "late." She was able to get on the following flight, so I had to make it through security quickly to make it to my own flight. To my annoyance, I got stopped before the security line because my carry-on was "too wide." So very quickly, I had to open it and remove my tennis shoes to wear through security. By this time, I was getting very flustered when I had to put all of my things through the security check. Only to find out that they would have to run my backpack through again because I forgot to remove my laptop. While waiting for it to scan, I heard the last call for my flight to Chicago. Finally, once everything was through, I took off towards my terminal at a fast walk. Over the intercom I heard, "Alixandra Badly-Pronounced-Last-Name" please make your way to the departure gate." 

And that's when I realised I was that girl. 

The one who would have to run down the terminal. 

And off I went.

Sweating, I took my seat on the plane and proceeded to pass out for the entire four hours to Chicago.

The plane landed.

I was in Chicago. 

When I left this plane I would see my parents.

I saw my dad first. He was wandering around.

And then, I saw my mom come in through the doors.

That I was happy to see them was an understatement.

We got my bags and waited for Kelci's flight to get in. We arrived at my Aunt and Uncle's house at around 2:30 am. At this time, everybody was asleep and I was in dire need of a shower. Before that though, my mom said that she had a surprise for me. She handed me a package that had Jacinta's name on it, but my address. I opened it and found a beautiful Australia necklace that I haven't taken off since (well except when I shower of course). Thank you Sarah and Cinta. <3

The next morning I woke up and my mom said she had one last surprise for me and she went upstairs. I heard a door open, then a tiny voice asking, "Is she here? She's back from Australia?" And I knew it was my three little peanuts. I thought they would have gone home by that time but there they were, ready for me to hug too hard and spoil with their gifts from Australia.

Then we; Mom, Dad, Eric, Kelci, Tink, and I left on our five hour drive home. I told myself to stay awake the whole day so that I could sleep that night, and I succeeded...until I got home and slept for a solid four hour nap.

The next morning I woke up, wide awake, at 4:00 am, so I watched the sunrise. The jetlag got periodically better. The next day I woke at 5:00 am, and the next at 6:00 am. 

I have to say that I didn't mind being up with the sunrise.

Perth Take 1: Travel Day

For those of you who don't know, this is Katie. She was my "travel companion" this last week. She's another American (from Wisconsin, but originally Iowa) studying marine biology down in Warrnambool with me, although she's here for a year rather than just a trimester. 

Now that you've been formally introduced, here we go. I will warn you that excessive photos were taken, so be prepared for more visuals than writing. 

Our journey began on Friday, April 18th at 6:30 am...well that's when I woke up at least...Katie was already here and ready by then. We double checked our bags and Sarah (who was going home to Melbourne), Katie, and I started the walk to the train station out in front of Uni. Before we left we noticed that it was sprinkling a little but weren't too concerned seeing as the walk isn't that long...that was until it started to down-pour sideways. By the time we reached the platform, it looked as though we had all just climbed out of a swimming pool. We found Owen, Gemma, and Daniel waiting at the platform as well and we all agreed that sitting soaked for four hours on a train was going to be torture. Once on the train, we hung our clothes on the luggage rack to dry...although they were still damp by the time we reached Southern Cross. Also, I think we can all agree that I am not the prettiest sleeper...

Once we reached Southern Cross, before all going our separate ways, we ate lunch at a nifty little burger place called Grill'd. After that, Sarah was off home, Daniel was off home as well, Gemma and Owen were off to Jake's (?), and Katie and I were off to the airport. Once there we went to get our boarding passes, thinking that we were going to have to wait there for 8 hours for our flight at 8:45 pm, but the nicest guy at check-in named Jon (who was very flamboyant and called us "doll") got our flight moved up to 5:45 pm, which was such a relief. We boarded the plane to find out that we had epic TVs in front of us with choices of movies, tv shows, music, and games. I ended up watching the Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug (little bit of a homesick decision) and then a couple episodes of Friends...which I ended up laughing really loudly on accident and I'm pretty sure the people next to me hated me. We also got meals that were surprisingly not bad, and had chocolate mousse for desert.

After the long flight, and then a taxi ride, we had finally arrived at the hostel in the middle of Perth. The atmosphere of the hostel was so welcoming and not at all what I had expected. I thought hostels were dingy looking places where you had to keep all of your belongings padlocked and sleep with your arms looped through your backpack. This hostel was three floors, had a workout room, two kitchen areas, an outdoor pool, and a bar and cafe. We stayed in a six person room with four other girls that came and went throughout the week. Definitely a 10/10 would recommend for the YHA in Perth.

Since we had just arrived, we decided to go scope out our surroundings, and hoped to find a grocery store. Apparently, everything in Perth closes at a ludicrously early hour, so we were at a loss with the groceries, but we ended up seeing some awesome street art (by now you should all know that I have a particular fondness for street art). There was also this cactus looking "statue" that we found. Apparently it's famous or something because I saw it on a postcard later in the week, and if something is on a postcard, it must be famous. After wandering, we headed back to the hostel and I think my tiredness must have encompassed my body because that was the first night in months that I've slept through the night without waking up numerous times.

First Day of Class

Although classes commenced yesterday, I did not have my usual Prac that I would normally have on Mondays. So today, Tuesday, I actually got to sit through my first ever Australian lecture, that was also on a subject that I actually care about. The class was aquatic ecology. I also have human impacts on aquatic ecosystems at the same time, but the professor in that class is allowing me to attend the other lecture because she will be recording her's and posting them online. To be honest, the class this morning was pretty boring. We kind of reviewed some facts that are basic and we've all known since freshman year, but it was still exciting none-the-less. And then my day of classes was over, that being the only one that I have on Tuesdays.

That afternoon there were some exciting activities happening on the quad. There was a live band playing, that was actually pretty talented.

There was also a cool bouncy ball ring where you put on a huge blown up ball and run into each other. I was a complete fail at it and kept falling over, so I ended up surrendering to Jake...

Then my most favorite part of the whole thing was the reptile guy. He had so many reptiles that were so adorable. There were some lizards, snakes, and a small crocodile. I got to hold most of them, but he also had some venomous snakes that we weren't able to hold, unfortunately. There was a brown snake, and some other really cool snakes that I didn't get to hear the name of because unfortunately the band was jamming too loudly. I was so excited to hold them, though, it's such a rush and they're actually really sweet creatures who have bad reps. 

 

Disclaimer: I know I look disheveled...not the best hair day, nor the best clothes day, nor the best confidence day...sorry!