The Great Ocean Road

One thing many of you guys don’t realize is that I don’t start actual classes until around the 28^th of February! Yes, so I practically have a month in Australia before I have to get to work. However, practically all of those weeks are different Orientations (I think I have to participate in 3 or 4 of them!).

Well, we had our 1^st Orientation the day after we got here. Luckily I was able to stay up until 9:00 to try and battle the jetlag (there is a 16 hour time difference!!!). And let’s just say that it was awesome to sleep almost 12 hours!! Anyway, the IES staff loaded us up the next day for an overnight orientation along the Great Ocean Road!!

Let’s just say that the drive was beautiful. I was just staring out of the window amazed that I was in such a beautiful place and during the SUMMER too!

Here is a list of what we did:

• Saw 4 koalas in their natural habitat (Let me just tell you, these creatures are lazy! Apparently they sleep around 20 hours a day… in the tress. It is amazing how they can stay in the branches and NOT FALL OFF! It was really exciting when one of them started moving, that is until I realized he was only yawning and then went back to sleep…)
• Went surfing in the South Pacific Ocean (This was a lot of fun. I got up a few times and I ran over two guys with my board- totally their fault!!!)
• Walked on the beach at 10 o’clock at night (Oh the stars!! I got to see the Milky Way! So beautiful. I am very bitter that my camera takes horrible night shots!)
• Went ocean kayaking with Australian fur seals (That was a lot of work, but the seals were so cool! There was this one that was really, really fat. Unfortunately we could not bring a camera and that ended up being a smart choice because my partner and I capsized on the way back in!)

Well, that’s about all from this side of the world. We are going to be starting the Melbourne Welcome tomorrow for international students. I am going to be staying at Queen’s College for about 5 days. I swear, all of the orientations are going to be the death of me if they are really interactive!

I would post really cute pictures, but they do not seem to be loading. You all will have to wait until I can figure it out and then there will be picture overload!!

Cheers Mates!

Allison