Sunday, June 29, 2014

Getting to Australia


Wednesday June 25th: The family packed up and started the six hour journey to the airport in Minneapolis. We arrived to the airport around 2:30pm and checked me and my bags in and then my parents and Alissa sat with me for the next hour and a half until I had to go through security. That was a great hour and a half with them since it was my last with them for the next 3.5 months. When it was time to leave dad prayed for me which was very helpful and calming but then I gave them hugs and started to cry because I will miss them very much. From there I got in the long line and went through security and found my gate I needed to be at and waited to board my plane. At 5:45pm they called us to board. I was seat 12D which was between two men in the middle row. It wasn’t too comfy there but thankfully it was just a 4 hour plane ride to Los Angelos. Once we got to LA I walked very fast to find my next gate while asking many attendants where I needed to go since this was the first time for me to fly by myself. Once I found my gate, I had two hours to kill, so I walked around a bit and found Dramamine because I got very motion sick. Then I texted the family as much as I could while on wifi. Then at 10:30pm I boarded my next flight to Sydney Australia. I was in seat 39D and was in the outside of the middle row, which was much better because I was able to stretch my legs out. Even though that didn’t help much since it was a 14 hour plane ride. I watched many movies and tried to sleep but only got 3.5hours. 


Friday June 27th: At 6:30am we arrived at Sydney and this was crazy because I had to reclaim my luggage and then go through three other security checks before I could check my luggage back in. There the lady had to move me to the 9am flight because security took too long and I couldn’t make my 8am flight. After she checked me in, I had to take a trolly to the domestic airport. Then I boarded my plane to Brisbane, an 1.5 hour flight, so super quick. At Brisbane I had a four hour wait, but I went to claim my baggage and it didn’t come along with 20 other people who didn’t get theirs. So the baggage services filed my claim to make sure I would get my luggage and checked me in for my next flight to Rockhampton. So then I went through security and waited in the lounge and texted the family as much as I could. I got on my next plane that left an hour late so when I got to Rockhampton the lady from the university was no longer there waiting for me. So I went to go look for my luggage just in case and sure enough it wasn’t there. I went to the front desk and they looked for my luggage and reported a lost report for me there again. Then I looked all over for my Rockhampton person and called the school on the pay phone but got nothing. I walked up to a car rental lady to ask about the Rockhampton lady but she didn’t see her that day and told me just to take a taxi. So that’s what I did, it took 20 minutes to get to the university and $25. The taxi driver was very nice and took me right to where I needed to be, the residents office. I walked in and filled out a paper they needed and then the girl took me to my dorm room, she was very nice and helpful. She got me bed linens and towels since mine was in my lost luggage. They couldn’t get my internet to work so I had to use someone else’s laptop to email the family and she also let me borrow her adapter to charge my computer and phone, thankfully.   I then took a shower which felt wonderful and got ready for bed. It was only 8pm but I was exhausted and fell right asleep. Unfortunately I woke up at 2am and lay wide awake in bed until 4am and then fell back to sleep until 7am. 


Saturday, June 28th: Finally I got up and got ready for the day. I went and gave the adapter back to that girl and then walked around campus to explore a little. I seen lots of kangaroos on the walk.  While exploring I found Sarah, the girl from the office. I told her I found my student ID number and would be able to get internet now. Thankfully we got it figured out and I had internet now to email the family and check on my luggage, which was still lost. I also got internet on my phone so I could imessage the family and Snapchat my friends. I then asked some people in the kitchen where the nearest grocery store was and they pointed me to it. It was only a 20min walk from campus. So I took off to go get groceries because I was starving and didn’t have the meal plan. The store was pretty big, but everything was pretty expensive. I got lots of fruit and veggies that were cheap and spent $38 and walked back with my heavy bags to campus. I unpacked my things and then got back on my phone to text the family. But in order to get internet on my phone I had to be in the public kitchen. While I was sitting there Jazmin came out and we started talking and she invited me to the rugby game. Then we walked over to the international dorm house and met a lot of her friends she already knew from orientation. I met a lot of people! We had fun going to the rugby game and talking with each other. After the game they served roasted pig so we went over there and ended up having to pay $5 for a pig sandwich. I then showered and got ready for bed and read my bible. Thankfully Ryan from NSU was nice enough to let me borrow his adapter so I could recharge my laptop and phone. So I was able to email the university about my luggage and the airport again because my luggage was still lost. I went to bed around 11pm and woke up at 2am again but fell back asleep until 5:45 when a bird woke me up for the day.

Sunday June 29th: I got up at 7:30am and got ready for the day. I went to the cafeteria with the other international students. The breakfast there was very good; they had a wide variety of fresh fruit, warm hard boiled eggs, and many other options to choose from. After breakfast I received an email and it was from the Rockhampton airport! They finally found my luggage! I was so happy to hear that. So I called one of the RA’s on the house phone so I could use their phone to call the airport and let them know where to deliver my luggage. They were very happy to hear from me when I called because they have been trying to get ahold of me but the university offices were closed over the weekend. It only took 25 minutes for them to deliver my luggage to me at the student residents. I was very excited to finally have my luggage. So I raced it back to my room to unpack, but then some of the students invited me to play beach volleyball and I couldn’t pass that up. We played for about two hours straight; it was a lot of fun! The sand was incredible soft. We then went to lunch where they served lamb, rice, and salad. After lunch everyone was tired so they went and took naps for an hour and a half while I unpacked my bags and got my room set up. Then we went to the pool and swam but it got pretty cold so we just wrapped up in our towels and sat in the sun while telling stories. After being there for a while we went back to the dorms and took showers. Then we went to supper where we had roast beef, sweet potato wedges, and mixed veggies. By time we were done eating it had gotten dark and very cold out and it was only 5:45pm. So we went back to Ryan’s room and watched some YouTube videos for the night. I went back to my room around 8pm and did some things around my room and got ready for bed.




 


 

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