Sorry for the delay

Hello everyone!! Sorry for the gap in stories. A lot has been going on, and I'm still getting situated in my apartment in Brisbane. The rest of my stay in Sydney was a lot of fun. Saturday, we all went to Circular Quay and finally got to see the infamous Harbour Bridge and Opera House. It was pretty unreal being there. I spent so much time hearing about them, and actually seeing it all was a punch from reality that I am in Australia for a year, which my mind still hasn't grasped yet. Our group took a Sydney harbour cruise during the afternoon, but I spent more time finding spots out of the sun then actually looking at the city I think. The hole in the o-zone is directly over Australia, so my pale skin was not doing so well in the 100 degree, sunny weather. It would take me about 5 weeks of California sun to get as dark as my 3 day Australian tan. I found a group of girls from the program that wanted to explore the downtown area of Sydney, so we ended up staying near the harbour and wandering around the city at night, which was absolutely gorgeous. Sunday, a group of us headed over to Manly beach by ferry and spent the day lounging in the sun and looking at the coves and tide pools. The surf here is a lot stronger than in CA…one girl figured that out by getting her shoulder dislocated. On Monday, I flew from Sydney to Brisbane and got to meet my new housemate Kate. She is also a third year at UQ, and we have a lot in common. Our apartment is really nice…it reminds me of a beach house you might rent for vacation or something. Right now my room is pretty bare, but I was able to get a bed and a few other items from K-Mart. There are still many surprises to living here, such as having geckos run around my apartment, but I am getting more used to the language differences and wildlife. I’m only about a 10 minute walk to the University, and everything else is connected through the train, a bus, or a ferry. Brisbane is a very lovely area and is not as busy as Sydney was. The downtown area has really nice stores and walking areas, but the weather is usually really hot and humid which makes it harder to be outside. Recently it has been rainy, which is a relief from the high heat. The bushfires in Victoria have been all over the news…they are the worst natural disaster in all of Australian history. Please keep that area in your thoughts and prayers because it has been such a devastating time for a lot of families. A group of us are trying to plan a trip to the Sunshine coast for next week, so I’ll keep you updated on that. Hope all is well in the States!

-Erin