Amanda Young's First Post

So I just spent the past half an hour of my life typing an extremely detailed blog just for it to be erased.
Twice. Hopefully third time is the charm Hello everyone! I miss you all, especially my Mom and Dad
and Suiteys <3 Don’t take it personally if I don’t respond to your messages, internet costs $1.50 for 15
minutes! Though the time difference makes keeping in contact with loved ones hard, I love being in
one of the most beautiful countries in the world. I can finally cross this one off of the bucket list! Every
morning I have to pinch myself remembering that I am waking up in Australia, most people’s dream. I
am so thankful to be able to have the opportunity to travel half way across the world.

I am going to try and sum up my past few days in a paragraph which will be a struggle. I mean come
on it’s Australia! So the plane ride was actually not too bad! Most people think that a 14 hour flight
would be horrible when in reality it was actually fun. Going into the trip I only knew two freshmen, my
roommates for the trip, Hannah and Liz, and I didn’t know not know them very well. On the plane I had
a middle seat, which I was not looking forward to. However, the two seniors I was sitting next to were
really nice and made me feel more comfortable going into the trip. When we arrived on the first day
in Sydney it felt like I had been up for 24 hours due to the old man snoring loudly behind me on the
flight. I honestly do not remember at all what we did that day but it was helpful to get adjusted at the
time change by staying awake during the daytime in Sydney. However the next day was much better.
After a great night sleep we headed to the zoo and aquarium to see the exotic Australian animals such
as kangaroos, emus, manta rays and great white sharks. This day was by far the highlight of the trip
so far. After a grueling hike up and down the Blue Mountains all day everyone was sore and tired. But
the benefit was having toned legs Yesterday we arrived in Canberra by bus and today we toured Mt.
Anslie, Parliament, the US Embassy and the ANZAC war memorial. It was a really exhausting day but it
was also really interesting. The time change has hit me hard so I am trying to stay up later tonight and
keep myself busy to keep myself on a normal schedule. In the morning it is really easy to get up but I get
REALLY tired at about 8 o’clock. I think I will be adjusted soon (at least I sure hope so!)

I love you all very much and I can’t wait to talk to you soon! Hopefully I will be able to put my 400+
pictures up on facebook from the past week. I think I will need a new memory card soon. I will do my
best to try to keep this updated at least once a week to let everyone know what is going on.

Peace. Love. Aussie.

Amanda <3

[Note: uploaded by Charlie]