Going to the Land Down Under

It is just after noon on Friday and I think it is safe to say I am rested. After being in the air for 24 hours over a total of 3 days, my body was so tired. I know y'all are wondering about the 15 hour flight over the Pacific and it actually wasn't that bad. For me, I generally hate flying - especially when I know there is not always an option to land on LAND in an emergency situation. But after getting up in the air, I was fine. It helped that the plane was so large that there was enough room to move around. There were 3 seats to a row and 3 different sections. I had an aisle seat and the middle seat was empty so that gave me more room. I was very jealous of first class. They basically got a bed! UGH! However, each seat had a monitor in front of it and we were allowed to watch as many movies, TV shows, etc. during our flight. It was all touch screen and even had Solitaire on it! Thank God for that little screen. It made the time go by much faster. I watched about 4 movies (17 Again, He's Just Not That Into You, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, and My Life in Ruins) and was able to keep up with our flight via the monitor. I wish they would put this flight follower on every plane! I loved the site of land when viewing our progress - just in case something should happen. Anyway, after landing in Sydney at 6:30am their time (3:30pm the day before to my body) I was ready to just be at my final destination. As soon I got off the plane, I had to go through Customs and Quarantine. That took up about 30 minutes of my time and I quickly tried to find where to go to connect to my next flight. As I got on the airport shuttle that took me to the Virgin Blue terminal, I look over and see this black guy with a bag that has a tag on it that says "Burton". I quickly realize - OMG, that's LeVar Burton from Reading Rainbow!!! I immediately said those exact words to him and he was very nice from that point on. He was on his way to Melbourne for a Star Trek convention. Being such a starstruck freak, I told him that I loved Reading Rainbow as a child, but in actuality I couldn't stand it. I never understood why kids wanted to watch a show about reading?? Get real! But he was very sweet and helped me with my luggage, and then the Trekkie and I parted ways. As I waited to board my plane to Perth, I was still in shock as to where I was and how different things seemed. Using the bathroom (I mean, Toilet) took me a minute to realize that the button on the WALL was the flush. The vending machines were different, too. They didn't accept US money, but it was odd for me to insert the Australian money I had. Then, when it gave me change it was in the form of coins. I wanted to argue with it that it still owed me some dollar bills, but I realized the coins were worth $2. This place is definitely going to take some getting used to! As I got on my flight going to Perth, I was so ancy. I just wanted to be there. The 5 hour flight was worse than the 15 hour one, I think. Anyway, about 12:30pm on Thursday (Perth time), I arrived! I was greeted by my coordinator, John and my classmates from Alabama, Winston and Kendall at baggage claim. It was so good to see familiar faces! We left the airport and headed for a bite to eat. John dropped us off at some outdoor shopping center and we ate fish and chips there. We looked around for about an hour and then John came and took me on to Pippa's house (the lady I'm staying with). When I got to the house, no one was home, but we had the spare key to get in. John and the girls left and I began to get settled in. Shortly there after, Ali and Mary (the girls who are staying here with me) got home and helped me get accustomed to my new home. It was good to see Ali, too. Ali goes to Bama as well and had lost all of her southern accent, which wasn't much to begin with. I ended up going to bed around 5:00pm and didn't wake up until the girls were leaving for school this morning around 7:15. I skipped dinner and didn't even get to meet Pippa... that's how tired I was! So, here I am in my new home and just waiting for everybody to get home so we can all go out tonight. I am glad to finally see the sun as it has rained from the minute I got here yesterday. I miss everyone and will update as often as I can!

Also, be sure to check out the Everlater site on the right-hand side of my blog. I will upload more pictures and stories there!