Before heading to Bond University, myself and about 90 other students from The States spent 6 days in Cairns getting to know each other as well as the culture in which we are going to be living for the next 3 1/2 months. Each day we had lectures about what to expect in our new environment and then every night we simply got to hang out and do, basically, whatever we liked. Over the course of this week we we were able to experience rain forests, jungles, rivers, and the Great Barrier Reef! I can honestly say that I've never experienced so many new and exciting things over the course of so short a time, and although I was exhausted at the end, it was definitely worth it!
I want to forewarn anyone who may be reading this that there are alot of random pictures of scenery and animals because I thought they were so different from anything back home, and therefore it was cool!
Heading to LAX for my flight to Sydney!!
All 90 AustraLearn students having our first meal in Australia!
We took a ride in an Army Duck (a vehicle that can be either a car or a boat) and this is one of the views we saw.
Yes, I threw a boomerang. It went straight up in the air and then straight down into the dirt...
I don't know if this looks easy or not, so let me just tell you that it's not.
I was able to hold a koala! But this is not it...
This is, in fact, the actual python I held. Obviously.
I believe they said this kangaroo was only a couple months old.
If you look closely, there are cuts under the crocodile's eye. The crocodile from the pen over broke in and attacked this one.
We were walking around one night and found this group of people playing drums! So, of course, I joined them for a little bit :)
On our way to the Great Barrier Reef!!
It was definitely the bluest water I've ever seen.
Instead of paying for a cab, we decided to run 30 minutes through the rain to get something to eat.
Heading to more rain forests and jungles for the day.
The coolest looking duck I've ever seen!
A kookaburra!
The bird's facial expression cracks me up!
A tree kangaroo...
And then a kangaroo striking a sexy pose!
A two week old crocodile that was only about a foot long!
This annoying little bird wouldn't sit still long enough for me a take a picture...
This was a chicken we found crossing the road...
Everything was so green!
The trees and plants went right up to the sand and, in some parts, the actual water.
The time in Cairns was definitely a good thing. It allowed us to become immersed in the culture a little bit before heading to the actual uni. We were also able to make friends right away so as to avoid the awkward beginning stages of friend making at the uni and could then head straight into the orientation and craziness of life on campus.
Bond University Orientation Week...
On Monday the 5th, we finally arrived at the university. To put it simply, this campus is amazing! I looked up pictures online as well as watched videos that were shot here but nothing could have done it justice. I still find myself walking around amazed at where I'm going to be living for the next few months. I'm living in the Accommodation Center on campus, basically one of the dorms. I'm so happy I am too because it's the cheapest option and alot of things are included that I would have had to pay for had I been living somewhere else. Basically, it's like a hotel; we actually have housekeeping who come every week to change our sheets and clean everything. Definitely a good choice! Also, each room has it's own bathroom so that was an unexpected, but definitely welcome, surprise.
After coming from Cairns and being completely exhausted it would have been nice to have at least one day of down time to relax and get settled. No. We were thrown right into the middle of O Week at Bond. Here's a quick run down of how our week went:
Monday...
Welcome meeting with our Senior Res Fellows and just regular Res Fellows,
Followed by a pizza party in our dorm rooms, and then a toga party that night...
Tuesday...
Campus tour...definitely helpful since the place is huge!
Then there was a cocktail party for which everyone got all dressed up!
The APU girls!
And then after the cocktail party there was a hypnotist show. It was the first time I've ever been to one and it was hilarious! I don't know that I would go to another one, I definitely wouldn't spend money to see one, but it was entertaining and definitely made me laugh.
Wednesday...
There was the kick-off for Wednesday by the Water, which is something that they do every week. It's just a time to hang out with friends and you get a free meal out of it!
There was a blow-up obstacle course at Wednesday by the Water and so, of course, I did it. Considering the thing was blown up and it was floating on the top of water I'm not sure how I did this...but I ended up bruising my knee pretty badly. It looks pretty red here but it ended up turning a nice shade of blackish blue.
And then Wednesday night there was a trivia/comedy show. My team, the Baboons, won 2 out of the 10 rounds for the trivia. The comedic portion of the show shouldn't have even been called that. It was rather disappointing. Not at all what I would consider comedy, it was more like a guy getting up and just telling random, not funny, stories about his life. Something that is worth mentioning, though, is the amount of food we ate that night. My group went to the cafe and ate a full dinner. We then went to the trivia night and ate about 4-5 pieces of pizza each (this is impressive considering I don't even like pizza). And then, to top it all off, we ate all of the candy we won in those two victorious rounds! We were definitely proud of ourselves.
Thursday...
Tight 'N' Bright party! I didn't realize how excited everyone got about these kinds of things. We seriously shopped around for a couple hours trying to find stores that weren't sold out of things we could use for this party! Definitely a fun night!
Me and sunburned looking legs!
Best picture!
The girls!
My group plus some of random people from the hall who joined in.
Friday...
We had nothing going on at the uni on this day so we all had a lazy day and then went and explored Surfer's Paradise that night.
Saturday...
Today the uni organized a beach day for all of the students. So myself and about 250 other Bondies travelled by bus to Broadbeach to just hang out and do whatever we wanted to.
Orientation week at Bond was fun, exhausting, crazy, and definitely memorable. I'm so excited about what else the semester is going to bring!
