Departure from US

Mom, Dad, Natalie, Kylie, and Lauren all dropped me off at O'Hare. I had to go quickly to check-in and then straight of to security!
The 4 plane rides were long....
Chicago to LA(United--4.5 hour flight)---probably the worst plane ride to be honest. A lot of turbulence and I had a headache and stomach ache from all the anxiety. All 28 students were on the plane so I could relax a bit! I was served a water and I just read the whole trip there!
LA-Auckland (Air New Zealand--12 hour flight)--I was nervous for this one to be honest-this plane was gigantic. There were 4 or 5 sections to it and each person got their own touch screen TV in the headrest in front of them.
Once boarded, the attendants (with their New Zealand accidents) served water and then came around with dinner. I had a vegetarian meal--ate broccoli, 2 corn/rice patties, and a veggie medley with marinara sauce on it, and a wheat roll. It tasted pretty good too! Served very hot and also vegetarian and special meals were served first---heck yes!! I watched "Social Network" while eating and then decided it was time for bed!
I went to sleep for about 5.5 hours which made the time go fast! I woke up and walked around the plane a little and returned to my seat, it was time to listen to some music. I also checked we were about half way to Australia, New Zealand.
Then I took another nap, about 2 hours and watched another movie, this time "Date Night." Breakfast came by which was rice/corn patties, garbanzo beans/kidney bean mix, and fruit bowl with granola bar--quite delicious as well! Not bad for airplane food. By the time this was over we were only an hour away.
Because my checked bag didn't get checked to Australia, the flight attendant wanted me to get off the plane first and go to services to get it changed, so I got moved to First Class for the remaining of the trip. First class had little cubicles to themselves with nicer pillows and blankets, eye masks, little socks, and comfy seats. What a great way to end this long flight!
Auckland- to-Australia:  (Air New Zealand-3 hours). This would be there last flight thankfully. It went very fast. I was served breakfast--corn patties (almost like cornbread pancakes), these two things that looked like manicotti but weren't--were good but didn't know what the were, and fruit. Again tasted good. Then I took a nap and watched "Valentines Day." At the end we had landed in AUSTRALIA!!!
Three girls including myself were missing our luggage but it would be delivered hopefully in a day or two. The group found Dr. Avila and we got on our Charter bus heading to Lennox Head. We stopped and ate at a gas station/McDonalds/Truck stop. I got a Berry Greek Yogurt which was delicious---everything as I was told is super expensive--sandwiches were AUS 7-8 which equivalent to US $7-8, but I was told less greasy!
The bus ride was about 2.5 hours long, but we finally made it to our cabins!
I am in Cabin 6 with three other students (Abby Goodpastor, Amanda Jones, and Chelsea Williams) for now, until we gain another cabin and then I will share it with only Abby. We all moved our things inside and then booked it down to the Ocean. We threw our bathing suits on and heading down. We had to take a path behind the cabins. We were told to stomp our feed as we walk so snakes and spiders feel the vibrations and scurry away---I was for surely stomping! We made it to the ocean front very soon and ran to the water. It was gorgeous out----85 and sunny--what a way to be welcomed to Australia!
We all played in the water, got a pick-up soccer game going, and walked up and down the beach. I can't believe I am in Australia right now---cannot wait for the next 3 months!!!
We had a BBQ to go to for dinner, so we left the beach and heading down by the Recreation Center Office to meet the Directors whom made us an awesome BBQ. We had watermelon, pineapple, salad, coleslaw, chicken, steak, and sausage on the barbie!! It was delicious!! Lyn Lockery, whom directs the Recreation Center welcomed us and gave us each some Australia gifts---including a shopping reusable bag, Nutella, vegemite (it is concentrated yeast extract-some Australians love-- which is disgusting), a pencil with a Koala bear. What a warm welcome.
A couple of the students wanted to go down to the town and look around after the BBQ so I went with for the walk and we saw the Surf Shops and a few bars and restaurants. The town closes at 6:30PM during the week, 5:30 on Fridays, and 1 on Saturdays---this was very odd for us to comprehend being so early. We walked around and then stopped at a local bar for some drinks. I chose water for tonight but more and more students came down after awhile and we just sat around and talked. We were all getting pretty tired and decided to walk back home--this was a good 25 min walk from town. Just collapsed in my bed when I got home!
What a great first afternoon and evening in New South Wales (NSW), Australia!