The lead-up

The week before I flew away was spent tying up my life in Brisbane, making sure I was ready for my new life in Austin. Visits to the bank and the local Centrelink office (the Australian government welfare system) contrasted with visits to the beach at Burleigh Heads and shopping for last-minute gifts and Aussie nic-nacs. People go crazy for Tim Tams and koalas. I can kind of understand why.

In my usual last-minute style, my closest friends came over for my last dinner at home for a long while. On the menu was my favourite dish of spaghetti along with their favourite, mango pudding, which isn’t really a pudding, or a jelly, or a mousse, but a delicious combo of everything. Apparently, you haven’t lived until you’ve tried it. Thanks GJ!

So with a rushed goodbye from my parents outside 'departures', I was catapulted on my way. Well it’s a credit to my self-control that I didn’t cry litres of tears that I was certainly capable of, but it was a darn hard job keeping myself composed while I waited to check-in. Earlier that morning I almost broke down completely saying farewell to my dog, Jamie, who with his sad little gaze understood.

After 24hours worth of travelling, terrible attempts at sleep and some successful ones at making transit buddies, I arrived at LAX. Along with thousands of other holiday travellers in the wake of the terror scare, let's say that it was a serious task making it out those glass doors.

In case of boring you, I'll stop here in California where I'm spending a week or so before heading to Austin officially for orientation. Let's hope I can ward off a cold that's been haunting me since the flight.

Good night dear friends xoxo

Sydney: Explorers, and Visas and Christmas Cake

Part One: Explorers

I arrived in Sydney on Monday, 14 Dec to reunite with my roadtrip buddy and good-times friend, Mariana. Now she'd brought along her boyfriend, whom she works with in California, Willy, and we all hit it off instantly. The three musketeers! The next day I was told that we'd be going on an adventure to find a ship wreck and along the way we picked up Mariana's uni friend, Mel. So the four of us went on our merry way. There are some awesome pics from our morning of fun. (I'll post them once they send me them)

I don't want to give too much away from our special day, so I'll sum up by telling you about our next day of exploring, this time at Royal National Park. We sought a waterfall, but instead found a magical lagoon and cove....

Part Two: Visas and Christmas Cake

Well great news! My student visa and business/tourist visa were both approved on Thursday.
NB: I was advised it'd be a good idea to get the B1/B2 visa in case I wanted to travel after my semester of study. And the consulate guy totally upsold me. If you pay $US30, you can have your B1/B2 extended for five years, which I completely agreed to. It was the most fun I'd had at a visa interview and I've been to a couple. I worked the room like a smooth potato pie. Met a couple of other kids going to Texas. And concluded my visit by being offered a piece of Christmas cake when I went to collect my bags from security. Now that's an interview for the books!

P.S. We went to see Avatar the night before my interview at midnight, not really advisable seeing as I got to bed at 3:30am, but really worth it. You have to see it in 3D!

Big day of big news

Here's the good news first. A couple of weeks ago, I kicked up the exchange effort and sent through my first application for an internship, which I need to complete before I can graduate from journalism. Five days later, I was faced with an email interview with Haley, a producer at KXAN News.

Of course I was pretty nervous, but also happy that I didn't have to get dolled-up to sit in front of my laptop. The general knowledge questionnaire was tricky seeing as I didn't know the Mayor of Austin, or any Texan members of the U.S. Senate. Luckily the quiz wasn't a linchpin.

So this morning I was greeted by an email from Haley, and to my surprise they wanted me, in all my curious, Aussie ways. Hooray! Me? An intern at a U.S. news organisation!!! This will be in-ter-esting!

OK the bad news (although not so bad in reality) is that when I finally got round to find out the bank I joined last year on the roadtrip, I discovered to my dismay that it was indeed Washington Mutual: the largest bank failure in U.S. history!!!!! And it happened only a month after I joined. I have absolutely no idea what I should be doing about that, but I guess I'll have to wait till I get there. It's on the list: find out what happened to roadtrip money.

OH!!!! And some other exciting news. I met Curtis Stone on Wednesday!!!!!! Who is Curtis Stone? Well he's a bit of a celebrity Australian chef and quite popular with Ms Winfrey. That's me wearing one of my work uniforms (on my lunch break of course).

Pre-Trip Thoughts

I don't know what it is but the U.S.A. keeps bringing me back! By the time I touch down in L.A. on Sunday, 27 December, it will be my third time in four years. And the reasons why I end up there are quite unique.


2006: My first solo journey overseas. I remember my parents crying at the airport, which was heartbreaking but completely necessary. For my three months abroad, I worked as a summer camp counsellor at Tripp Lake Camp, Maine then continued travelling for another month to Boston, Miami, Washington D.C., New York, Las Vegas (shame I was only 18), San Jose, San Francisco back to L.A.

2008: Another three months away from home. This time I hopped on a bright, green RV and travelled from the west coast to the east for the documentary series, Roadtrip Nation.









We spent about six weeks on the road, roughing it up. When I mean rough, I mean no pillow, no shower, no aircon. But life is tough so I guess it made the experience all the more real. It was a journey that started in September 2007 and will continue the rest of my life. *tear* (No seriously I did cry a tremendous amount during the whole experience). You should watch the episodes at www.roadtripnation.com/watch and not because I'm in them :-P but for the wisdom and inspiration you might gain. I owe those magical people a lot.




At the end of August, I flew to Santiago, Chile to crash my mate Jayson's bachelor pad in Los Leones. He was studying abroad and will forever remember me as the person who locked him out of his own house at 5a.m. and also the lady who left her bra and pjs in his bed (nothing suss!).


2009: I'm on the road again to Austin, Texas where I'll be an exchange student at the University of Texas (UT) - the Texas Longhorns. And like anything worth doing, it's been no picnic organising this exchange. I'm at the stage where I have booked a flight, received my letter of acceptance, been approved for courses at my home uni (the University of Queensland), had my eyes checked, my teeth cleaned and now just waiting to fly down for my visa interview in spectacular Sydney. Wait! There's something I've missed health forms, insurance, internship...

Right now I'm terrified and transfixed by the idea that I'll be living overseas for more than three months. When people ask me "why Texas?", I figure you'd only really understand if you'd been there. It feels like home in a hot, strange way.