Long Time, No Talk

I can't believe that it has been almost a month since I last updated. I know I promised to update more frequently than this, but life has been very hectic this past semester.
Anyway, so much has happened since the last post. I had a great Thanksgiving/Birthday Celebration and of got lots of cool stuff!
My Birthday is tomorrow and seeing that I am going to Australia and that it is the big 2 1 I got some interesting gifts and thoughtful celebratory gestures. On Thanksgiving day my Mom surprised me with a bottle of good Champagne, M&M's wrapped in tool inside of a plastic up. They were SWEET.
Then on Saturday while celebrating with the other side of the family I got another bottle of good Champagne and cookie cake!
Thanks to my parents for the sweet Australia gifts that included a bottle of Australian wine (put in the bag upside down, courtesy of my father :-) ), and a count down to Australia calendar that starts on December 11th. I also got Australia for Dummies with Australian money used as book marks. Then last but not least, an empty box provided by my cousin. Don't worry It had a promise of a combined Birthday/Christmas gift to be given on Christmas.

Planing updates:

I'm back at school and continuing to get things set for leaving on January 4th. Right now the count down is at about 31 days. I have a call into AustraLean for a question regarding my Visa but when they call me back I can get going on that.

I am attending a meeting tomorrow afternoon with all the other students that are planning to study abroad in the spring. They said that it will be a short get together to make sure we have all the necessary forms filled out.

Don't worry Mom, it's legal

Video found on Youtube!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6XdIXW46rk&feature=related

Procrastination

I found this website right after I clicked submit for my last post.
http://www.aussie-info.com/identity/language/

Beginning

How do you start the first post to a new bolg? It goes without saying that I have no idea so, where better to start than the beginning.

I am currently a Junior at Marietta College and I am deep within the planning process of what I hope to be one of the best experiences of my life. Two months from today, I will be leaving the United States for the "Land Down Under" and studying abroad in Australia for the spring 2010 semester. 

I got the idea to start this blog from a friend of mine, who is quite into blogging himself. I thought that it was a great idea considering I was always told by my world traveling grandfather to write at least something in journal every day of your trip. I tend to trust him because seven continents and over 200 countries later, you learn a thing or two about travel. 

While I can't promise an everyday entry, there should be fairly regular posts from me, as I am on the computer almost constantly. Besides, having a blog about my travels will give my expensive laptop a break from homework, Facebook and Farmville. That's right I said Farmville. I don't care who laughs, I like it! :-)

My goal with this is to keep friends and family up to date before, during and after my trip. Never fear friends and family, I will e-mail you too but because I am horrible at returning e-mail, texts, phone calls, and everything in between this hopefully provide for a more steady stream of updates.

If I get some time in the next couple of days, I will write a backstory post so everyone is caught up on where I am concerning planning and such. 

Cheers! 

P.S. this is not an official blog of Marietta College or Bond University. I am just a humble student writing about my experiences.