The Day After Tomorrow

I named this post after a movie I quite like.  I also named it that because the day after tomorrow is a very special day - it's the day I hop on a plane and bid farewell to Australia for possibly more than a year!  After all my hassles and struggles, the day is finally here.  The day after tomorrow that is :)

Tomorrow morning, Mum, Dad and I will pack up the car and set off to Melbourne which is several hours drive.  We will spend tomorrow night at my brother's house and then on Friday (the day after tomorrow) I shall be up bright and early to make my way to the airport!  I'm travelling with 3 other girls - Nichola, Hannah and Aprille and we've arrange to meet at the airport at 9am to check our bags etc.  Our flight leaves at 11:55am so we will probably get a coffee and say our tearful farewells before heading through to our gate.

My bags are all packed and I am pleased to say I didn't have much trouble staying under the weight limit, although I have probably taken a lot  more clothes than I will need, but maybe that will save me money if I don't have to buy as many over there (wishful thinking!).  I'm flying with Qantas and one of the reasons I chose that airline is because they allow you two checked bags - I don't think I could pack my entire life in one suitcase!  

I can't quite believe that the day of my departure is almost here - it still feels like a bit of a dream to be honest.  I am starting to get excited but I'm not sure my brain has fully comprehended what's happening yet!  Although, that being said, I have noticed that I'm starting to get little excited butterflies in my tummy and jittery feelings when I think of what is about to happen.  To use a Disney film analogy, I feel a bit like Rapunzel, after waiting years and years for her life to begin, I've finally decided to do something, start an adventure - and it's both terrifying and exhilarating all at the same time!

It is unlikely that I will update again before I get to America, so I shall fare thee well and I'll see you all when I'm stateside!  

Christmas Wishes and Bucket Lists

Merry Christmas everyone!  Tomorrow is Christmas Eve here in Australia and I am writing this from my parent's house where I am spending the festive season.  I'm looking forward to spending some time with my family before I head off to Florida next month!  I can't believe how quickly everything is happening - it's less than 20 days until I leave Australia!

You will hopefully begin to see more frequent updates from me very soon, in fact there's already some blog updates you can check out.  You will notice I've added my bucket list to the navigation bar at the top of the page, I will try to keep that updated throughout my program as best I can.  Please let me know if you have any ideas for things I should add to my bucket list or great things to do in Florida, because I would love to hear them.

Also, I have been feverishly trying to get my DICP Guide up-to-date before my departure because I don't know how much time I will have to work on it once I'm in America.  I'm currently finishing off my posts on the visa process which has been a mammoth task.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy taking some time out to enjoy being with your loved ones.  Thank you to everyone who has been following along with me in this journey so far, and the real adventure hasn't even begun yet!

And the Vlogging Continues

I'm sorry that this is just another vlog update (unless you really like my vlogs, in which case - you're welcome!).  I am officially done with school as of tomorrow so I plan to work on updating this blog a lot more in the coming weeks.  But for now I just want to share my two latest youtube videos.  The first is an About Me/Roommate Survey video and the second is a Disney Tag video.  If you enjoy them, please head over to my channel HERE and subscribe!

About Me/Roommate Survey

The Disney Tag

Thanks for watching!

Vlog Update!

Just a quick update on my vlog.  I took my camera along when I went to Melbourne for my visa appointment, and got some random footage with some of my roomies.  I also share a little bit about my experience at the consulate.  The video is linked below if you're interested!

Visas, Roomies and Packing - Oh My!

Hey guys!  sooo sorry I've been MIA lately - I've just been so super busy and despite thinking "Oh I need to blog" about a hundred times, I never quite managed to actually write the post!  And this one is going to be just a quick update sadly, because I'm in the process of moving out of my apartment but I have plans to do lots of blogging and vlogging in a few weeks once things have settled down.  

So the three big things going on with me at the moment in regards to the program are:

1. Visa:  I have my American J1 Visa!  Yay!!!!  It was quite the stressful experience, but I'm relieved it's over and done with now and I'm all good to go work in the USA.  It took close to two weeks from receiving the forms in the mail to recieving my actual visa, but that was because I had to travel to Melbourne for my visa appointment.  If you live in the same city as he US Consulate it can take less than that.  I won't go into any great detail here and now because I plan to write a detailed post in the DICP Guide so keep an eye out for that!  I also vlogged some of my trip to Melbourne so I'll post that video as soon as I get a chance to edit it.

2. Roomies:  So I've got my Roommates sorted for Disney, which is super exciting.  There are 6 of us in total and I'm already having so much fun getting to know them.  Some of them are from Melbourne too so I got to catch up with them when I went over to do my visa.  Finding great Roomies was something I was really worried about so I feel really calm now that I have that sorted.  I'm sure you will see/hear more of them as time goes on :)

3. Packing:  No I haven't started packing for Disney 2 months early - I'm moving out of my apartment this week so I'm packing up all my worldly possessions and discovering how much crap I actually own!  I'm staying with family for the rest of my time in Australia so that will be interesting, but a good chance to spend time with my loved ones before I head off to the states.

So, that's a really quick update on me for the time being - I promise I will post more once I've got some spare time and I've finished packing and moving!