June 7th, 2007
So its been about 6 months in the making, but the day has finally come for me to carry myself and my three bags to the other side of the world to research public transportation, see the sights of Australia and New Zealand, and hopefully have a pretty good time while being there.
The way this all got started was early October, when a friend of mine at Berkeley, Stella So to give credit, told me about a National Science Foundation program called EAPSI (East Asia – Pacific Summer Institute). Last summer, she had the opportunity to travel to Tapei, fully funded by the NSF. So, naturally, I was pretty excited about the thought, but considering my research background at the time (about 25 days worth at that point), I thought my chances were pretty slim. But I was still curious… so I did what most college students do, I went to google, and started looking into my options. To really simplify the story… I was able to locate a research center at the University of Queensland (in Brisbane), where I would be able to do research the affects of transportation on property values. I have been in pretty constant communication with my host in Brisbane (who coincidentally is leaving today to spend some time in Berkeley, CA. He has been really helpful in setting me up with contacts for when I arrive, so that should keep me plenty busy for my first few weeks.
Just as a primer, I’ll mention what I’ve been doing recently. For the past few weeks, I’ve been spending most of my time with my family, friends and girlfriend Cat. I had the chance to head back home (Illinois) to see some of my good friends and teachers from high school, reminisce about Gibson City, and relax. After that trip, it was to California to meet the parents for a week and some of camping and meandering around the state. Finally, back to Georgia to hang out with Cat and my parents and get ready for the long trip.
So as I am writing this, I’m approximately 3.5 hours into my journey around the world. In total, I’ll be in an airport or on a plane for 24 hours total. Everything has gone so far…pretty well Apparently my bag is oversized by about 5”, but the nice lady at the counter let it slide, I had a gentleman take my pen in security, but nothing overly tragic. Just for the plane enthusiasts in my program.. I’m happy to say that I’m on a half-full exit row on a 757, and will have my luggage checked all the way through Melbourne. So today, will voyage will consist of a 3 hour stay at LAX and then a 17 hour flight to Melbourne, where I will arrive at 7:55AM on Saturday morning (Australia is 14 hours ahead of EST)
The total of my trip will go like this:
6/9 – 6/12 Melbourne, AU with some friends that traveled with over Xmas Break
6/13 – 6/16 Canberra, AU at the orientation of my program
6/16 – 8/12 Brisbane, AU where I will research at the University of Queensland (with weekend trips hopefully…)
8/12 – 8/22 New Zealand where I will meet Catherine to travel for 10 days
There are a few things about Australia that you may be aware of, and some that you may not. They drive on the opposite side of the road and it is currently their winter. Additionally, it is apparently very difficult to get housing at this time of year, hence why I still do not have a place to stay. But, I am hoping that will be resolved (meaning I will figure something out) shortly after I arrive. I really want to thank for those of you who have given me tons of tips on places to travel and things to see, I really hope to have a chance to experiences those things first hand. Additionally, I am really hoping to pick up some new tricks over the summer. I’m planning on signing up for kitesurfing lessons as soon as I arrive. Additionally, I hope to be able to road trip up much of the eastern seaboard of the country during some portion of my stay.
Just an aside, I’m not very good about keeping a blog, or writing in general, so I’m not really sure what is boring vs. interesting. So please let me know what you may be curious about, or if I am a horrible storyteller or environment-describer. Currently, I’m sitting in exit row 27 on my Delta flight with a older asian guy next to me playing his PSP while listening to his bose noise-canceling headphones, perhaps a LA-bound computer geek professional? I can’t really tell. There is an interesting looking guy in front of me wearing a suit and reading a WSJ with a backwards trucker hat on… can’t really figure that one out either. But nothing else completely out of the ordinary. Lucky for me, they played the movie Wild Hogs for the in-flight movie… In-flight movies are great aren’t they? Just when you see the previews of something that looks halfway-bad and you think to yourself… I’ll never watch that. Well today I had my chance.
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