I made it!!

This is right after take off flying over Portland

So after 20 hours of flying and 6 hours of layovers I am officially in Cairns, Australia! For my first time flying it was not half as bad as I thought it would be. I had a window seat from my very first flight from Portland to LA and it was beautiful and really exciting, even take off was fun. Kind of like a roller coaster. I was praying the whole time basically because the first time I hit turbulence I was pretty sure we were going down. In the LA airport I met the nicest Australian older couple in line, when about to board for Sydney, who has family here in Cairns and had nothing but nice things to say about it. The lady reminded me a little of one of my Aunts and it was very comforting. The 15 hour plane ride went faster than I thought I sat next to two younger girls one from Brooklyn and one from New Zealand who were very nice and I didn't have to worry about beatin anyone down for stealing my stuff. Virgin airlines was super nice all the way around, and from LA to Sydney we were able to watch unlimited movies for free and were served dinner and breakfast. The food was not as bad as I thought it was going to be and thank the Lord I didn't get sick. If you know me you know exactly what I am talking about by "sick". If not than you can use your imagination. I took the red eye from LA to Sydney and arrived in Sydney at 6:15 am their time. The view from the plane was breathtaking flying in. The sky was an almost blood red and the sun was barely rising, the city was still pitch black and all you could see were the thousands of lights all over. Coming into the Sydney airport was a little intimidating I knew absolutely no one the airport was BIG. The girl from Brooklyn and I helped each other out and she ended up giving me a hug goodbye which I thought was just the darndest thing! I had to take a bus from Sydney international airport to their domestic airport. I left the Sydney domestic airport and boarded for my last flight (finally) to Cairns where I ended up getting placed at the Emergency Exit window seat.. "in a time of crisis ma'am could you assist passengers to their safety".. Ummmmmm maybe?? I said yes of course but when the time came I would probably be the one yelling: "Every man for himself!!" and then proceed to jump. The flight was 3 hours and wasn't as bad we were above the clouds pretty much the whole time which was amazing.

God is so good!

I flew into Cairns and the hot sticky air hit me like a freight train, the air here is kind of like being locked in a little room with 4 other people with no windows or ventilation. Needless to say it's a little stuffy but really not unbearable. I took a bus from the airport to Cairns student lodge, my final destination. All along the way it reminded me of Oregon very green with lots of trees and plants. It was raining when I got here which was kind of a bummer because everyone kept saying how unusual it was but it was still really warm. I got to the lodge and managed to get lost within the first minute with a 50 pound backpack on my back, with a rollie suitcase, and two other small backpacks. But I made it!! Whooo who! They even found someone to carry my big backpack for me! I kind of felt bad though because I ended up being on the second story.. whoops.

I took a little video of my new place that they call a "cluster".

I hope the video works! If not I'll try something else. I brought some pictures and my own pillow case from home to make me feel more comfortable. The Lord has been great and solid through all of my travels allowing me to get there safely and even calming me down when I wake up in the middle of the night to what I think a hurricane might sound like. It was the loudest and biggest rain storm I have EVER seen. Huge! And when I asked someone about it the next day they said: "what rain storm?". I mean seriously you would have had to been deaf not to hear it or maybe just not American. But anywayyyy the campus is beautiful and I can see the rainforest from my bedroom window. The town city center, Smithfield shopping center, was great and I found everything I needed and was a lot of fun to walk through. Similar to our malls or shopping places they even had a food court! But the only difference was that they had this outside next to them while they were eating:

And there is no glass in between you and that! But it was beautiful and nothing screams tourist more than some weird girl standing and taking pictures where everyone is eating. Well there is a little taste what it has been like here for me in the last two days and I am sure there will be more to come! It is amazing to see God's talent and greatness outside of the U.S.