September 12:

Well today marks my first day here in Australia, the Great Down Under, home to sleepy koalas, the beautiful harbor and the Opera House, the dangerous outback and so much more. Here is my first impression:

I began this trip on Sunday afternoon, leaving from Birmingham, Alabama around 5:40. We learned that the flight was going to be delayed about an hour. So we sat on the runway just waiting until Atlanta let us leave. We were off and got to the Atlanta airport just 20 minutes before my next flight left to go to Los Angeles. So I ran the concourse to the terminal, running up the broken escalator and making it onto the flight. Then we arrived in LA. I saw the monitor flashing SYDNEY and BOARDING, so I ran again, through the concourse to make it to the terminal over, only getting there to find out it was the wrong flight. This was about 30 or 40 minutes before my actual flight was suppose to leave, I still had to get my ticket and go through security once again. I had to walk over three terminals to get the correct one. When I jumped through all the hoops I arrived to my gate just in time to find out that the flight was delayed for over an hour. Great. So I was left being hungry, sweating, angry and tired.

Eventually I got on the plane to go to Sydney. I had a window seat and sat by this lovely couple, whose name I have no idea, because we never talked, the beauty of it all. I got to sleep for about 6 hours and then watched movies and read.

I arrived in Sydney a little after 8 in the morning on a Tuesday morning. I went through all the things we are suppose to and then I got into trouble. The bear that mom gave me, like 6 years ago, was being confiscated, because they had no idea what it was made out of - seeds that cannot be taken into the country because of something or other. I burst into tears, because they were 1) going to have to cut into my bear, 2) send it off to get tested, taking 21 days or 3) I could mail it back home. I chose the third choice. So all teary eyed, I went with the security woman to find my driver, drop off my bag with him and went to mail my bear back to the states. It was terrible. I was so upset - I think because I love my bear, I was so tired and I was hungry. Not in a good mood to deal with all this.

Finally, in the car and on to my hotel. The driver was nice, he tried to cheer my up. He did his best. Then to the hotel - I could not check in, not until 2. So plan B, food and then find Le Cordon Bleu. However, the school is too far away, so plan C. Walk around town and see what I can find. This would be a great idea, but the weather is not that cooperative - rainy and cold weather. So plan D - out of options. So I thought I would write the entry and then go find something to occupy my mind.

I know there is nothing I can do, nothing that could have been done to prevent any of this from happening, so just look to the future and hope for the best. Actually my bad luck with flying I blame on the Ireland trip, but that is awhole different story, for another time and another place.

The one weird thing that happened to me today is that I missed September 11th. I missed a whole day of my life - is that weird to anyone else?