36 Hours of Travel Later...

I made it! Safely! I'm currently sitting in the university library, looking out the window after finally getting my computer to connect to the wifi. Wednesday morning I flew out of Des Moines to Denver, where I then flew to LAX for a 6 hour layover. I finally flew out of LAX around 11 pm on Wednesday, and landed in Melbourne at 10:15 am on Friday (which was 5:15 pm on Thursday in Des Moines; don't try to figure it out, you'll just make your brain hurt). The flight was nice, albeit long. I included a picture of the sliver of dawn we got before the windows stopped letting light in. Since we were heading west, we followed the night time until the sun was able to catch up to us. On the back of every seat was a little tv screen that had the option of following the flight path, and one of the choices was to highlight where in the world it was day and night. For as cool as it was, it was pretty disheartening to wake up after what seemed like forever and see we weren't even halfway yet. Speaking of sleeping, I spent that flight sleeping, watching movies (Ghostbusters, Mamma Mia 2, BlackkKlansman, and Silence of the Lambs), doing crosswords, and watching the stats on our flight. I've also included a photo of the first view I was able to see coming into Australia. My first impression from the flight: brown. The grass isn't really grass, but more of a brown scrub with trees still managing to grow out of and thrive in.

After arriving at my apartment I started to unpack, until the jet lag hit. What was meant to be a half hour nap turned into a four hour nap, waking up to one of my roommates I hadn't met yet coming into the unit. I quickly met her as I ran out to catch the bus to Target and Woolworth's for some essentials. Another impression of Australia: aside from driving on the wrong side of the road, things make sense! My purchases at Target came to an even $93.00, because tax was included in the list price. At Woolworth's, I was charged 15 cents for a reusable bag because they didn't have wasteful plastic bags. On the topic of money, while I was organizing my wallet (no need for quarters here) this morning, I noticed that there are many different women on Australian currency. We still do not have a single woman on any paper money (Pocahontas is on the dollar coin which is infrequently used) in the United States. Obviously Queen Elizabeth is on quite a bit of the money, but there are other women too that I don't recognize. It's 2019. The U.S is behind!

Today (Saturday) has brought not only a much needed shower, but a nice walk around campus to explore. I've included some pictures below. So far I've heard magpies screaming (that's the only way I can describe it) and seen some animals I have never seen before. I never really expected to be as clueless to the plant and animal life as I am, but it makes sense. Today I'll finish unpacking and setting up my room and try to find a church to attend tomorrow morning.

Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers and words of encouragement and support! Love you all!