First world problems strike again

Referring to the title: There Is No WiFi At Naoka's House! So, right now I am uploading my posts from school. Talking about school, the past week I have gone to St Hilda's for the first time. St Hilda's is the school where Naoka and Kona (our exchange sisters from the Gold Coast) go to. Everyone here wears a uniform, consisting of a tunic, leather lace-up shoes, bow in hair which has to be tied up, white socks, the same schoolbags, a hat, and no make up. right now, Imogen and I don't have to wear the uniform so everyone will recognize us as exchange students, but in a couple of weeks we do have to wear it (I will upload photo's of us in a school uniform as soon as possible! :). It is an very big school, but there are only a couple of buildings for the senior classes (which are years 10, 11 and 12; comparable to our "bovenbouw"). I will give you a brief overview of the last couple of days, and because there wasn't proper WiFi I will upload it all in one big blogpost.

Tuesday.
This was Orientation Day for all new students (so Naoka had to go to school because of me, hehe). For Naoka it was also the first time that she went to school after 4 months, because before her summer holidays started she was on her exchange to Holland.
Naoka doesn't live close to school, so her Nerida brought us to Tweed heads (a town along the Gold Coast) where we could hop on the bus to Southport. It was the first time for the both of us to go on an hour long bus trip to school. Naoka had been boarding since she came to St Hilda's, so she hadn't done that before either. Everything worked out well though, and we got to school without any problems. the school was very impressive, it is so big, and everyone uses electronics (e.g. iPhones, iPads, Macs etc). We went to the theatre, where all the new girls and exchanges were waiting for the principle. The principle, the head of year 11 (our year) and the exchange coordinator welcomed us, and the exchange hosts gave us a small tour of the school. After the tour, we went back home, with a pitstop at Australia Fair (the main shopping area in Southport). When we got home, I was actually quite exhausted and went to bed early.

St Hilda's new girls assembly

Wednesday.
Today was our first real school day, and I was really excited to meet all of Naoka's friends. During the day I had science, English, and maths. In some ways it is really different, but in others there isn't any difference. For example, the way courses are taught, is very different due to all the electronics they use. Whereas what they actually learn is all the same, and I don't think that the use of electronics has influence on how good the classes are (though it is easier to use electronics instead of books).

Thursday.
This was just another school day like Wednesday. Nothing very different. Every afternoon, though, when we hop on the bus it is so full that we feel like sardines in a can! Luckily, after half an hour of standing, people get off and by the time we get to Tweed, Naoka and I are the only people left on the bus. We get picked up again by Nerida, and drive home.

St Hilda's courtyard

Friday.
Today, after school, Imogen will stay at our place (and tomorrow as well). And, this weekend we will go to Byron Bay.
I find it hard keeping up with my own school work, but I am trying. So far I haven't really done anything, because I first needed to adjust to everything here; the climate, the new timezone, the accent, new school, etc. From next week on it will be a head job to keep track of all my own classes, while attending others here.

I hope this has given you a brief overview of the past week. I have to go to my biology class now, so good bye (for now).

Loulotte

At the St Hilda's campus.

Australia Day Holiday

For the Australia Day weekend, we (Naoka, her father Walter, her stepmother Nerida and I) went on a three-day trip up north to the Great Barrier Reef, where we went snorkeling at Lady Musgrave Island (an island located just out of the coast of 1770). The next day we celebrated Australia Day.

The road trip.
Friday morning we stepped into the car to go on a road trip to a town called '1770' (near Rockhampton, and named after the year when the English explorer Cook landed there in 1770). During the road trip we did (and espacially ate) some typycal Australian things. For example, I ate a meatpie for the first time in my life. It was actually quite good, eventhough it doesn't sound all that delicious.
The landscape here is incredibly beautiful! Unlike Holland, where you can mostly see buidlings and grass fields when you drive up the highway, here you can see Australian nature. It isn't all the same either. Every once in a while, the scenery changes and you can see a great variety of Australian landscapes. Sometimes it looked as if we were driving through Norway, and another time it looked just like northern France or as if we were driving through the Alps.
Along the highway, there were a couple of typical Australian towns, where we had small pitstops. They all looked so different from Dutch towns. Houses are more colorful and they are all different. Also, the people act very differently. It was a friday evening so everyone had just finished their work week. They all sat together, had a drink and catched up with each other. It felt like a very friendly environment.

Lady Musgrave Island.
The next morning we took off to the marina, where the day cruise would start. A dingy took us the the main ship (if the main ship would pick us up, it would disturb the breeding fish in the creek where the marina was). It took us one and a half hours to get to Lady Musgrave Island, our final destination. Lady Musgrave Island is an island in the Great Barrier Reef, with a coral foundation. It also has an enormous lagoon of over 1200 acres where it is alowed to go swimming and snorkeling.
It was so beautiful out there! You could see the sun shimmering on the suface of the turquoise sea, and at the horizon you could see the tropical island with its white beach and green trees.
We immediately put on our snorkeling gear, and went in the water. It was so pretty underneath the surface of the sea. The corals and fish were all different and they had the most beautiful colours.
After two hours of snorkeling, Nerida and I first went on a boat through part of the lagoon. Below deck, there was a space with glass walls so you were able to see the reef and its fish. It was very special because the boat could get incredibly close to the coral.
When we got back to the main boat, the both of us went for a 45-minute tour around the island while Naoka and her dad went snorkeling again. The guide told us so many things about the island and the reef. For example, that the fastest growing corals are often the weakest because then, even when it grows fast, it still breaks off and creates space for other types of corals to grow. He also told us that the trees on the island live off dead birds and that the birds live off the leaves of the trees. And, while we were walking along the beach of the island, he said that we wouldn't get to see hatching turtle eggs because they would probably hatch in three weeks.
After the tour, we got back to the main boat and we left Lady Musgrave Island and its lagoon.

Australia Day.
Sunday the 26th of January it was Australia Day. We were going to head back to Murwillumbah (the place where Naoka lives). First, we stopped in a small town, where there was a typical Australia Day Festival going on. We had coffee and a typical Australian sausage sizzle (its just a hotdog but then on a slice of bread instead of on a bun). Afterwards, we went back to the car and continued our long way back to the Gold Coast. We stopped in a couple of other towns as well, but our last stop was for dinner in Brisbane. When we got there, there were fireworks at 7:30 pm to celebrate Australia Day, and it was very beautiful. In the centre of the city, there was also a huge swimming pool which was really nice. The changing rooms, on the other hand, were horrific. Someone had actually pooped in the shower! After we had gone swimming, we had a great dinner. And, besides that little incident, I had a great time in Brisbane.

My holidays were great and i can't wait to go to school!

Loulotte

We're Finally Here!

First of all, sorry that it took so long for me to write another post. I didn't have WiFi until I got at Naoka's. Once I got there though, I was so jetlagged I went straight to bed. So right now (we're going on a road trip, so once again no WiFi) I am writing a not so small paragraph about the past three days.

The start.
The fith period at school had ended and it was lunch break. Imogen and I said everyone at school goodbye, because we were leaving right after the break to do a last check to see if we packed everything we needed. I went to the hockeyclub as well to say goodbye to my hockey team.
It was finally 5:30 pm and we were leaving for Schiphol. Marleen, Stephanie and Paulien were coming with me to say goodbye. Daphne and Indira were joining Imogen to Schiphol. At the airport we met up with Imogen (and everyone who was with her). We took many pictures and then we went to the check-in desk. It took a lot longer than expected because there was a problem with the system so they weren't able to scan Imogen's passport. Everything worked out though and we got our tickets. We were a little bit late beacuse of the check in thing, so we said our final good-byes (I almost cried but we managed to keep it dry). We went to the gate and could board straight away. Once we sat down in our seats, the first thing Imogen and I said to eachother was: "this adventure has now officially started!"

On the plane.
It only took us half an hour to get to Heathrow Airport, London. When we got there, we ckecked in for both our flights with China Southern Airlines; the first one from London to Guangzhou and the second one from Guangzhou to Brisbane. This time the check in went very well. Once we were waiting for our flight to start boarding, we found a charging point and we sat down for about an hour. When we found out our flight was boarding, we were very late already and we were almost too late... We did make it though, and the flight was quite nice. The plane food wasn't too bad and I did get a little bit of sleep so I wasn't incredibly exhausted when we got to Guangzhou. Guangzhou is by the way the worst airport I've ever been to. First of all there was no WiFi, and the smell was so bad. It was a mixture of A LOT OF cigarette smoke and the smell of frying oil of chinese food. My nose still hurts a bit from inhaling those fumes! Anyways, there was one nice thing over there, which was a portable USB charger! It was a baggage trolly which had a small screen on it and a USB port to charge phones, I-Pads etc. After two hours at Guangzhou Airport, we finally boarded our last flight to Brisbane. This flight was a little bit less pleasant than the previous ones. The food wasn't all too good and I didn't get any sleep. Also, this flight took longer than I expected.

Brisbane.
When we got to Brisbane, the first thing that struck me was the heat and the humidity of the air. When we entered the airport, we collected our suitcases and then we went on to the exit. When the doors opened, we immediately saw Naoka and Kona standing there with big signs. We said hi to everyone. It was really nice to see my and Imogen's exchange sisters. Then, I went to Robina Town Centre with Naoka and her dad, which is the main shopping area. It was so different from dutch cities and shopping areas. It was a big shopping mall with several normal and fast food restaurants, a couple of banks and many shops. Instead of a very big, stretched out area with different streets with shops which we have in the Netherlands. After our stop at the mall we went on to the small town closest to were Naoka lives. It is called Murwillumbah, but I haven't seen much of it yet. It was raining (I believe that Imogen and I have brought the rain with us...) so we decided to stay inside the car. I also got to meet Naoka's family. Her siblings are quite a bit older than she is so they all live on their own. In the evening I was so tired I could barely stay awake. I did went to bed in the evening (Australian time) so I'm almost rid of my jetlag.

Today; Friday 24th of January.
Right now we (Naoka, her dad, her stepmother and me) are on a road trip headed for a place near Rockhampton and Gladstone (which is further north of Brisbane). From there, we will go by boat to Lady Musgrave Island where we will spend the coming three days.

The biggest differences.
Obviously the climate is totally different, it is summer here right now. Also, the distances are remarkably bigger. In Holland it takes you 20 minutes to go from one city to the next. Here, it took us 20 minutes to get from one side of Brisbane to the other. Also, because of the overload of space, there are so many woods, and for example big suger cane fields (we saw those yesterday). The typical Australian accent is something which stands out as well. It is really cool, but sometimes hard to understand as well. Not only the accent of people, but their lifestyles are very different. On Holland many people are really uptight and tense, here everyone is relaxed and 'going with the flow'. It is a nice admosphere to be in, and I can definately get used to it!

I will talk to you guys later, and will upload this post first thing when I can connect to WiFi.

Loulotte

Schiphol, Group photo with our friends

Brisbane Airport, Imogen and I have finally arrived. 

Guangzhou Airport, The portable charger trolley.

Guangzhou Airport, Our airplane. 

The Counting Down...

I am only 2 schooldays, 5 tests, 2 suitcases, and a lot of nerves and enthousiasm away from the start of my journey to the Gold Coast. Only three more days until Imogen and I will enter the second part of our exchange. The girls from the Gold Coast have already visited us for two months and now it is our turn. I hope that it will be just as exciting and fun as when they came over. 
I still have trouble realising, that in a couple of days I will be at the other side of the world. I will mis my friends, my parents, my sister and the rest of my family so much! I am going to try to keep it as dry as possible at the airport Tuesday. 
Yesterday, I started packing and  I found it quite hard to decide what to bring. I am so afraid to forget something that I tend to bring everything I own with me (which is obviously not possible). So that is still a task yet to be completed... 
I will be writing a lot more stories about my exchange, but for now this is it. I hope you guys will follow my blog and enjoy it the coming two months. 

Loulotte