What up, Townsville

Day 1, Wednesday, July 15 I arrived and that evening went to see Harry Potter with one of my new classmates. Here is a photo is the view from my window at the backpacker’s inn where I stayed the first night and one of the entrance to campus.

Thursday I was lucky enough to find a great place to move into right away. Four JCU study abroad students live upstairs: Kelsi from Oregon, Kristin from Germany, and I share a bathroom; Kai from Germany has his own bathroom. Downstairs live an Irish couple. So far it’s a great group. Here you can see the house and backyard.

Friday I met some girls from Ursinus College, near Swat, and we went into the city for an evening out.

Saturday I made a daytrip to Magnetic Island (8 km off the Townsville coast) with housemates and new friends. We went for a short hike and even saw a koala bear – very hard to spot.

Today was the official start of international orientation week with a kick-off barbecue that included the chance to hold some cool critters – an olive python, a blue-tongued lizard, and a bearded dragon.

So everything is going great so far! Internet access is a bit problematic at the moment but hopefully there will be a better solution soon…