June 7th 2011

After months of work and waiting, we finally left off on our trip to Australia and New Zealand. We were all anxious to get up and go to North, well at least I know I was. It felt even better to share this excitement with the other kids who were going. It was a pretty simple procedure by checking our bags and work in with the teachers seeing as we already covered that the other night. So we said our final goodbyes to our loved ones, we were off on our way to the airport for the flight to LA. The teachers said this trip would help us learn to bond more as a family, and it sure worked since we were stuck at the check in computers with nothing else much to do but talk because there was a crash with one of the computers. We did catch allot of people staring at us, on account of our matching traveling clothes. As a matter of fact, we saw another class traveling abroad. By the look of it they seamed like they were from some all girls asian private high school, we each exchanged the same confused expressions at one another. Finally we moved on, we got to the gate, got lunch, and then we got on the plain. The first flight of many, it was nice that I caught a movie and show on the flight, it would have been more respectful to the other passengers if the girls didn't cheer out loud when we landed. As soon as we got off the teachers wanted to rush to the next flight seeing as we didn't have much time on our hands. But it was worth it to see how nice our international flight was. The Qantas flight had comfortable seats, a selection of things to watch on our televisions, and great food; the last fourteen hours just flew by. Then at last, we were finally in Auckland, New Zealand, the first stop in our trip. Despite the rain just outside, I was so thrilled to see what this country had to offer, as well as the rest of the trip.

June 17th 2011

Toady's the day when we finally go back home. No one was really thrilled about the 3:30 wake up call, but it gave us time to get our things together and it helped a little with the jet lag. It was sad for us to be leaving the trip, especially since Mrs. Titus, one of the greatest teachers ever, wasn't going home without us. She told us even before the trip that she and her husband were moving out of the country and she wouldn't be traveling back home with us. We didn't manage to get in that many goodbye's in the morning, but it was alright for us in her group. Last night she came by our rooms to give us goodbye letters that talked about how proud she was to watch us grow up. We had enough time that night, so along with the letters we wrote for

Alec and our parents, me and my room mates, Jack and Erik, made a letter of our own to Mrs. Titus. Although I was the last to write in the one paper letter and had the least to write with, the guys said mine was the most touching. So all in all, the ride to the airport went fine, but some of us (including me) hadn't done our inquiries yet, so we had to get those done quick before we could feel any enjoyment of getting home. So while we waited for our first flight, I managed to get the information for my inquiry before the flight. Then we got on the flight and road for a few hours, I watched a couple movies, everything seamed fine. That was until thirty minutes before we landed in Sydney, I suddenly got a sharp and painful jolt in my head. It was worse than a long headache and it was beyond anything irritating I felt. My first idea was that it came to be from the high altitude air pressure, and that didn't make me feel any better since we had to ride another 18 hours of flight. Plus, when we landed I felt in desperate need for a shower and I knew I wouldn't be near one in a while. But before we left Sydney, we had to make our final goodbyes to Alec as well and thank him for being a great tour guide. So to take my mind off the pain, filthiness, and fighting over the arm rest with the kid next to me; I watched hours worth of movies and shows. Then after a couple more hours, we landed in LA and quickly prepared for our last flight to Chicago. At this point in flying, the pain in my head was no concern, my main concern now was how my comfort on the flight would be, in particular the foot space. Thankfully, since we were back in the US so we were riding American airlines, so I could trust the seats would be generally comfortable. That flight had to be the easiest of them all to handle. Anxiety began to spike back up again as soon as we were on the bus back to Grayslake. It was all starting to wrap up now, the teachers were giving us our assignments for the week and we were talking about what we would do when we first got home. Then before we knew it, we made it to the school and there were our loved ones waiting for us. This was a great way to sum up the trip.

June 16th 2011; Top Ten

This is a list of my most treasured and enriching experiences of the trip.

1. Rangitoto College- I will never forget the kids there who gave us a wonderful experience of meeting New Zealanders who were more like us than I thought. We all had so much to talk about including what our lives are like compared to theirs and them teaching us the Haka, it made me regret not getting a pen pal.
2. Climbing the Sydney Harbor Bridge- That hike was one of the most exciting adventures I ever had. It was more fun due to the extreme and unpredictable weather and the amazing view of Sydney.
3. Courthouse, "State of Origin game"- It was exciting to be able to be able to get into an Australian outdoor bar to watch a huge rugby game that was as important to the Aussies as the Superbowl is to us. It was especially cool of Alec to get us in, since its restricted to kids under eighteen.
4. Kuranda- This was a great cultural experience for me to see their stories on world creation and physical activities. It was especially good for me to get some experience in with the Didgeridoo, seeing as I have one waiting at home for me.
5. Luging- I enjoyed this activity for fun and for experience as this being a modern day activity normal to New Zealand.
6. Great Barrier Reef- I enjoyed swimming in the reef and exploring the different fish and coral. This was my favorite natural reference since I also saw what coral bleaching had done to some of the reef already.
7. Chinese Restaurant- I loved getting into our small group and exploring Sydney's nightlife. Especially when we were able to converse as friends in a small Chinese restaurant.
8. Maori village, "Whakarewarewa"-   This was a great cultural experience for me since we were able to see how the Maori people handle staying in contact with the modern world, be able to make such good use of the geothermic springs, and keep in touch with their ancestral roots.
9. Cairns- I really loved looking around the area of Cairns we were able to explore, because I feel we got to explore it the most and best out of any other town. So that we could really see what Australian town life was like.
10. Sydney Zoo- I enjoyed the Zoo as a cultural experience, because we were able to more easily see some of the Animals we anticipated for Australia. 

Since this was our last day of our trip of actual exploration, we decided to fit as much into this day as we could, and what better way to do so than to visit Kuranda. This was an activities center and a theater room that gave a good introduction of the Australian Aboriginal way of life and history. But we actually started the day on a train ride up the mountains and a gondola ride over the rain forest where we took pictures of the great views. When we finished the gondola ride, we were given a small tour of an Atherton Tableland rainforest. The tour gide some of the unique trees that date back to ancient times and birds indigenous to the area. Afterwards, we took one more gondola ride back to the ground to be taken to Kuranda. When we got there, we were generously welcomed by an amazing performance of Aboriginal song and dance as they told us the translations and unique meaning behind each one. After that, they took us outside to open training fields where they showed us how to use the boomerang and the spear launcher (I had more success with the boomerang). Then they took us inside to a small presentation area where they showed us the use of some of their tools and weapons. Later, we were brought inside to a room with some exhibits of more Aboriginal tools. In a few minutes, we were called into a couple of theaters where they showed us some of their creation stories and the use of the didgeridoo. Afterwards, we got back on the bus to group up into groups of eight this time to explore Cairns one last time on our own. My group went to a pizza place for dinner and it was delicious for a last meal in Australia, except for one of us who didn't get their pizza until some of us already finished. Later that night, we went back to the hotel to get our stuff together for when we leave tomorrow. Then we were called down to the lobby for a meeting of what we will be doing tomorrow. Then after they finished, me and my room mates got the good news that I would be staying with them tonight, that good new brought this day to a great end.

June 15th 2011

At first, I wasn't sure what to expect from the Great Barrier Reef. I was both excited and a little concerned. For one thing, when we arrived I noticed I hadn't brought a towel or a bottle of sunscreen. Plus, since I know I burn easily I knew I needed to borrow some. Another thing was that my mouth was dry the whole day and I thought my mind would be more on that. The shaky boat ride didn't help much either. But when I first laid eyes on the amazing sight of the reef, I knew there was much life to be explored, and I would be the one to do it. I started to get ready by getting all my snorkeling gear together, took a couple steps in the cold water, and set off. My mind was taken over by how cold the water was, but that quickly blew away when I took a good view at the beautiful ecosystem and vast amount of fish to explore. I enjoyed picking coral to swim around and watch the varieties of fish, big and small, take up the reefs and turn the area into an amazing artistic pallet. It was neat to see that the reef was partly what I expected (from my experience of exploring reefs), I was also reminded of coral bleaching and the buildup of dead coral walls for room for new coral as from what I learned from my notes and blog assignment from class. Overall, the day went quite well for me, despite a blood-shot, salt watery eye; I was astounded by what the Great Barrier Reef had to offer.

Like I said, most of the day we spent touring the Great Barrier Reef. I got to see allot of fish and get up close with them, one that really caught my eye was this massive green fish that was at least 5x4 ft. It mostly stuck to the bottom and shady areas, but I liked following it around and watching other fish stick to it for protection. Another thing was that there was a caged area on the boat where we could step into the water and throw fish food in so fish would swim around our ankles in a frenzy and we could feel them. There was also a touch tank on the boat filled with sea cucumbers and a starfish they catch that day and then throw them back in. At some points when swimming I found myself swimming in shallow areas around the coral, and since they didn't want us to harm it and I saw a group of fish that seamed dangerous, I decided to turn back. Then I got out of the water and went inside the boat for lunch. But when I went back out, the exposed coral coming out the water told me that low tide came in for the day. Since it looked kind of dangerous to swim in, I decided to stay out. Then soon enough we went back to the boat to go back to Cairns. During the ride, Mrs. Titus and I played a music guessing game that we started playing a few days ago in Sydney, but then it became more of a discussion of music between a few more of us. Then after a long bus ride back to the hotel, we got into groups of six to go out and check out the town again. This time I hung out with some different guys, lucky too, because they made plans with Alec to meet up after dinner so he could get us into an outdoor bar to watch the State of Origin rugby game on a giant monitor. This area was off limits to anyone under eighteen, even without the intention of drinking. But Alec got us in because he had a friend who worked at the bar, this was another amazing highlight of my day. The game didn't start off well for the team we were routing for (New South Whales), and we had to head back to the hotel during halftime to regroup and go back to our hotel rooms. But later that night when we were watching the game, NSW had taken the game by storm and won 18 to 8. We were all thrilled about the game, but it turned out that good new was enough to brace us for the what was coming, because one of the teachers told me that due to some accident that I had to switch room mates with someone else for the night. It was bad for all of us since we got to be such good friends over the trip, but we all sucked it up and dealt with our new room mates. This interesting day had its ups and downs, but I'm glad to have experienced it.

June 14th 2011

Today we headed out for Cairns, which was the last city we would be staying in for the rest of the trip. Cairns was not what I expected out of Australians winter time, because when people say save the best for last, Cairns was a great example. It had the best and nicest hotel we've stayed in for the entire trip, the scenery was excellent and there was no bad weather, plus it had a nice small town area that was perfect for us when we went out on our own to explore the area. We hadn't much planned for the day, so after we unloaded our luggage into our rooms, we got our bathing suits to go out swimming. At first I thought we were going to the beach, but when we got up to the water I realized the shallow, muddy, crab infested waters could hardly be recognizable as a beach. Thankfully that's not where we were going, it turns out we were headed for a public pool. I though it would be alright, but the water was so cold that I couldn't stay in for even five minutes. So instead we went to get something to eat and play catch with a rugby ball, it was a better alternative for having fun at the pool. When we were all done, we met up back at the hotel and got in groups of four to go out and check out the town. At first, we mainly saw hotels and we couldn't decide where to eat, so we just stuck it to markets and open fields to play around with our boomerangs. Then to take up the rest of the time, we went to swim at the hotel pool (we heard it was heated so we figured it had to be better than the public pool. Unfortunately they closed it up, but thankfully an attendant let up open it back up as long as we closed it when we were finished. After some swimming we realized it wasn't as warm as we thought it would be so we headed for the hot tub. It was very relaxing to sit in and soon became a great hangout spot as soon as more people started to arrive. This turned out to be a better day than I thought, and it made me upset when I realized we would be leaving in a couple days.

June 13th 2011

At first, I wasn't sure about traveling without my family because I knew I'd be given more responsibility than I knew to handle. I only figured I'd learn to handle having room mates and to be more responsible with time and packing, but It's so much more than that. I realized that big parts in traveling like going over luggage, getting tickets and going through airports, checking into hotels, and most of all is finding what to see and where to go on your trip are all much simpler than they seam. I could already assume what packing up and going through airport security were like and I'm still not sure about getting airplane tickets and checking into hotels but at least I have a better understanding of all this. Like I said, to me personally experiencing your trip and realizing how to experience it is the primary concern you should have. Now I know I should be on the lookout for popular hot spots and activities there are to explore in a certain culture.

To summarize the day, it started out a little disappointing but it picked up again soon. The reason for disappointment was because we were supposed to do our Sydney excursions today, some did the Blue Mountain tour and others did the Sydney Bridge climb. There was supposed to be Whale Watching as a third excursion, but because of unpredictable wind in Sydney, it was canceled. So me and everyone else who wanted to go whale watching had to walk around some failing dead-end malls and outdoor markets for a couple hours until it was time to go bridge climbing. All in all, the market wasn't as bad as the mall, I managed to get a couple pictures and food in before we left. Finally, we left for the bridge climb, and this was one of my biggest highlights of the trip. Although some people choked at the last minute and were to afraid to conquer the bridge, but I had no dought in my mind that this wouldn't be amazing and exiting. When we finished, we went back to the harbor a third time to watch a light show on the Sydney Opera house (which was the last of the year, lucky for us). It was fun to watch, we got to take pictures and reminisce about how our days went and what we did. From what I heard, the Blue Mountain hikers got rained on, and the weather was easier to take for us. Later that night, we split up into groups again back at the hotel so we could have more of a choice on where we wanted to eat. Our group had nothing planed, we just walked around Sydney until we found a cozy Chinese noodle restaurant to eat at. The dinner was great and I realized that night, if some things planned don't go your way, just make stuff happen as you go along and it should work out.

June 12th 2011

This trip was the reason I learned to use so many tools in life I would have needed to learn at some point in my life. Firstly, I learned how to use my credit and debt cards to pay and obtain money. I wouldn't have known when I would get these in life, but like I said my parents figured this would be a great time to learn how to use them. Another thing would be getting through an airport without family. Now I can see how simple it is to get through an airport by obtaining my tickets and going through baggage check. Another thing is learning how to adapt to hotel life. Even though I haven't made sure about checking into hotels (Because that's done for us) but I'm having an easier time for finding my room and using what cloths and toiletries I need that day. I'm especially having a better time with this, due to the fact that we're going to four different hotels. As for my last tool in life, I've learned to be able to converse with people better. Since we've left home, I learned more names of people here and more about them. Primarily,I  learned this tool when we visited the kids at Rangitoto. They were all so invative to talk with us, and they made me realize I should be more open to talk with people who feel alone.

For my summary of the day, we started the day when they gave us a tour of Sydney. We went to an area that used to be a prison, but is now an attraction that is introduced by large stones, while we road around on the bus to see more of Sydney, Alec talked about the houses and how they're being redesigned and he showed us some great views of the city and the sea. We then stopped at a beach to rest and get a little food. Later, we went back to the Sydney harbor to explore it ourselves. I personally wanted to see the Opera House but my group wanted to get lunch , and after a look inside, I noticed there wasn't much to see either. So we walked around and having a hard time deciding where to eat my group was also getting annoyed by eachother, something that didn't involve me so no real concern. Soon enough, it was time to regroup and board a boat to explore Sydney by water. Mostly in the prison area where we started the day. When we docked, we went strait to the Sydney Zoo, where I saw many native Australian animals; like the Kangaroo, Koala, Cassowary, and other animals. We ended the day eating dinner at the zoo, we got to talk with eachother about the day and go to the gift shop.