Hey everybody, my names Andrew and I’m going to be SHU’s Study Abroad blogger for the semester. Unlike colleges here in the State’s, Australian semesters run during the Summer and Winter which parallels our Spring/Fall schedule. This means that unlike everybody else, I’ve had a few months to get ready for the upcoming semester.

The thing that’s been on my mind the most has been trying to figure out how I am going to pass the nearly 30 hours of flying between the time I leave JFK and arrive in Perth. The days I’ve spent waiting for my trip and semester to start have seemed to fly by, so hopefully thirty hours in a Quantas cabin go by equally as fast. I think I’m fairly prepared with dozens of movies, episodes of LOST, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, and Entourage, and even packed a few books.

Thankfully I’ll have a long layover in California where I’ll be meeting up with a friend who’s also coming to Perth with me, so I’ll be able to get a much needed break between flights and won’t be the only SHU student/American when we finally arrive in Australia. Although we leave tomorrow (Saturday) we don’t officially arrive until Monday, where we’ll jump right into Orientation Week. After figuring out our classes and getting situated in Fremantle which will be our home for the next few months, we start classes on the 27.

I’m extremely excited to leave tomorrow and begin this new adventure. Although I’ve gone to Sacred Heart’s campus in Dingle, Ireland twice for two and a half weeks; studying abroad for an entire semester should be much much different. I’ve only heard incredible things about studying abroad though from my two older cousins and a close friend who recently came back from Australia herself, so I’m more than ready to begin this new adventure and go Down Under.