For days I've been equally nervous and excited about the upcoming trip. I've wanted this for so long, and now that it's here, it just doesn't seem possible. It still seems so far away, yet at the same time, it all seems to be happening too quickly.

Thanks to one of my best friends Evan, we have a mascot for the trip:




A honey-colored Vermont Teddy Hiker Bear arrived at my doorstep a couple of weeks ago, proving once again how well Evan knows me and how perfect his care packages always are :-) It took a while to come up with a name, but somehow Bradley Cooper hit me before I went to sleep the other night.

Although Katie and I still have shopping to do, we've done some of the essentials: made several copies of the first page of our passports, forwared all flight info and reservations to our parents, reserved the hostel, & booked our Bridge Climb (we're going at night!). When I fly to Brisbane solo, there will be so much to do! A contact of mine has set up some great day trips -- O'Reilly's, a zoo, a Brisbane Lions footy match (hoorah!), & a few days at Queensland University of Technology to learn about career services and counseling. Then hopefully I will meet up with a new pal of mine to Zorb at the Gold Coast, do some bushwalking, and visit some nearby islands. When I head back to Sydney, I'm thinking about day tours of the Blue Mountains and Hunter Valley and then a show at the Opera House. We'll see what happens!

Oh yeah, and Katie and I are wondering how many times we'll be called "seppos" while we're there. We already have a number in mind. Feel free to take a guess ;-)