I feel as though it’s unheard of to go to Australia and not go to the Great Barrier Reef so I’m glad my roommates and I planned a trip for this past weekend.  We flew to the northern part of the country to a city named Cairns where the reef is.  It’s amazing how different the weather was there compared to Sydney.  Technically it’s winter in Australia, but winter in Cairns is literally 70 degrees.  Now that’s my kind of winter.  Sydney is cooler where the weather is normally in the 50s or 60s so it was a nice change to have great summer weather since I’m missing out on summer in America.

We did a boat tour that took us out to the reef.  What I found interesting was that the whole reef is actually split up into different reefs in different locations.  Our boat stopped at two different reefs and we got to the snorkel at both.  I had never been snorkeling before and I was surprised at how long it took me to get used to it.  It was incredibly foreign to me to breathe with my head underwater, but once I got used to it and trusted the equipment I was able to appreciate the views and wow was it amazing.  The coral is beautiful and all the sea animals that swim around were fun to watch.  We ended up getting to see a sea turtle swim by too which was really cool – they’re so majestic.  I’m really glad I got the opportunity to see and experience the Great Barrier Reef.

This week was a bit slow at work due to the fact that the Eels had a bye week.  I didn’t realize how much the office culture would change when there isn’t a game at the end of the week.  Less people were actually in the office and some of those that did come in were only in for part of the day.  Since my immediate supervisor is involved with so many things I wasn’t part of the group of people working less hours, but the tasks I was completing were more laid back.  Normally I’m given things to do with a deadline, but this week Sarah told me whenever I could finish was good for her.  Definitely noted that working for a sports team really does revolve around the schedule of the team.  It almost makes me wish I was here during the Eels off-season to see what the office is like then.

My Sport Management class was thrown for a loop this week because my laptop decided to die on me.  It simply wouldn’t turn on and of course this happened the day before I had a 2,000 word research paper due – causing me to lose all the work I had already done.  Thankfully, everything ended up working out.  My roommate lent me her laptop for the night and I was able to rewrite the paper before the deadline.  I was also able to have a technician come and fix my laptop so I’m back in the world of technology again. Moral of the story: save everything to a USB.

We only have two weeks left here in Sydney and I’m just not ready to leave yet.  I feel like there are so many more things I want to do while I’m here so I hope I get the time to do them. I’m definitely going to make the most of the next two weeks to ensure I have a great end to my study abroad experience.