Getting to the Other Side of the World

Ok I know it has taken me a long time to start writing about my time here, but I haven't really had internet until now! It even took me five days to open my computer- that would never happen back home. But I have been writing about my days so I wouldn't forget about the details. I left Baltimore around 6:30pm and took the five hour flight to Los Angeles. I had the cutest little girl sitting next to me and her mom next to her. She was four years old and VERY talkative! I actually liked that she was keeping me up, because I thought it would be better to be able to sleep on my flight from LA to Australia. She kept offering me her snacks and wanting me to color with her. She was very polite. I only slept for about twenty minutes on this first flight, but I was happy with that. I kept thinking it was a long flight, and then realizing I had a much longer one coming up. YUCK! We made it to LA very smoothly and I had to go figure out how to get to the international terminal at LAX. Not a simple task. I asked around and they said I had to get on a bus. I went to one level of the road and they told me I had to go to the bottom level of the road. The bus finally made it to the stop and I was just hoping it was the right one. It was also very very late at night so I wasn't fully functional. I had about two hours of layover time, but I was nervous about finding the terminal in time, just because I was so tired. I got off the bus where there was a Qantas sign and I found out I was supposed to be in the building next door. So I walked over there and checked in to my Qantas flight. I then had to go through security again but that only took about ten minutes. I got through security without a problem and Madison (my roommate back at school) was there waiting for me! It was a relief to see her. We had some time to kill so we decided to walk around the terminal. I have heard there is so much to do at LAX, but let me tell you, the international terminal has about five stores. There was nothing to look at or do so we went to sit down. There were tons of other students at the gate. We sat there telling each other about our summers and just ready to get onto the plane. We didn't end up sitting in the same row, so I had a guy my age, Spencer, sitting next to me and then an Aussie sitting next to him. Spencer and I talked for a lot of the flight because neither of us could sleep. Finally, we decided to both watch a movie and we both passed out for a little while. They fed us a lot during the flight- none of which was very good, but it held me over. Toward the end of the flight, there was SOOOO much turbulence. I didn't like it at all, and I was very surprised I didn't throw up. I felt so nauseous it was gross. I hope I never have to experience turbulence like that again. It didn't stop for about thirty minutes so I was definitely ready to land by that time. I got about five hours of sleep during the flight. It was pitch black during our whole trip, up until around 5am Australia time. We landed around 5:45am. It was weird being in the dark for such a long period of time, but I have never seen so many stars in my life. I thought there were a lot at our beach house, but this was insane! I wish I could have gotten a picture of it, but it didn't work too well. Madison and I got off the plane and realized that the plane was HUGE. I don't know how those planes get into the air. We went through customs- I had to have my bags searched because the dumb search dog was acting weird around my bags. DUMB. They didn't find anything in my bags and they said the dog probably liked the smell of my dogs at home. Don't millions of people have dogs at home?! We then went on our way to find the train station to start our journey to our hotel!