As the semester comes to a close, I figured that I should share this story before I wrap up my blog; this happened to me way back in the summer of 2012. On October of 2011, I received an invitation from People to People Student Ambassador Programs, and I was invited by them to go on a trip to Australia for 17 days during the coming summer. You’d imagine how ecstatic 14-year old me was to hear this news. The invitation led my family and me to a meeting explaining details about the trips they go on. People to People offers elementary to high school aged students educational travel opportunities, and I would be one of the lucky ones to participate in this program. The program was to set me up with 39 other students in my age group who also lived in Georgia and were also invited to the program. Over the months before our departure, we were to meet up in conferences, get ourselves acquainted with each other, and participate in events that would help us fundraise for the trip. On the very the last conference before the trip, we threw ourselves a bon voyage party where we ate food, played some games, and explained some last minute info. I have to tell ya’, this was quite a trip for me especially experiencing it at such a young age. It was also a mountain moving experience for me and my family, both financially and emotionally. This trip cost over $7,500. Originally, we had no idea how they were going to pay this and we didn’t have much time to fundraise, yet somehow we still managed.

Below is a day to day summary of the events that took place while I was on my trip. Each of us was required to summarize how our days went in a journal in order to receive 1 high school credit in ambassadorial studies to go towards our GPA. I’ve managed to keep up with my journal, so I’ve attempted to transcribe what I wrote back then. I had to remove a few names to protect their identities. I also had to correct several spelling and grammatical errors because what kind of English student would I be if I didn’t. With that being said, it’s quite long…

---

DAY 1–OUR DEPARTURE FOR AUSTRALIA: On July 2, 2012, my family and I went to Hartsfield–Jackson International Airport in Atlanta where we met with the other students and their parents, along with the leaders of the group. We were happy to see each other again and were all excited about this trip. Everyone waited in line to get our luggage settled for the American Airlines flight and when everything was done, we all cheered and applauded because it was time to leave. Before we left, we took a group picture and said our goodbyes to our families. This was very emotional, but of course, we knew this moment was coming.

DAY 2–EN ROUTE TO AUSTRALIA: On the plane, we flew to Dallas, Texas to switch planes. We were now flying with Qantas, an Australian carrier. The Qantas plane took us on a 16-hour flight to Brisbane, Australia and we skipped a day when we traveled across the International Date Line. In Brisbane, we switched again to a smaller plane to fly to the first city on our schedule, Sydney, Australia.

DAY 3–OUR ARRIVAL IN AUSTRALIA: In the Sydney Airport, we met our delegation manager who was a resident of Sydney. Unlike the leaders (who were our supervisors), he was in charge of everything on our journey including the hotels we stayed in, the meals we ate, the activities we did, etc. After we met him, he took us on a coach (or charter bus) to begin our day.

We traveled to Bondi Beach, a popular beach in Australia. It was too cold to for swimming that day, but if it was warm, they would have given us the opportunity to take a relaxing dip in the water.

We also discovered the history of Hyde Park Barracks; it’s a museum originally built to house convicts sent to Australia a long time ago.

The day ended with a stroll around the Darling Harbor located at Cockle Bay, Sydney. There were souvenirs to buy, and street performers to watch, at all sorts of stuff. It was a very fun little recreational spot.

DAY 4–RAPPELING DOWN THE BLUE MOUNTAINS: Today, we traveled to the Blue Mountains National Park in the outskirts of Sydney. Here, there are lots of beautiful sights and landmarks including the “Three Sisters” which we managed to get photos of. We had to take them quickly though because of the weather. It was very chilly, and no one wanted frostbite today.

Later that day, we partook in the Full On program designed specifically for People to People delegates. This lasted the rest of the day as the Full On crew helped sharpen our mental focus and physical strength by karate chopping boards.

This was for when they would take us rappelling. We practiced a little, and then took a short hike to the rappelling site–a 60 foot exposed rock face. For some, it took courage to drop down that high, but I thought it was exciting, and personally, I don’t mind the heights.

After we were done rappelling, the day ended with tasty refreshments, games, dancing, and more karate-board-breaking.

DAY 5–THE SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE: The next day started with a trip to The National Opal Collection, a store/museum where we got to examine the Opal–Australia’s national gemstone.

Later, we climbed aboard a ferryboat for a cruise on Sydney Harbor. We had lunch onboard and were allowed to roam the deck and take photos of the city’s iconic landmarks.

The highlight of today was when we explored the world-famous Sydney Opera House. We learned the history behind the architecture of the facility and experienced areas that are not accessible to the public on a guided tour exclusive to People to People delegations.

Finally, we took a stroll through the Sydney Aquarium. This was a nice quiet place to enjoy different kinds of sea life. This concluded our activities in Sydney before we’d set off to the next city.

DAY 6–CANBERRA AND THE OLYMPIC CENTER: Today, we said goodbye to Sydney and took a road trip over to Canberra–Australia’s capital city. We explored behind the scenes of Australia’s Parliament House and learned more about Australia’s system of government and political history.

In addition, we visited the Australian Institute of Sport–a training ground for elite athletes, including past and future Olympians. Here, we took a tour of the site and viewed the different gyms the athletes train in for the Olympics. For fun, we were allowed to play training simulators which were much like physical video games.

DAY 7–EMBASSIES, ARMED SERVICES, AND LOTS OF SHEEP: The next day we began with a short bus tour through Yarralumla–a district of Canberra, which houses many embassies and consulates. I remember passing by the American Embassy and ironically, it was the biggest one.

Soon after, we went to the Australian War Memorial. This is where we paid tribute to members of the armed forces in Australia and the U.S. on an exclusive ceremony designed particularly for People to People delegates.

Afterwards, we took a visit to Gold Creek Station. Here, there were sheep everywhere. This was a family owned sheep farm where they taught us how to shear sheep and throw boomerangs. They also provided us with a delicious barbecue lunch consisting of kangaroo and crocodile meats.

Later, we took another road trip back to the Sydney Airport to catch a flight to our next city. We were now headed to Darwin–the capital city of the Northern Territory (a state of Austraila).

DAY 8–CROCODILES: Upon our arrival in Darwin, we started our day with a stroll through the city streets. There were more shopping opportunities for us to get souvenirs as we traveled from store to store.

At the end of our shopping spree, we went to explore the Northern Territory Museum. This was mainly an art gallery of aboriginal art, animals, and other miscellaneous items.

Our journey continued as we traveled to a place called Crocodylus Park, a game reserve housing freshwater and saltwater crocodiles. I was told that the crocodiles were up to 15 feet in length. There were also other kinds of animal life here too like emus, and wallabies; not to mention I got the opportunity to hold a baby crocodile (It weren’t very happy though).

DAY 9–KAKADU NATIONAL PARK: On the following day, we left Darwin and took a coach to Kakadu National Park. We stopped at the Visitor Center where we took part in an environmental service project to help protect the floodplains in this area. While it may have been tough work, I found it quite enjoyable.

While riding throughout Kakadu, we came across East Alligator River which is on the border of the park. We were told that this is one of the largest aboriginal reserves in Australia. A motorboat was set up for us to relax and take photos of the wildlife while enjoying our mini cruise.

After gaining a unique perspective of this park that is known for its remoteness, and the traditions of its native inhabitants, we soon realized that we were definitely in the outback.

As daylight settled we marched up Ubirr Rock–one of Kakadu’s famous landmarks–and caught amazing views across the wetlands as we watched the sunset. We couldn’t stay too long though; it apparently gets very dark in Kakadu at night.

DAY 10–THE SEARCH FOR ANCIENT ABORIGINAL ROCK ART: After our stay in Kakadu National Park, we traveled to a nearby town called Katherine where we spent a night. In the morning we went on another shopping spree, but this time it was just for snacks. We packed on food because we were headed back to Kakadu National Park for a hike to explore Nourlangie Rock–known for its ancient rock art painted by the aboriginal people many years ago.

To cool us off from all that heat, we got the opportunity to swim at Edith Falls­­–a series of beautiful waterfalls and pools.

DAY 11–CULTURAL IMMERSIONS: On the next day, we left Kakadu National Park and continued our journey to Manyallaluk–an aboriginal community in Katherine, Australia. Manyallaluk has a unique group of native Australians who showed us first-hand the way of their life.

Interacting with this tribe of aboriginal people was a blast. They taught us how to throw a spear, start a fire, and even play the didgeridoo (it is a lot harder than it looks). We also got the opportunity to paint our own aboriginal artwork.

For lunch, the aborigines prepared a barbeque for us. We (not me) ate even more kangaroo meat which earlier, they showed us how to skin.

Later that day, we took another refreshing dip in a nearby waterfall to cool us off.

DAY 12–SOAKING UP THE SCENERY: The following day, we got on the coach for another road trip and headed back Darwin. Of course, we made some stops on the way.

We visited several other cascading waterfalls which we weren’t allowed to swim in for simple reasons–crocodiles–and that wouldn’t have been pretty if we did.

Another stop we made was at a giant, magnetic, termite mound located at Litchfield National Park. I remember there being large, rock-like structures with holes in them sticking out the ground and bugs flying around.

It was quite hot, sticky, and uncomfortable at that moment, so to cleanse us of the bugs, we went for yet another swim in a waterfall pool called Wangi Falls. This was my favorite waterfall.

Later that evening, we went back to Darwin to prepare for our early flight to the next city.

DAY 13–MEETING OUR HOST FAMILIES: We bid farewell to Darwin as we were on our flight to the city of Cairns in the state of Queensland. Cairns is a very stunning city and looks like a nice spot for a vacation.

When we arrived, we stopped at Cairns Esplanade Lagoon, complete with a large, beach-like, swimming pool. It even has a marketplace full of nifty knick-knacks and treasures like jewelry made from opals, carved bones, and more.

Sometime later, our delegation manager told us what host family we were staying with for the homestay portion of the trip. The parents of host families are volunteers for People to People and they all have at children who attend the same school.

When we arrived at the school, all of the host families were there. I think most of the children there were between the ages of 2 to 5. We all got our suitcases out of the coach, and then we left one by one or with a roommate with our host family to spend a day with them.

My host family had two children, a 4-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl, and two pets, a cat and a dog. They welcomed us into their home, had a snack, and talked about our lifestyles. Later on, we had a homemade pizza dinner. My roommate and I also played a few games with their kids before they went to bed. At night, I, my roommate, and the parents watched a movie, and when it was time for us to go to bed, we slept in their boy’s room on inflatable mattresses.

DAY 14–MY DAY LONG HOMESTAY: In the morning, the parents woke us up early in to do several activities. The mother generously prepared breakfast for us and packed sandwiches too for a picnic. We had our picnic on a nearby beach and got our feet wet when we were done eating.

For our next activity, the parents took us for a nature walk up Mount Whitfield–a once massive rainforest that now has hiking trails for exercising or just enjoying the environment. We also went to a botanical garden that was adjoining the hiking trails. There were all sorts of plants, some familiar, and others quite odd.

Later on, we went to a place called AJ Hackett–it’s a bungee jumping site. We didn’t actually bungee jump that day, but we did spectate and caught amazing sights of people doing this outrageous stunt.

As evening fell, the parents were required to take us to the school their children attend. At the school, there was a barbecue party set up and all of the other students and the host families also came. We mingled and talked about the things we did with our families. We even got the chance to play with children from the other families. After we ate the food and played some games, we and the other students went back home with their host families where we stayed one more night, and then we had to leave in the morning.

DAY 15–A VIBRANT VILLAGE OF A WILDLIFE AND DANCING: After we bid farewell to our host families, we traveled to the colorful village of Kuranda, known as “The Village in the Rainforest.” We hitched a ride through the rainforest in an Army Duck, a World War II amphibious vehicle which can traverse land and water. These unique vehicles were used in Australia by the U.S. Military during World War II.

The same village included an active wildlife sanctuary, occupying many of Australia’s native animals including koalas, kangaroos, dingoes, and wombats. We even got the chance to get a picture holding a baby koala (it was kind of smelly though).

Later that day, we met up with another People to People delegation from different U.S. state on the same trip. They joined us as we ended our day in an Aussie bush dance (much like square dancing), moving to the beat of a local bush band.

DAY 16–THE GREAT BARRIER REEF: On our last day Down Under, we braced off to go snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef—the world’s largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching around 1,600 miles.

We all got our cruise tickets and started on our way. Our journey to the Reef was quite long as we traveled across stunning aqua-blue waters. While on the cruise ship, a marine biologist gave us safety information to cram in before we’d a dive in the Reef. He also gave us some fascinating, elaborate information about the inhabitants living there.

Soon after, we arrived at a large floating station which is used as a rest stop. This is where we’d dive. We geared up in our lycra suits, snorkels, and flippers, and settled off. A marine biologist was also out there; he’d tell us information about the coral polyps beneath us as we snapped photos of them using our underwater cameras. Although the weather was rather choppy out there that day, it was a lot of fun swimming around with my buddies. For those who didn’t want to snorkel, there was another neat way to see the Reef and its inhabitants–through a submarine. Our activities at the Reef lasted the rest of the day and we were pretty drained, so we headed back to the hotel we were staying in.

We arrived at the hotel by nightfall, and our delegation manager gave us survey forums to fill out. The survey was about our trip asking for information including our opinion on the meals, our opinion on the activities we did, and our overall trip experience. I rated everything an excellent because I felt like the delegation manager and the leaders did an awesome job at directing and supervising this trip.

DAY 17–OUR DEPARTURE FOR HOME: Most of us didn’t sleep last night because we were told to wake up, and be packed and ready at around 2:00 am for a very early flight back home. After everyone was ready, we boarded the coach and traveled to Cairns Airport for a flight back to Sydney. The flight from Cairns to Sydney was about 2 hours long.

At the Sydney Airport, it took awhile, but our international flight finally was ready to take us back to the States on another 16-hour flight. It was a Wednesday when we left, and it was still Wednesday when we arrived in Dallas, Texas because we were flying with the time. From Dallas, we flew back on another 2 hour flight to Atlanta, Georgia, where all our families and friends were waiting.

At Hartsfield–Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, we rode an escalator to the bottom floor of the terminal where, through glass doors, we saw all our families and friends happy to see our faces again. I remember as soon as I walked through the door, my older sister hugged the life out of me. After I exchanged hugs and kisses with my mother, father, and sisters, we said our goodbyes to our buddies and fellow student ambassadors as we left the airport and parted ways.