Georgetown University

Dearest family and friends,

I decided to create a blog for you guys to see what I'm up to. I will upload photos and stuff so it saves me having to email gigantic photos to you all.

I might as well start from the beginning here, I'll stretch my mind back to August when Stephanie and I left Sydney.

After the world's worst ever flight (2 nosebleeds, 4 vomiting episodes) and 15 hours in economy class we arrived in Dallas, TX to catch our connecting flight to D.C. Unfortunately the customs line had other ideas for us and we missed our connecting flight and had to wait for the 5pm one instead.

After the 3 hour flight from Dallas to D.C. We got in a cab and made our way to our hotel, Washington Plaza

The hotel was really good, we ordered room service on the first night and after the trial of flying such a long way we fell asleep almost immediately after eating.

The week before we started International Orientation was spent looking around our new home, getting essentials like American phone numbers and all important shopping expeditions.

We decided to check out our new University and were instantly awed by its gigantic presence on the hill at Georgetown...

During the international orientation week we had a lot of pizza and other free food (as us Australians know, free anything is always a good thing). During the O week I met a lot of new friends, some who I discovered lived close to me my whole life! Hilary is from Lindfield and Ellie is from Manly! We made friends from Ecuador, France, England, New Zealand, Spain, Belgium, Germany and a lot more places.

From L-R, Stephanie, Hilary, Ellie, Sharne and my good self!

The week went by really quickly and we formed some really good connections within the university. The week after was a little scarier as we started classes and met our fellow American classmates who have been very welcoming and eager to learn Australian phrases, I have tried unsuccessfully to convince people of the existence of the "Drop Bear", I have encouraged people to "go to the bottle-o for a bevvie" and not to say "throw another shrimp on the barbie".

I have been to my clinical placements in Arlington and Washington, both have been very interesting and it's amazing how quickly I have adapted to life in D.C.

The Lincoln Memorial

Classes are different to ACU of course, they go for 2.5 hours here and as you can imagine by the end of class I am almost out of my mind with boredom. Our teachers are really great and flexible with assignments and are always including information in our lectures pertaining to Australian statistics and facts which is always funny.

In Arlington I have been educating mothers about things such as immunisations for children and asthma and allergies with a girl called Julia. The best part is when I get to have a cuddle with the babies!

I am really loving my time here in the US, I think that taking this opportunity to study abroad is the best thing I have done, I am so glad that I have settled in so well and made such good friends and I can't wait to share more of my experiences with you all!

All my love, Edwina.