What were you grateful for this week?
I am grateful for my host mom. She’s been great with me adjusting to my life here. She’s very sweet and always offers me morning coffee and says goodmorning and I’m grateful for that. 

What was the most difficult or challenging part of this week?
Moving in with a family you’ve never met half a globe away from your own. I’ve lived abroad before, but I don’t think anything could prepare me for the first week of moving in with a host family. I have super struggled with my comfort here and getting out of my comfort zone. My family is wonderful here it’s just moving into a house with people you’ve never met is a lot harder than I realized. 

Tell us about a “wow” moment you had this week.
If we’re being honest I haven’t had anything big or crazy yet because I’ve only had a few days here and not much has been done at all. I’ve just been learning the duties and everything. My host mom does a lot of the cleaning and doesn’t pressure me to do all the house chores but I have been helping with the dishes and this coming week I will helping around the house more. There hasn’t been much to do yet. 

Tell us about your week! 
My week has been crazy. The jet lag I’ve had has been the worst yet, I’m hoping this week my body will adjust. I’ve just been getting settled for the next few months as well as getting to know my family and kids, they are all so great. With me being here a few days only and getting over the jet lag and learning my schedule I haven’t done to much outside of my house and area. I live further from the city which the first two days made me super emotional because I thought I was gonna be restricted, with that being said…I learned how to drive in manual Australia, it’s not the coolest thing I could do here but it’s a huge thing. In Australia the steering wheel is on the right hand side of the car, the shifter is on the left and Australian roads are driven on, on the life side so all of that is completely backwards from the United States, if you can avoid driving and take the trains and buses I suggest that because it is hard and confusing. With driving I learned that I am not restricted at all I am half way to the city which there is lots of life like clubbing and what not and half way to the beach so thats perfect. 

 

Where I live is a lot of acreage and not city at all which means the wildlife I see is unreal just on your morning drive seeing kangaroos or on your afternoon walk running away from giant lizards. I live about 20 minutes from a massive shopping center, it has pretty much anything you could think of to buy or eat which is great and not to mention it has a massive lagoon of free swimming pools and water activities along with rainforest nature walks.