TRAVELOGUE.jesswrites.com

Well, my first two days of school are behind me now and I’m feeling pretty good about my new school, new classes, and new friends. I wasn’t nervous at all going to school on Wednesday but there was a feeling of uncertainty because I didn’t really know what to expect and I’ve never started at a new school before. We got to school about an hour before school started so that I could get my books and school ID, but when I went to the office to get them they told me that they couldn’t help me until I got my timetable in form class. So then we (me, Lana, & Sam) just went down to one of the courtyards where I was introduced to about 40 people and only remembered about 3 names. Cairns High has block scheduling so on Wednesdays I only have 3 of my classes and they are the easiest ones that I have–tourism, marine studies (boating), and photography. Then in the afternoon every Wednesday I have two study periods right in a row. School starts at 8:45 so when the morning bell ran I followed a few of the 11th graders that I had just met into the gym for the Grade 11 welcome speech. I found Craig (the international student coordinator) and he introduced me to Ben. (the boy from Maine who I had been emailing back-and-forth with for a couple of months) After about 10 minutes of “being in year 11 means added responsibility” and “if you don’t take school seriously we can kick you out” and “have a great year!” we went to our form classes. (Form class = homeroom) There I met Illy, the girl from NYC, and also a few other kids but spent most of my time talking w/ Ben and Illy about the differences between USA and Australia. Ben gave me several tips such as if the kids ask me stupid questions such as “are the parties in America like they are in the movies?” and “do you carry around a gun at school?” to tell them what they want to hear and they will be very impressed… haha. I actually made a kid seriously think that all American students keep guns in their backpocket.
But anyways… everyone seems to be very nice and I had kids come and talk to me in all of my classes so making friends has been really easy. It’s so weird having a 40 minute break each day for “morning tea” and then having a 45 minute break for lunch just 1 hour later. The day goes by so fast because the class periods are only 35 minutes long–even though we usually have a double lesson, meaning we have the same class two periods in a row. The school is so big and my classes are scattered all over the places. There are about 7 large buildings which all contain classrooms and I have at least one class in most of them so I am definately getting my excersize. My only big complaint is the heat. Most of the rooms are airconditioned, but the ones that aren’t are terrible and our uniforms start sticking to us after a few minutes of sitting in them. On Wednesday during “morning tea” Ben came and found me and told me that him and his friends wanted me to come sit with them so I did and they are all really cool. Lana is friends with several of them too, even though they are mostly 11th graders. It was really nice of him though because now I have a large group of kids to sit with at morning tea and lunch each day and they all seem to like me pretty well. A 12th grader named Shaynee (also one of Lana’s friends) invited me to come sit with all of the seniors in the memorial (the seniors-only spot) and she introduced me to all of her friends there and they all seem really nice too. I got “special permission” to be in the memorial, even though I’m not a senior, since I’m the same age or older than most of them. Lana tells me that I should “feel special”… haha. The whole thing just made me laugh because it sounds like such a typical highschool thing even though I’m on the other side of the world.
I had a hard time remembering everyone’s names the first day, but today it got a little easier. I just hope people aren’t getting sick of me asking them their names 5 times a day. I started writing them down in my planner and that helped a lot. I just feel bad when someone waves at me or comes up and says hi, and I remember meeting them but I don’t remember their name… so learning them all is one of my top priorities right now. All in all, school went really well both days and I like it a lot and I’m fitting in pretty well so far. (In case you didn’t already know this, grade 11 and 12s don’t go to school on Thursdays so that’s why I only had 2 days of school this week.)
Yesterday after Lana got home from school (and I had been doing nothing all day) we went to Yorkey’s beach with Gordon and then we drove over to Trinity Beach. The water is SO warm and walking on the beach with my feet in the water is so relaxing. Lana and I went down to the beach again today but instead of walking, we climbed out on some huge rocks that went out pretty far and then sat there and talked. It’s great how close we are getting and our personalities are really compatible. I don’t think I could have been given a better host family because mine is great. I get along really well with the two older sisters, Kita and Lisa, too because they have been around a lot. Lisa is even moving back in next month.
Tomorrow the whole family plus Andrew (Lisa’s boyfriend), Mark, and Nick (Mark’s friend) are going to a placed called Josephine Falls. I was told that it’s a lot like Crystal Cascades except for bigger… so I bet it will be really beautiful. When we get back I’m going “out” for the evening with Mark and several of his friends, and I think Lana and Sam might come along too.
This is an incrediably long post so I think I’ll wrap it up for now. I have a ton of pictures and I will try to get a bunch of them up this weekend for your viewing pleasure. I hope everyone’s doing good and I think about you all a lot. Thanks for reading and have a great day! <3 Jess

I finally figured out how to get my digital pictures transfered to the computer so they are coming VERY soon! (I just gotta upload them all to the internet.) I’ve uploaded a few so here’s a preview of what’s coming!

A few pictures from Crystal Cascades (More coming soon!)
Me and Lana in front of Cairns High
Pictures of my bedroom and the patio (I have a ton of pics of my house so there are plenty more to come!)

That’s it for now because I really gotta get off. I have to get my stuff around for school tomorrow!! Have a great day!

Hey everyone! I’m just getting ready to start heading to bed but I thought I would give you a quick update about today. For Australia Day (which was yesterday) all of the Scoville’s family and friends gathered at a big park for a cook-out and a cricket match!! The cricket game lasted for about 3 and a half hours (and my sunburn is proof of that) and it was very interesting to watch and even most interesting to play. I kinda got the hang of it but I was kinda confused about some of the rules and I made it well known to everyone that I had never played nor watched a cricket game before and I had no idea what I was doing and that is why I was so bad… haha! At one point I was laying out in the sun in my togs (swimsuit) just working on my tan when I got a huge bucket of cold water poored over me. And ya know who did it!? Gordon, my host dad!! He thought it would be SO funny and he even had Lana take a picture of him doing that. lol! The water felt very good though because laying in the sun gets really hot after about, oh… 30 seconds. As soon as the cricket game was over, Lana, Mark, and Jeffery (mark’s 15-yr-old brother) and I went to Crystal Cascades again. THIS TIME I took pictures, AND I jumped off some of the really high cliffs!! It took about 30 minutes of me standing at the top staring down at the water before I finally just did it. It was SO high up though, and once you climb to the top you HAVE to jump because its almost impossible to climb back down without slipping. Jeffrey took a picture of me, Lana, and Mark sitting at the very highest cliff (even though I didn’t jump from that one) except he zoomed in so much that you cna’t even tell that we were high up. I’ll show them to you though because climbing up that high on slippery rocks without killing myself was a very big accomplishment, and me jumping off a 40-ft cliff was even a BIGGER accomplishment. (Even if it did take me half an hour to get up enough nerves.) We also slid down a couple of the waterfalls because they weren’t extremely steep, but they were deep enough and slippery enough to just slide right down. That was a lot of fun too. I really should be going though because I’m the only one still awake and I’m getting pretty tired. I start school on Wednesday so be prepared to read a long entry that day cuz I’m sure I’ll have a lot to say. Have a great day everyone and thanks for keeping in touch!

Happy Australia Day!! Today is one of the biggest holidays of the year, much like USA’s 4th of July. The only difference is Australia is not celebrating their independence since they never had to win it–they are purely celebrating the fact that they are Australians. There was quite a large celebration right here in Yorkey’s Knob. Thousands of people gathered at the beach for a free breakfast, a sand castle contest, face painting, and live music. Gordon, Tricia, and I were all up by 7:00 am, but Lana took some violent shaking before she literally rolled out of bed. We headed to the beach at about 8:00. It was fun, despite the fact that half the town was under the 6 inches of rain we got last night. It was the biggest rain they’ve had here in over a year, and that’s not hard to believe. It was just about the biggest rain I’ve ever seen in my life.
Yesterday was really nice too. Mark ended up staying over the night before, so he hung out with me while Lana had dance until noon. Then Tricia dropped Lana and me off at Cairns Central. I had to get a bunch of stuff such as a school bag, joggers (tennis shoes), togs (swim suit), and school books (pads of paper). The mall was really big! It was mostly clothing stores too. One thing I’ve noticed about Aussies, especially girls, is that everything they wear is trendy looking. While in the USA, we just dress in jeans and t-shirts more of the time, they hardly even wear t-shirts. A lot of girls wear skirts (a popular item right now is knee-length white frilly looking skirts) with Express or Wet Seal looking tops, and lots of jewelry. (a lot of it being quite eccentric) I know that there are a few girls who dress like that all the time in America, but here EVERYONE dresses like that all of the time. The guys always wear board shorts & t-shirts, and are usually really colorful. What’s really cool though, is that everything is pretty inexpensive. I mean, some stores are more expensive than others, especially stores that carry brands such as Roxy, Billabong, and Paul Frank, but you can buy an entire outfit for like $40 AUS in most stores. (That’s about $25 US.) It’s crazy… the only thing I can’t find cheap is jean shorts. Hardly any stores even sell them, and the ones that do sell them for about $65 - $85 AUS. ($40 - $60 US) Luckily I brought several pairs with me and I can borrow Lana’s too because we wear about the same size. (Which is weird since she’s super-skinny.)
When we finished shopping about 3 hours (and -$250) later, we took the bus home. The bus stop was right downtown, and it was the first time I’ve seen the downtown area in the daytime. It is a lot bigger than I thought and there were blocks and blocks or shops and businesses that I didn’t see when we were there a few days ago. It looked more like a big city this time around. The bus took about 25 minutes and dropped us off just 1 short block away from home, which was convenient since it started raining within seconds of us walking in the front door. We only had a little while home before we all (Gordon, Tricia, Lana, and myself) went to a goodbye party for a girl named Sian who is leaving for Sydney tomorrow for a year. I met a lot of people there, including several kids who go to my school & a few who don’t. At around 9:30 I started getting really tired (which would be the result of Mark, Lana, & me staying up til 2:00am the night before) so when all the kids went out to run around in the pouring rain, I took a nap on the couch.
Since I’ve been pretty much making this place sound like paradise, it’s about time I tell you the BAD things about living here. First of all, the mozzies (mosquitos) are terrible. I have big bites all over my legs and I have a couple buzzing around me as we speak. Gordon says that after you live here long enough they leave you alone, and that’s proven to be true considering that no one else has more than one or two. I bought a big bottle of bug spray at the grocery story today, so hopefully that will help. Another thing that is bad is the humidity. It hasn’t actually bothered me that much except my hair is always frizzy and it won’t hold any curl. I’ve been wearing it up a lot because it looks awful when I leave it down since I can’t do anything to it. The ants are bad too… when they aren’t biting your feet they are crawling all over the counter and on the food. They are those little tiny red ants too, so they are hard to kill. Those are the only bad things I can think of right now, but I’ll be sure to tell you if I think of anymore. (lol) I’m not really complaining at all because besides those few things, this place really is like Paradise. It’s absolutely wonderful and I wish you all could see it!! (Pictures coming next week–I PROMISE!)
Well I volunteered Lana and I to make dinner tonight, so we better start it because we are going to the movies to see ‘Chicago’ at 6:30. Oh, I got a cell phone today so for those of you who bought a calling card to call me with, you can call my mobile: 0402 520 851 That way you won’t miss me since I’m not really home a lot. Oh- I tried on my entire uniform today, and it’s really not that bad at all. It’s kind of cute and has that “school girl” look. I actually have a variety of things to wear. I can wear a short skirt, a knee-length skirt, a long skirt, or shorts (all blue) and I can wear either a white polo shirt (blue collar & school emblem) or a white blouse w/ a blue tie. My favorite combo is the short blue skirt and the white blouse w/ the tie. It sounds really ugly, but it’s not bad at all. I’ll send you pictures of me and Lana wearing them. (She’s in 10th grade though so she had different things to wear.) Alright, well I’m really going now. Have a great day everyone!

G’day everyone! (haha… I don’t actually say that.) I’m just finishing up another eventful day. Right at this very moment I am watching Lana and Mark having a pillow fight… Mark is winning.
This morning I went to my school for the first time! It’s so big, I couldn’t believe it. I met the principal and the international student coordinators. I got most of my schedule, and I bought my uniforms! Lol… I’ll post a picture of me wearing them eventually. They are okay for uniforms. But anyways, we were supposed to go shopping afterwards but Tricia realized that the memorial service for some people that they knew was this afternoon so after lunch, we went to that. It was really sad even though I didn’t know the people. But it was so so hot, so when it was over Lana, Mark, and I went to this swimming place called Crystal. It was one of the most incrediable places I’ve ever been! It was sort of up in the mountains, and it was kind of rain-foresty w/ like vines and tropical trees and stuff. We walked up this long trail and then climbed up onto different mountain cliffs and waterfalls and dived into the water below. It was so cool! I was being kinda chicken because the cliffs were so high up!!! But it was so beautiful and so neat. I also met one of Mark’s friends there named Chris who is really interested in America.
Later we went to this sports complex where they were playing cricket and volleyball. Lana and I hung out in Mark’s car most of the time being stupid. We were taking pictures of ourselves laying across speed bumps and stuff–I’ll put them on here in a couple of days. Then we went to McDonalds and I got into a big arguement with them about how to pronounce it. They kept saying MACdonalds and called it Mackies for short. I kept saying that there is no A between the M and the C… haha… I finally gave up because there’s no arguing with these aussies. They are so stubborn.
Well Mark and Lana are getting impatient right not because they wanna look at a certain website, so I’m gonna end this for now. Thanks for all the emails and keep them coming–I’ll reply as soon as I have a chance. Have a great day everyone!

Well, I’ve been here for 2 full days now, and I love it! I went to the beach again yesterday w/ Lana and her best friend Samantha (Sam) to lay in the sun. We were only laying out for about 20-30 minutes and I’ve already tanned quite a bit. We also took a swim in the nets. (It’s stinger season, so you can’t swim in the water where there aren’t any nets up.) The water was really warm, and the waves are really good for boogie boarding so Lana and I are going to do that one of these days. I swallowed my first mouthful of salt water, though… haha! We spent the rest of the afternoon at Sam’s swimming (in her pool–no salt!) and on the internet. I was so happy to be able to talk to some of my friends on msn, but it was so hard to keep up with 10 conversations!
Last night I went into the city for the first time! Mark and his ‘mate’ Jim took me and Lana to the movies. (We saw 8 Mile because it just came out this weekend, lol!) Then we went downtown for an hour and walked around. Most of the shops were closed but there were a lot of people about in the outdoor cafes, pubs, and clubs. Oh, and of course, McDonalds. (Doesn’t matter where in the world you are, Micky D fries taste the same–except here they are called chips.) The city itself is a lot different than I imagined. A lot of it is pretty spread out, but the main downtown lasts for several blocks and it’s really touristy. The sidewalks are really wide because most of the restraunts have outdoor seating. It’s cute and has a lot of character. After we walked around for awhile, we went to a suburb called City View. It’s called that because it overlooks the entire city of Cairns. We drove over to the main looking point and it was incrediable!! Since it was night, the entire town was completely lit up and the lights went for as far as you could see. On top of that, it was a clear night so the sky was filled with stars. It was beautiful! Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of it, but I’ll try to remember to take my camera next time I go. When we finally got home, Gordon and Tricia were already asleep so Lana and I went right to bed.
Today I went to the esplanade with Tricia and a few of the day care children. (They are so cute and they talk with little Australian accents! One of the littls boys is named Oscar…hehe!) The kids played at the playground while I layed out on a blanket in the shade of all the palm trees. Then we had a picnic. It’s no wonder most of the little kids are so fit and healthy here–most of them aren’t allowed to eat any junk food such as chips or cookies and stuff. They all eat a bunch of fruit, saltine crackers, and sandwiches. (Vegemite sandwiches seem to be the most popular - ugh…) But anyways, the esplanade was very nice. (In case you don’t know what it is–it’s like a ocean side park with sidewalks going along the beach and a playground, public bathrooms, picnic tables, and fountains.)
We were going to go on a walk in the botanical gardens, but Tricia decided that the kids might get too tired so she said that she will take me and Lana there another day. We did drive by it though, and just the outside of it was gorgeous. I can’t wait to take pictures of it!!
I’m going to downtown Yorkey’s Knob in a bit to watch Lana dance and make a visit to the IGA and the post office, so I guess I’ll be going now. Thanks to everyone who has sent me emails! I will reply to all of them eventually, but it will be easier once school starts and I can use their computers. Hope everything is going well for all of you. Have a great day!

Hey guys! Wow… I don’t even know where to start. The trip over here went fine… actually, it seemed to go pretty fast. I slept through most of the longest flight (LA to Sydney) so I haven’t experienced any jet lag… yet. But anyways, I can’t even describle the feeling I got when I got off the plane in Sydney. I just kept thinking “Omg, I’m here. I’m in Australia!” I just love listening to everyone talk, and I smile everytime I here someone say “g’day mate.” I bet it will get old soon, though. I was glad to finally board the plane to Cairns (pronouned ‘cans’) because Sydney (at least the airport) smelled kind of bad. The view of the reef from the sky was breathtaking. I tried taking some pictures, but I was sitting over the wing so it was hard. When I got off the plane, the heat hit me immediately. I’m not complaining though, because even though the humidity is tragic for my hair, it feels so nice. (It was about 80 degrees today.)
Cairns is the most tropical place I have ever been. It is absolutely gorgeous! There are palm trees and tropical flowers everywhere. I took pictures, but they don’t do justice. When I walked off the plane, the Scovilles were standing there smiling with a big sign that said something like “Welcome to Cairns, Jessica!” Tricia, (mum) Gordon, (dad) and Lana came, as well as their cousins Vicki, Emily, and Mark. They also brought one of the day care children, Soraya, and Mark’s friend Evan. (Mark & Evan are both 17… Jen & Tiff: *wink*)
We drove staight from the airport to my new home in Yorkey’s Knob. My bedroom is adorable! I took pics that I will show you as soon as I get thme onto a computer. Luckily, I have enough shelves for all of my picture frames. (I brought about 15.) I also have a huge window over my bed that looks out at palm trees. The rest of the house is quite big too. I’m going to have to get used to the toilet and the “bath room” being two seperate rooms. The backyard is really cool. Actually… it’s kind of like part of the house. This is hard to explain, but you walk out to the backyard through the kitchen door (which is always left open) and then there is like an outdoor hallway to 3 other rooms. You can’t get to those rooms without going outside. It’s actually really neat. Of course, there’s a cover over the sidewalk that goes to the rooms in case of rain. They have a nice set-up back there too. They have their main dinner table outside by the garden. (Once again, I have pictures.) There’s also a small above-ground pool that the day care kids were swimming in this afternoon. Lana told me that they sometimes see kangaroos in their backyard, but I have yet to see one. You’d have to walk through this house to really understand it, but it’s neat. There are windows everywhere and are always left open so that the breeze can come through.
Lana and I walked to the beach this afternoon and also walked by the little shopping center of Yorkey’s Knob. It’s very cute and Australian looking, as is everything else. I met a few of Lana’s “mates” there and everyone is very friendly and loves to hear me talk. (haha!) The beach was very breezy, but it’s nice. It was a longer walk than I thought though, but that’s probably because of all the stops we made along the way. I’ve been told that there are several nicer beaches that I will get to see in the next few days, too. There were people flying kites and a lot of people walking the beach. I didn’t see anyone swimming, though, because the water was rougher than usual.
Oh, and since I had a lot of people wondering about this… I tried vegimite! (Ya know, from the Olsen Twins movie.) And the verdict is… it is the most disquiting thing I’ve ever tasted! I could hardly get myself to swallow it and Lana was laughing at me the entire time. She loves it, and so does the rest of her family with the exception of her dad. (He’s originally from Canada, so that’s probably why.)
Well, since the next few days probably won’t be as eventful, I’ll save some of my news for then. I love it here, though! It’s gorgeous, the weather is great, everyone is so friendly, and the atmosphere seems to be very relaxed. I can’t wait to show you the pictures I’ve taken. I’ll upload them just as soon as we can figure it out. Have a great day everyone, and thanks for thinking of me during my trip.

Hey there! I just bought this livejournal account to use in Australia so my friends back home can read about what’s going on with me if they want to. This is the first entry, and I’m just testing it…