Australia

I can't believe it! Only a few days to go!

The time seems to have gone surprisingly fast since I found out I'd be going to England. But then it got to a week to go and this is seeming like the longest week of my life!! Perhaps thats because I am finally less busy this week - I still have so much to do but most of it means packing away everything I'm not taking (which is EVERYTHING - a baggage limit of 20 kg is killing me!) and packing my suitcase. Necessary but boring and tedious.

I had my goodbye party on the weekend, then family over on Sunday, and last week I was catching up with others who couldn't come on the weekend. Meanwhile I've been finishing off education assignments for uni and packing and cleaning the flat.

The last job I had to do (apart from packing) was get a bank statment to prove I've got money so they'll let me into the country and to buy some cash for until I open a bank account.
I bought some British Pounds and then took photos of the money - (Come on, you never know when it might come in handy to have photographs of British money

The woman in the Travellex shop also told me I'd need local currency if I wanted to buy anything in the airport in Kuala Lumpur too, which I hadn't even thought of, so I've also got some Malaysian Ringgit.

Anyway, thats it for now. Better get back to packing - or just staring at the organised chaos in my lounge room and thinking about packing....

Not long at all until I leave!!

I finally calmed down from being stressed out, to just being excited. Seriously, I am constantly excited - from the minute I woke up this morning I was thinking about it and feeling all restless. But, even though its exhausting, being restless from excitement is better than feeling stressed and like I was going to burst into tears at any moment, which is how I was feeling a couple of weeks ago. I was a bit afraid of the trip, being alone, and what if everything didn't work out? But I finally remembered, or God reminded me, that I am never alone!

And so now I am just looking forward to whatever this amazing opportunity holds for me.

I have already booked a weekend trip to London as the further ahead you book the bus fares the cheaper it is - it's only costing me the equivalent of about $5 to travel by coach from Leeds to London (and back).

While I'm there I've got a couple of day trips to see Bath, Stonehenge, the Cotswolds, Oxford, Warwick Castle and Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare's home) - so for a History enthusiast like me it is the perfect weekend. I'm also going to see 'Comedy of Errors' performed at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (standing in the yard for the authentic poor person's experience Can't wait!!!