Well, the semester is officially over. I spent last week busily writing up my ISP, which turned out to be a 30-page paper titled "Chlamydia in koalas: an investigation of radio telemetry and medical treatments as management tools." Last Sunday, I gave a 30 minute presentation on the topic as well. It all went well, and I'm just glad that the project is over.

Monday after the rest of the presentations, Tony, our academic director, took us on a mystery end of the semester trip for 2 days. We ended up back at Mission Beach, south of Cairns (we were there for 2 nights during the rainforest trip). It was even more hot and humid than Cairns, which is worse than Florida in August, if you can imagine that. I don't think I was ever not sweaty, even after showers using just cold water. Tuesday we spent the day at the beach with all the program leaders and helpers we've had along the way - from the Aboriginal elders, Russ and Ian, to the rainforest lecturer, Jack, as well as Tony's wife and kids. It was so great to see everyone again and have a full day of "holiday" without any work. That night, Tony took us all to a huge, fancy dinner in town. We all dressed up and had a 3 course meal and stayed at the restaurant for 4 hours! We also had our graduation ceremony there, consisting of Tony singing Pomp and Circumstance while handing out our group T-shirts and other presents. It was a great way to say bye to everyone.

Wednesday we returned to Cairns and spent the day in the city, doing last minute evaluation forms, shopping, and packing. That evening, we met Tony on the warf at a local bar for sundowner (watching the sunset) drinks, again a perfect way to say bye to all the students. It was really hard to say bye, but now I'm off to Sydney with 8 of the other students from my program, where we'll spend a few days in the city before I meet my family on Monday.

Overall, my study abroad experience was absolutely amazing, and I highly suggest all college students to go abroad because it's a great way to see the world. I hope everyone's enjoyed keeping up with my travels (even though I wasn't always the best at posting), and I'll see how much internet access and time I have while traveling with the family. Hopefully, I'll be able to post a few times about our experiences in Sydney, Canberra, and New Zealand before I return home in January. If not, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!