Good Times and Great Friends!

This is Ben Sollee and he is an amazing cello player! I got to see him live at berea coffee and tea which is a very cute coffee shop in Berea, Ky. I had the privilege to listen to his set with my cousin and all his friends who actually became my friends in a very short amount of time. that gave me some confidence for my Australia trip because i am hoping that i will make lots of new friends quickly.

Life is good right now... not too much to report. I'm just slowly starting to mentally prepare for my adventure abroad. I did find out that i am going to be working with the conservation of "mahogany gliders" which are flying squirrels. i was hoping to work with kangaroos but flying squirrels are just as cool. Apparently, after doing some research....they are very much endangered because of the cutting down of the rainforests for development. their habitats are being destroyed. i'm not exactly sure what the conservation efforts entail but i do know that is just one of many animals that are on the endangered list because of the destruction to natural habitats. Should be an interesting trip especially since i will have to camp in the rainforest. should i mention that i have never been camping what so ever...let alone in a rainforest. im kinda nervous about that but im sure i will be with professionals.

Another interesting fact is that "Aussie Rules Football" which seems to be a mixture of football, rugby, and soccer is a huge sport there and i got information to play while im over there. they also said that if i love it that much there are "Aussie rules football" leagues in the united states which i think is kinda funny. i watched some youtube videos of it and it seemed like a really intense game so we'll see if i end up participating. I was thinking that soccer was a big thing there but i have been told that it is not played that much which surprises me because they are of English decent.