Extended Stay!

   This has been in the works for a while, but I've been putting off posting on this until everything was official - I'll now be staying in Perth until the end of January.  I just got my visa approval today, my flights have been changed and I have support to stay on as an intern working on my thesis research at CSIRO until then.  It's all very exciting, albeit a wee bit sad as I do miss my friends and kitty and it would be nice to only be one time zone away from my parents, but a good experience nonetheless.  This will be my first time in a foreign country for more than three months!  Wow!  Thankfully, it is starting to feel a bit like home and the adjustment isn't as pronounced as, say, Japan or Austria…

   So, stay tuned for several more months of updates from Down Under and start planning your Christmas/New Year's vacations in Oz! :)  I will return to Fairbanks on February 6 (LATE) after a brief visit to New Zealand.  Sorry, only a 2.5 hour layover in Seattle!