Greetings from Melbourne!

Happy 4th of July, everyone! It's 9:54 PM on Wednesday night... but I think it's about 7:54 AM Wednesday morning in Philly. Crazy.

The choir arrived in Melbourne safe and sound yesterday. We had a 3 hour bus ride from Philly to NY, then our flight was delayed 4 hours. It was a 5 hour flight from NY to Los Angeles, which was immediately followed by a 14 hour flight from LA to Melbourne. We left Philly on July 1st but got here on July 3rd, because we crossed the international date line. Needless to say, we all had some serious jet lag yesterday. I was asleep by 9:30 PM last night. Feeling much better today, after a shower, some clean clothes, real food (the airline food wasn't fabulous...) and a solid 8 hours of sleep.

Downtown Melbourne is a lot like Center City... there's a 7-Eleven on every corner! The only real difference is that people drive on the other side of the street and speak with accents. They really do say "g'day" and call everyone "mate." I thought that was all "Crocodile Dundee" stereotyping. Go figure. We're leaving Melbourne in two days and flying to Perth, which is clear across the country. The chaperones are staying in hostels in almost every city we visit, so hopefully I'll have internet access for most of the trip. I'll try to post more in a few days.

Hope everyone enjoyed the holiday! Have some good old American burgers for me!!!