yeah that sounds cool we should take one of the golf carts and ride around the whole city at 20 miles per hour waving high to all the aussie's. i don't know what we should do on the plane but lets make something big and fun. besides how long will the flight actually be anyways? Hey Ali this trip is going to be so cool i can't wait till it actually happens? so what do you like to do? and how old are you anyways?
and HAPPY BIRTHDAY HANNAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, I'm sure we could think of plenty of ways to entertain ourselves while on the plane...
I'm 17. I'm a junior in high school (and I can't wait for it to be over!).
What do I like to do? Oh, the usual- get stoned, drink, sleep around....
Totally kidding. I'm usually too busy doing school stuff to really do much. (This trip is for extraordinary scholars, isn't it?). I pretty much just chill with my friends and my boyfriend when I get the chance. I do a lot of social justice work and am active in a youth empowerment organization.
I'm dying to get out of school and get on this trip. I'm going to have to take my finals early, though, because I'm flying out on one of the last days of school.
Party in LA!

Hi Ali.
Is anyone in international relations? Please don't tell me I'm all alone!
Oh and let me tell you the party will definitely be in LA!

HEY!! I'm taylor and i've talked to hannah and leilani some. But yeah im from a little town in Maryland about an hour from the Altantic. Im 17 and a junior. And Im soooo excited for this trip!!

yea i HATE the buisiness attire!! who the **** are we trying to impress??? im pretty sure you can kinda get around it tho-like im prolly gonna wear khakki cargo pants and some vans with a white button down the whole time, and wear a tanktop under it incase they let us change during the day or whatever. its not like we have to wear a buisiness suit or anything (i dont think). and it should be really warm in cairns. and thanks chiz!! i just turned 16 (im finishing my sophomore year this year)!
oh my GOD i cant wait till this plane ride. i bet it will be fun getting to know everyone in a locked up crowded airplane! i hear like 250 people are going. uh im not big on school-i mean i hate it. half the work we do is pointless but im not a slacker or anything-i totally LOVE my chemistry class (we made ice cream last week to learn about acid and base reactions) and thats about it. i wish i could just go learn **** that i wanna learn on my own! but i love my friends so they make school enjoyable. dont you guys feel that way? but schools almost out and im PSYCHED for summer. im getting my wsi as soon as i get out so i can teach swim lessons! see ya soon guys!

hah they bleeped out my curse words!

Wow Hannah. I totally agree with you about school. I mean, I've always been grateful about the opportunity to have an education, and I work my *** off every day, but I'm graduating early next year so I can get out and LIVE. I just don't see how taking AP Calculus will help me lead a happier life. Like I told my guidance counselor, getting good grades doesn't make you a better person. It doesn't even mean you're smart- you've just learned how to work the system.

wow what have i missed oh and congrats on joing are very intellectual(don't know if i spelled it right but who cares)messaging board. i know now this will be a great trip, i am literally counting down the days and your right hannah who are we trying to impress it not like their going to hire us or were going to meet them anytime soon again. i can't wait to school is over, school has its quirks but summer vacation sounds a whole lot better. and your right we should be learning the things we want to learn, Gr8 plilosophy Ali, so taylor tell us more about yourself

Hi taylor!
What career track are you doing?

howsit goin taytay?? whatchya been up to for the past few weeks since we talked? 46 more days everyone!!

Ok. I'm going to bring this up on more time because this issue has got me super confused. We have basically established that they want us to wear "business attire" and thankfully none of you sound like super nerds and were excited to know that you get to dress like you're 30. SO I was wondering if you guys are going to pack jeans and T-shirts and everyday wear for the majority of our trip and maybe just a couple business-like stuff just in case or go "better safe then sorry" with the majority being business attire. And swimsuits? Will we get to swim on that boat ride we're taking? Please help! oh isn't this just the funniest icon thing?

im really laid back and have good grades in school cuz its really not that hard. As long as you turn in work you have an A. So im not like a nerd... i dont have much common sense haha. And i really wanna wear jeans and a t shirt but yeah were suppossed to dress like business people geez. I think we have to wear a suit two days and have to wear dress pants or kahkis most of the other ones. Im bringing swim suits for cairns and stuff but we can only have 1 suitcase. But o well im really excited anyway

o and im doing the medicine one

ok so now i'm confused can we still bring t-shirts and jeans if we want to change out from business attires and can't we swim in the hotels they have their. oh yeah do you mean one suitcase to check-in with the airport plus your carry on suitcase or that you can only have one suitcase.

OK. From what I understand, we have to be in either casual or formal business attire for nearly all of the trip. We're going to be meeting a bunch of professionals in our fields and we need to look fancy :]. There are more details in the packets that we were sent and in other parts of the website. We don't get to dress in our normal clothes for very much of the trip.
The luggage is one carry-on and one suitcase, and I think the suitcase has to be under 24 pounds.
If any of you have more questions, the open forums (pit of insanity, etc.) have a lot of alumni and some staff members that can help you out. But beware, some of them are frightening. (you'll know what I mean if you go to Back Office Politics).
I'm definitely not going to go out and buy new clothes for this. (The God **** tuition is expensive enough as it is!). I'm probably just going to keep wearing the same clothes until they smell too bad. (sorry in advance to my future roommate). :]
I can't believe this trip is coming up so quickly! Do you ladies have any good fundraising ideas? My uncle paid for the trip for me, but I'm supposed to have paid him back before I leave...I still have $3,000 to go.

I'm still bringing t-shirts. **** Society! JK. But everything Ali said is unfortunately true
At least one of us is on top of her game. I'm sure we can all borrow eachother's business clothes or something, we'll work it out. Ali, I have no really easy solutions to your fundraising situation, I wish I could be like oh all you have to do is this . . . But I think it sounds like a lot of little jobs. Since your good at school you could see if there are any essay contests or academic based contests you could enter and win. They usually offer money as a prize. Or it would be good if you could get a sponsor, like a company. I think they would do it because it is for school and it reduces their taxes and has all these benefits for them. I don't no much about it but it sounds like a good idea to me. I think the IYLF website has fundraising sugestions, did you check it out? Anyways,can you comprehend how fast this trip is coming up, sweet!

i have a great idea! my friend raven did a fundraiser so she could go on the njlf trip to australia and fiji and new zealand-she sent out letters to all her friends and fam asking for help on the fundraisers and also had a benefit party-she raised enough. she also went door to dorr asking too.
i travel the same way-i went to mexico for a week and only packed a backpack-just weared the same shiznit everyday. ill bring jeans and khakkis and then a couple of business things to be safe but this is a STUPID uniform anyway. im bringin maybe 3 swimsuits at the MOST. and a bunch of cargo pants and collared white shirts.

Hannah! Tell us about your trip to Mexico!
Thanks for your input about the fundraising. I've actually already tried almost all of those ideas, though. Here's another idea for people who are still working at it- you can have those rubber bracelets (like the livestrong ones) customized to a specific color and message on like at www.wristbandsnow.com and buy them in bulk for like two dollars each. Mine say "Environment Awareness" and I'm selling them for $5.

yeah hannahs ideas sound pretty good for raising the money. Im prolly going to bring one pair of jeans and a couple pairs of shorts plus the business outsfit things. And yeah ill bring like 3 swimsuits. I've never done anything like this before so its all real new but its coming so fast and im so excoted. I just really hope we spend a lot of time seeing Australia and not all in hospitals or doing the career thing.

well my grandad got sick, and my grandparents hadnt been on a trip in FOREVER so we decided to take them to mexico (my gpas doin alot better now by the way!). anyway, i HATE ritzy shhit and i am totally a light packer (plus the more room you have in your suitcase, the more room you have for tourist souvenir shhit :P ) so i just decided to pack a backpack. like i HATE money! i would seriously live in a shack as long as it was in a warm place by some water-preferably the ocean.
so when we went to mexico, the water was AMAZING-crystal clear light light blue, and to top it all off, i got to dive the 2nd largest reef in the world by cozumel! i saw a baby shark, 3 seaturtles, barracudas, stingrays, queen trigger fish, jellyfish, and the coral formations were HUGE like as big as houses. we went about 80 feet, and by then all of the red light is absorbed, so when i cut my hand on some coral the blood was GREEN. it was pretty narley i must say. i cant wait to snorkle the great barrier! do any of you guys dive?