The Weekend I've Been Waiting For.

I had another great week in The Land Down Under! The week started off slowly due to my cold, but I shook off my illness by Wednesday. My work activities continued to be the same as the previous week, which is helping Julien out with accounts receivable and fixed assets while I manage prepayments. On Wednesday, I was able to discuss the significant transactions within the prepayments account with one of our client's financial executives, which was a great learning experience! I was really excited that my team trusted me to talk to him 1v1. A shoutout to my teammate Seb, another senior, who let me take control of prepayments and provided great advice when I needed it.


-Gettin' ready to snorkel, read below for details!

Because I was at the client (about a 40 minute train ride from my aparment), I did not really get to venture out and order exotic food this week. When we were work late during busy season, however, we usually get to eat dinner at the client site. It's nice having those meals at normal times, rather than getting dinner late after work. This week, I am switching locations to another office of theirs, which is about a 15 minute walk away. We sign off on the audit Tuesday, so I expect the next few days to be very hectic and then slow down after the sign off.

Now for my travels! While my team was working this weekend, I was off to the Great Barrier Reef with the rest of the Sydney interns (Morgan, Jordan, Casey, and Meagan). We took a half day off on Friday, and boarded for Cairns (where the GBR is) in the afternoon. Once we landed, we took a shuttlebus to our hostel, which was called Gilligan's Travels. Everyone told us to stay at Gilligan's, so I was expecting a fun time. Sure enough, it was! We stayed with a girl from Germany and two guys from Holland, and we got along very well. They had both already done the snorkeling tour we were about to embark on, and they said it was an amazing experience.

As you can tell by this view, it was. Props to Jordan and Morgan for taking amazing pictures with our tax friend's underwater camera!! We went on a tour called "Passions Paradise." Clearly, it was a paradise:

 

It was a two hour trip out to Michaelmas Bay, where the first snorkel was located. I was a bit hesitant to go in the deep water at first, but I overcame that fear and ventured out and saw some really amazing sights. The coral looked incredibly lively, and there were fish I cannot even begin to describe that I saw. The fish were so colorful, vibrant, and just amazing to look at. We also saw sea turtles and stingrays! No sharks thankfully.







-Me, Morgan, and Jordan about to start our second snorkel of the day!

EY has sent 57 interns across the world as part of this program, and we are having a contest to see who can take the best/ most creative pictures with our EY umbrellas. I think we have a pretty good shot to win! Snorkeling the reef from across the world, umbrella flipped inside out...we can't lose!

After the first snorkel, we got a great lunch provided by the boat crew. After lunch, we drove a bit of a ways more to another part of the Reef. This section was not surrounded by a beach at all, and was much deeper than the previous one as well. The waves were strong, so it was hard to swim out very far or go beneath the surface level of the coean. We still saw a lot of unique fish and coral though, and it was a great experience. Definitely one of the coolest things I have ever done in my life; I am incredibly thankful that I was able to do this!


-post first-snorkel

After a two hour trek back home, we stopped at a souvenir shop (surprise), grabbed dinner at a German restaurant, and walked around Cairns for a bit. We left early this morning, and got prepared to start our final week of work! We have some fun night-time activities planned, and hopefully we will be able to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Friday. While I am sad that this is rapidly coming to an end, I am excited to see friends and family back home! A few days after I return from Australia, we go to Orlando for the IILC (International Intern Leadership Conference) with all of the interns  from the summer and winter in 2014. I will again be meeting people from all across the world, and I am excited to build new relationships and learn more about EYs culture.

I'll try to write one more time, so see ya guys then!



-thanks for following along!