Post-Australia Apocalypse

I've been home from Australia for exactly three weeks now and I needed to write down how I'm feeling or I'm going to go crazy. I had been putting it off because I wanted to wait until I was far enough removed from the day I left that I could fully reflect and assess what effect the last five months have had on me.

As we were packing, getting ready to leave, I didn't think I was going to cry. Then Albert started saying his goodbyes. I don't even remember what he said, I'm not even sure if I knew what he was saying at the time he was saying it, all I know is that I started to cry. Then we had to pull away, leaving my friend--no no, soul mate--Gracie behind. I hated that moment more than anything. I still hate it.

When I was sitting on the plane, flying somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, I realized all the sudden that everything that happened felt like a dream. I thought I feel asleep on the plane ride there and had just woken up. The time didn't seem to be going so fast in the moment, but then all the sudden I was going home. To make it worse, when I got home, people didn't seem interested at all in hearing about my adventures, and it felt rude to bring it up on my own.

Going back to school was strange. Everyone complained about how much the semester sucked. I found myself avoiding eye contact with people--not wanting to see someone I know and having to stop and answer all the same questions, "How was it? Are you glad to be back?". Then, a girl a year younger was asking Claire and I all about it because she is considering going there for her study abroad, and I HATED that I had to speak in past-tense about it. I hate that it's all already over and now I have to figure out what the next big step in my life will be.

Now, I'm sitting here...BORED. I'm the type that is not quite comfortable just sitting and doing nothing all day. However, I feel like there's nothing to do but at the same time so many things I should be doing..(look for an internship, figure out what I want to do with my life...). I even took several career aptitude tests to see what my personality says I should be. I guess I should stop trying to shove myself in a little hole because I didn't like any of the suggestions.

I feel very trapped in this small town I live in, now that I know how big the world is and how much opportunity there is hiding in every corner. I also feel like I'm a very uninteresting person. Sometimes I wonder why people are friends with me because I feel like I have nothing to offer them. No interesting facts about myself, no special talents or hobbies or extensive knowledge on anything. I was inspired by all my friends I made in Australia and thought they all had such cool quirks about them and they've done all these cool things and know exactly what they want to do when they graduate. This is not me fishing for compliments, however. This is me saying that that is going to change and I'm going to visit amazing places and learn and do amazing new things someday very soon, and I want to do something that will help a lot of people, I just don't know what yet, but I'm confident that it will come to me. I'm genuinely interested in learning about people. I love hearing about where people come from, what they've done, and what they want to do.

All I want is to someday love life so much that I physically fight falling asleep.

5 months in 500 words

This blog post is going to be a summary of all the places I went, the things I saw, the things I did, and how I've changed in Australia. I was really excited to do this post because it really gives me a chance to look back and appreciate all the amazing experiences I had. I wouldn't trade it for anything. Here goes!

Where I Went

• Sydney
• The Blue Mountains
• Gold Coast-Surfers Paradise, Burleigh Heads, Coolangata, Currumbin
• Byron Bay
• Nimbin
• Brisbane
• Binna Burra
• The Australia Zoo
• Sunshine Coast-Rainbow beach, Noosa, Fraser Island, Whitesundays Islands, White Haven Bach
• Melbourne

Things I Saw

• Sydney Opera House/Bridge
• Aboriginal Performance
• Little old ladies selling "special cookies"
• A koala in the wild
• A huntsman spider
• Several snakes, including a python
• Lizards
• The mice living in our apartment
• Dolphins, sea turtles
• The Great Barrier Reef-cool fish, stingray, shark
• A dingo
• All different types of birds that make the worst noises in the world
• Brisbane botanical gardens
• Melbourne street art
• The caves in Noosa
• Mt. Warning volcano
• Natural water slide (springbrook falls)
• The Melbourne Aquarium
• Sunrises/sunsets on multiple beaches
• An AFL game
• The rainforest
• Crowne Casino in Melbourne
• Brisbane Music Festival-lazer light show

Things I Did

• Boat dinner cruise in Sydney
• Paddle-boarding
• White water rafting
• Zip lining
• High ropes course
• Hiking in the rainforest
• Kayaking
• Snorkeling
• Skydiving
• Bungee jumping
• Giant swing
• Cliff jumping
• Slept on the beach under the stars
• Musical bingo
• Drove on the other side of the road
• Longboarding
• Learned to cook
• Spooned a kangaroo
• Fed a big tropical fish
• Ate Kangaroo, tried vegemite (ew), Tim Tams=YUM
• Went to a couch surfing BBQ-met Canadian and Irish travelers
• Went up on skydeck in Melbourne and saw the city lit up from the 80th floor
• Held a koala

Did I Change?

My friend Gracie asked Cierra and I if we thought we had changed. I don't think I've changed that much, but I will have to see when I get home if people tell me I'm different. I have however noticed some things about myself:

• I am a lot braver than I thought-I mean I like roller coasters, and always knew I wanted to skydive, but I NEVER thought I would be brave enough to bungee jump or cliff jump. When did I turn into this person who wasn't afraid at all whatsoever to jump out of a plane or off a bridge or into dark unfamiliar waters? Or drive on the other side of the road?
• I am also a lot more mentally strong than I thought-I thought I would be really homesick all the time here but I actually adjusted fairly quickly.
• Which leads me to my next point...I definitely want to travel more. I always knew I wanted to travel, but it was more of an abstract thought that everyone has. I would even consider traveling alone, which before this experience I definitely never would have considered. 
• I am much more carefree-At home I worried a lot and was stressed out often, but the Australian "no worries" lifestyle has definitely taken over. This especially shows by my lack of concern when my apartments dishes are piled to the ceiling, and there are mice in our rooms.
• I'm also much more positive than I used to be-every situation here that wasn't so desirable, I was able to find the good in it and just focus on having a good time.
• Lastly, I'm much more appreciative-of America, of my parents, of my school, of my hometown, etc.

What will I do for the next few days?

• Spend every moment with the friends I've made and don't want to leave
• Cry
• Soak up every bit of sun I can get before returning to a freezing cold wasteland
• Try to find a job back home (I came here with $6500...I now have less than $500).

Thanks for reading and following me on this journey!

Dana

Melbourne Made Us Artsy

This weekend, I got to visit a place that gave me a little taste of the weather I've been missing back at home. It felt like fall in Melbourne, and I was loving every minute of it. Don't be fooled, though, there were still palm trees and other tropical plants you'd find in the tropics of Australia. How is this possible in a place that snows and there's rain every other day? I'm not sure.

Steph and I in front of some street art

I think I fell in love with this city because it was the perfect balance of what I was missing at home, and what I love about Australia. It felt like fall in NYC, but at the same time it was so different. One of the first things I noticed was how nicely everyone was dressed--it is a very business-y city, very unlike the completely laid back vibe of Surfers where everyone is in their "swimmers" all the time. I missed people dressing nicely, and I missed people smelling good--yay! no B.O stench in this city! The people were extremely nice as well, typical for Australia, and it was easy to get around.

I was a bit of a mess on this little trip, however. I was already thrown off and frustrated because I lost $65 by switching my flight back home to an earlier time when I thought I would be saving money...I guess this is where my lack of math skills truly shows. Then, as we were on our way to the airport, I realized I had forgot to pack a sweatshirt, a rain jacket, and shoes other than the flip flops I was wearing. This was a problem because it rains in Melbourne all the time and was quite chilly. I know bad things happen in three's, so I was waiting for this next one: I ended up losing my Australian phone. I wasn't worrying too much, I figured it would turn up eventually, I just wanted to focus on having a good time.

Sam and I in front of some street art

The first day, we took a tram just outside the city to a well-known street called Brunswick, a long stretch of a mixture of high-end clothing stores and thrift shops. I found a funky patterned pair of high-waisted shorts in a thrift store for $7! That afternoon we went to a nice little place for lunch where I got an amazing toasted salami sandwich on pretzel bread with pesto sauce, and the other girls got Bruschetta. Yum! That night, we decided to check out the night life on that same street. We found one bar that was fun to dance at, but quickly realized that it was tough being in a new city and not knowing all the right places to go on the right nights. So, being the American girls that we are, we quick found somewhere unhealthy to eat and headed home.

The next day, we ate breakfast in the Royal Arcade. It wasn't actually an arcade...but it was really cool! You could tell the building was really old--the architecture was beautiful, and it had a checkered black and white floor. It was filled with little specialty shops, including a store called Babushka, filled with Russian stacking dolls. I also noticed that this city has a very strong Parisian influence; many of the stores sold French specialty items, there were many French eateries, and a lot of the architecture was French.

The conservatory

What Melbourne is really known for is it's street art scene, which was my favorite part of the trip. There is one street in particular called Hosier Lane, where you are greeted by a huge ally with an explosion of colors and pictures and messages, followed by more and more allys until you're head is spinning so much from the fumes you have to leave. It was truly incredible to see--there are essentially no regulations, the artists don't get in trouble, in fact there were some tours we could have paid to go on lead by the artists! We even got to watch some artists paint. After taking 1000 artsy pictures of ourselves, we headed on to the Fitzroy Gardens.

In these gardens we actually found a fountain memorial for President John F. Kennedy, with a plaque that read, "This memorial signifies the grateful recognition by the citizens of this city for the service given by John F. Kennedy as President of the United States of America, 1960-1963". I'm not exactly sure what he did for the city, but it was very interesting to see. We walked on and found the conservatory which was beautiful, with all types of flowers and statues, and enjoyed a nice lunch with a view of the "Fairy Tree", a tree that fairies were carved into and painted, surrounded by little fairy cottages, too cute!

More street art

We were looking forward to this night all along, because we had heard great things about this one bar called The Croft, which was supposedly themed as an insane asylum. On our way there, we got asked by a group of Australian kids our age if we were going clubbing tonight. We said yes, and they asked us if we could help them out by going in with them to this one club that had a 50/50 rule (for every guy in the group, there had to be a girl too or they weren't allowed in). The guys said they would pay for us (how could we pass this up?! Too good to be true!). We couldn't believe it--these guys dropped $40 just to get into a club. We had so much fun dancing that we almost didn't want to leave, but finally decided it was time to check out The Croft.

On the way to The Croft

Of course, to get to The Croft, we had to walk through this dark ally with tons of creepy street art all over the walls. We walked in...and....we were very disappointed:[ The first floor was weirdly bright for a bar/club, especially one that was supposed to be scary. We also thought that maybe the people working the bar would be dressed up as crazy doctors with needles but...no luck. The only thing that indicated the theme were the chemical tubes and weird equipment on the shelves on the walls of the bar. We walked upstairs, hoping it gets better, but the theme virtually disappeared upstairs. The bathroom at least had a hospital bed, which we decided to take pictures on as if we were possessed. We then headed on to a rooftop bar called Cookie, where we danced to 50's music!

Luna Park at St. Kilda

On our last day, we went a bit outside the city to St. Kilda beach. The beach was beautiful, and out in the ocean sat heaps of sailboats. We walked through the street markets and found some great souvenirs for friends and family! We also were LOVING all the dogs there were! That night, we went to the Skydeck, the tallest viewpoint in Melbourne--the elevator shoots up to the 80th floor so fast that your ears pop and you feel lightheaded. It had a 360 view of the amazing city lit up at night. I felt so peaceful sitting and watching the city twinkle. Then, we checked out the Crowne Casino. We didn't spend much time there because obviously we have no idea how to bet and didn't want to lose what little money we have, but it was definitely a great experience. I actually won $2.50! Woo!

Me on the slots:]

The next day, Sam and I visited the Melbourne Aquarium where we got to see all sorts of Australian sea life. It was even cooler because it was the first time I had been to an Aquarium where I could say I've actually swam right next to some of these fish while snorkeling! And of course, the penguins were adorable:]

As I was getting on the plane to head back to the Gold Coast, I realized that the next time I would be getting on a plane is to go home to America...and I got really sad. Only two weeks left, I will definitely be appreciating every last moment I have here in Australia. A few friends and I are renting a car next week and heading back to Byron Bay and Nimbin one last time, where we plan on sleeping on the beach. I'm sure there will be some great stories to tell afterwards!

Cheers,
Dana

Me swimmin with the fishies in the aquarium