The Last Days of 'No Worries'

So I'm finally back in the States (although technically I'm currently with my cousin in the Cayman Islands, but that's a good deal closer to home than Australia is). I haven't really had a chance to blog since my return do to being in a coma/getting my new license/visiting Bryn Mawr/Haverford/Swarthmore/getting ready for Cayman, etc. But more importanly I just haven't really had the urge to blog in the way I did while I was in Australia. I therefore justify my certain desire to do so on the similar climate of Cayman to Cairns. Anyhow, being back at home has had its ups and downs. My parents got rid of my car while I was gone, so I am currently sharing a car with my sister, which is okay. It's really nice to see her and Joe and my brother again. It feels much more like it's going to be Christmas in New Jersey as opposed to Queensland. I got a chance to catch up with the Jews and Hannah and some other Mawrtyrs. But I really, really miss being in Australia. Being in Cayman with Paul and his friend Adam is essentially my last hurrah in the no-stress freedom that went hand-in-hand with my studying abroad. Since I've been here we've watched football, watched loads of VH1, ate lots of food, and went to the beach. It's wonderful, and I actually really enjoy their company. But while sitting on the couch watching the top 100 songs of the 90s while they sat outside smoking cigars, I overheard them talking about their lives and relationships, which made me realize that in a few years I will be expressing similar concerns. And that reminds me of the fact that now that I'm home again, I have to think about my future, my career, and, most importantly, somehow making money. And I REALLY don't want to think about that. I know I'm still in undergrad and that I have time before it really actually becomes important, but it's still much more real now to me than it has been in months. The one thing I hope the my time in Australia will influence more than anything else is my determination now to do something in my life because it makes me happy and not just because it pays the bills. I wish that this was a more socially accepted attitude in the States so that this would be an easier feat to accomplish.

The one thing that I think will make this all the easier to deal with will be seeing all of my friends again and getting back into the swing of things at Bryn Mawr. It was really wonderful just to be on campus and to eat at Haffner. I'm a bit concerned accademically due to the fact I'm taking some fairly difficult courses next semester following a semester of doing very little. But hopefully I'll be able to be disciplined without losing the carefree spontaneity I found in Oz. I'm working really hard on maintaining contact with people, but everything is just so different now. It's really difficult to have much more than the facebook relationship when you're separated by almost an entire day.

So, what I've basically come to realize is that at some point, maybe after I graduate Bryn Mawr, maybe after I get my law degree and/or Ph.D in history, that I need to move back to Australia. Similarly, I need to start living my life here in a fashion more like the one I had there. Hopefully I can do it without compromising too much of what has been established about "me" here, but I know for certain that in order for me to be happy, and really happy, I need to keep up the adventure. And with only a year and a half left of college before I have to confront the horrors of real life, I better live it up all I can right here and right now.

Final Days in Torquay: a Brief Reflection

This will most definitely be my last entry before I get back home. I spent the weekend at Kym's "beach" house in Torquay with Sneha, Francisco, Javier, Simon, and many, many others. It was a really wonderful weekend. We barbecued amazing food, went to the beach, played Twister, made smoothies, played really hardcore foozeball, and just generally chilled out. It was basically the perfect ending to my time in Australia. It's always sad though to meet really amazing new people at the end of your time in a place. I got on really well with the group at Kym's, and it's sad that I didn't get to know them sooner. I guess that just means I'll have to come back :)

I really would like to write a nice reflective entry on my time in Australia, but considering I'm still here and utterly exhausted I might wait until I get home. I have a million things to do on my last day, so I'll focus on that for now and get some sleep. I'll write again when I get home.

Actually, I'll try a shortish one. I'm actually glad that it worked out that I've been with Sneha this weekend since it's given me a chance to talk about things with her and share our feelings about the experience of studying abroad with each other. We both agree that while things at home are never really that bad, there is something about Australia, and the experience of studying abroad here that just offers a whole new perspective on life. We both realize that the way we are here will not and cannot transfer to the people we are back home, but I think in a lot of ways it still will affect my general attitude towards life. I am going to try to have more fun, do more random things and worry less. I want to have more of these memories and crazy stories I've gained while being here. But most of all I want to keep making friends from all over the world and maintain contact with the ones I've already made. I think one of the most important elements of my time abroad has been the friendships I've made not only with Australians, but with international students. The group at Kym's this weekend was composed of Vietnamese, Chileans, Israelis, and Americans. As most of my other experiences have shown, most of my social interactions have been international ones. It has been so important for me in gaining a broader perspective on the United States, on people in general, and on myself. I really do want to do more traveling, and I think that that will be the major thing that directs me when I'm trying to make decisions on my career choice in the not too distant future. I want to go back to Europe and visit these people I've met, to live there and work there and just learn through being infused by other cultures. I really do believe now that there is something incredibly valuable in this, and while it's not terribly practical or financially sound, it's extraordinarily rewarding and intellectually/emotionally stimulating. So yeah, maybe I'll do international law. Maybe I'll become a historian. Maybe I'll be a teacher and travel the world during the summer. I'm not sure yet, but I firmly believe that travel needs to be an essential part of my life.

Australia has made me a thrill seeker, a social planner, a travel buff, a much, much, much more relaxed human being, a food snob, and just generally happier. I don't know how much of that is the country's mindset and how much of that is being a student here, but it's a really good feeling and one that I'm not too willing to leave behind. I already know it will be hard for me to go home, not because I'm don't want to see my family, because I do, but because it will just be so difficult to let go of the opportunity to do anything and everything with few limits and concerns. I don't want to have to worry about things again. I don't want to be in a town that offers me nothing after having been in a city that offers everything. I was saying to Sneha today that seeing the Melbourne skyline gives me the same feeling I get when I drive through Philadelphia and into the Main Line. Philadelphia is my home. Melbourne has come to feel very much the same.

That's really all I can write for now. I don't want to get nostalgic before I even leave, but I'll miss it here. I really will.

Three Hundred Pictures of Red Rocks

Of all the things I wanted to do in coming to Australia, going to Ayers Rock was at the top of the list. Despite many occasions when I thought it wasn't going to happen due to time/money/flight issues, it finally did. And let me say, Central Australia is everything I thought it would be. It was hot. It was dirty. It was red. And it was glorious.

I flew out of Cairns Sunday morning after an uneventful night. Flying over the Australian desert is one of the coolest experiences ever- it's just red, for miles and miles. There are crags and cracks in the terrain which you can see clearly from the sky. There are few, if any, paved roads. It's really, really, really neat. Mind you, there is NOTHING to do in Alice Springs. I went to the Reptile Centre and played with pythons and lizards because there was nothing else. But the natural landscape and the big hunks of rock/mountains/canyons in the desert make it totally worth the boredom of a night or two in Alice Springs.

Where to begin in talking about my tour? Let's start with the guide: it's approximately six o'clock in the morning. It's already hot. I've had my morning vegemite. The bus is late. Suddenly, there pulls up to the hostel a four-wheel, hardcore desert rover. Out pops a tanned, gray haired rugged type in khaki attire. Very outback like. Then he opens his mouth, from which comes the Frenchist of French accents. Bonjour, je m'appelle Erwan. Yes. My outback tour guide was French. However, he was also by far the coolest tour guide I've had in Australia. I get on the bus with two Swiss girls I'd met the night before, and we drive around Alice Springs collecting the various others with whom I would sleep under the stars in swags covered in red sand. The group was as follows: an unmarried 40-something couple from England, a similarly aged couple from Holland, the aforementioned 20 something Swiss girls, a pair of mid-twenties Danish boys, two twenty year old German girls, a 24 year old business masters from India who had been studying at Melbourne Uni, a Swedish forklift operator who had been working in Perth, and, later on in Uluru, a Japanese boy whose English was far from good. Together we set out across the desert, conquering the massive wonder that is Ayers Rock, Kata Tjuta, Kings Canyon, and, above all else, camping in the Australian Outback.

Our multi-lingual group got on really really well. We were dirty and hot, but we had a great experience. I got on very well with the Indian boy, the Swedish boy, and the two Swiss girls. When I accidentally stepped on a small piece of glass and started adding a new shade of red to the red dirt, the four of them took care of me and bandaged me while I laughed hysterically at the irony of the situation. By that point I'd climbed up cliffs, dealing with killer flies and sun, only to get injured on a small piece of glass. The photos of the event are probably among the best from the trip.

But let me talk for a bit about why I was there, to see the Rock. Uluru is really amazing, especially at sunset and sunrise. The Rock varies in shades from red, to orange, to mauve, to purple, to gray, to only a silhouette. It's pretty extraordinary. But in all honesty, in a lot of ways Kata Tjuta, and especially King's Canyon, were even more impressive. It's really hard to describe it, and I'll just have to put up pictures of everything when I'm home in a week.

Which brings me to my next set of thoughts: I can't believe I'm going home so soon. But I am definitely ready. When I was landing in Melbourne this afternoon I was actually on the brink of tears because I just wanted to be home and not have to deal with figuring out what to do with myself/where to stay/what to eat for the next few days. Luckily I'm feeling better now that I'm at Sneha's and essentially all of those concerns have been taken care of. I am likely going with Sneha and a few others to a friend's beach house in Torquay near the Great Ocean Road, where we will relax and have barbecues and good fun all weekend. It'll be a nice farewell and a good end to my time in Australia. That will leave Monday then to do my last minute gift/souvenir shopping before I fly home Tuesday.

So that's that. Hopefully I'll have a chance to write a final entry before I leave. If not I will certainly write one upon returning home. I've really enjoyed keeping up this blog and am really glad so many of you have found pleasure in reading it. Miss you and see you all soon!!