Hello again friends!
It is SCARY how fast my time here has seemed to fly by. The semester is winding down, there are lots of fun end of the year social events happening and next week the international kids are having our first of a few farewell (?!) get togethers. I only have ONE assignment left in all of my undergraduate years! Wooooo! It's an essay that my teacher told me to turn in "whenever." I love being an exchange student.
I had the greatest night this week when I went to my friend Emma's boyfriend's house for dinner. His name is Jeremy and the two of them met while he was on exchange at her school in Canada. Anywho, his mom is born and raised French, and his dad is Australian...so it was a very interesting night culture-wise. We had a great dinner, talked about Tennessee and then played Cranium as a "family" for a few hours. Jeremy's sister Chloe and I were on the same team and were practically reading each other's minds, it was great! I made the comment that I never thought I would miss home and Jeremy's dad made a statement that has stuck with me, and seems to sum it all up: This is why we travel.
SO TRUE! I came here in the first place because I was sick of being in the same place for my whole life and wanted to see and live something fun and new. I appreciate home more than ever and have a massive respect for people who give up everything and leave their homes to travel the world. It is one thing to go visit a foreign place, but it is a completely different-and educational-thing to go live in a foreign place.
I met so many people who were my age while I was traveling over break last month who had been on the road for months and months. Their stories of how they came to be in Australia and where they had been were absolutley mind-blowing and so inspirational. There were more than a few moments when I wished I could sell all my belongings, throw my degree to the wind and live the life of a nomad. There are so many places I still want to see here and even more outside of Australia. I think I have the travel bug now.
Literally the ONLY thing I have to complain about is this bizarro weather! Lilli, our adviser, told us that is has been 2o years since she has had to turn on the heat in October and that its normally 20-25 degrees by now. That's 70's, for all us Farenheit snobs. There has also been a mass amount of rain, which is good for the drought, but terrible for us people who have no cars and are trying not to spend money. I have been watching quite a bit of TV, via laptop, and doing a lot of reading lately.
This is a big weekend! It's Res Ball tomorrow, which apparently is like prom for some of these Canberrans. It should be pretty fun!
