I hope this holiday season is bringing much joy and love to all of you.
I hope you take time out and look around at what you have and see the
things that really matter most in your life. I wish you nothing but
love and happiness. To whatever religion you are or
for whatever you are celebrating I hope you enjoy this time with the
ones you love.
Hope all is well
Cheers
Quote of the day:
"My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or
modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we
have to wait for Christmas to do that?" ~ Bob Hope
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So I know it has been awhile since I have written but it has taken some time to readjust to being home. The flight back was as awful as I knew it would be. I did not sleep at all. In fact during my entire way back to this side of the Earth I did not sleep at all. The plane from Auckland to LA was almost 100% full. It really is just such a long and horrible flight, but like most things when you look back on them not as bad and went rather quickly. They had a ton of good movies to watch but after watching five in a row they do become tiresome. When I got to LA the first thing I heard was a fight break out between two people on the flight. It was this crazy man just freaking out on this women and her kids for jumping up in line with their family because they got separated. The funny thing was is that Kendra and I were talking to this women about how awful it was going to be to come back and have to deal with rude people. So we were not in the country for less then 5 mins when we were reintroduced to what we had left behind for 3 months. I did not get to say goodbye to anyone but Kendra because I was on a different flight back than everyone else and because LAX is so huge I had to go like four buildings over to get to my flight. I was really running on empty by the time I got on my flight to Chicago. I was the middle seat of a full airplane it was real great let me tell you. The guy I sat next to was real nice and said he was a drummer from this famous band and started name dropping all these people. I let him go on and on about all these people he knows and all the places hes been. I heard some pretty good stories but who knows if they were real or not. It made the time go by very fast. I feel like my flight to Chicago seemed longer then the one I had just been on. But I guess it always gets like that when you are so close to home. When I landed and finally got to where I could see my family I had tears in my eyes. There was a mixture of happiness of seeing my family that I had been away from for so long and sadness at knowing that my journey was finally over. I came home and saw the rest of my family and gave out all the gifts that I had bought and talked a little of my trip. It was really great to be home and see my dog and my brothers and sisters. My sleeping pattern has been all thrown off. I have been back longer than a week now and it is still messed up. It has been very hard readjusting to life over here. I have come back with just a 'I dont care what other people think about me' out look. I have this feeling insides me of restlessness that I do not believe I will ever be able to shake. Australia has given me so much and I am happy to come back here and share it with those I love. I still find myself going on the Australia Yahoo website instead of my own. I look back now on the beach pictures I have taken and wish I was there rather then looking out my own window and seeing snow that I fear will never stop falling. My grandma asked me if I would ever go back and I can honesty say I do not know but I sure would like to. Maybe in a few years I'll call up Bridget or David or Brad and make a trip back out there and maybe go see the kids that are stayin in the same cabins we stayed in and tell them about our time and be able to see them and remember what they are feeling and going through. It is such a bittersweet feeling to know that my trip is done but I know that I am also so thankful to have had it and now be back with my family. I know I am def not looking forward to real life next semester with all my hard classes I have to take.
well that all for me
Hope everyones Thanksgivings went well!
Cheers
Quote of the day
"We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the life that is waiting for us. "
-Joseph Campell
So I am so happy that OBAMA WON! He is such an amazing man and I love that he is going to be leading this country into the future and I am so happy that I can back a president that I truly love and support 100% Yes WE can! The speach that he gave that night when we won moved me to tears. Everything he was saying moved me so much. Thank you Obama for giving me hope!
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So the end of my time in Australia has come. As I look back on all that I have done and all that has happened I can't help but to smile. These past three months will stay with me always. The weather today has been kind of nasty out, but I guess that is fitting for how everyone is feeling right now. Everyone is talking about what they will miss and thinking about the what ifs about this or that. We are exchanging numbers and talking about how we are all going to hang out when we get back. It is such a bittersweet feeling to have right now. You are thrown into this experience not knowing any one and forced to live with and talk to these people everyday, all the while your family and friends are half way around the world moving on with their lives. It is weird to think that I may never come back to this place. And even if I do it will never be the same because the people that I have come to know and love will not be there with me. You are pushed so far out side your comfort zone here that you can't help to change and take a second look at your life and what you are doing and how you are growing.
I really don't even know what to write, what i feel is so much deeper than what I can put down in words.This has been so much better than I could have ever thought it would be. One thing I have really come to find is true is that people consistently surprise you, some people here I have talked to these past few days and we have gotten really close. Katie Johnson is someone who I am so happy that I got to know. We started off on the wrong foot and we were a little distance to each other for awhile but we have been talking to each other a lot these past few nights and I really Respect her and think she is really truly a great person. Her favorite thing to say is OHHHH MAMMA!!!
So all and all my time here has been amazing and everything I thought it would be and more. I am so thankful for everything that I have got to do here. I will keep these times with me for the rest of my life.
So I say goodbye to you Australia and thank you for what you have given me and for showing me that even though we may come from different places around the world we are still all connected.
Cheers
Quote of the day
" I do honestly believe that people enter our lives for a reason. That
everyone who we meet, who forms an impression has something to teach
us. Everything that happens to us is an experience, and because of that
it can never be bad. an experience can only be good because it all
serves to shape the person that we are, the person that we become"
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So this week is our last week here. I know I have not made a post in awhile but it is because we have been so busy with projects and papers and all kinds of different homework assignments. I just got done with my Australian life and cultures class and I have never had to write so much in my life! We had to write four 300 word short answers man does my hand kill! We have our final meeting today with everyone to talk about how to prepare ourselves for coming home and the culture shock we will have coming back. They say that the coming back is worse than the coming here. It will be very hard to go back to the lifestyle I had at home. It will be really hard for us because our whole country is changing and we will have been away and have not had to deal with it now we will be thrown back into this place that we might never even remember.
I share the bittersweet feelings with my friends here with not wanting to leave but knowing that we can not stay. Soon this trip will be put into the back of our minds fighting for a spot to be remembered. I have made such great friendships here and I am worried about how it will be when we return. It is easy to keep friends here because we have to see each other everyday. But when we return we will have to fit them into our old lives. I feel like I left home just yesterday to come here, but feel as if I have known some of these people my whole life. Brad, David, Bridget, and Glenn have become very close to me. I truly like everyone on the trip and hope to hang out with them when I get back, but it will be these people that I remember most. It will be these people that when I look back I will think about how they made my trip even better. Some of the best times I've done here have been with them. They will stay forever with me. I thank them So much for being the people here that I could turn to and talk to about anything.
Brad-
Brad is hands down the nicest person I have ever met. I did not think I would even be friends with Brad when this first started and now I can't imagine not having him in my life. He has been such a great friend to everyone here. Even if they annoy him or its the same thing they talk about time and time again he sits there and listens and lets them talk for as long as they want. I can sit and talk to Brad for hours about anything and everything. He is so open to new things and its great to be able to sit down and have an intelligent conversation about anything. What I will remember most about Brad is in Sydney when we went out dancing and I look over and see his fist pumping in the air. The first time Brad and I hung out alone was when we were going to walk up the handlands and for some reason our group of four thought about not going but I new that Brad wanted to so the other two we came with ended up turning back and Brad and I went up there. It was great because we got to open up and talk about our families and bond over certain things. It was great to go up there and see how beautiful it was. After that we went out got something to eat the the Mexican place in town. Since then we just became closer and closer.
David-
David is probably the person I am closest to here. And he was the last person that I ever thought I'd open up to. You could not get more opposite than David and I. We think completely different on almost every major issue but yet we have become so close. It is because we both let each other be who we really are and we don't try to change each other. I have had more long talks with David here than anyone else. I have told him things that it has taken some friends years to know. He is truly such a great person and I am so thankful to have met him and got to share this experience with him. I sometimes forget about our age difference because he seems a lot older for his is. I do not trust people, in fact the number of people I trust outside my family I count on with both my hands but I trust him. My friendship with David started when we both were going to try to stay up until sunrise. We ended up talking about a ton of things and opening up to one another but we ended up not making it till sunrise. We passed out an hour before. Ever since then our talks have become deeper and how friendship as grown stronger.
Bridget-
I really don't know why it took this long for Bridget and I to meet. She is such an amazing person. We have become so close because we are so alike but so different too. Bridget is such a strong women and I really look up to her when it comes to how free spirited she is. She just lives her life and you either love her or hate her but pretty much everyone loves her. She is very honest and you always know where she stands. What I will remember most about her is all the nights we stayed up and watched movies in our living room. All of our inside jokes and times and we just sat there and talk about stupid things and laughed until we couldn't breath. I think what makes me like her so much is she is so much like my own family. I feel so close to her because it reminds me of home. There is no one time that sticks out to be for when our friendship became so strong with Bridget. I just guess I always new we would become great friends. Not many people have such a love for the movies Return to OZ or Twister like we do. And no one else can watch Wedding Crashers 37 times besides us.
Glenn-
I knew that Glenn and I would be friends even before we met. I had facebook stalked him and knew exactly the kind of person he was going to be. Glenn and I share the same sense of humor and I have not laughed more with someone here than I have with Glenn. Glenn and I can keep the same joke going for 20 mins at a time. He is so quick and has such a great wit to him that its awesome. Glenn has a great smile ( when its real) and the best thing about him is that Glenn makes no excuses for who he is. Glenn and I have had some great talks about so many different things and I am so lucky to have got to know him. I am forever thankful of Glenn giving me the extra bed in his room to go to at night when I didn't want to sleep alone in my cabin. There is no one else that I could have gotten kicked out of dinner with at the Hans besides Glenn. And planning our marriage will never get old.
These people have shaped my time here into such a great experiance. I am so thankful and lucky to have had to privileged to meet these wonderful people. I do not take many people home to meet my family because I feel that unless you are going to be in my life for a long time there is no point. I hold my family very close to me and only want those who matter to know them. I can not wait for us to get home and for them to meet my family. I do not make new friends easily in fact all the friends I have from back home I've known pretty much my whole life. I have opened myself up to more to new people here than I ever have before. But like I said I don't know why it took so long for me to find them but now that I have I can't see imagine not having them in my life.
So thank you Bridget, Brad, Glenn, and David. thank you for all you have given me and thank you for letting me get to know you.
Cheers
Quote of the day
"Today I want to thank you. Not for anything special, but just because
you have a great personality that makes you pleasant to be around. Just
because you are so much fun, but you know when and how to be serious.
Just because I feel like I can talk to you about pretty much anything.
You make friendship seem like no work at all, and even though that's
the way it should be . . . Not every friendship is easy. Although there
are so many wonderful things about you . . . I want to thank you most
of all for just being you. Because when you are just being you, it's so
naturally comfortable being me."