Australia.
Five years ago today, I landed back in the United States after nearly a year abroad in Australia. I hugged my friends goodbye at the airport in Melbourne, unsure if I would ever make it back there to visit. I went walked through security trying not to completely lose it.
So I am tempted now to put fingers to keyboard and remember some of my times there, for myself, more than anything else.
I remember my first day in Australia, the long shuttle bus ride with a bunch of students that were doing homestays. The girl next to me got car sick and threw up in a plastic bag.
I finally got to the dorms and took the lift to the 4th floor. The first person that talked to me was probably Matty now that I think about it. He asked me if I was going to the Nott and I had no idea what he was saying. A combination of a foreign accent and complete exhaustion, I made him repeat himself at least twice.
I met Tim and Kiwi shortly after I got into my room. Tim was extraordinary friendly, a trait I now know to be fairly common among Australians. I'm not certain that Kiwi actually acknowledged me, which I also now know to be fairly common to him.
Within a week I knew all of Tim and Kiwi's friends. They were surprisingly welcoming to the small American girl who couldn't hold her alcohol and had to be taught how to pronounce things properly.
The next months were a whirlwind. I learned how to play pool (in theory, I still played very poorly), to avoid the food at Slops that was most likely to give me food poisoning, and the wonder of toasted sandwiches.
I spent summer break working in the dorms and met Liz. Again, in ridiculous Australian hospitality, she invited me to spend Christmas with her family. It was the middle of summer, which was weird, and we had Christmas crackers, like in Harry Potter. I spent my two weeks off traveling to Adelaide, Alice Springs, and Kangaroo Island. I met lots of Europeans: some like the small group I was with through Central Australia to Alice Springs who were really friendly and we were like a small family at the end of the trip, some like the group to Kangaroo Island, who I think held me personally responsible for the re-election results.
I was part of the welcoming committee for the new exchange students in the next semester. I encouraged them to make friends with the locals instead of hanging out with other abroad students. A bunch of my friends moved to the 4th floor because Tim was supposed to the RA, but he got moved to the 5th. I made friends with the new students, both local and on exchange. When exhaustion finally caught up with me at the beginning of the year and I walked home early from the Nott, a first year who I later came to know as Phelpsie walked me home. I celebrated my 21st birthday with people I had known for up to nine months, but felt like I had known for much longer.
Shaz and I became friends. She thought I hated her because she was dating the guy I had a thing for. I was scared of her because she said "c*nt" and had an intimidating British accent. We wore Ugg boots to the boys' soccer games and drank Goon out of water bottles. I stole her tattoo idea of the Southern Cross and the two of us and Bec all got tattoos together.
And then it was over. I got on that plane, looked out the window and cried a little. I went back in 2007, traveled a bit more and saw many of my friends. But many more had moved. Things like Facebook make it easier to stay in touch, but with a 14-hour time difference, chatting can be complicated.
Five years ago sometimes feels like yesterday and sometimes it feels like a lifetime ago. I know that sound cheesy, but sometimes it feels like my time there never really happened, because from the perspective of my friends and family in the States, it only happened to me. I'm not sure if the people from those two seperate lives will ever meet.
Five years ago I was transitioning back to a place where it was harder to make friends somehow. Where it was far less likely that someone who recognize you as being the "new kid" and go out of their way to make sure that you feel welcomed.
I probably wish that I could go back there at least a few times a week. I entertain the idea of trying to go to graduate school down there, just so I could try to recapture some of that wonderful year that ended five years ago.
But I know that it wouldn't be the same; I can't have that time back. Everyone is spread across the globe now: California to Broome.
Whew, okay, I'm done with that...it's depressing. Have a great Fourth of July to all of my friends and family in the States (if you've read this far, I applaud you).
So I am tempted now to put fingers to keyboard and remember some of my times there, for myself, more than anything else.
I remember my first day in Australia, the long shuttle bus ride with a bunch of students that were doing homestays. The girl next to me got car sick and threw up in a plastic bag.
I finally got to the dorms and took the lift to the 4th floor. The first person that talked to me was probably Matty now that I think about it. He asked me if I was going to the Nott and I had no idea what he was saying. A combination of a foreign accent and complete exhaustion, I made him repeat himself at least twice.
I met Tim and Kiwi shortly after I got into my room. Tim was extraordinary friendly, a trait I now know to be fairly common among Australians. I'm not certain that Kiwi actually acknowledged me, which I also now know to be fairly common to him.
Within a week I knew all of Tim and Kiwi's friends. They were surprisingly welcoming to the small American girl who couldn't hold her alcohol and had to be taught how to pronounce things properly.
The next months were a whirlwind. I learned how to play pool (in theory, I still played very poorly), to avoid the food at Slops that was most likely to give me food poisoning, and the wonder of toasted sandwiches.
I spent summer break working in the dorms and met Liz. Again, in ridiculous Australian hospitality, she invited me to spend Christmas with her family. It was the middle of summer, which was weird, and we had Christmas crackers, like in Harry Potter. I spent my two weeks off traveling to Adelaide, Alice Springs, and Kangaroo Island. I met lots of Europeans: some like the small group I was with through Central Australia to Alice Springs who were really friendly and we were like a small family at the end of the trip, some like the group to Kangaroo Island, who I think held me personally responsible for the re-election results.
I was part of the welcoming committee for the new exchange students in the next semester. I encouraged them to make friends with the locals instead of hanging out with other abroad students. A bunch of my friends moved to the 4th floor because Tim was supposed to the RA, but he got moved to the 5th. I made friends with the new students, both local and on exchange. When exhaustion finally caught up with me at the beginning of the year and I walked home early from the Nott, a first year who I later came to know as Phelpsie walked me home. I celebrated my 21st birthday with people I had known for up to nine months, but felt like I had known for much longer.
Shaz and I became friends. She thought I hated her because she was dating the guy I had a thing for. I was scared of her because she said "c*nt" and had an intimidating British accent. We wore Ugg boots to the boys' soccer games and drank Goon out of water bottles. I stole her tattoo idea of the Southern Cross and the two of us and Bec all got tattoos together.
And then it was over. I got on that plane, looked out the window and cried a little. I went back in 2007, traveled a bit more and saw many of my friends. But many more had moved. Things like Facebook make it easier to stay in touch, but with a 14-hour time difference, chatting can be complicated.
Five years ago sometimes feels like yesterday and sometimes it feels like a lifetime ago. I know that sound cheesy, but sometimes it feels like my time there never really happened, because from the perspective of my friends and family in the States, it only happened to me. I'm not sure if the people from those two seperate lives will ever meet.
Five years ago I was transitioning back to a place where it was harder to make friends somehow. Where it was far less likely that someone who recognize you as being the "new kid" and go out of their way to make sure that you feel welcomed.
I probably wish that I could go back there at least a few times a week. I entertain the idea of trying to go to graduate school down there, just so I could try to recapture some of that wonderful year that ended five years ago.
But I know that it wouldn't be the same; I can't have that time back. Everyone is spread across the globe now: California to Broome.
Whew, okay, I'm done with that...it's depressing. Have a great Fourth of July to all of my friends and family in the States (if you've read this far, I applaud you).