Semester Down Under

It's been a little over a week since I returned home, and boy has it been an adjustment. It took a little over a week of waking up at 5 am and sleeping at all the wrong hours of the day, but I've finally recovered from the time difference. Still, there are so many small things that continue to remind me of the change. The outlets don't have individual switches, everyone has the same accent as me, no one understand my lingo (brekkie, uni, sweet as, etc.), toilets only have one flush option instead of a half flush / full flush, the internet actually works, smart phones and 4G exists, the passenger side of the car is actually the driver side, cross walks don't go "bing bing bing bing bing bing" telling me when to walk...the list goes on and on

Although all of these differences do make me miss Australia, they also remind me how lucky I am to have called Sydney my home for the last 4 1/2 months.  Looking through all of my pictures, hearing songs that remind me of certain places and certain people, putting up and using all my souvenirs all bring me back to such a wonderful place. It's weird to think that many of the people I met and most of the places I saw will never be in my life again, but I know the experiences and memories will forever be with me. Living away from home, my family, and friends, spring breaking in New Zealand, camping in the Outback, swimming the Great Barrier Reef, jumping out of planes and off ledges, playing with (and eating!) Kangaroos, meeting people from not only all over the states, but all over the world, getting to know these people so well that it was as if I had known them my whole life, then having to say goodbye to these people, some of them forever, seeing shows in the Sydney Opera House, climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge, road tripping to the Twelve Apostles....it was a  crazy, challenging, eye-opening, inspiring, life changing, and absolutely beautiful semester to say the least. It's bittersweet to be home and realizing that the semester I had looked forward to since I was 15 is over, but I know that it wasn't goodbye Australia, just a "see you later."

"Travel isn't always pretty. It isn't always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you - it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you… Hopefully, you leave something good behind." - Anthony Bourdain