"For every dream that's reborn, there's a dream that dies. For every hello you say, there's a sad goodbye."

Before coming to Australia I never considered how difficult it would be to say goodbye. I had a feeling that I’d love it here (which I do, a lot more than I thought possible), but saying “goodbye” to Perth and the people I’ve met here is a daunting thing. I’m not one to indulge in and display in my emotions but let’s be real here – I sat in my room the other night and cried because I finally realized that I was leaving. I was talking to my friend and she said something along the lines of “I was so excited when you added me on Skype, but then I got sad because I realized that that’s going to be the only way we can see each other soon.” Those few words made the idea of leaving real to me. The fact that I won’t be able to walk across the student village to somebody’s flat just to talk is horrible – instead, I have to Skype them and if I want the full experience, I have to fly across the country. Saying goodbye to my friends and leaving Perth really makes me appreciate the experience I’ve had here and at the same time wish I had done more and met more people. But I know that someday I’ll make it back here.

On a different note…I leave for Cairns in 3 hours! I’ll be there until December 2^nd and then fly to Sydney and then on the 8^th I fly back home. I’ll update when I get home.

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!

xxx

Sorry for the severe lack of postings. I think it's almost been a month...whoops. I could say that things have been pretty busy (which they have) but, mostly, I kind of forgot I had a blog. My bad.

Anyways...what's been happening? October 16th I had my first surfing lesson. Paul took us to Trigg Beach, which is about a half hour drive from Murdoch campus and we had a 2 hour surf lesson. The conditions weren't the best for a first-time surfer. The sun was out and it was hot (which was great) but the waves were kind of ridiculous. They were really strong  and quite large, and there was backwash, where the waves come back from the beach and its like another wave but it comes from behind. So, basically, we had waves coming at us from like 3 different directions which made it a little difficult. Regardless, we had a lot of fun. I didn't actually stand up on the board but I did get up on a knee so I'd like to think that's pretty good for the first time. I ended up with Caroline in the hospital because the fin on her board hit her in the face. She needed a few stiches so I went with her to do that. She's all good now - stitch free and all.

I think the most significant thing that has happened in the past couple of weeks was...my 21st birthday!! WOO. I am now legal to drink everywhere in the world and never have to worry about being underage (I know you're proud, mom and dad). For my birthday Caroline, Kathryn, and Virginia made Jocelyn (who had her birthday on the 17th) and I dinner in my flat and then other people came over and we headed out to the bar. Don't think I could have asked for a better birthday!

We also made it to a new beach - Scarborough. Takes about an hour on public transportation but it's a pretty nice beach. Yes, I swam in the water and no, I did not get eaten or bitten by a shark. There's been a lot of those attacks lately but I think the majority of them have been swimming at dawn when there's no beach patrol and it's like the prime time for shark attacks...sooo I'm gonna call stupid on that one (sorry if that's insensitive). Now they're hunting the shark, which is silly because the likelihood of it being one lone shark is pretty slim. Oh well...

So what else has been going on? I've had a bunch of school work to do lately. I had a big project for my Environmental Policy and Law class and a case study due for my Climate Change class so I've spent a lot of time the past couple weeks working on those. Today I had a presentation for my internship which went pretty well. It's finally starting to come together. Some of the images/pictures are at the printer now and next week we should be sending the rest of them to get printed and mounted - exciting! My friend created a workout for me to do, so that's been kicking my butt three days a week.

Tomorrow is my last day of classes. How insane is that?? I feel like I just got here. But now I only have a month left and then I head home. Pretty crazy. I seriously considered staying here for next semester but I think I've decided to go home instead. It was pretty hard to decided because I love it here but I also have so much to go back to at home. I'll make it back here soon, though.

Tonight I'm just going to stay in and relax. Time to go grab a drink and relax.
xxx