10,284 Miles Later

Before I start this blog, I just wanted to clarify some points of interest to this story. Since I’m traveling without internet my posts can’t have ‘real time’ to them…or whatever this crazy time warp I’m in. So here it goes…layover by layover

Auckland

If I stop drinking liquids, do you think these tears would stop falling from my eyes?

I knew goodbyes to all the beautiful people I’ve meet this semester would be difficult, but I didn’t realize the extent to which my emotions would be stressed. Yesterday, I woke up early for one last beach session before I started the devastating process of goodbyes and checking out of my humble abode. I had my last caf lunch (my famous rice medley) and finished my meal points off with .94 to spare! That took much planning, let me tell you!

I am so incredibly thankful for the time I could spend in Australia and all the wonderful relationships I’ve formed. The fact that it was so difficult to leave shows how much I put into this study abroad experience and how much I have gained. Over the coarse of five months I’ve created a home for myself. It may not have been a walk in the park at times, but along the way some incredible things took place that will forever stay with me and easily be classified as ‘the time of my life’. This is one experience that I wish everyone would experience. My life has literally changed from this in so many ways and I’ve matured more than I ever thought possible.

For my last night in Wollongong, we all stayed in and watched Finding Nemo, and while it may be a cute Disney movie to most, it now has more sentimental value than even the next dramatic love story. Anna, Beth and I sat in our baby loveseat bawling…My trip to Sydney started by maneuvering to the Hotel Formula 1 with two suitcases and lots of kind people along the way. I took this as my last opportunity to enjoy Sydney one more time. There is something to traveling by yourself that I can’t quite point out. It’s liberating and makes you that much more aware and appreciative of your surroundings.

Today I’ve started my journey back home again in Indiana. At the moment, I’m sitting with a classic New Zealand L&P next to the windows absorbing the last summer rays before I board my plane for the longest flying leg of my trip to LA. Thus far I’m incredibly impressed with Air New Zealand. They are by far the nicest airliner that I’ve experienced. I had salmon for lunch, watched 500 days of Summer (which I’m obsessed with), got a whole can of coke, mints at the end, and hundreds of music albums all at my fingertips. Am I in first class? I can’t imagine what that was like…Anna let me know how the other half lives?

Thanks to Drake, I have 22 hours of non-stop dubstep on my computer now…which I’ve been having a solo rager with and Roro provided me with five all-time classic movies to occupy the rest of my layovers. Anna and Beth left me with notes that once again had me bawling this time on the plane…cool guys!

When I was going through Sydney customs, they checked my passport and said, “We hope to see you back.” Automatically, I started to feel my eyes well up with tears. And even reliving that moment is making me cry now. The quarantine officer comforted me after by making conversation about my trip and I found out his son went to Wollongong. What a coincidence! He escorted me through an express line and I was on my way to duty free paradise. I went to the Apple kiosk and quickly updated my status for everyone to know I was alive and on my way home, then after a little perusing it was time for me to board!

Los Angeles

What time is it and where am I? When boarding a flight across the Pacific, it actually feels like a joke. Yeah I mean sure, I would love to be stuck in a plane for 12 hours without being able to move and be told when to eat/drink. Looking at the flight plan and watching the small parcels of land disappear into the vast blue that is the pacific is something to note. Trying to differentiate what time it is in Australia compared to LA and where exactly you are in the world is a fun little game to play with yourself. Unfortunately, my college mentality led me to wait until the flight for dinner and within the first hour I was dying. This could be due to the altitude as well, but wow that was an awful wait. I started to panic thinking about the implications of my decision, which just made everything worse.

On the flight, I watched Transformers 3 which turned out to be a gigantic disappointment (I’m a huge Transformers fan) and Friends With Benefits. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do the one thing necessary for this flight, sleep. Perfect. So when I attempted to check my bags through to Indy and got denied and told to wait until 8:30 that night (it was 9am), I wheeled my luggage in disbelief away from the counter and started to cry. There were no lockers to store luggage, so my next option was to book a tour and hope they held my luggage. After a far too emotional call to my mom about my latest development, a break through came with VIP tour company. I left my bags with the Hilton LAX and boarded a bus for five hours touring the city!

The tour was actually a miracle I’m convinced. It broke up my layover, allowed me to see LA (minus the 20 minutes I crashed asleep). And most importantly it got rid of my horrible baggage that probably started to have a gravitational pull towards them because they weigh so much. Hopefully, once this AirTran ticketing counter opens, I’ll be able to run through security, grab a quality dinner, and find a bathroom with a hand dryer for a great “shower”. Oh the joys of traveling from Australia with crazy connections. It makes for an epic post?...I hope.

Atlanta

Oh my gosh…I’m not even excited about getting home anymore, I just want to take a shower and pass out. I don’t think I’m physically able to make emotion right now because of the zombie state I’m in. Since leaving Sydney I’ve had a total of about five hours of sleep. My flight from LA to Atlanta was okay. My international flights spoiled me with food and in-seat tvs so the change to domestic was drastic. My ears haven’t hurt at any point during my flights which is great! And I’ve met a lot of great people along my trips from around the country/world. Australia, New Zealand, Seattle, Texas, New Hampshire, Miami, Orlando…I wonder who is next! Five hours and I will be in Indy! J

Indy

Before I could realize what was going on, I was landing in Indianapolis. My exhaustion must have finally caught up to me. I didn’t think my emotions were alive anymore, but touching down sent a few tears down. After walking off the plane to the main area to see my family standing waiting for me, I immediately broke down. What a surreal feeling to be in the arms of loved ones again. Just a few days ago I was on the other side of the world and now I’m back. Maybe I’m just too tired and everything is getting intense to think about..

More in-depth posting later when I’m coherent and can think properly! J

Fly Away Home

The joys of traveling to the other side of the world and back...the adventure to get home begins Friday morning. Don't worry...I'll be blogging in every airport with my excessive layovers and little lonely self. It's going to be EPIC! And just sayin' I may be wearing shorts home just to protest the winter season that lies ahead of me :/ 

• Sydney to Auckland: 9:40am-2:45pm (3 hours)
• Auckland to LAX: 7:15pm-10:15am (12 hours)

This is where it gets fun...

• LAX to Atlanta: 11:55pm-7:05am (4 hours) 
• Casual 13 hour layover in LAX, maybe take a shower, catch a tour! 
• Atlanta to INDY: 10:10am-11:45am (1.5 hours) 

Then I'M HOME...3 days later! :) 

M729, You may begin.

Sam: “What number are you?”

Me: “M729, what does that mean?”

Sam: “You’ve never taken an exam have you…”

Me: “Nope!” J

When UOW does exams, wow do they go all out for the occasion. Walking up to building 9 to a wall of names correlated to numbers, I had no idea what I was about to get into. I took notice of the massively large signage reading, “Exam Entry” (at least double the height of me) hanging over the doors, but it was only until I walked past the three security guards checking ids and our clear plastic bags for the contents before I got to the test room. And as for the test room…it was just as impressive. Have you ever seen 1000 desks? I can successful check that off my list of odd ball things. I finally understood what M729 meant, my coordinates of course! Section M Seat 729. And I was in the middle of this cluster of desks…meaning there were more than 729! AHHH, talk about intimidation. They have that aspect on lock. Once we took our seats, we had to file a student declaration about our legitimacy of taking the exam and have our ID checked…once again.  After reading the 600 page textbook cover to cover, typing notes, then handwriting them, (yes I had two weeks to study for one exam..sorry) you would think nothing could scare me…wrong. Luckily, the exam really wasn’t that bad. For being 50% of my grade I expected a lot more trickery involved, but they were nice! Score J My first and last exam of UOW is now finished and I have 5 ½ days left of Wolly World Paradise! Liberation feels so good!

Not a bad way to start the day, The Farm

Since Sydney last weekend, my week has basically been focused on public relations. Nothing too exciting. I’ve mastered the skill of studying while laying out which is a great skill to add to my resume…which is finally complete and ready to dazzle my internships soon! Fingers crossed that I’m in Colorado this summer J

Yesterday morning, I woke up at 7 with the boys to road trip down to “the farm” for a little surf session. No, I didn’t paddle out with them. I think I’ll save that for a sunrise surf session next week. Regardless, it was beautiful and a great time to watch the boys work their magic!

Last night, we had a farewell BBQ for Kevin, one of our exchange friends from Colorado. His parents had just arrived fresh from the states so it was great to be around family again and have everyone celebrating. The boys were doing the usual no-brains play…climbing swing sets, jumping off swings at their peak…you know, standard. So that left the girls to enjoy the evening and for us to take in Campus East a little more. I love these kids so much!

I’m in denial that I have to leave the warm 85F days for the freezing snow…Maybe I can be a snowbird in Florida over Christmas. (subtle hint) And I’m inappropriately sad that this is one of the last times I will blog about my study abroad life. Crazy…I’ve been through so much. No regrets! I LOVE AUSTRALIA! Climbing Mount Kiera one last time tomorrow! 

P.S. The nerve wracking wait for the IUDM total Sunday night...$1.8 million! YEWWW all for the kids of Riley Children's Hospital! So proud of everyone that was involved! Can't wait for IUDM 2012, get ready. Go big or go home! :) 

Lesson Learned: Sydney

Oh the places we’ll go…or not. Saturday marked the most dysfunctional day of traveling I will ever encounter (in my life), truth. But before I get into my hectic and wonderful weekend, let me back up to the series of events that filled my “study” week.

While I may have been done with classes, the uni visits continued this week from Monday to Wednesday…daily. So annoying, but in the end everything was settled with professors and I was on track to finish my semester well. Monday night a few of the Campus Easters and I rode bikes to North Gong for $8 Steak, the best deal in town and far from the awful cafeteria food! My first attempt at riding a bike failed with a flat tire, thank goodness I was still in the parking lot, but my second was the definition of a cute fixie girl bike. What a joke, but so fun! We had a sweet little family dinner then Beck, Belinda, and I came up with the fantastic idea to ride to Cold Rock (aka ColdStone). This soon turned into an epic pursuit up and down hills blindly traveling down new areas of Wollongong we had never seen before. Impromptu tour, YEWWW! In the end, our adventure only made the ice cream taste even better! Yumm Tim Tam Hazelnut Chocolate Ice Cream. The rest of the week consisted of a few runs along the coastline, some time watching the surf roll in off the Pacific, and reading a solid 9 chapters in my little PR textbook. Gotta love finals! J

As for my weekend, there were far more adventures to be found. Friday, my roommate Emily and I boarded an early train to Sydney. We dropped our bags off in Bronte where her uncle Michael lives and made our way to Bondi Junction for some serious shopping. I bought a few fun things to bring home and some that have been on my bucket list since coming here. Success! That afternoon, we took a tour around Bronte. The suburb/beach was absolutely gorgeous, the houses are so manicured and modern. Good company all around. Is this real life? We walked to Bondi just a few beaches down for dinner and along the way we took in the sites of the sculptures by the sea exhibition. We ate at a great Thai place, my newly found obsession, and then made our way home for the night. We played with Michael’s little kitten, Rupert, for a bit then began the attempt to fall asleep…after we made the little thing wild. Ooops.

Saturday, the day started out lovely. We woke up had a great breakfast then I caught the bus/train into Central to meet Beth. After getting lost far too many times trying to find the correct way out of Central Station, I found her! Thank goodness. With heaps of trackwork this weekend, our handy trains turned into hectic bus routes that took triple the amount of time as usual. Once we finally made it to Olympic Park, the real test came to find where the expo that I was so excited to visit, and locating our hotel. The trusty information center gave us all the help we needed…unfortunately. The expo consisted of one design of shirt and our hotel, well let's just say the convenience factor of staying at Olympic Park and not taking two forms of transportation ($$) was sounding heavenly. Instead of dropping our bags at the hotel, we jumped on a bus to go to Darling Harbor for lunch one last time. And by jumped I mean it took us two hours sitting on a bus in traffic, add it to the karma list haha. After a great lunch sitting on the harbor, we walked to Paddy’s to grab some last minute souvenirs and find the Chinese temple in China town. Again, this was a strike and a miss in the bus rides department. Then to sweeten our afternoon, we missed our stop and had to change buses. The driver felt bad for us so he escorted us to the other bus, gave us a free ride, and gave specific instructions to the driver to tell us when to get off. Directionally challenged, what’s up! Thanks a whole heap even though we had myMulti day passes, it’s the thought that counts! We met up with Nick, one of the first friends we made here, to say a last goodbye before his trip to Bali. Nope, this isn’t real life. I don’t like saying goodbyes, ever. I truly think I will see him again, but the thought that this could be it messed with my head. Once our prolonged and repeated hugs came to an end, we ventured to find our hotel. This was by far the best part and most successful part of our day for sure! We stopped by Wolly’s for some popcorn, yogurt, and mini muffins (college style always) and effortlessly made it to the Sleep Express Motel.

This morning we woke up early to check out and catch the hotel shuttle to Olympic Park for our race. They told us to meet at 6:55, but just our luck...we waited 20 minutes then started to get a little nervous as to where this shuttle may have been. We walked to the gas station to call a cab and thankfully it arrived within minutes. Lesson learned: convenience outweighs stress any day. Sure we saved $30 in the end, but if we would have stayed in Olympic Park, we could have taken a proper shower after the race (instead of a quick rinse at the aquatic centre), slept in a least another hour, and not have the stress of transportation as a tourist. Anyways *rant over* Our race was really cool. We ran around the entire Olympic Park and finished in the ANZ stadium. It was extremely hot (83F) and with the sun boiling your body, it made for an interesting run. The exciting part about the race that I discovered was that it was for the Sydney Children’s Hospital, how perfect! While I may not be able to participate in IU Dance Marathon this year for Riley Children’s Hospital, I still supported the kids! FTK in Australia! J The girls and I all finished within 20 minutes of each other which was perfect timing. After the race, we treated ourselves to Pancakes on the Rocks which hit the spot and continued our great day (all before 11am). The Rocks is a really neat part of Sydney that I had never visited. It’s the oldest part, therefore the architecture is exquisite with so much character. We tooled around the weekend markets for a while, sampling all that we could and finally came to the pinnacle of our afternoon. Like the little kids we are, we stopped at a lolly store named Sticky, to watch hard candies be made. This quick peek into the store turned into us having full conversations with the workers and learning every possible detail about the lolly making process, typical Americans. The unexpected came when they gave each of us handmade lollipops fresh off the rolling pin and a chunk of excess hard candy leftover from the roll. We were in love.

While our weekend hit a few low points, thankfully I can now look back and laugh at the times we had. It was a fantastic weekend, but continually running through my head was IUDM of which I am missing even as I type this post. Troubling…to make up for my absence, I wore my IUDM t-shirts throughout Sydney and took some pictures for IUDM around the world. FTK all the way! …12 days until I’m outbound Australia. If only it were warm at home this transition wouldn’t be so terrible. 

P.S. This video gives me chills...you should probably watch it :) AND if you want to find out more about my passion at IU... www.iudm.org