Last Week in Sydney

It's so hard to believe that next week at this time I will be at home (well, actually at the oral surgeons getting my wisdom teeth out, but close enough). It is Monday, June 22nd. I leave Sydney in a mere six days, on Sunday June 28th. Today is my 130th day since leaving home. When I left I was twenty years old, and upon return I am twenty one. I left a snowy winter and will return to a sunny summer. But the real difference between leaving the U.S. in February and returning now is unquantifiable. It is easy to say that I have changed immensely. I am in an extremely different place in my life now than I was when I left. I have done things that I never dreamed of before, been places I've never seen, or even heard of, and been extremely independent for nearly five months. I have learned to live every day to its fullest, and to take advantage of every opportunity that I am presented with. I have had a chance to completely focus on my own development, without interference or the necessity of worrying about the effects on anyone else. While I've been in Australia, it's been just me, myself, and I.

I am so excited to come home, but in a way, I am scared. I don't know what it's going to be like going back into the familiar. I have a feeling I'll be looking at everything very differently, and every experience at home will actually seem new. But what I am scared most of, is losing any tiny bit of what I've learned. I truly think that the ways I've changed will be lasting though. I am sitting here, trying to think of a way to adequately describe the changes that I can see, and am coming up with nothing. I think that the relationship I now have with myself is amazing, because I will be the only person who can truly understand who I've now become. I can only hope that other people will be able to feel the effects of it.

I am coming home ready for new experiences. I will never take anything for granted, and will continue to live each day fully, and try to make every day have a purpose. Life is so short. I've learned that here-it feels like I've just arrived, yet I am about to go. I don't want to see my semester abroad as an end, but instead, a beginning. The lessons I've learned will absolutely change the way I live the rest of my life, and I feel so blessed to have had this opportunity.
For the rest of the week, I'm going to be doing a lot more reflectance on this experience, and perhaps then I will be able to put more into words.

For now though, I am still in finals mode. I am officially done with my third final, which I think went very well. Last one will be molecular cell biology, on Thursday. I spent part of this afternoon studying, but am going to take the rest of the night off, since my brain is completely fried. I don't have too much to update since I've been back from Bali, because I've literally been studying every waking hour. On Thursday at 5pm though, I will be officially done-I cannot wait! Then I will have two full days to spend before coming home. Friday I am planning on going to the Blue Mountains. I realized that is the one last place that I would really like to see (and that I can semi-afford). Then I want to spend Saturday wandering around the city the whole day. I have come to really love this place, and want to soak it all in before I leave. Also, to start Saturday of, I am planning (and some other people are as well I think) on waking up before dawn, and getting to Bondi Beach to watch the sunrise. Then I want to walk the cliff walk to Coogee, which is the one other thing I still want to do. I want to make it the perfect last day. Then Sunday I will be waking up early to spent one last morning at Darling Harbour before getting on my plane, that will be taking approximately 24 hours (not looking forward to that!)

I will write later in the week about things that I'm going to miss. But for now, I'll just jot down a few things that I am the most excited for:

1. Food: China Gourmet, Village, Bacon, good dairy products, cheez-its, reeses. And just a kitchen full of food that I can cook in.
2. My own bed! Six more sleeps here. Although I'm not sure if I'll be able to sleep without Laura in the room anymore.
3. Seuss, my parents, my sisters, and my friends. (Yes, Seuss is first!)
4. SUNNY WEATHER! It has been cold and rainy here for as long as I can remember at this point. Although I hear Northfield is the same, so it better be nice by the time I get there.
5. Phones. The ability that people can actually call me, and I don't need to talk through a computer.
6. NOT needing to use a computer anymore-as you all likely know, I hate technology, so I can't wait to not need to use it for a while!
7. CAPE COD. I cannot wait to get to the cape ASAP.
8. Hanging out at NMH every day with my little teachers Amanda and Sarah
9. Working out (my gym membership ran out saturday)
10. getting my wisdom teeth out and my knees fixed!
11. All the little things. Going on walks with my mom, watching scary movies with my dad, going to whole foods every saturday for lunch, hiking, hanging out with friends, games nights...I really think I'm going to appreciate everything so much more now.

Alright, I'll definitely update one more time this week (hopefully) and then I'll be HOME!