After being back in America for a month, I suppose it's about time
to reflect and wrap up my study abroad blog (I'll try my best not to cry, but
no promises).
ON MY LAST MONTH IN AUSTRALIA:
I guess I should start by saying that I
never actually wrote an entry about my last month in Australia. Once mid-June
came rolling around, it really hit me that I only had a month left and that I
should be devoting all of my time to my friends, so blogging went on the back
burner (even further back than it already was). But as a short summary of that
final month: I went to my first ever horse race, my parents came to visit and
took me to New Zealand for 3 wonderful days, I went to a lot of going-away
parties, visited the Gold Coast, took a final trip to Noosa, and helped
host a 4th of July party with my fellow Americans for some of our incredible
German and Australian friends (in true American style: burgers, sparklers and
red white and blue everything).
Being some of the last of our friend group to leave, Amber,
Rachel, Olivia and I ended up being a sort of goodbye committee. We attended
everyone’s going away parties; said goodbye to new friends who felt like old
friends, laughed, cried, and reminisced together before seeing them off. "See
You Again" was our official farewell song, and I can’t hear it without
thinking about the friends we have living all over the world.
However, when it was our time to leave, we had the most special
goodbye of them all. Our Australian friends Jack, Mitch, and Sam stayed up all
night with us, made us food, and carried all of our luggage to the shuttle when
it came for us (at 5:30 AM, I might add). We cried and hugged a lot, and as the
shuttle drove off they ran next to it, waving goodbye. Then it was Olivia, Amber,
Rachel, and me- on the shuttle- exactly the way we had started 5 months prior.
Except this time we were filled with love and friendship that we hadn’t known
before, and I am forever grateful that our friends were able to leave us with
that.
The last month, though filled with adventures and tears, was one I
would never take back. It’s truly beautiful when you can step back and say “Look
at the life I’ve made for myself here. Look at how much I have grown.” And that
wonderful, yet heartbreaking feeling, is what I am left with a month later. Besides
saying goodbye being emotional and difficult, it truly made me realize what
incredible friends and memories I had made and that I was left with no regrets
about my time in Australia.
ON STUDYING ABROAD:
“I think the best part about studying abroad is that every new
experience becomes a part of you. My time in Australia is constantly helping me
grow and I can’t wait to see who I am at the end of my journey.” –March 25,
2015
I wrote this to a friend, who at the time had asked me to sum up
my study abroad experience thus far. And it was, and is still, so true. I have
grown so much from my semester abroad and I have gained so many insights about
life that I may never have figured out otherwise. And to be honest, I’m still
growing. What I’ve realized is that the journey doesn’t end once you get home.
You still have ties with people and places that are 9000 miles away, and that
keeps the experience alive. I have reunions planned with my American friends,
and I have set my heart on going back to Australia one day and having even more
adventures. I can easily say that this journey is far from over.
ON FALLING IN LOVE:
The feeling of falling in love with a place is indescribable. You
give your heart to the ocean and the stars and allow them to change you, for
better or for worse, at the risk of breaking your own heart when you have to
leave them. You start to become familiar with the way the waves fall, what the
sunsets might look like, and what sort of noises the birds will make outside of
your window at 5am, and it becomes a part of you. You gain a unique
appreciation for life that only travel can give. Giving my heart to
Australia was one of the smartest and bravest things I’ve ever done, because it
has helped me to appreciate the potential I hold within me to change my own
life. I keep thinking about how two years ago this was all a dream, and I made
the active choice to get up and make it happen, even though I was afraid. After
having made that leap, I feel a sense of freedom and adventure that you can
only feel when you actively choose to take a risk and decide to open your heart
to the unknown and embrace where life takes you.
ON GRATITUDE:
I want to say thank you to all of those who helped
to make this incredible experience a reality.
First and foremost, I want to thank my parents for
helping me not only financially, but for giving me their unyielding love and
support. The BW study abroad team also deserves my gratitude, because I
honestly would have never been able to achieve this without them.
…Here come the waterworks. I really want to thank Olivia
and Amber: my partners in crime since day one. They have truly been by my side
every step of the way and I can’t imagine how I ever managed to get by without
them. And for that matter I don’t think I ever want to get by without them again.
A huge thanks to Sam, Jack, Alysse, Harry and Mitch for always having our backs and taking us
places (and for teaching us everything we know about what it means to be
Australian, God help us). Thanks to my roommates (and my unofficial roommates
up in apartment 40) for being awesome. And lastly, I want to thank all of the
people and friends I met along the way who helped to make this experience what
it was. I definitely couldn’t have done it without you.
Sincerely,
Julie
