Clay + Australia: You've got questions, I've got answers.

Not to steal from the good people at Raido Shack, but that's the best title I could come up for this entry.

Let's see here, what have I been up to since my last post?

School, school, and more school.
Tuesday night basketball
Study abroad cruise in Sydney Harbour
Sending postcards (e-mail me if you'd like one)
Registering for classes for next semester
Getting to know my mates a lot better
Setting up a trip or two
Beginning to realize that this will all come to and end soon

The past few weeks have been filled with memorable days and nights. Australia has opened up my eyes a lot to how diverse the real world is. I could never meet any of these people in Lincoln, and it's funny that sometimes you do have to travel halfway around the world just to meet people, and once you meet them you become great friends. Study abroad is sort of a crazy thing. In Cairns, during our orientation meetings, they told us how we were going to feel emotionally during the whole trip. It's crazy to me that you can predict the emotions of people that you barely know solely based on the experience they are about to have: It went like this:

1) Honeymoon: You're in Australia! Nothing could be better. If the airline lost your luggage, no worries, you're in Australia. Feeling tired? Fight through it, you're in Australia. Are you lost? Don't panic, you're in Australia. Nothing could ever go wrong, because you're, well....you get the point. The honeymoon phase is euphoric, powerful, and something that I'll never forget. You're here, and not only are you visiting here, you're living here. This is your new home, and nothing could feel better

2) Acclimation: Ok, you're here. You're still happy, but probably not honeymoon happy. You're living life and enjoying the subtle differences between Australia and America. You tell your friends something funny that happened to you today because it wouldn't have happened the same way back home. You're settling in, but not yet settled. Every day you learn something new about Australia or Manly. You never know what the next day might have in store.

3) Settled but homesick: You like Australia. You're classes are up and running, and it's probably week 5 or 6. You have tests coming up soon, projects to turn in, and assignments to do. You are trying to stay connected to home, your friends, and family, but it's hard to with all of the hustle and bustle. The weekends are spent either taking trips, or doing something other than going out to the bars. That was so week 3. You're happy, but the honeymoon is completely gone. You do your best to relay your stories back to friends and family, but it's just not the same. They don't get it. It's not their fault, there is just a barrier since they have never been there before. You wish that you could move everyone to Australia for the next 10 weeks. It's not that you miss home, just the people you interact with. You also miss random things like your favorite brand of body wash, deodorant, or your favorite cereal.

4) Time is running out: It's week 8! Less than 5 weeks to go. You can't believe you ever entertained the thought of missing home. You come to realize that you will not be in Australia forever, and a sense of urgency is constantly about you. You have one thing on your mind: do. You have to DO everything. Go here, do this, and eat that. You want to pump out as much efficiency in the trip as you can, and all of the sudden the aspect of time is relevant.

5) Goodbye Australia: You feel sad, ripped off, and worst of all, regret. No matter how you look at study abroad, you will never get to do everything in Australia that you would have liked. You just have to accept it. The fact that you're going back home leaves you with the feeling of helplessness. You wished you would have lived every day to the fullest, taken more chances, and seen more places. There's no way to avoid this, people are simply not able to do everything they wish. The best way to cope with this is to do the things that you most want to do, and check them off your list. You regret not taking that trip, eating that exotic food, or even just taking that walk.

It's amazing how accurate these descriptions are, that I've tried to type out the best I could from memory. I'm currently transitioning from phase 3 to phase 4. Phase 5 looms in the background, and it will sadly get here eventually. I'll leave you guys with some pictures of the last few weeks. Take care.

Sunrise over the pacific