life has been such an adventure since then. in the span of one year, i've gotten to safari and volunteer in africa, scuba dive in fiji, pet kangaroos and bbq on the beaches of australia, snowboard in germany, and visit some of my favorite people in the netherlands. i've been in craters and oceans and lived on a private island. i've met people from countries i didn't know existed and seen some amazing things. i've gotten to work at an aquarium where i feed 7 ft. sharks and 350 pound turtles.
i am so blessed. i've also learned that there is no point in sitting back and watching life unfold without you. dream big, extravagant, silly, wild dreams. and then do everything you can to chase them.
it is very strange to be heading back to UQ, but i'm actually excited. this will be the first time since september 2004 that i've returned to the same school after a summer vacation. this is epic, folks! i'm changing majors and my best friends are gone though, so despite being in the same location, i know it will be like starting over again. as cool as it is to be friends with people around the world, i'm learning that it can also be very difficult. time differences, expensive phone calls, and expensive plane tickets might make having world-wide friends more fun in theory than real life. it's definitely emotionally taxing to be in a perpetual state of missing people who live thousands of miles away. if only i could win the lottery, life would be perfect.
1 week and 1 day until i'm headed back down under on a one way ticket. unsure of when i'll be back stateside. i'm in the process of trying to figure out study abroad--yes, i can study abroad from abroad! i'm thinking india or south africa. my mom is thinking... canada? i'll probably end up someplace in europe within the next year or two, which wouldn't be too bad either :)
i'm still trying to plan out my first few days in OZ. currently i'm scheduled to fly into sydney and spend thursday-sunday there. the big draw is that the gay/lesbian mardi gras parade happens to be on saturday! hundreds of thousands of people from around the world fly in to witness what's been ranked as one of the top 10 parades in the world to see. however, i might be interested in flying into brissy a couple days before classes, getting settled back in and hitting up the beach for a few days. we'll see!
time to start packing... always an adventure. this time i will NOT spend $400+ in shipping and i will NOT spend $400+ in excess baggage fees! sheesh. i should've just bought a friend a ticket last time and had them check my bags!
and when i'm not with you, i know that it's true that i'd rather be anywhere but here without you... --safetysuit
leap and the net shall appear. --zen saying
...and maybe when a person doesn't buy the lies anymore, when a human stops long enough to realize the stuff people say to get us to part with our money often isn't true, we can finally see the sunrise, smell the wetness in a Gulf breeze, stand in awe at a downpour no less magnificent than a twenty-thousand-foot waterfall, ten square miles wide, wonder at the physics of a duck paddling itself across the surface of a pond, enjoy the reflection of the sun on the face of the moon, and know, this is what i was made to do. this is who i was made to be, that life is being given to me as a gift, that light is a metaphor, and God is doing these things to dazzle us. --donald miller, through painted deserts
...set out with big dreams running through her mind... she was jumping right into the deep end on a leap of sweet, blind faith. it's about hoping, it's about dreaming, it's about never not believing. it's about taking a walk out on the wire and never looking down. it's about living instead of dying. it's about spreading your wings and flying. it's all about trying. --little big town
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