Blog Entry #4: Thursday January 16th- Tuesday January 21st
16th: Today was a super relaxed day, and I woke up really late again! I finally fully unpacked though and had some time to rest. It felt really nice to have all my stuff organized and I wish I had done it earlier, but I was just so tired every time we had free time. One thing I will bring up in this entry, since we didn’t do much today, is the fact that I am having a little trouble finding a group of people to identify with. We do a lot of things in really big groups and that is really stressful for me and not my ideal social situation. I thrive better and socialize better when I am in smaller, intimate settings. I had hoped smaller groups would naturally form after the first week or so but that never happened so when I'm with the big group I feel kind of left out and invisible because I’m so quiet in big groups. The reason I bring this up is to really put into perspective the realities of studying abroad for anyone who reads this. Yes, it is a really cool experience but not everything is perfect, and you will most likely experience some hardships whether it be homesickness, troubles socializing like me or even stressing about the class or classes you are taking. It is really important to remember why you are here and to remind yourself you are doing something very impressive and important and you should be proud of yourself. You can do it, you will get through it, and focus on all the positive times, no matter how small they may seem.
17th: So far, the go go go has been diminishing as, I think, other people are getting tired as well. Also, the group’s communication isn’t the best when it comes to sharing what people are planning on doing and when. A lot of the plans are last minute and that is stressful for me. But I am enjoying the more relaxed vibe of the last part of the trip, and I can reflect better and get more sleep. Today my roommate, a new friend she made, and I all went to a shopping mall a few miles away after getting some food. We passed a small pet store and saw some kittens in the window which were so cute! And I was really observant about how US and Australian malls are similar and different. We went to Target and, let me say, it was not as good as the US Target. It was a lot smaller and we couldn’t even find flashcards that we wanted to use to study for the last test! Then later at night we all went to this really fancy hotel/ casino/ club place that felt like Las Vegas, but almost the entire class met up there and had a lot of fun all dressed up together.
18th: Today we were supposed to go to the Gladesville Asylum and have a tour but, since it was a mainly outdoor tour and it was raining, it was cancelled. I was really excited for this tour because it was one of Australia’s first insane asylums and I have never seen one! But instead the program director bought us aquarium tickets for anytime during the day, so a group of us went to the aquarium and saw some other classmates there too. The aquarium was very cool and had lots of colors and types of sea life. Afterwards, we all exited the aquarium together and went to get ice cream at the same place where we got burgers and then walked around Darling Harbor together.
19th: Today was another calm day that ended in studying for the final exam for many hours because I knew I needed to do well in order to try to get an A in the class. I got food by myself at the mall food court across the street and just sat around in the hotel room and studied It was not the most exciting day, but I was honestly pretty pooped and ready to take the test and go home in two days.
20th: Today was the final exam and afterwards I went on a little excursion myself. I really like cats and Sydney has a cat café called Catmosphere where you can get a coffee drink and play with kittens with a group of other people for about an hour. It was so much fun and I took tons of pictures of the kittens. I went by myself and then walked around the area before making it back to the hotel while barely using my maps app. I felt so free and independent and was really proud of myself for not relying on others to do something fun.
21st: Today is the day! The day we go home. The class is over and, honestly, I am ready to go home. I miss the routines of being back in San Diego and having my classes and days all planned out. And I miss my family because I only got to see them for a small amount of time during Christmas before I left for Australia. My flight was at around 2pm so I didn’t have to get up too early to get to the airport and I was NOT looking forward to it. Luckily, I got the entire row to myself and could lay flat down and sleep, although I barely did. Because of the time change, I got back home to California before I left Sydney since Sydney is an entire day ahead of California. My parents picked me up from the San Francisco airport and I tried to sleep in the car ride back home 2 hours away but to no avail. I was so excited to be home that I forgot I was so tired but then I finally took a nap for nearly 6 hours until dinner time. Time flew by so fast! I can’t believe I’m already home. It felt like I just left but since I did so much it also felt like I was gone for a really long time.
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