To Australia and Beyond

The time lapse between blogs is due to some issues I was having. I didn’t feel much like blogging until I got my visa straightened out. So, a trip to New Zealand later, I’m good to go. More about that later.

A few words on Packing:

Amidst 4^th of July celebrations, I began the packing ordeal. Packing is always hard for me because of a few reasons: 1) I like variety 2) I like to have appropriate attire and 3) I do not enjoy doing laundry more than once a month. Plus, I have no concept of what type of clothing temperature translates into. For example : 60 degrees, well, that’s below 70 which is my threshold for qualifying as cold but does it necessitate a long sleeve shirt or a sweater? I don’t know.

Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem living with minimal clothing/material belongings, it’s just the transition period that is sort of rough. I’m sure that in 6 months, I will look back and laugh as I am being forced to downsize even more. When I get everything unpacked and settled, I’m going to make a formal list of everything I brought so I can look back and see what I should have done differently and what was absolutely necessary. With some last minute wrangling at the airport, I managed to get it down to 1 suitcase of 50 pounds and 1 pack that weighed 38 pounds including roughly 10 pounds of stuff I won’t need to be bringing back to the US.

First Impressions:

The series of flights from the East Coast of the US to the East Coast of Australia was long, but fairly uneventful. I arrived at 10am in Brisbane. Upon arrival to the Gold Coast, my first thought was that it looked a mix of California and Florida: Tropical looking plants, sunny, beach, mountains in the background. The beach is beautiful- nice long white sand that goes on for miles (something I took for granted until I lived in Hawaii).

I’ve been here for almost three weeks. I’ve done a lot of introspection and reflection, gone for a quite a few runs, taken a few yoga classes, and learned how to roll sushi.

The thing I love about moving to a foreign place is the opportunity to re-start and re-build the way day-to-day life takes place in any way you want. I also really enjoy the way time seems to slow down and little tasks (grocery shopping, finding basic items) become big fun tasks. While half-way around the world, Australia doesn’t feel all that foreign. Maybe it is due to the common language or common British roots. Compared to my study abroad 4 years ago in Spain, the adjustment feels a lot easier. Aside from the general Spanish attitude, I feel more connected. Social networking sites really do make it easier to keep tabs on what all my friends are up to. Here, high speed internet access at home is the norm. I’m not sure what Spain is like now, but when I was there, I used the extremely slow computers on campus and paid for internet cafes. I didn’t even have a laptop with me….

I’m still getting used to things here on the Gold Coast. No koalas or kangaroos yet. But, I’m excited and optimistic about what Australia has to offer.