Nine Years of Hindsight

I was bored at work these past few days, after finishing the entire Sherlock Holmes collection, so I decided to reread my entire Australia blog saga. Oz Blaga. I'm really glad I blogged daily back then! It was pretty cool to remember some of the things so clearly, so long after they occurred. That painful walk to the production. All the movies and tv shows I saw in the common room with everyone. The photography class kerfuffle. The scenes. The Rock. The wallabies. I miss it all so much.

I remember talking to Alvin and plotting out the next few years of our lives and when we were going to get together again, probably in Singapore. It never happened. Pie in the sky travel ideas are always fun though.

I remember talking to Ashley long after I left Sydney, he said he was going to be in New York City soon and I should try to get over there to meet up. Oh how I wish I had. I don't think it was feasible for me to make that happen at the time. International friends are tough.

I'm still friends with Julian, Andrew, Ash Pants, Vivian, and Doug on Facebook. We don't really do much to keep in touch.

I bought an acoustic guitar since being home, tried to learn, and subsequently gave up learning.

I've made a short list of things to do in Sydney if I go again with someone. I still haven't made it to New Zealand, sadly. Sydney is still the only big city I've navigated around alone in.

I remember finishing the Narnia series while there. The long trips to the subsidiary UTS campus really helped! I still have my Bible from Hillsong in my car. I threw away the Chinese grape pop can because it was weird that I saved it. I still have my photography final portfolio under my bed.

I've come so far as a human being since studying abroad down undah. Before I went, the International Studies coordinator at Bethel interviewed me about going there and I told her that I thought I could try being a new, more outgoing person since it was a fresh start away from everything else. That didn't turn out to be true, but I'm not too surprised. I kept to myself a lot while there. Sure, I made a few friends (I always seem to do) but outgoing, I was not. Since then, I have opened up a lot more and am not nearly as shy. Moving the needle is a slow process, but it has happened.

I expected to write something profound looking back, but I don't know.

I wish I did more than watch so many movies in the common room, branched out more, tried more things. I had so much free time wasted while I was there. It was also a product of not having the means to pay for all I wanted to do. Then again, we lived far from downtown, so it was a hassle I wasn't used to.

Besides, the most important thing about memory is how you usually only remember the good parts.

Cheers mates. Had heaps of fun looking back.