G'day! or G'night, actually. Either way, hi. I haven't written all summer and I know I keep saying that I'm going to get better at this blog thing and then nothing happens so I won't promise anything this time. Not that this is an excuse, but there have been several times this summer where I wanted to write about things other than just my day to day life and I stopped myself because I felt like maybe this blog wasn't the place to do it. See, I started this blog as "MCB in NYC," sort of as a way to fill people in about me moving to New York and how I was doing and all the crazy things going on. But then I started to realize that half of the times I've written, I wasn't even in NYC. Summers have been spent in Texas, New Years Eve posts have come from Colorado, and I'm about to spend 4 months in another country (more on that in a bit). I'm all over the place, literally and figuratively. And, while I in no way consider myself a writer, there are some things I have thoughts about that I like to turn into words and would like to share. And I'm just not sure if this is the place to do it. So I've been thinking about moving my work somewhere new, just so I can sort of have more freedom to do whatever. What's stopping me? Well, the fact that this is my first post in 4 months. Also, like I said, I'm not a writer. I feel like if I come up with this awesome website and never use it then that's sort of a waste. Anyways, that was a lot of unnecessary ramble. For now, I'll still be here and I'll try and post more (gah, see, here I go making promises again).
So back to me being in another country. I'm currently sitting in DFW airport waiting to board Quantas Flight 8 to Sydney, NSW, Australia where I will be studying abroad with NYU for the semester. My flight is delayed an hour and I'm not even mad about it because that just means I arrive at a more reasonable hour (7:30AM instead of 6:30AM AEDT). I'm nervous. I'm excited. I'm ready... I think.
My obsession with Australia started years ago. I'm not really sure if I can pinpoint when it started exactly. Was it my best friend's dad being from Queensland? Was it my first horse named Aussie Ali due to the shape of the marking on his forehead? (this is real, people.)
Photographic evidence. Boom.
Anyways, I'm not sure when it all started, but the obsession eventually turned into determination. Studying abroad down under was already on my mind before I even started applying to colleges, and NYU's study away sight in Sydney was definitely a factor that was considered when I accepted my offer to attend the New York campus. Then about a year and a half ago, second semester of my freshman year, I started realizing my dream could be come a reality. Life got sort of crazy and I started looking for an escape and Sydney became the light at the end of the tunnel. My end all be all. So I applied, I got in, I waited several months, I packed my bags, and here we are at the airport. But something else happened in those months. All the problems I was trying to run from didn't necessarily go away, but they got better. I learned how to be happy in my situation, learned how to move on and just accept how things were. Not perfectly, of course, but suddenly my big scary problems weren't as big or as scary. I don't want anyone to think that the only reason I'm about to get on a plane was to run away, because it's not. Me going to Australia is a lot more than that. It's making one of the few dreams I have come true. It's immersing myself in a culture I've wanted to learn more about for a very long time. But, there was a small part of the trip that allowed for that escape, I won't deny that much. And now that things don't seem so bad, there's a tiny, negative voice in my head is saying, "then what's the need to go?" And I'm doing everything I can to ignore it because obviously there are so many reasons. I will still have the greatest time ever and I will still find myself in a billion ways. Oh, and I'm still trying to convince myself that everyone I care about will still be here when I get back, haha.
Like I said earlier, Sydney has been the end all be all for so long. And now that it's here and I have to start looking past it as far as future planning, I start freaking out a bit because suddenly I have to figure out what happens after the dream comes true. But, I refuse to ruin this trip before it even starts so we'll just have to cross those bridges when we come to them.
So here we are. We're finally at the big event. Welcome to MCB in SYD. Here's the cheesiest photo of me with my bags before check in:
Wish me luck,
Madi