Winter

Not cold - just shy. 

I think it's a mistake made too often. 

My my

Oh how time does fly. 

It's been two months since I've been home!

So what the hell have I been doing? 

I've climbed a mountain - quite literally.

 

I've farewelled a dear and close friend, who is off on a 5 month adventure to try new food, see extraordinary things and meet people with tales to tell. 

I've returned to my saviour of sanity, my sewing machine.  I love making little one off pieces like this top.

I flew to Melbourne to visit a friend who just recently moved there to start her grad job. 

  

I celebrated the 22nd birthdays of two of my oldest friends 

10 years with Trew and 16 years with Verity - 10 & 16 years of giggles, bitching and damn good cake. 

 

I celebrated the milestone that is 21, of my real life china doll.

 

I've made sure to put those restless feelings of reverse homesickness at ease. 

 

And I've just started helping out with Cancer Council Qld. The teddy bears make it that extra bit rewarding ^_^  

So I guess that's it. 

A new chapter

I'm back home after an incredible 5 months spent living and exploring the States. 

It's tempting to say it's time to go back to reality, but I feel like that would be wrong, because it has been reality all along. 

Every friend made, food tasted, emotion felt, was all real. 

St Louis, Chicago, Memphis, New York City, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Los Angeles.

A trail of cities that I have been fortunate enough to experience and embrace with an open mind of curiosity and wonder.

 

    

Sunday Brunch Revelation

At one point in all of our lives, we were the fastest out of millions. 

We were all born champions. 

Week 11 & 12: Revelations and no regrets

Just a heads up, this post will be rather wordy. I just feel as though I have a lot to say. 

These past couple weeks have been some what of a turning point for me. After having met so many new people and experiencing situations that have kept me constantly on my toes, I've realised how much I have learnt from this adventure and how much I still have to learn. It's as if I've only had one eye open my entire life, and now I've finally opened the other and can see twice as much. Making the decision to study abroad this semester is probably one of the best things I have and ever will do. I'd even go as far as saying it was worth the tragic trade-offs (which were not of my own choice). 

Everyone here has a different story and when you take the time to listen to them, you realise that your tiny bubble back home is exactly that. A tiny bubble. The same routine encounters with the same familiar faces. Your reactions become predictable and that creates comfort within relationships. But when you take that all away, who are you? When you surround yourself with a field of new, unacquainted personalities, you question who you thought you were. Because you don't know if they will laugh at your joke, you don't know if they'll understand your stress, you don't know if you will offend them with a question. It is brand new territory and everyone is creating common ground. And so you wonder then, if you are creating a new you, at the same time. Perhaps. But it all feels rather natural and unforced. It's who you are, here and now. Although, the moment I speak to someone from home, I immediately revert back to person I am, the person I was, living in Brisbane. An automatic, uncontrollable switch triggered by familiar faces. 

I don't know where I'm going with this. Maybe nowhere. Maybe to a point where you've just decided to scroll down to my Halloween pictures instead of reading the rest. The law school threw a Halloween party for $30 a ticket at a haunted mansion downtown. There was unlimited food, drinks (shots included), cupcakes and a candy bar all night which I incoherently took advantage of - I found my coat pockets overflowing with chocolate bars the next morning. Amazon, Ebay and ASOS kindly supplied my costume (at a price) for the night, where I was joined by Audrey, Wally, Gumby and even a penguin. I managed to lose my iPhone and toy guns on the night and managed to retrieve only one of them back. Luckily it was my iPhone. On the actual day of Halloween, one of my professors (who is now my favourite), sent two bowls of chocolate around the lecture room during class. Needless to say, that was a good day. 

Being here has also made me really appreciate our first world luxuries that we don't even think twice about. Living without a car has left me feeling rather pathetic sometimes as I have to rely on kind help from kind friends who do have cars. I feel like I've given all new meaning to the phrase, 'riding in cars with boys'; trips to the grocery store after school are just overflowing with romance. 

Alright, enough words, enjoy my latest photos! 

Jess and Bella as the best zombies I've ever seen. 

Wally creeping up behind Charlotte. 

Sara and I with the ever so cute butterfly, Nilin, 

Andrew the penguin with poor vision. 

Fred Flinstone! Aka Vincent. 

Teresa and I with Raoul Duke from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Aka Jacopo. 

GUESS WHO. 

My girls!

Roomies 

MC Hammer (Akele) and Nurse Zombie (Jess)

One of our professors for our "Intro to US Law" class invited the entire class for dinner at her house. She told us to carpool, not realising the entire class is made up of international students with no cars -_-'

We all caught the metro and had another professor pick us up in his 7-seater. We got 12 passengers in. 

Mandatory food photo - Maria turned 21 last week, so we celebrated at Pi Pizza (the best pizza I've had here) see here http://www.restaurantpi.com 

Law school severely suppresses creativity, so Sara and I created a sign for Bella's surprise birthday party. 

Bella! While everyone was setting up for her surprise birthday party, we took her to the cinema to see Rebel Wilson's new movie, 'Pitch Perfect' only to find out they had stopped screening it that VERY day. After stalling in Walgreens (a pharmacy/supermarket) across the road, we finally decided to head to the shopping mall to kill time.  

One of the ways we killed time in the mall. 

At Bella's birthday party. 

Amongst the sultry surrounds of Brennan's wine bar after the party. 

Veronica, Bella, Yuri, Jacopo, Jaran & I. 

As of right now

I can't stop listening to:    Elvis

I miss:      Market square (Kingsfood milk tea!) and my car 

I keep eating:        Crunch chocolate bars and yoghurt coated sultanas 

I drink way too much:        Well this is obvious.... Green tea. Haaa :p

I am always:         Trying to figure out where all my money is going

I'm watching:        An episode of Mad Men on netflix with my dinner every night 

I'm trying to understand:         The American legal system and why it is so cold now (there is no correlation, obviously) 

I can't wait for:           HALLOWEEN 

The season is changing! 

2012

It really does feel like the world is ending. 
My upcoming departure this Saturday has meant that I've spent every waking hour of this week saying my farewells to those who matter most to me. 
And it's left me feeling quite bipolar.

Sharing animated conversations over what I'd describe as last suppers, and getting more hugs (the genuine-squeeze-and-never-let-go kind) in the past 4 days than in the average month. 

But fighting to realise that I will soon be alone in a strange place breaking the number one rule from my childhood; never talk to strangers. 

I wouldn't say I'm scared. I'm just sad to leave behind what has been my favourite year out of school, filled with the most supportive family and friends and not to mention craziest nights out, in search of something else, across the pacific ocean. 

Actually, I lied. I'm absolutely terrified of coming home chub, like the general American population. 

OK

So I'll admit I am quite the introvert, but imagine what we would have, if everyone were extroverts in a world where opposites attract. 

First world problem of the day

Urghhh how I wish I could read minds. 

At will, that is. Not like Sookie Stackhouse. 

Then I wouldn't be wasting precious time wondering. 

Epiphany

Not sure what I was doing the other day, but I was deep in thought and came to the realisation that, hey, we actually all die alone. 
It doesn't matter if we have family and friends who love us because in the end, we leave this world by ourselves. 
Although it may seem like it, this isn't a depressing thought. 
In fact, I feel enlightened because now I know that the plethora of 'forever alone' memes have no meaning. 
All I have to do is live how I want to, work hard at what counts, talk to the people I care about and create opportunities that I will enjoy. 
There is no pressure to follow structure. I'm here in this world and it's up to me to find happiness, so that it wasn't a life wasted. 

21

As of yesterday, I am now 21 years old.
I can't say I feel any different. Maybe this is what being an adult feels like?
I still get the same knots of excitement in my stomach I got when I was kid.
I still devour cake and ice-cream like there is no tomorrow.
I still complain to my parents when I'm hurt (my dad put a band-aid on my finger just last night).
I still use the 'silent treatment' on people who 'deserve' it.

I guess I don't mind being an adult then.

Harry Potter

A while back, I read an article on Emma Watson (holy so beautiful moly) and was struck by something she said.

"The less you reveal, the more people can wonder"

I can't get over it. The fact that it is so true and wise, yet so hard to follow.

And I think that in this day and age, it's probably the best piece of advice you could give to someone.

live life or die trying

Every other day, I seem to have a mini mental breakdown (no longer than a few minutes), where I stop and think, shit, what am I going to do?

Am I going to be a solicitor, sitting in an office from 9 to 5 slowly killing my soul with conveyancing documents?
Am I going to work my way up through the government and ultimately become a Director-General of some department and be hounded with public complaints everyday?
Am I going to go overseas and attempt postgrad studies at a prestigious university so that my mother can die a happy woman?
Hell, am I going to drop everything and become an actress, just like Ken Jeong from The Hangover, a fully qualified physician, took up acting.

It seems the sunset on the horizon is still bloody blinding and merely a sign that it is time to party.

sun inspired

Where does your loyalty lie?

This has popped into my mind much too often over the past few years (since graduating, to be exact). It never used to be a concern, but now its like word of the day. Everyday.

So many times, I've lost myself in thoughts about the people in my life.

Are they there for a drink and forgettable (regrettable) night out?

Or are they there to embrace the highs and lows of petty-what-do-I-wear/important-should-I-get-a-tattoo/life-changing-will-I-get-arrested-for-this decisions you have to make?

Along the way, I'm sad to say, that many have dropped like flies.

Although it wasn't intended, it is probably for the better. Or at least that is what fate believes.

But as a deserving trade-off, the sky has cleared up and I can see who is deserving of my loyalty and vice versa. I don't say this in the attempt to liken myself to royalty, I say it in the voice of a young woman, recently ridded (might not be a word) of her teenage years.

I realised this morning, when I was buried in my morning thoughts, that I am a very creative person. But not the normal type of creative person. I am not an artist.
I like to think I hold a robotic creativeness.
I love to play piano, dance and sew. But I hate to compose, choreograph and design.
Sadly, I need the music in front of me and I need to be taught the steps and I need a pattern to follow. In saying that, I actually don't think its sad. Because its what I love.