Well, it’s over. My
semester abroad came to a close just a few short days ago and I left Australia
with a suitcase, a duffle bag, a backpack, and treasure trove of memories. As I
sit here writing this on a rainy New England night, it’s really hard not to
yearn for the sunny shores of the Gold Coast once again.
My final week in Australia was dominated mostly by, well,
finals. I had a paper to write for one class and two exams to take on Wednesday
and Thursday. The beginning of my week was free then, while others had exams
early, so I spent as much time absorbing the Australian life as I could. I went
to the beach a few times, ate at my favorite places, and hung out with my
favorite people. Tuesday was our last night at Jupiter’s Casino and because I
don’t gamble, it won’t be someplace I miss a whole lot. My exams came and went,
they were fine, and then it really started to hit me that I was leaving. Exams
gave me a reason to distract myself from the inevitable truth, so with them
over, the hours seemed to grow exponentially shorter. I began noticing all of
my lasts in Australia: my last meal at the bra (the cafeteria), my last golden
gaytime (It’s an Australian ice cream… I didn’t pick the name), my last time
seeing Peg-Leg Joe (Our one legged magpie friend who hung around the bra all
semester), my last time at the pool, etc. Everyone was feeling it too. I think
you would have been hard pressed to find a single person at that school that
wanted to leave that country.
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| Gonna miss this view |
On Thursday, we took our last trip of the semester to
Moreton Island, a large sand island off the coast of Brisbane. An hour drive to
Brisbane and another hour on the ferry brought us to its sun soaked shores. The
government had sunk a bunch of boats right off the island to form an artificial
reef so we snorkeled around the wrecks to see some pretty spectacular sea life.
We walked around the island a bit, napped on the beach, ran down some massive
sand dunes, and then headed back to Bond for our last weekend.
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| The Moreton Wrecks |
Friday night was our last night out, so we did it up in
true Bondie fashion by going to Don’s before getting bussed over to Shooter’s
Nightclub. Per usual, it was a blast. Most of the Bentley abroad program was
there so we were all over the place and some of us got invited into the VIP box
and got some free drinks. Realizing every hour was precious, we decided to stay
out all night and catch the sunrise from the Surfer’s Paradise beaches. About
10 people who didn’t go to the club just brought blankets and slept on the
beach til sunrise while others, myself included, decided to forgo sleep
altogether. We wandered along the beach until the sun rose at 4:30am. It was
probably the closest I got to crying. I sniffled. A few times. It was hard not
to in the dazzling morning light that I had come to cherish. I think I have actually
seen more sunrises in Australia than I have seen in my entire life.
Almost every week we were either pulling an all-nighter or waking up ridiculously
early. It’s something I will miss. We must have looked like quite a bunch with
half of the people in PJs, wrapped up in blankets and the other half in club
clothes. Like on my birthday, I decided to also take an early morning swim with
Tim and Julia. Still a bit damp, the whole squad loaded onto the morning bus
for the short ride back to campus. I took a quick shower at 6am then caught
some Z’s before another full day. Four hours was plenty.
We had to be on our way to the airport at 4am on Sunday
so Saturday was our last true day on the continent. With no packing completed
yet, I decided to do the responsible thing and go to the beach. I mean, it’s my
last day, I can’t not spend it on the beach. It was a relaxing way to go off
before the New England winter. I got back to campus afterwards, packed up my
stuff, and hung out with the crew for our last night. Our flight was so early
that we decided once again to stay up all night. I still slept for about an
hour and a half during a movie because I’m a sissy and two back to back all-nighters
is a bit out of my league. At around 3am Matt, Tim, and I went to the Bond Bridge
to have cigars and look over the campus that had been our home for the past 4
months. It really is a beautiful place.
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| Bye Bond :'( |
After 18ish (I lost count) hours of flying, I touched
down in America, watched the Sunday sunrise again… which is really freaking
weird, and embraced the (relative) cold of Boston. I was home.
These past few days in the States, I’ve gotten a lot of
people ask me if I think I’ll be going back to Australia sometime soon. I would
love to, I really would. But to every person that asks me, I respond no. Not
anytime soon. Australia and New Zealand are my favorite places in the world,
hands down, but there is still so much on this planet that I still wish to see.
Greece, Austria, South Africa, Switzerland, Belgium, Nepal, Japan, and more are
all on my travel list so I honestly couldn’t justify spending the time and
money to go back to Australia when so much more is still out there. Like I said
before, I am satisfied with my time in Australia. I have no regrets and I’ve
done everything I had my heart set on. When I said goodbye to Australia though,
it wasn’t goodbye forever. I will make it back there someday in the future.
Whether it be when I’m a millionaire business tycoon on my private jet or when
I’m an old geezer just looking to dip my toes in the warm Australian water one
last time, I will make it back. I know it’s cliché to say they were the best
four months of my life so instead I will say that my four months in Australia
have helped me to grow into the person I want to become, more than any other
period in my life. Is that better? I will truly miss Australia and will cherish
all of the memories that I made there. So as Mike vs. Australia comes to a
close, I end with the quote that defined my wonderful journey on the opposite
side of the globe,
“Twenty years from now
you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you
did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the
trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain
Thanks Mark, I couldn’t
have said it better myself.
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