I haven’t had time to blog in quite some time it seems like – since Easter. As of today I have only 50 days left in Australia..

This reality is one I do not know how I feel about. Of course I am excited to see my family and friends again, and get back to New Paltz. But its a weird feeling to think about leaving this place. I feel like I have made a life here, and in 50 days time I will be up and leaving it. I have a routine, I am used to the door handles being higher, and the toilet water spinning the opposite way. When I wake up in the middle of the night I do not wonder where I am. I do not have any stress here. Classes are easier, people are more easy going. Life is better. The best way I can think of coping with my leaving is by taking it all with me. For instance, when I leave for New Paltz after each summer, and then I go back home to my close minded conservative town – I always initially feel completely lost as they just do not get it. That there is a life out there, not far from home. That there is so much more. By the end of the summers I usually feel like I have fallen back into suit with how I had always grown up there. Accepted peoples idiocies, while they spoke mindless babble. With that being said, I wont do that this time. Considering I feel different returning to my hometown after just being in New Paltz, returning after an experience like this will be extreme to say the least. I will not let myself forget what I felt like to be here, out in the world. I will keep this all with me. -> which is regrettably why I have bought an obscene amount of souvenirs that I will have to buy an extra suitcase for.

So yes. Of course I am excited to go home. I will remain excited to go home until I see everyone for a little while, and see nothing has changed, because it never does. Once the excitement dies down, there comes the feeling that I will undeniably regret having left here – the feeling that I will want to come back – and the feeling that I might not be able to in any reasonable time span. Australia is not exactly a location that you can just fly to for a weekend to visit, and maybe thats the hardest thing. My experiences here have unforgettable to say the least. I have already started trying to convince my Mom to save up and come here for a family vacation in a few years.

APART from the sobby stuff..classes are over in two more weeks. Which is so exciting. I am really content with complaining about the one paper I have to write versus the 5 + 3 massive Art Projects I would have during this time at New Paltz. Academically my time has been smooth here. I’ve gotten A’s on nearly every assignment and test besides some math ones…because face it, it is not my strong suit. I hope I do not jinx my finals by saying that – but I am anticipating a good outcome.

APART from academics – I’ve been trying to travel around once a week to a haunted location to check it out. Just because thats too fun. Last week or two weeks ago? I visited a mental asylum that had been abandoned and completely and utterly vandalized and gutted. However – it was really creepy still. There was beautiful graffiti art blanketing the walls in every corner of the building, floor boards missing, no lights apart from what poured in through the busted out windows. It was a truly amazing time. Besides that – as you can see from my photo above, I played with some Kangaroo. And yes, they were as amazing as you probably think they would be. Probably twice that. Plus – who actually gets a selfie like that one. I did not expect it to come out that way. What a photogenic and cooperative Roo he was. Here is one photo from the asylum which is particularly creeptastic – Enjoy. 

I guess that is about all I have to share right about now..

50 days.

-Mariah