So its Thursday afternoon....exactly 4 more days until I depart on my great adventure. Do you ever feel like you're on the brink of something? Like you know that something great lies just ahead, but you have no idea what that something is? Welcome to my world for the last couple of months. Right now I am a ball of uncertainty, anticipation, dread and excitement. I'll be in Eastern Australia for 2 months, from February 4th until April 6th. Let me give you a rundown of the typical line of questioning that has been bombarding me since I randomly purchased my plane ticket (thanks Alaskan Permanent Fund/Sarah Palin! I don't care if you can see Russia from your house and that your eyes glaze over when the words "Bush doctrine" are thrown at you, you gave me dollars!)
me: "I'm going to Australia"
random person: "Australia....wow....how long will you be gone?"
me: "2 months"
r.p. "who are you going with? Your boyfriend? Friends?"
me: "Nope, i don't have any of those. I'm going by myself."
r.p. "by yourself?! how brave! So why are you going?"
me (awkwardly looking around and fidgeting): "oh geez...i don't really know.... to get away, because I can, um yeah..."
r.p. "so you're not going to school? what are you going to be doing?"
me: "hanging out."
Anyone who remotely knows me knows that hanging out is not really my strong suit. I am a self-driven workaholic and a perfectionist in recovery, with an extremely high need for structure, stimulation, multiple tasks, and a bazillion plans. When I try to explain to people my reasons for taking off to the land of Oz, I get stuck trying to formulate a canned response. The closest I can come to a solid answer is: I need to break my mold a little bit, survive for an extended amount of time without knowing anyone, learn a little bit more about who I am, get closer to God, and develop a greater sense of what is out "there." yeah....so here I go.
I'm hoping to keep this updated and throw up some pictures as I travel. I don't have any set travel plans, besides the plane ticket and an open bus ticket from Sydney to Cairns, so I'm not sure what my communication situation will be. I assume that there will be plenty of computers for me to sneak on, so stay tuned for further adventures....
Hey! This is Danielle from Tina's Alaska Native Traditions and Values experience, not class seeing as that doesn't sum it up in the least. I'm the girl that we had a few conversations about nursing school and such with, just to put a name to a face :)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I had no idea that you were going alone! Following in the random people style, that really is brave going alone! I would never be able to find enough confidence to do that. Hence why I'm going with two other people on my trip.
I also just wanted to say that I kinda LOVED your comment about Sarah Palin and seeing Russia from her house. She paid for my trip too :) In closing though, I hope you have a ton of fun, and even though I don't know you too well, you better be safe and update as often as you can scamper around and find a pc! I need to live vicariously!
I'm already posted up at the computer desk, waiting eagerly for your updates. I Love you Doodles! You show that world who's boss! ;)
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you are on the verge of something. Any minute now and it will happen! Take tons of pictures. See you soon.
ReplyDeleteAs Cat Stevens said, "you're on the road to find out!" and I'm so happy for you! Wendy
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