Well, for the last week, it has been amazing. Tuesday I went to the wonderful Australia Zoo for the day. For those of you that don’t know, that’s Steve Irwin’s zoo (Steve Irwin Day was on the 15th.) and he was there all over the zoo. Wow, it was awesome. I saw everything: koalas (I got to pet them and see a little joey!), red and gray roos, echidnas, wallabies, snakes, wombats, tons of birds (including a stare off with an emu), gators, galapagos turtles, baby tigers, elephants, dingos, tasmanian devils (no, they don’t look like Taz), and, of course, crocs! Crikey! I got to participate in the croc show we saw, and I won a picture of Steve Irwin. Good times. It was totally worth the long train ride out there. It was a great day. I absolutely loved it.
To top it off, that night Bree, John, and Katie came to pick me up, and we drove up to the top of Mount Coot-tha around 10:30 PM. 360 degrees of city lights shimmering under the lights in the southern sky. B-E-A-U-Tiful! Did you know that you can see Orion down here? Except he’s upside down! ha! Bree and I were having the hardest time locating the Southern Cross until she discovered a compass in the ground, so we found south and with it, the Southern Cross! The lights of the city were beautiful, and we all sat up there for about an hour. I don’t think I could’ve asked for much more than that.
Wednesday night was the last night at the Regatta :( it was definitely a good night. Great music (instead of all techno) all night and dancing with my Butler girls and some frisbee boys. It was sad to have it be the last night since it was such a normal Wednesday thing, but it was a good time from the first to the last week of the semester! Thursday was the last night at UJ's (I these couple days packing and cleaning with breaks in the city or at the pool. nothing to highlight). We had Laura's good bye party at her place before going down to the city. UJ's to start followed by Friday's. I'd never been there ($10 cover usually!!) but I'm sad cause it was really fun once we got inside. I was there with frisbee folk, Dan, Jay, Katie, Peter, Chris. Overall, very good night.
Friday I spent with Jess as it was her last day in Brissie. City for some shopping, I went to uni to print off plane tickets, then we went to the pizzeria formerly known as Castelli's in Toowong. Yummy pizza was eaten, fun times were had, the end was near. We said our goodbyes the next morning as she took a taxi in the rain to Toowong Station. I got back to the apartment to realize that I was the last one at Sandford St! Joe left shortly after Jess, and it was sad to realize almost everyone was gone. I finished my packing that morning and went down to Katie's around 5 to hang out. We were having a good bye party that night with all the frisbee folk, and I went over to help set up/chat. John showed up around 6 by climbing over the balcony ("It was talked about all semester! Figured I might as well check it off the list!") Everyone else started showing up around 9ish. Good times that night. Kings, horse races, high or low...Julian, Dan, Terk, Jay, Katie, Bree, Brett, Johnny, Chris, myself. It ended up with an angry dan ("look what I found, a bag of goon!"), a late night macca's run, 230 am good byes (more like see you later's) and Johnny and Jules sleeping over so as not to drive home at 3am. I said good bye to John and Jules in the morning, and ate the last of my sultana bran. I went to see Amy, text Shamiso, hugged Ashton, and walked to uni once more. My last morning was sunny and beautiful just as it has been every day (it rained when Deb and Jess left so I was relieved to see it was nice).
I about lost it every 5 minutes. I didn't want to go. I still want to be back there. It was harder to leave than I thought it would be. I guess because I was getting excited about home and Christmas that I thought it'd be easy. It was not easy by any definition. I miss my apartment, the purple flowers, UQ, City Cats, the Regatta, my professors (haha Debbie). I miss seeing my friends, hanging out with Jess and Deb, hearing what funny thing Debbie will say next. I will never forget the movie nights, the 4am SBS movies, the late night disc golf, all the nights out, the trip to Cairns, my friends in Sydney, the surfing in Byron, diving on Moreton Bay, frisbee at Coolongatta, the numerous Starbucks dates...I could go on.
I do realize one huge thing though. As much as I will miss my friends and the people I spent time with, if I went back and none of them were there, I would still enjoy myself. I fell in love with more than just the people and the experience. I fell in love with that city. Brisbane was the perfect place to study abroad, and I could not have asked to change anything about this semester. Even the blunders, the sad times, and the rainy days added something unique to my experience that was worth learning from, experiencing, and making my own. I will go back. There is no doubt in my mind. I dont know when, why, or how long, but that was not the last time forever that I will see the beautiful Brisbane skyline. It may be in a different way and in many years, but Brisbane has not seen the last of me.
Well, now I'm in New Zealand and am finishing up my first day on the South Island, and tomorrow I will hopefully post about this. I don't know when I will have internet as I am changing location everyday, but I promise to post once more (atleast) before home. Home. Is it actually here? Good thing? SUCH a good thing I didn't fly straight home from Brisbane. I would have been depressed and frustrated at the fact that I was no longer in Brisbane. Yea, I'm sad I'm not there, but this is easier to travel by myself for a week and reflect before I peace out of the Southern Hemisphere for a while. Alright, kids, it's been real. I'm gonna go take a hike to "the Middle of New Zealand." Be jealous. Love to you all!
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