Goodbye Melbourne!

There is always an ending to everything. Be happy for what you had and keep a smile on your face as you walk away. New adventures are always just around the next bend. I’m going to miss a lot of things in Melbourne. The really good coffee will never be matched. I’ll have to find a new eye candy to crush on in my next class, but geo guy don’t worry, you won’t be forgotten! Living in a city in general will be missed. It’s nice to explore and discover new bars every weekend. The public transportation system is great and almost free (it’s not supposed to be, but if you’re smart about it, it can be). It’s never boring when you’re meeting new people left and right. You’ll always find someone to talk with in the clubs, at school, on the trams, and even the neighboring tattoo shop. I’m going to miss being different for having my American accent. I’ll miss all the rangers (gingers) you see here! Wow, surprising there’s a lot! The castle will defiantly be missed. It is so wonderful waking up every morning to the infamous castlemates. We have all grown so close that there are no boundaries and embarrassing moments no longer occur.

 I’m going to miss Tristan, my first real aussi friend; Peter, my first roommate who is unintentionally hilarious and so random; Scott, the long-haired, pink short-wearing, aussi mate who made it a challenge every day to try to get him to come hang out; Andi, the best German roommate I could have ever asked for with sarcastic humor that will crack anyone up; Chelsea, one of the nicest girls I’ve ever met who is so animated and fun; Jakob, all the euro boys, and our Sunday afternoon footy match “rednecks vs. euro trash”; the Americans, all the other exchange students who love drinking games and partying on Tuesday night; Luke, the cute tattoo artist next door; Conor, the Irish guy I went on three dates with and still didn’t know his name; Crispin, Joshi, Dave, Mike, and Jono, the Kew Church crew who are so much fun and welcoming; Eva, my crazy Australian friend who LOVES to dance and pump music in her car; Gabe, the present day Captain Jack Sparrow who I met by seeing him at all the free food events on campus; Jia and Sarah, the great first year res girls; Jimmy, the RANGER who dishes so much shit but can always take it and get a laugh out of it; Ron, the overly nice castlemate who moved out early; Tristan from Nosa, the best dancer who makes all his decisions by flipping a coin; and of course Rhiannon, our host in Brisbane who is such a wonderful girl.

Cole, Kevin, and Logan, I can’t miss you because I can’t get rid of you that easily! See you all in SLO! Wow, these guys. A friendship has bloomed that will never wilt. We’ve become a big family… literally. Cole’s my brother and Kevin and Logan are my sons. They even call me mom and I introduce Cole as my brother to most people. It’ll be really nice to have people in slo that I can reminisce with and bounce inside jokes off.

Wow. It’s almost over. What I’ve been looking forward to for so long has already happened and now has passed. IT WAS AMAZING! I wouldn’t have changed anything about it. I met some wonderful people and had a lot of great times! It’s not goodbye, it is until next time. I defiantly see myself returning to Australia not before too long. Though, I still need to travel the rest of the world first. I think my next stop is going to be South America or South Asia.

Recap:

-Meeting the Real Australian crew and going to Kew on Sundays

-Ocean grove with Chelsea and surfing Torque/Lorne

-E.A.R.

-Sydney

-The Great Ocean Road

-Halloween

-The Paper Kites and the Rave

-Selling bracelets on the street

-Dumpster Diving

-Andi’s Birthday- night I met the Ranger

-Wednesday Trivia Night at Nevermind Bar

-Brighton Beach

-Sunday afternoon Footy matches

-AFL games and the Grand Final with Temper Trap Concert

-Parklife

-Harvest

-The Ice Bar

-Healesville Sanctuary

-Phillip Island

-1,000 stairs at midnight with Joshi

-Skiing at Mt. Buller

-Tristan from Noosa coming to visit

-The Color Parade/small gathering

-Hoiser Lane

-Fairview Park

-Henna Sleeve

-Ice Skating

-Rafting with Ireland

-JBT concert

-the ass grab game with Cole

-Mumford and Sons /Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros Concert

-Tuesday night parties/Cole’s birthday

-Bedtime stories with Aboriginal stories

The one thing I’ll always have is my memories and those will never go away… well let’s hope they won’t for a long long time!