Got up early this morning for the bus. 6 AM to be exact. As per the norm when others are in the dorm I rolled up my sleeping bag and packed the rest of my belongings in the dark under a red headlamp. Breakfast was my normal on the go meal (I somehow was running late, I think it took me a few extra minutes to pack) which consists of three pieces of toast stuck together with peanut butter or jar or nutella. The nutella ones are by far the best but I had Peanut Butter.

I made it to the bus stop on time and the bus arrived a little late. I boarded the bus and as usual took my seat 6 rows back on the right hand side of the coach. It is funny how routines make you feel comfortable. We made the few stops on the way to Wellington. This was a 10 hour trip so I am leaving a lot out. The scenery was nice and I took naps. Not too much rain so that was good.

There was an older lady in the seat next to me who kept staring. That was kinda wierd.

When I went to go pee at one of the stops an old man started talking to me while standing at the urinal trough thing. Naturally I couldn’t go and had to leave and double back. Who talks at urinals to complete strangers?

BTW it was around 50-60% of the people on the bus who smoked so that was obnoxious to say the least. And they stood near the entrance so it was kinda unpleasant.

We came back down to Wellington and I asked the driver to drop me off on Kent Terrace (near where I live) and he did so that was nice. It seems as long as you are genuine and know what your talking about and what you want people are obliged to help. (All of the other passengers were dropped at the train station on the other side of town.)

I made it back to my flat and as usual about 90% of the dishes were dirty and there was little to no counter space. I wasn’t in the mood to clean up the mess so I had my last kebab and chips meal. It was delicious.

I kinda zoned out after I immediately got back. Watched some scrubs and took a quick nap. I also have spent the last couple hours trolling, general not so healthy Quadrant 4 activities, but ohh well. I always do love the excitement of a time crunch on little sleep.

Being back in Welly made me feel comfortable as it has been my base of operations. I feel I tend to be a lot mor ebase focused in my approach and it was good to be back in familiar surroundings. I can’t wait to see how I feel once I get back to Atlanta! Jeez!

I will miss Wellington as the city. I feel I  know the general layout pretty well and it has been a good place to live. Maybe if only it wasn’t so far away. But then it would be San Franscisco right?

I will miss the ratio here. There are a lot more women than I remember from home. And they wear much more stylish clothing than simply jeans and a top.

I will certainly not miss the Weather but it is a fabric of the very soul of the city with everyone acknowledging nature’s control over your emotions. When you don’t see the sun for 15 days it gets kinda sad. I can only imagine Seattle.

I also have found there is something very comforting about living near the sea. I don’t know what it is but its a wonderful attribute.

I think all of thee feelings though will be well surpassed by my feelings upon return to Roswell GA and Atlanta.

Packing up is kinda a pain as it takes a lot of effort in deciding what to put where etc. But such is life right.And I am fortunate to never had to fully move house in my life.

I am very much looking forward to my short visit to Australia. Up until about a week ago I never really realised how fricken huge the place is and I am excited to see the size and the nothingness. From what I have gathered it takes a good 4 months to get a good feel for the country. But my 14 days will take me to somewhere I have wanted to see sense I was a kid and that is part of the outback, the rain forest, and most importantly the Great Barrier Reef.

I mean as a kid you look on the map and your like Wow. And I get the opportunity to go there. How lucky and privileged am I!

____

One of the thoughts I have found most unique is that maybe life is suppossed to be hard if we are doing it right. I mean not overly, impossible difficuly, but maybe just challenging. I have found that just travelling in itself (maybe because I am solo travelling) makes everyday a different challenge. Mainly a challenge of decisions. What to wear, what to eat, what to see, how to get there, blah blah blah.

But I guess that is what being an adult is?  The scriptedness of the life I have lived in the education system for 14 years isn’t really like what awaits in the wide open world.

And I guess that a lot of people go through life and try to take it easy so they don’t ever have to see the downsides of those choices. When I have self doubts about I choice I have found it empowering to refer to Robert Frost’s quote: “Two roads diverged in a wood and I took the one less traveled by, and that made all the difference.” This quite literally has happened a lot as I have walked through many forests and parks on the way to get places.

I think that my point is that life is difficult and it is better to make decisions than to rely on other peoples expectations and that maybe what everyone else is doing isn’t always the right thing to do. Wow that is wordy.

That point is probably most in reference to fellow travelers. I consider myself to be an outdoor oriented, fairly independent, cheap traveler. I don’t do all of the flash things that others do. However from a relatability standpoint it makes it a little harder to find common ground with others. But I guess that comes out of a want or need to be accepted by others which is ridiculous as 99.999% of the backpackers I meet I will never see again.

That want is probably only due to the fact that I am traveling alone though. Because if not I would be grounded with the fact that I have someone else to talk to, instead of just my own thoughts. BTW I talk to myself a lot including outloud. I don’t think I’m insane it just helps me verbalize all my thoughts. Plus it gets a little quiet by yourself.

So this has gone on a little longer than what I thought it would. I was just about to put basically but that is really just a nonapplicable filler word. God I can’t wait to get back to using filler conversation and actually have people know what I am talking about!

To summarize I have learned a lot on this trip and I seem to have to learn new lessons everyday. (Seriously I feel like Tech taught me  more of techniques for handling people while traveling has taught me fundamental paradigm lessons. These can get tiring of learning day after day though. ) I think one of the bigger things that I will try to take back is to focus more effort on improving my relationships. Basically I need to stick to my personal mission statement because I think I got it right in there (I put a lot of effort and thought into it).

___ Shit why not? I mean this is as much for me as it is for you.__

The biggest concern I have nagging at my brain (I have gotten a helleva lot better at not worrying about stuff or getting worked up, kudos of course to Ben for starting me on that path) is that I will have changed and the people in my life back home will have changed as well but it is in diverting ways. I have talked this over with some other exchange students and they have mentioned similar things.

For example some had parents visit and said that there was a difference in how they viewed things. How different will my perspective be and how will it be reinfluenced by my own culture?

What a shame if I have come all this way and learned all this stuff only to fall back into old habits. Most of me knows this can’t/won’t be true. I WILL be a different person, better in fact, than I was when I left. I just hope it doesn’t interfere too very much with those I love back home.

Well until tommorrow night or a few days from now (30 hrs to go in Welly) all the best!

-Mathias