As the days in Australia hit the single digits a cloud of melancholy came over the Village population. As each newly created and sustained friend boarded a plane back to their country of residence it was like a piece of my study abroad experience went with them. As corny as that sounds, it's true. However, we did manage to have one last dinner together with nearly everyone present. We had our own modest Thanksgiving dinner, put on by the Americans. Being a purely American holiday it was pretty difficult to shop for. I went to the store with some of my fellow countrymen and tried to find the staples of any good T-giving. Unfortunately, no canned pumpkin, no stuffing mix, a tiny turkey with no arms or legs was a whopping $42! Obviously, we were a disheartened bunch. But we were Americans. We come from the land of ingenuity, freedom and Pilgrims goddammit! Sarah, a resident of the great state of Maine, proclaimed that she would make a pumpkin pie from scratch. That's right, roast a whole pumpkin, scoop out the filling, blend it, mix it with ginger, cinnamon, and other spices, then bake the pies, all by herself! What a good little American! Then to the stuffing...we all agreed 'Who needs stuffing? We're gonna have pies!". Finally, the turkey. I suggested, "You know what looks like a turkey? A rotisserie chicken. Oh, and they're only $10? That sure is convenient." So with all of our forces combined, we managed to have a decent Thanksgiving in a country very opposed to the very idea. Why do Australians hate giving thanks? Beats me.
After that a couple friends and I took my flatmate Sanna to the airport to catch her flight to the east coast. Very sad indeed. It just got the ball rolling though, pretty soon everyone was loading their belongings into cab and shuttles and trekking back home or onto holiday destinations. I wasn't going home right away but spending a couple days in Sydney with friends. I think if I had gone straight home after leaving Perth it would have been a lot harder to adjust back to life in the States. Sydney was a nice little buffer between the dream world of Perth and the cold reality of Illinois.
Sydney was amazing. We did the biggest tourist-y things, but hell, we WERE tourists. The first morning I was all by myself and couldn't sleep the night before cause I was so excited. I was up at 7am and even though it was raining, I got my shoes on walked down to Circular Quay to see the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. I was so pumped. I was seeing the symbols of Australia. I met up with Bridget and Sheila (friends from Murdoch) later in the day and explored more of the city and the botanical garden. Ended up napping under a giant eucalyptus tree.
When I woke up the next day I called my good friend Amanda who was supposed to be flying in the night before. I made plans to meet her, hung up the phone and turned around only to see a good friend of mine from Perth. It was Monty! He had left the first of all of my friends to go travel by himself down the east coast of Oz for awhile. I hadn't made any plans to meet up with him, but there he was, standing in my hostel. I freaked out. He ended up getting booked into the same room as me and was leaving on the same day. We made it our job to explore the city. We met up with Amanda and Martin and went back to the harbour. Booked a package deal that included a high speed boat tour of the harbour and passes to the zoo. The jet boat was intense. The zoo was amazing. Such a good way to end my time in Australia, especially with some of my good friends.December 3rd was the longest day of my life. Got on the plane around 11:15am in Sydney. Landed in LA at 6:30am, on the same day. I only slept one hour out of thirteen. When we got to LA, I was barely coherent. Speaking of, LAX sucks. They're renovating their international arrival terminal so I was ushered through customs in an almost comatose state. Then of course, American airport security. I had to take my flip-flops and sweatshirt off to get through the metal detector. Yes, that's right, I had a bomb in the inch of foam in my flip-flop. NO! That's my freakin' foot! Then I forgot to dump the water out of my UIS water bottle. So I had to stand there and chug my water and hold up the whole line. I was not a happy camper and I had only been in the US for a half hour. Got to Chicago and my last flight of the day (to Peoria) was delayed. They couldn't find the pilot. Then, once they found the pilot, they had to de-ice the plane. I was delayed for longer than the actual duration of the flight. Made it back to my hometown and was greeted by the smiling faces of parents and one sibling. As I was catching up with the 'rents I saw my friend Kasey strolling over by the baggage claim. I was perplexed. Wasn't sure if I was seeing things because of lack of sleep or Kasey was just randomly at the Peoria airport for some reason. Then was surprised by UIS friends Zach, Evan, and Chris who came to make sure I got back into the country alright. It was so good to see everyone and even though I was smelly, tired and irritated by airports I was still giddy to see everyone. Once we got back to my house I immediately went into first grade show and tell mode. "Look at all these cool things I have and all these neat places I've been!" So good to be back in the company of those who know me too well.
