Another 365 days...

Happy Birthday Tristan! Thanks. Time is a crazy thing. The last year feels like it has gone in a flash but simultaneously feels like it took forever and I have done so much. This time last year I had deferred my studies and was preparing for a year away. This time this year, I am preparing my studies and looking forward to a productive two years of university. In the last year I have celebrated my birthday and going away, travelled to Bangkok, London, Brighton, Paris, Le Havre, Normandy, Munich, Dresden, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Bratislava, Krakow, Warsaw, Stockholm, Vasteras, Uppsala, New York, Boston, Durham, Washington DC, Chicago, Denver, Reno, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Honolulu and back to Melbourne. I have covered 54,291 kilometres. I have experienced Christmas time in Sweden, New Years in Paris, had salmonella poisoning in Krakow, drank at Oktoberfest, danced at Love Parade, been stuck on a Train in the Nevada desert, been hit on by Hooters girls in Boston, been punched in the face and mugged in Paris, worked in a hostel, lived in two beautiful Parisian neighbourhoods. I've met heaps of people and made some wonderful friendships which will last my lifetime. I've spoken French and Australian, and tried my hand and learnt a few words in Swedish, German, Spanish, Italian, American, Canadian, Japanese, Polish, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Portuguese, and Hungarian. But after all this it is my friends that I am thankful for the most. My friends have been both the best thing and the hardest thing about this trip. And forever I will never be truly happy because now I live in this never ending Catch22 situation. To return to my friends in Melbourne, I had to say goodbye to my friends in Paris and America, and to return to my friends there, I must leave my friends in Melbourne. From this time forward I will forever have two homes and it can be really hard. However, I wouldn't swap it 'for the world' because that is what I have and I love it.