As you all have possibly guessed from my facebook post everybody has now left to go on their adventures and to return home to their various houses across the world. Going into this study abroad program I did not think of what would happen when people left at the end of the semester. Saying that I did not realise that I would be the only person staying for a year and that everyone would leave me after four months. Four months. Thats all it has been and yet I know I have made some life long friends! Everyone is jealous of me getting to stay here for another semester and of course because I get to experience the Aussie summer! For the first time I felt a twinge of homesickness, yes you heard me right, I felt a little homesick. Now it was brought on by a number of reasons, all of which will be explained so enjoy!
So as it was everybody’s last week the past week I neglected study big time. Victoria stayed over twice, we had Jamie’s birthday party, went on cycle adventures, did random photo sesh’s around Fremantle, made pumpkin pie, played a gagillion games of bananagrams and of course attempted to prepare for goodbyes.
Victoria staying over was fun cheesy wine-fueled movie nights. She eventually introduced me to How to Train your Dragon, both the first and second movie, as well as My Big Fat Greek Wedding. The latter movie she constantly referenced to me and I of course being the uncultured person I am did not understand. But hey now I get the references and every time she forgets or mentions that I am a vegetarian we both say ‘Its ok I’ll make lamb’ in a Greek accent(watch the movie to get the reference). I LOVE TOOTHLESS!!!!!! And I know fully understand Victoria’s obsession with him! I want a Toothless or just a dragon in general! Victoria bought me How to Train your Dragon 2 on DVD as her ‘Im sorry Im leaving present’ so I can watch it when Im feeling sad. I bought her a Toothless figurine thing, which I was supposed to “accidentally forget”. But I was good and she got her ‘See you later’ present. We of course had wine cause what other thing is there to do when you leave an alcohol free dorm? It was an overall good bonding session.
Of course I spent all of my free time in Freo in the lead up to their departure, neglecting the fact that I had three exams to do first. They really should have an extra week to get everything sorted etc but anyway….. I am finally finished exams!! It was a bittersweet moment casue I knew once I was finished exams, everybody would be leaving! We did a bunch of small last-minute things over the week that I won’t bore you with and instead will tell you about our last day.
So it started off ok, I finished my last exam and managed to hopefully scrape a pass! Me and Victoria headed out for our burrito lunch. a Wednesday tradition. We then went to see Mockingjay which just OMG yes. There were changes made of course but I thought the are justifiable changes! I loved it! Now Victoria and I love our movies and have gone to the cinema like eight times since she has been out here. On our final day together we went to see the movie, with Maybrit, Cynthia and Taylor. Now they always play the same ads before the movies, I am talking always! They never change, we both can quote them at this stage! But today they decided to play a different ad. One that was about people returning home, flying, crying and of course the music was an uber sad song…… The ad was for Qantas, the airline company that they are all using to fly home on….. Symbolic much?? Anyway it was then that I felt a twinge of homesickness, cause while I am sad everybody is leaving, they will be home with their families for Christmas and I will be here melting in 40 degree heat. It also doesn’t help that the actress that plays Prim looks deceptively like my little sister Chloe in certain scenes of the movie! It took near five months but hey I finally feel a little homesick!
Anyway after the movie we went to the Fremantle markets and accomplished those last-minute things people had to do. We went out for dinner and enjoyed their final sunset on the beach. We played bananagrams, a surprisingly addictive game which I am fully on the look out for! They did last-minute packing and cleaning out their rooms. They had to empty out their food lockers so I managed to come home with some stuff! The majority of leftover food stuff will be donated to next semester’s group of students.
We then had to commence our goodbyes. I went to meet up with Maybrit and Jin Young to say goodbye to them first and Meg joined me. Now Maybrit and Jin Young have invited me to go to New Zealand so I am contemplating going so we weren’t sure if this was the final goodbye or not. Now at goodbyes I am usually the first person to tear up. I can’t help it I get super emotional at goodbyes! Now Meg and I met Maybrit at P and O and were in the lobby waiting for Jin Young. When Jin got there she was already crying….. this of course set the rest of us off…. we exchanged multiple hugs etc. Noticing the time I realized I had to be making my way to get the train(well the bus technically as train lines were down big shock) and I still had to do my final goodbyes at Cleos. Leaving Maybrit, Meg and Jin Young, I made my way back to Cleos with only a mild case of the sniffles.
Nicole tried to cheer me up with sparklers which worked for a little while. Now my plan was to say goodbye at Cleos walk to the train station by myself, risky I know but I needed that time ti compose myself before getting on to the bus. Upon saying goodbyes to everyone more tears were exchanged and promises made for Skype sessions. Victoria said I had no choice that she was walking me to the train station to make sure I got there safe. Cynthia and Christen also volunteered, safe to say I was probably a wreck on the bus! Now I did cheer up a bit because of course Victoria tripped and creamed herself on the two-minute walk to the train station so that cheered me up a little and got us to laugh!
Now the Fremantle train is down all weekend so we have to get buses instead. That’s fine, I can live with that! The train was supposed to leave at 11:01 and at the time it was 10:55 so we figured we had time to say more goodbyes instead of me just hopping onto the bus. We were then in the process of giving more hugs when some(insert expletive here) that worked for the train people to show them to the bus, decided it would be a good time to pipe up and tell us to hurry up and ‘any time tonight would be great girls’. Now just picture this four girls all teary, two majorly crying embracing in hugs and she decides it would be a good thing to say this? She is lucky it is illegal to hit someone or I swear I would have! Cue me and Victoria feigning to be all ghetto to each other going ‘awwwww dat’s it hold my sh*t gurrrl Imma mess hur up’ etc etc. Hey it cheered us up so I could get on the bus not crying! I was on the bus for over three minutes before it left so I don’t understand why she was so prissy considering Victoria explained our situation to her! Anyway, Christen and Victoria cheered me up by doing funny faces etc through the window and we then started to be overly dramatic recreating the movie scenes etc, so we had a little fun.
I returned home after midnight and promptly went to bed, Victoria decided to message me for a while, ignoring the fact that she had to get a taxi at seven o clock the next morning. That’s friendship, interrupting your sleep to make sure your friend got home safe! As we said it is not a goodbye but a see you later! I told her even if she ignores me for the next six months I am going to still randomly show up on her doorstep and be like heeeeeeeey did ya miss me? 😛
The best thing about our goodbyes etc, I have to do it all over again next semester……… Wish me luck guys because I am going to need it.
An Adventure Abroad 