A 3:00 am wake up call sounds miserable right? Well it is. Since we were all done packing I made the horrid mistake of trying to get a couple hours of sleep witch I discovered was an awful idea and will never do it again, if I have to wake up at 3am I’m staying up! We were all tired and most of us cranky, the few people who weren’t were pretty much despised by me, which is saying something since I’m normally a nice person. I didn’t really go to sleep on the first three-hour flight, I couldn’t. We stopped momentarily at the airport in Sydney for a quick snack and then were back on the plain. 25 hours total we were on the plane we were told. I love planes and all but even I have a limit to how long I can be on them before I lose my mind. I was glad I sat by friends on the flight home, it was easier to maneuver around then, yep my amazing gracefulness of a decrepit stick got to really shine through on the long plane ride. I didn’t sleep much, it mostly felt like my body was in a tired numbness but my mind raced with thoughts continually flowing music. I fortunately got a window seat witch mesmerized me the entire flight, if I could be guaranteed some of the views I saw on the plane that night every night I could ALMOST live on a plane….
The world is so full of wonder when looking down at it in flight, the sky is so filled with possibility and the mind is so full of thought. I’ve never seen the moon brighter and I’ve never seen so many stars. I easily could get lost in the almost unreal world outside of that uncomfortable plane window. I remember wishing for the pilot to slow the plain down because this beauty was all I got left to really marvel at during this trip, so please just make it last.
I soon discovered just how much I dislike Americas airports filled with unhappy people. I wonder why we are all so bitter, even though we all enjoy the sweetness of others in other countries. I think if people could start carrying for others this country, this world would be a better place. When the last plane ride came around I felt like a statue at that gate. How could it be only one more plane ride and it all be done?
Anyway after the many plane rides I tried really hard to put on a smile that turned out to be so pitiful I even felt sorry for myself. I wasn’t to excited about heading home until all those plane rides, then all I wanted was a shower and my bed. I try to keep reminding myself to not look back on those days that are lost and think of them as something to cherish. But being back home feels so strange. I really believe something has changed in me, or at least I really want to believe that.
Top Ten
1. The Great Barrier Reef- it didn’t really have much significance to my learning or overall travel growth, but there was something about that experience that made a difference to me, it’s hard to explain.
2. Ranitoto College- I loved meeting my pen pale and this bewilderingly un encounter turned me in me into a people person for a couple hours, something I so am not!
3. Maori dinner- I thought this was one of the best things culturally we did because we got to try their wonderful food and also experience a long cherished traditional greeting. This was a fun experience that brought out the wild entertainer in a lot of us, including some particular teachers whom shall not be named directly, but you know who you are.
4. The Maori Village- this was an extremely enjoyable experience and was fascinating, these customs are truly unique to New Zealand’s people and that made this experience wonderfully exploratory.
5. Sydney City- I believed it was beneficial to us all to see, the way a city should be kept and the way a city should feel. I loved all the street performances and interacting with people I couldn’t quiet understand, it taught me a lot and brought me out of my shell.
6. The Food- I think throughout the trip we were all forced to try something new, weather it was vegemite or raw fish stew we all had to stray from normal eating habits into adventurous ones, it really makes me appreciate some of the people on the food channel a lot more.
7. The Environment in both countries- America and its citizens could really learn lesson or two about how much the earth around them effects its culture from these two countries, I loved how incorporated the world around these people was to their everyday life, it was wonderful.
8. Sightseeing- the multitudes of beautiful land scrapes I believed brought forth the creative and intuitive side of a lot of our students.
9. Lunging- Although this wasn’t all that culturally different from our pastimes like, go carting or simply riding around in a scooter, it was still fun for a lot of students and had us all begging for more.
10. The Bridge Climb-I loved the bridge climb it was an entirely new perspective of Sydney and also slightly terrifying, but those always end up being the things that you are always proud of doing right?