1 month left :-(

Well everyone, I know, you’re all amazed that I actually posted something. No excuses, life just got super busy. I have 1 week until finals start and I will be spending that entire time studying what I should have learned all semester.
But for those of you keeping track, today marks one month left of my great Australian adventure. I cannot believe how fast the last 18 weeks have gone. What a great adventure it has been too. I’ve found myself reflecting on it lately (mainly as a way to procrastinate), of all the things I’ve seen and all the things I’ve learned about another culture that is so similar and yet so very different to our own. And most importantly I’ve been thinking about what I’ve learned about myself, how I’ve changed, and who the person is that will be returning to her old life in 4 weeks.
Anyway, enough of that. Because I really do have to study and can’t afford a proper update, I’ve pasted below a list of things I’ve been marking down all semester about things I can’t wait to get home to and things I don’t know if I can bear to leave behind. It’s a work in progress, but enjoy! Also- if you could please get the weather to cool down at home, that’d be great, because I don’t know if I can stand coming home to 90s and humidity. yuck.


Things I can’t wait to get back to:
Pier 1 first bloom candles
Haribo gummy bears & Reese’s Pieces
OAR/ Pat McGee
Friends… real and the tv kind ;-)
Real time OC
Living on Diet Coke
Hokies
Hokie football
Driving down 460 on cold b’burg nights
Driving .period.
O’Charlies
Wal Mart and Target
Beamer (the cat and the coach)
Movies that don’t cost $15 a ticket
MAC cosmetics
The drillfield, Williams Hall, I almost even miss the math empo… almost
Mill Mountain
Barnes and Noble to study
Seeing Hokie-gear everywhere
Wintergreen Livesavers
Caramel Hershey Kisses
Quiznos
Hokie Grille
Subway for under $10
TCVC
Richmond
Chinese food
Mexican food
Starbucks on every corner
BAGELS and the bagel bakery
5 malls within 30 minutes w/ clothes I can afford
Not having to defend American culture
Exams that only count for 25% and not 80%
rain (haven’t seen it, or a cloudy sky for that matter, in over 2 months)
Paying under $30 for a CD
Cheap books
Talking on the phone
AIM
Saying St. Maarten or St. Croix and people know where you’re talking about
No sneaky speed cameras
a population of more than 20 million and with more than 6 big cities
Washington D.C. (never thought I’d be homesick for the sight of the Washington
Monument)
Caribou Coffee
Place where I can say ya’ll and not be instantly labeled a redneck
Where the concept of sweet tea is understood
My dog and the South Run dog park
My enormous cat
my double bed
my room
my friends
my family
home

Things I’ll miss from Australia:
Cockatoos, magpies, galahs, and parrots in my backyard
Tabatha following me everywhere I go
Lamingtons
Being able to take the bus anywhere I want to go
People saying “How ya goin’” “darl” “love”
The obvious lack of SUVs everywhere
Kangaroos on the way to Uni
Calling Uni instead of school
2 weeks of reading time for exams
Free incoming calls on my mobile
Gum trees
the smell of eucalyptus
Having dreams about man-eating spiders (well, maybe I won’t really miss this)
a country where you can travel hundreds of miles without ever crossing a town
The lack of green and the abundance of red
bakeries and cafes on every corner
Australian Rules Football and tipping every week
Adelaide Crows
Being able to name all the states on two hands
Princess Mary
Where being named XXXXX the second will get you made fun of
Dolphins surfing with the humans
Being fiercely possessive over our actors and singers
Roasting in February and freezing in June
Good News Australia bibles
Cheese and bacon rolls from the campus bakery
Iced chocolates at Sullie’s
The hours spent at Hancock and Chifley libraries
Telstra tower always following me wherever I am in Canberra
Being able to drive 2 hours to a gorgeous beach
Tim tams, milk arrowroots, Anzac biscuits, Kingston, caramel crowns, the list goes on
and on
Saying “biscuits” instead of cookie, bench instead of counter, footpath instead of
sidewalk, jumper instead of jacket/sweatshirt, ring instead of call, barrack instead of root, etc etc etc
Being 4 hours away from Sydney
Bilbies, emus, crocodiles, kookaburras, bettongs, most poisonous snakes and spiders on
earth, koalas, banksias, acacias, wombats
Small country towns that people actually still live in and visit
Towns with names like Wee Waa, Poowong, Burrumbuttock, Mullumbimby, Suggan
Buggan, Boomahnoomoonah, Waaia, Ewlyamartup, Jiggalong (from Bill
Bryson’s In A Sunburnt Land)
Australian bands and comedians
Getting my hair cut and highlighted for $60
Hearing the ‘bloody Poms’ (Britains) insulted
Meeting wonderful warm people who have traveled all over the world
Toilet not being a rude word
Driving/walking on the left
Turning on outlets every time
Nature parks and reserves
hot drinks at ‘tea’ (in fact, just using the word tea instead of dinner)
Crying when the exchange rate goes above 0.75
Going bush
Aboriginal culture
Living in a culture that only takes themselves seriously sometimes and won’t hesitate to
call you out on your stupidity
Corrupting everyone to the OC
Convincing people that American’s really aren’t all as bad as we seem
Frangipani, eucalyptus, and lanolin lotions
SHEEP!
passion fruit flavoured things
English spelling
Laughing at Australian politicians
John Howard’s floppy mouth
Australian beer
Hanging out clothes on a line
Living in a community very concerned about its environment
Not working
British and Aussie TV
Australian gardens and the plants in them
Saying thank you to bus drivers
Everybody (almost) being polite
Saying g’day and no one laughs
Where the way you use your cutlery can be offensive ;-)
Giant concrete structures (banana, sheep, mango, beer can, lobster, koala, etc)
The Great Barrier Reef (it really is every bit as good as they say)
Calling everyone by their first names
Not tipping or adding tax
No $0.01 coins
Getting and sending real mail
Yellow and Green
The Aussie flag
Everyone thinking Waltzing Matilda is the national anthem
Saying you live in Canberra and people saying “why?”
Clear star filled skies… every night
Southern Hemisphere constellations (Southern Cross)
my friends
The Sanders
Lauren
Australia