Who Needs Homesickness When You Can Have the Real Deal?

Back again, with some bigger ups and downs on the rollercoaster of life! I can very truthfully say I would have never imagined spending my 21st birthday weekend the way that I have.

You guys- I was doing so well!! On Wednesday, something clicked. I have a theory that you just need exactly two weeks to have passed in a foreign place to finally get a handle on how things work and to get in a bit of a routine. After writing last week’s ~crazy~ post, I felt so relieved to have accurately put words in an order that conveyed the tumult of my emotional state. I was in a great mood - I was more productive at work, better with my social interactions, and all around stepping away from my Debbie-Downer days. This trend continued all the way from Wednesday through Saturday. I had many fun adventures, including: a $20 night out, a good look at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, boogie boarding at Bondi, and a long hike in the Blue Mountains ending with a beautiful view of the sunset over the Three Sisters. I was finally reaching my basic-white-girl-taking-too-many-pictures-looking-happy potential.

It seems that once I had finally reached some sort of emotional stabilization, my body decided to throw me for a loop. I mean, is it really me if there isn’t something strange going on with my mind or body?? If ya know me, ya definitely know what I mean. Anyways, I woke up on my birthday with a UTI (unknowingly) and spent much of the day wondering if I could somehow sleep and vomit at the same time. In retrospect, I am glad that that is not a physical possibility, considering the consequences of waking up and wondering how my hair grew wet chunks. And whatever takeaway I got from last week’s post arose again - weird stuff happens. Life is weird and crazy. I was only able to stay awake for seven hours on my 21st birthday, and couldn’t convince myself to take one step out of bed to close the curtain - let alone go out on birthday adventures. Ah well - the mysterious Sydney Peanut Butter Bar will still be there many weekends from now. And anyways, my wonderful friend Natalie threw me a premature celebration with my favorite cake (chocolate zucchini) Saturday night, which I am very grateful for because I could only stomach toast and apples for all of Sunday. So it all worked out, really. I’m counting my adventures of Friday and Saturday as my 21st birthday weekend. The days will all blur together by the end anyway.

I have a wonderful friend who always asks one thing I am grateful for and one thing I am looking forward to when we’re about to hang up on a call. It makes my day to do that with her, so I’ll end my post that way, and hope that you guys can make a note to yourself for those same things. (Yup, I’m layin on the cheese thicc, but that’s just the way it is today so la-de-dah.) So: I am grateful that my parents provided for me to be on this WONDERFUL trip, and that my UTI did not turn into a kidney infection- which can be quite disastrous. As for looking forward to: a group of us are planning a trip to Whitsundays which I am quite excited about - a whole weekend of snorkeling and exploring the beach!! I’ll have to update you guys upon my return.

Signing off as a much more adjusted Erin, ready to have some anxiety-fuelled fun.