Since I'm a big foodie and love to find all of the best restaurants in every city, I wanted to give you guys a lo down on all of the best #EEEATS (Instagram joke) in Sydney. My friends and I actually have an Instagram account, @foodforthought11, if you want to see the real deal (please DM us for featured posts).

I woke up today feeling a surge of something fantastic coursing through my veins, and I was so perplexed by the feeling that I thought I fell ill. But then I realized, after checking my temperature and being satisfied with a healthy 98 degrees, that my excitement stemmed from an epiphany—it finally hit me. I will be living in Dublin, Ireland, in just a little over a week. This moment kicked me into gear and started a packing frenzy.

The first time that I sat down to write this post, I thought I had this all figured out—I’ve traveled before and written before, I can pack light with the best of them and I come from a long line of women who worship the gospel of Rick Steves. However, I had not yet fully internalized the gravity that comes with leaving behind my home country for a semester. And what was the catalyst for this, you may ask? Well, actually, it all starts with a cup of coffee.

WOOHOO! I’m headed to the French Riviera! 

      Time flies by when you have no time to pack or prepare for going abroad!!  As of right now my best pre-study abroad advice would be not to procrastinate as I have done. Anyway, my name is Lindsey and I will be beginning my junior year of college at the University of Amsterdam in just four short days.

Resfeber (n): the restless race of the traveler’s heart before the journey begins. When anxiety and anticipation are tangled together, wanderlust. 

Advice upon departure: “This summer is about you. With that being said, don’t be selfish, be self-aware.” This was the best advice I was given before studying abroad. One of my friends who was about to graduate college was reflecting on her study abroad experience and how it affected her as she prepared to enter the “real world.” She also encouraged me to give myself the opportunity to see how I as an individual worked on my own.

Hi friends!

So this weekend I decided to stay in Sydney to save money for my upcoming trip to Fiji (blog posts will follow)! Since my friend and I knew we wanted to do something different & fun for the weekend, we headed to the SGA travel office on the UNSW campus to help us out. They recommended heading to the Blue Mountains and they actually knew a tour group that we could join for the day!

A few weekends ago, a group of friends and I hopped aboard the TranzAlpine train bound for Arthur’s Pass. We’d planned a few weeks in advance, and were really looking forward to this trip – our first overnight trip! Saturday morning we had to get up horribly early (I’m talking like 5am here), to be ready for the bus to the train station, leaving at 7:05. We met up at my place (which I share with two other girls in our group, so it’s the logical meet-up place) at 6:45, to make sure everyone was awake and ready to get to the bus.

“It’s good to feel uncomfortable” -Sameer Gadhia.  I am sitting here typing this up thanks to this quote by the lead singer of the band Young the Giant.