The last thing to mark off on things to do in Sydney was definitely the bridge climb. I wasn’t sure I would find the time to do it but my friend and her mom had planned to do it together and her mom got scared last minute and offered me her ticket. How could I say no?! It was AWESOME. I’m not afraid of heights but I heard that the stairs that you climb to get to the top are very steep and that worried me a bit but the climb was fairly easy. We stopped a lot to talk about various facts of the bridge and the surrounding area.

It’s impossible to completely understand a foreign culture. You can be familiar with the language, traditions and identities of another culture but you will never be able to fully grasp its fundamental intricacies as intrinsically as the natives. This, however, should not discourage people from attempting to study and learn different cultural norms.

18.03 Uhr

I sit at my desk writing postcards to my family… I’m young and broke, so I don’t think many gifts will be making their way to the states on my behalf this Christmas, so I hope that postcards will suffice.

One of the main reasons why I decided to study abroad was that I hoped that it would evoke some sort of personal growth within me, and one of the main reasons that I chose to apply for the Oxford program was that I thought that it would target the areas that I needed growth in the most (among other, more light-hearted intentions). These areas included time management, independence, the depth with which I dive into my learning, and extracurricular opportunity taking.

The semester is strangely coming to an end; time has flown by!

So far I’ve been to France, Spain, Netherlands, Ireland, and so many amazing places in Italy itself! I have definitely adjusted well to living in Europe, but have also begun to appreciate my own culture and the US! It will be a bittersweet goodbye in just three and a half weeks. The hardest part about leaving will be leaving the great people I have met here.

So my roommates and I headed off to Dublin last weekend! It was beyond amazing and definitely a house favorite as far as destinations go, thus far! We haven’t taken our Dublin sweatshirts off since we got back. We went on a 12 hour Dublin tour the first day we were there and were able to see the Cliffs of Moher, Galway, River Shannon, and a bunch of other cool spots outside of Dublin.

I’m writing this cuddled next to my mother, eating Americanized Chinese food, and watching Scandal! It feels so good and I’m so glad to be back with my family and friends. But I miss Sydney SO much already. There are the superficial things I miss such as the weather and beaches. But more than that I miss my Aussie friends and the life I created in Sydney over the past four months. Who knows how long I will be homesick for Australia. Maybe until I visit again.