Bitter farewell

Prepare yourself, this is a long ramble of assorted thoughts that I wanted to get into print, some of it may not make sense but it does to me. I'm sure I forgot somethings that I wanted to say but oh well, this is the general gist of it.

I can honestly say that this has been the best 4 ½ months of my life. I have had more fun and met more amazing people than I ever could have expected. Coming over here I knew that I was going to like it just based on what I had heard from friends and seen from pictures. What I didn’t know was that the experiences I was going to have were going to completely change me. Since being here I have been able to take a step back from a mainstream lifestyle and experience something completely different. I was able to live the life I wanted with only the most minimal commitments. I would go to class during the week, and literally almost every single weekend I was able to drop everything and go travel and explore somewhere brand new. I was living completely on my own, taking care of myself, feeding myself and doing whatever I wanted. I’ve realized that there is so much more to life than just going through the system; working hard in high school to get into a good college, working hard in college to get a good job and then working hard at your job to support yourself. I am terrified of this. This is going to sound a little cliché and maybe kind of redundant but I don’t know why it took flying to the complete other side of the earth to realize how much there our world has to offer. I came to one little tiny set of islands in the southern pacific and have seen more amazing things in this little area than I have in my entire life. I tell myself that I want to keep travelling, keep seeing amazing things, now I just need to make it happen.
I have also learned that there is definitely something to be said for living simply. Now don’t get me wrong I enjoy nice food and a good solid roof over my head, but it’s easy to make simple food taste good and equally easy to make a small accommodation feel like home. Growing up in boy scouts I always had fun camping and hiking, but it always seemed kind of like we were just playing in the woods. It’s not until you actually head out carrying everything you think you’ll need in 1 bag on your back that you realize that it’s possible to be completely self sufficient. I am so thankful for everything that I learned from scouts, because the best times I’ve had here have been living in the wilderness. The best feeling is setting up your home for the night underneath a hanging glacial valley, or next to a river, or right on the beach of beautiful lake or up on the snow looking out at massive peaks all around you; knowing that you got yourself there and you are going to get yourself out of there. I never knew I would be so happy cooking a small pot of ramen noodles with a chopped up carrot a few shavings of cheese and some instant mashed potatoes to absorb the extra water, all the while knowing that it is going to be an amazingly satisfying meal. The same can be said for a simple hot bowl of oatmeal in the morning to take the chill away when you climb out of your sleeping bag.
The one thing that has truly made this experience for me is hands down the people I have met and the friends I have made. I was put in kind of a unique situation coming over here, since I came with a study abroad program (Arcadia University) I was immediately thrown into the mix with 15 random people from across the US. Plain and simple, we got lucky. Our program director Jane told us flat out that it only happens about every 8 years or so that a group really meshes well, and we did. For the most part we are all great friends. I feel like I know these people almost as well as I know the people I have spent my entire life with. We all hang out at least once a week at what has become a tradition of Wednesday night potluck dinners and I see most people on a daily basis. Within the group of 15, 8 of us have really become a family. We do everything together, are always looking out for one another and we harass each other just like siblings. The same can be said for my flatmates who have also been amazing. I live with 3 other Americans and 1 Brit, we are all guys and we all have gotten along great. My flatmate Joe has become one of my really close friends he has also completely meshed in with the Arcadia group and I have in turn become great friends with the kids in the group he came over with as well. I have made some kiwi friends along the way whom I hope I will stay in touch with as well, but oddly enough the best friends I made here are all other Americans.
It’s weird to think about leaving. Four of us went and dropped our friend George (1 of the 8) off at the airport today, and it is strange to think that I don’t know when I am going to see a lot of these people again. Like I said before I really do have a family here. Not just the group of Arcadia students, but with the way our flats are set up so close to each other, my family is huge. It is not uncommon for me to run upstairs and pop into my friend’s flat and see if they what they are up to, or if they want to make dinner together that night, and they routinely do the exact same thing. I have conversations out my window from building to building everyday when I see a friend walking up the stairs to their flat, and I almost always know some walking by to say hello to. Thankfully with facebook and what not I will hopefully stay in touch with all these people, but it’s still weird to think about.
When I get on the plane next Sunday, I’m not just going to be walking away from them; I’m going to be walking away from a whole life I established here. I guess that’s what all this is really about, I made a whole new life here in 4 ½ months and I really really like it. This country has done amazing things for me. It has taught me a lot about what I think is important, and the kinds of people I want to surround myself with. Everything I’ve done here has been fun, spontaneous and exciting and that’s the way I like it. Routine is boring and it sucks. That being said I am going to try real hard to not fall into the same routine when I come back home. There is so much to do in my own backyard both at home and down at school and it’s about time I started taking advantage of it.
All this is not to say that I am not looking forward to coming home and seeing everyone I left again, I am very excited about that. It’s more that I am scared to lose what I have here. Everything and everyone here makes me smile and laugh so much I feel like I live in a little wonderland on the other side of the earth where nothing can go wrong. I’ll stop rambling now and just say that I have made lifelong friends and had life changing experiences and I’m going to do my best to not forget a single one of either. This is probably my last blog entry for a long time, I have 4 finals in the next 7 days and it’s going to be hell. While this adventure is coming to a close hopefully another one turns up soon and perhaps I’ll have more to write about. Thank you for reading all these, I hope you’ve enjoyed hearing about my experiences even half as much as I have enjoyed them. All I can say is I highly suggest seeing as much of this planet as possible because it can really blow your mind.