Ebb and flow

It all started around my senior year of high school, I think. I had always been a bit different than most of the other students I went through school with, both in views on the matters of life, as well as academic motivation and performance. Most everyone around me was all about going to a good college, getting a good job, and so on. I just saw things differently. Now, I'm not criticizing the choice of taking this route, but it's just not for everyone. I realized later on that there many paths to take through life. There is much to see in this world, and there are many ways one can choose to 'make a living'. As my senior summer, and what would have been my entrance into college, drew ever closer, I steadily lost interest in my grade levels and schooling in general, and gradually became more confused, and interested, about 'life'. I only bothered applying to one college, because there was only one college I 'wanted' to go to. And, well, I got denied. 

So there I was, fall 2012, attending Lansing Community College with no declared major, and only vague ideas of what I might want to do with my life. Long story short, I gave up. I found college to be a repeat of high school in a new setting, with harder classes, and less familiar people, and I found it hard to tell myself that it was worth going through. I picked up some part time work, but I still had a lot of empty time on my hands. A large amount of this time was spent thinking, pondering, and questioning about, well just about everything. I still had no clue where I was going or where I would end up. I was basically just passing days by, and not really going anywhere. I felt stuck at times. I wanted to be able to just get away. More than once I had tried to hatch a plan to do just that, to get away. But what would I do? Where would I go? And with what money?

I had gone to visit my Aunt and Uncle for three weeks in Sydney, Australia in the summer of 2011. It was a great trip, but other than to see my relatives that hadn't seen in years, and to catch a glimpse of the wonderful country, the trip didn't have any major significance to me. That is, until I started trying to get away. "Well..." I thought to myself, "Australia was really cool... no, no, there's no way I'm going to be able to get away to Australia. How the hell would I do that?" Little did I know...

I kind of sat on it for a while. It stayed in the back of my mind as a kept grinding through the weeks. But that little spark must have found some kindling, because it steadily grew ever brighter until the idea was a bright raging inferno. When I couldn't keep denying myself any longer, I finally thought to myself "Do it. Just commit. You don't have to start packing, or saying goodbyes, or even buy a plane ticket. Just commit to it." So, I did. The idea was set in stone in my mind, but I still had to hammer out the little details. And the big details. And all the medium sized details. Every day I became more and more anxious and excited. Nothing could get me down. I worked early AM hours seven days a week, but it didn't get to me one bit. Anytime I started to get frustrated at my seemingly endless workweek, anytime someone or something started to get on my nerves, every time any sort of negative thought creeped it's way into my mind, it was effortlessly brushed away by thoughts of what I had ahead of me. It was on my mind 24/7, even keeping me up some nights.

So about 8 months of penny pinching, plenty of research, planning, and input and support from my family later, I found myself on a plane to Sydney. And the rest, is history. Wait no, it's actually spelled out in the following posts.

Enough with the boring stuff, on to the exciting content, with pictures!