In Reverie

I will forever contemplate what my life would be like if I'd never gone to Australia. If I was still the same boy in college in Southern California, going to house parties on weekends, spending entirely too much time studying, and taking every moment I could to see the beach, mountains, desert, and surrounding areas of Los Angeles.

I'll never really know that boy anymore. He is lost and gone forever and has been replaced by a shadowy version of the same boy that has seen an extraordinarily large influence from a larger world upon visiting Melbourne.

I've had mixed opinions on Melbourne. I have to say, it isn't a glamorous city. It isn't clean, upscale, or professional like other major cities, but for a college student the lifestyle is pretty amazing. I took a trip to the fifth floor roof with my friend Mike Hawkins and we took a few shots of the CBD. Comparatively small, but charming nonetheless.I've taken some time to really appreciate the life I live right now. Since I've been here, I've met a miscellany of different people, made good connections and mutually offered my home to friends while abroad, dated a foreign woman, surfed some of the most world renowned breaks, kept a higher grade point average than I would have at home, and shared some of the most memorable nights of my life in between all of this. What is more is that I still have the Great Barrier Reef and New Zealand to look forward to, the two largest and most exciting trips yet, and I simply can't wait. I'm going to swim with one of the seven species of remaining sea turtles (six of the seven inhabit the reef), which will undoubtedly be my most fulfilling experience during this trip.

As friends around the village head off in their separate paths in life, things slow down, and the days lose their golden tinge. Even so, spending my last few weeks writing papers and lazily watching the minutes titter by under the warm Australian sun with my friends is something I'll certainly never forget, and can never take for granted.




Tonight I'm in at 12:57 on a Saturday night/Sunday morning for the first time in a long time. It is Mike Hawkins' last weekend here, and second to last night here. We hit it pretty hard and he wound up collapsing a few times in the hallway of the village. I managed to carry the guy back to my room and he is sleeping in my roommate Ben's bed as Ben is gone for the weekend. I met Mike the first night here, because he was on the same flight in and lived at the same place. He is going back to the states and to Jersey for Thanksgiving, which is something many Americans are making the choice to do. Part of me envies them but part of me knows that my six months abroad weren't meant to come to an end just yet. Tomorrow I will write 1000 words on my last essay, have a BBQ with Matteo, and then head for the Great Ocean Road Surf Expedition. If this isn't living then I've never been alive.