Returning

This is it! The bookend to an amazing year spent abroad.

Maybe the most important post of all. So what have I learnt?

1. Saying "yes" as often as you can keeps life interesting no matter where you live. There are experiences and places to be found in any city; little treasures worth discovering.

2. Balance is so important. When you feed your body, mind and heart, that's when you're at your happiest. The summer I spent in Austin was heaven on earth. I learnt to cook and share meals with special housemates. I ran in the afternoons and played beach volleyball as the sun set. I walked to my internship everyday excited to be surrounded by great people and music. I loved freely and openly hoping I'd finally meet someone to share my adventures with.

3. Good friends are like family. Good friends make a city a home. And good friends will always lend a helping hand.

4. Learning to listen to yourself rather than other people is really a skill. Someone once said, "You're never going to know what people really think of you until your funeral, and then you'll be dead." So go for that crazy dream! Be brave enough to admit what you want in life. What's the use of being scared to fall down, if you never try to fly.

5. Today reminded me of the hardest lesson. Sometimes no matter how much you want something, it just doesn't work out. Life happens. You're headed down one path and then you get shoved over into a ditch! But it's what you do when you fail that shows true character. It comes down to re-evaluating what you want in life. And that changes all the time.

My weekends wash away

But my dreams keep coming true...

After the very disappointing realisation that I wouldn't be able to work for Roadtrip Nation as a roadie during fall, I decided it wouldn't be the worst thing to stick around Austin and salvage what further experience I could get from the Austin City Limits studio.

Granted I've pretty much been on an extended holiday since mid-May, and another trip away to Mexico and New York consolidated an epic summer. So it's taken awhile to get settled, finding a new place to live, but finally I feel like I'm back in the groove again. And Austin went and stole my heart this past month.

I would never have guessed a few years ago that I would end up living and working in Austin, Texas, but it feels perfectly meant-to-be. And a few months ago, I wouldn't have even considered being around to go to the State Fair of Texas or the very hyped-up Austin City Limits music festival. Just goes to show that you've gotta make the most of what's thrown your way.

So the State Fair...freakin' epically hectic!?!?!? From the drive up to Dallas (featuring a pit stop for a flat tire) to the deep-fried goodness and gigantic Ferris wheel, the Fair was everything I had hoped for, except an Oprah sighting.

When we first arrived it was definitely overwhelming. Everyone was gathering for the big football game against Oklahoma, one of our arch rivals. And there was too much for my eyes to take in that I spent the first hour or so trying to keep one eye on the foot-traffic and one on our surroundings. Most of our Dallas group were ready to go home by half-time, but I was very keen to stay longer and watch the night's entertainment. I also had a mission: to eat a deep-fried pop tart smore and ride the giant ferris wheel (the biggest in the u.s.).

I'm glad I stayed because the atmosphere was much more fair-like after the game madness had subsided. Unfortunately, Texas lost...Booo! So Dougie and I staked out spots at the very front for a band I had never heard of before, and rocked the night away amongst the company of die-hard fans and locals. In fact, it was two of these fans that ended up giving us a ride back to the hotel, although the guy may have been drunk (in hindsight, a very bad decision), but we got back in one piece and joined the bigger group for the night's shenanigans.

Let's leave the story there as the rest of the night was a bit messy for some (me not included). Vanda did curse the entire city of Dallas and threaten each and every citizen with her tazer! And we almost broke down in the parking lot of "uptown", but by the early hours I felt safe sitting in an IHOP with Vanda and enjoying my first taste of the institution.

Old New York

When I stepped off the plane at LaGuardia airport, I'd already been to NYC twice before - once as a tourist and the second time as part of a documentary. I'll admit that I hadn't really embraced the city like most people do, and I never raved about its glamour and gold. But this last visit to see a very good friend changed my mind.

It was Labor Day weekend and the airport was unusually overcrowded. There were lines from one end of the terminal to the other. I began to panic a little. Then due to a malfunctioning security gate, missed my flight completely. But by the time I had changed and stood waiting on the kerb for Lillie the previous dramas blew away with the breeze.

We drove back to her place in Stamford, Connecticut, and rushed to meet her friends for all-you-can-eat sushi in Manhattan. We got lost - which became the theme for our weekend. But it was all part of the adventure of the rabbit hole that is New York City.

After giving in to a cab ride, we made it to the restaurant safe, a little rattled and very hungry, but with only 30mins left to eat all the sushi we could. What followed was the biggest sushi food baby I've ever had, and the night out was only just beginning.

Saturday brought the promise of a beach trip to Long Island and by the time we got ourselves together and organised, it was quite late in the game. But we battled on through tennis open traffic (getting lost again) and made it to a very quiet side of the city, where we were asked to hop into a man's trunk to sneak into the exclusive beach club. We definitely don't do that in Australia!

And because of a hurricane off the coast, I was surprised to actually see waves and a decent surf. So even though it was a tad chilly, and after much internal debate about freezing, I jumped right in. It was strange to be able to hang out at a beachside cabana and walk through the wooden village of huts and facilities provided by a beach club. As the sun came down, our beach day turned into a seafood dinner with Lillie's friends at a famous nearby eatery and then we headed into the city for another night out on the town.

We were lucky enough to get two free nights accommodation at Lillie's colleague's apartment near the Empire State building so beach-heavy we drove into the city with her friend, Chris, in tow. With another big night planned, Lillie and I scrubbed up and got our party shoes on. That Saturday night I met more of Lillie's workmates, was plied with drinks and boogied on the dance floor.

Our lazy Sunday called for shopping and wandering around Times Square and the markets, where we bought trinkets, head bands and hats. The city was very much alive and loud with people dressed in patriotic Brazilian colours. For a long time, we had no idea what was going on. Ah! Of course...Brazil Day in New York City. They'd closed down some of the central city streets for the event with live music performances, and Lillie and I got stuck trying to get to an ATM.

Monday we were invited to spend the public holiday with Lillie's friend's friends in Central Park. It was a beautiful late summer day. The sky was written with a marriage proposal and I felt the love of the city.

My dad's incredible emails...

I love my dad.

Lack of golf playing and an outdoor hobby has led him to spend most of his days online.

I guess this is what happens when your only daughter disappears on a university exchange.

Adam Saaks (who designs ripped T-shirts?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tIZ35DVlNQ

World's tallest airport slide in Singapore
http://travel.ninemsn.com.au/Blog.aspx?blogentryid=696351&showcomments=true

At least I know he's thinking about me!

Monterrey you make my heart say

It's my last day in Monterrey. Ace left this morning at 4, and even though she was the one travelling, I couldn't sleep at all either.

We've spent the last couple days shopping, which I'm not entirely proud of. The last six months I've been trying to hold on to every penny I have, but it seems tourist madness has taken over me, and now I have about $150 of souvenir fare.

Although I really wanted to visit Grutas de Garcia before I left Monterrey, it's not the best idea to be travelling alone out there, so instead I followed Chloe to Spanish class. Turned out to be very interesting and freezing in class (something I should've been used to from UT).

When the sun began to set, we walked with Chloe's housemates in search of a great Mexican restaurant. With a backdrop of the mountains, I quickly snapped some last parting shots and tried to memorise how I felt having finally visited Mexico.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWA94J95Af4

Hola, buenos dias, como estas?, gracias....

My very basic, phrase-based Spanish, doesn't get me very far in Monterrey, Mexico, but it hasn't stopped me from enjoying my days here.

Ashlee-Maree (Ace) and I started talking about travel plans a couple months ago, and we both decided it would be awesome to visit our uni friend, Chloe, while she's exchanging in Monterrey.

So here we are! Day 3 of my Mexican adventure.

Thursday, August 26: It all began when Vanda and Margot took us to our mystery bus station, while Ace directed from her laptop and we wolfed down Hoboken pizza on plastic plates in the dark. We still aren't sure whether we missed our bus, but we hopped on one about 10pm, crossing the border around 3am, and ended up in the city by 7:30 Friday morning, where Chloe and her very blonde hair was anxiously waiting our arrival.

Friday was an organisation day with two trips to Soriana (a semi-Walmart equivalent) to buy food, beverages and beds. Besides the people in the supermarket, I began to wonder when it would hit me that I was in Mexico. Monterrey is one of the country's most "americanized" cities. I've heard there's Walmart and H.E.B. here too! Besides those american intrusions, I'd say by the time I'd caught two taxis, I was definitely getting inklings of being somewhere very foreign to me.

Our Monterrey tour guide aka Chloe Fox took us through her university, and promised we'd return to snap photos of deer. Her campus is very much smaller than the U.T. I'm used to, but the entire ITESM network in latin America consists of over 90,000 students. There's very tight security so Ace and I needed our passports to enter the grounds.

Chloe and her housemates, Julia and Isabel, were hosting a cocktail party to christen Chloe's new blender, so it was a perfect night of meeting her exchange friends (the majority from Germany), and sitting outside in her courtyard, sipping on a homemade mojito. After maybe two or three hours sleep on the bus, I passed out by midnight on my brand new air mattress.

We'd planned to visit Canon de la Huasteca the next day so after making some mouth-watering portabello burgers (with Mozzarella cheese, spinach and tomato) for brunch, we had food babies, but were raring to start our day! Chloe's been vegetarian since she was a teenager and I always enjoy joining in on her diet, not being a big meat-eater myself. So the burgers were her idea and an excellent idea it was!

From her house on a cute street adjacent to campus (lined by what we think are lime trees), we walked by Caroline's house to pick her up and then caught two taxis to El Obelisco (the obelisk) to catch our bus to the Canon. We weren't too sure on the bus number, since the party had been such a hit the night before, but we hopped on our best guess and enjoyed a very haphazard, noisy and slightly dangerous bus ride to the outskirts of the city.

Driving on the roads here feels like you're sitting in a dodge 'em car and I'm now re-thinking my opinion on Malaysian drivers after being here a few days. You won't go anywhere without hearing the squeal of tyres and communicative horns (sometimes a blast can be a good thing?).

The heat was making me sleepy, but I fought to stay awake and enjoy the scene around me. I shoved my camera out the window to take some snaps, but my battery died prematurely so the rest of the pics from that day have been taken by Chloe and Ace. We ended up not getting off at the proper stop and extended our ride 30 mins or so. No one was exactly sure how we ended up having an entire Mexican bus to ourselves, but it was a fun detour. All the while we were thinking, "Where the bloody hell are we?".

So we eventually made it to the gates of the national park, where two other German students were waiting for us. From there it was another experience to try hitch-hiking in the back of a pickup so that we could travel further in to the Canon. By this stage, people are probably wondering how safe I'm being, but you'll understand once you're here that you need to just embrace the lifestyle, laugh a lot and pretty much "go with the flow".

It was windy in the canon and the water was a slightly, murky blue. Usually there's no water at all, except that there's still run-off from the hurricane, which hit the area really badly a month ago. You can still see the damage on the roads and bridges around the city. We stuck our bottoms in the water (and of course I kept getting pushed downstream by the strong current), while some of the locals enjoyed watching the foreigners. The mountain ridges that surrounded us were so stark and beautiful. Our pickup ride-in told us that he takes people rockclimbing there.

Our tummies began rumbling, so Ace, Chloe and I left the group early in search of corn. And at the entrance our wishes were granted. Thinking that we would eat the traditional way, Chloe and I asked for lime and chilli on ours, and a few bites into the experiment our lips and mouths were on fire!!! I attempted to brush some chilli off, and then thought it was best to eat as fast as possible. By that stage I was inspired to eat more traditional food, so when I saw the gentleman next to us pay for an empty tray of what I suspected might be tamales, I asked straight away if we could have some too. Yum! They tasted just like the ones Lillie had heated up for me all the way back in May.

After another sleepy bus ride back to the city and a roller-coaster taxi ride, the three Mexi-cateers fell on to our respective beds and passed out til 8:30pm! Oops! We almost missed the BBQ we'd been invited to, so we trooped back to Caroline's and enjoyed a very nice night of freshly-made patties on a breezy Monterrey balcony.

To the mattresses and couches!

So in my final leg of exchange, I am officially homeless.

Since my internship was extended til next week, but my summer sublease ended August 13, I'm currently couch-surfing with my Austin friends. Certainly I'm very glad to have met them.

Going back to my nomadic ways has given me a lil taste of my travels over the next couple weeks. My best uni friend from Queensland, Ashlee-Maree is visiting me on Monday and then we're catching an overnight-bus to Monterrey, Mexico, on Thursday to visit our friend Chloe. It's been a while since I've travelled to a country previously untravelled, and I'm getting excited and nervous about the pending adventures!

Well this ninja is definitely, well and truly at the end of exchange. Next week will be the last two tapings of the summer for me at Austin City Limits and I don't even want to think about not showing up three days a week at the office. ACL is one of my dream jobs! One day I hope to be in a similar position, perhaps paid and who knows where in the world.

I've decided to label myself an ex-exchange student to the new batch. And I'm still hanging around because I finished my degree and I did two internships while being in Austin, both in television.

After submitting my exit-questionnaire to my home university, I only know that every exchange student after me will be even better taken care of and know more about what Austin and the University of Texas exchange experience is going to offer them. Why would you choose anywhere else?!