A Thanksgiving Reflection

With less than a week left, we've began to reflect on our time here in Australia. Thanks to Sidra, Natalie, and Ruthie for helping me to make this list!

Things I miss about home (in no particular order)

• Family
• Friends
• My puppies
• Junior
• My bed
• My shower
• Portillos/Chipotle/Panera/Jimmy Johns/Sonic
• Lou Malnati's (this get's it's own bullet for obvious reasons)
• Doing crafts
• Driving
• Not paying for food/having someone cook for me
• Ice cream
• A fridge that makes ice cubes for you
• The gym
• Dollar menus
• The radio
• Netflix
• Wifi that functions properly
• Thanksgiving
• American style breakfast aka bacon

Things I'm going to miss about Oz (this list might get long)

• Endless summer 
• Beaches
• Koalas
• Aussie accents
• Gelato
• Being legal (ugh 8 more months til I'm 21)
• Not doing real school work
• LUCAS GARDENS :(((((((((
• Seeing the Opera House/Harbor Bridge on the reg
• Fresh seafood
• The Great Barrier Reef
• Traveling and doing amazingly fun activities
• TIMTAMS HOLY COW I DON'T KNOW HOW THIS WASN'T THE FIRST THING ON THE LIST
• Henry the vacuum cleaner
• The Aboriginal people that play digeridoo music at Circular Quay
• All of the markets that happen all around Sydney
• Did I mention beaches and endless summer?
• Trying to explain to people how cold Boston gets in the winter
• $2 sushi
• Pancakes on the Rocks
• The trains
  
• Coffee (Sidra and Natalie added this one)
• Kangaroo - for eating and for petting
• Being in a city that gives you personal space
• Botanical Gardens
• Jacaranda trees
• Living with Sid, Nat, and Ruthie
• Jasmine plants
• The fruit here (it's seriously way better than America's)
• The wonderfully amazing people that are on this program with me
• Airports with minimal security
• The nice, welcoming, laid back attitude of everyone around
• Our sofa bed
• Aussie slang (particularly the words dingledangle, how ya goin', and ta)
• The smell of the ocean
• The Blue Mountains 
• Doing extreme sports
• Writing this blog
• Ruthie's sheepskin boa
• Eating really poorly and not exercising because I think I'm on vacation
• The Sydney skyline
• Taking the ferry
• The rich, interesting history of Australia
• Being mistaken for Aboriginal
• Multicolored money (it's waterproof and fireproof too)
• The large selection of bakeries/cafes
• Carmelo Koalas
• The Aboriginal man at Paddy's 
• Getting drinks with teachers
• The little family that we've created here - you guys are all so amazing!

Things I won't miss about Sydney

• Not knowing appropriate restaurant protocol
• Being a loud American in a foreign country
• Really expensive alcohol
• Washing dishes
• Lecture Room 1
• Walking the tunnel to Central Station
• Super high prices
• The flies
• The alarm that goes off outside our building every night at 9 pm sharp
• Cold showers
• The lack of ice water
• The fear of bed bugs/any other type of bugs
• Needing to use an adapter every time you want to plug something in
• Paying a bajillion dollars for sunscreen
• Carrying around huge amounts of change
• Having an Asian woman ask me if I want a massage every time I walk down the street

And that's just the start of it. I'm sure that these lists could go on forever but I will spare you all. 

Today I'm feeling especially thankful for the opportunity of studying here in Australia and being able to experience all of those things listed above (even the ones I won't miss). This amazingly beautiful, wonderful, crazily eye opening trip has been more than I could have ever dreamed it to be and I cannot thank the people that made this possible enough.  So, Happy Thanksgiving everyone! There's so much to be thankful for :)

A special shoutout to these goofballs because they mean more to me than words can describe. Love you guys and I can't wait to be reunited with you all!!!