The Last Hurrah

Hello readers! I am officially back in the good ol' U S of A and it could not be more bittersweet. Literally. I have never had so many feelings about something.

Alright, now for my last recap of my last week in the greatest country ever in my (second to) last blog post. *insert crying emoji*

On Monday, Sidra and Natalie went on a run to Circular Quay and I took the bus to meet them there (lolz) so that we could do some last minute shopping and various activities in the city. We started at the shop underneath the Opera House at which I was tempted to buy a $400 Lego set of the Opera House (never necessary but like, it totally is) and was inspired by Sidra to turn my Pandora bracelet into a wearable travel memento of the places I've been. That Sidra, always has great ideas. After shopping around for a little while longer, we headed off to the Harbor Bridge to climb up to a lookout point on one of the pylons (those big cement sticks that hold up the bridge) and take in the view of the harbor for the last time. Our admission to the lookout was included in our fee to climb the bridge so we breezed on up a breathtaking amount of stairs (literally, we were out of breath), 89 meters above sea level to be exact, and finally reached the top where we saw this:

Ugh, this city <3

and I tried for a long time to do this:

We then decided that we should probably go home to study (keep in mind that it was finals week) so we made our way to Autolyse, a cafe near our apartment, and studied downloaded new music using their fast wifi until our computers died. Then we went home and studied for like, a whole hour. Study abroad is hard. 

Tuesday was the day of our final which we all took with ease. Two sentences of this blog dedicated to school work seems to accurately reflect the amount of actual school related things this semester. Sorry to all of you who are currently studying for real school finals. Anywho, after our final, we cleaned and relaxed until 4 pm, when the bus to our end of the semester party was picking us up. BU had arranged for all of us to go to Petersham Bowling Club and participate in some authentic Aussie barefoot bowling. Barefoot bowling you ask? It's basically like bocce ball except the ball is a little oval shaped and I have no idea how to keep score. Our team, consisting of me, Natalie, Sidra, and Ruthie (obviously), lost in the first round so we were free to enjoy the company of our peers (and the open bar!!!!) for the rest of the night. At the event, there was even a band made up of a couple of the students on the program and some of the teachers. This was definitely the highlight of the night because they absolutely killed it! Great job guys :)

After that party, everyone went back to the BUSAC where we gathered in one of the apartments and well, basically, had another big party. Fueled by the energy of it being our last night together and the aftermath of the open bar, we spent the night singing karaoke and crying over our too soon return to the States. Man, I miss those people so much already.  

Wednesday was our true last day in Sydney so we spent it nowhere other than the beach. We decided to go to what has become our favorite Sydney beach, Bronte Beach, as a final goodbye to sun, sand, and the crystal clear waters of the Pacific. The day was hot, filled with friends, and finished with a delicious lunch, so basically it was perfect. 

Please note how I have not once mentioned packing as an event that occurred during our last week because hahaha we waited until the absolute last minute to begin this overwhelming activity. When we arrived back at our apartment from the beach around 5 pm, we all took a look at our unpacked rooms, laughed, and decided to lay on the couch instead. Keep in mind that we needed to leave for our flight at 8:30 am the next morning. Finally at like 7 pm, we began to pack. And what a slow, dreadful process it was. Our night involved a lot of complaining about the amount of stuff we had, regretting that we had waited until the last minute, and crying over the fact that we were no longer going to be roommates in less than 24 hours. Cue the waterworks. Long story short, my suitcase looked like this and we stayed up very late reminiscing on our time in Sydney.

I love me some TimTams

And before we knew it, the day we had been dreading all semester, the day we would live through twice, or D-Day as the Hatch coffee man refers to it, had arrived. We took the most uncomfortable, unenjoyable shuttle ride to the airport and suddenly all of my worst nightmares were coming true. Thankfully, most of the program was on the same flight back to LA as us so goodbyes were not in order just yet. However, Ruthie decided to take the longest flight in the world (literally, the flight from Sydney to Dallas is the longest you can possibly take) so she parted ways with us at the airport. After a tearful farewell, we boarded the plane. Forcing myself to step foot on that plane was literally one of the hardest things that I've ever done. That plus trying to get Ruthie's bags to be within the weight restrictions. Still waiting for that duffel back Ruthie :P Thankfully, Sidra and Natalie had an open seat next to them on the plane so I hung out with them for most of the flight (yay for not sleeping a single minute of a 13 hour flight!). After what seemed like forever, we landed in LA, were greeted by a nice photo of Barack, and stepped foot on American soil for the first time in 3.5 months. Now for arguably the worst part, my 9 hour layover in LA. Thankfully again, Sid and Nat were there for the first six hours of my layover so we took turns sleeping and eating and wishing we were back on the beach.

Fast forward a lot of hours to me finally being in Chicago and getting in the car only to see what was basically heaven on Earth, a Lou Malnati's pizza, waiting for me in the car. Good work Dad. So yeah! I'm back, America!

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So this was supposed to be my last blog post but after I started writing my reflections on the trip, I realized that even a person with a really long attention span would not be able to make it through a post that long. So stay tuned for my actual last post coming soon!!