On September 8th, 2010 I landed at Coolangatta
international airport on the Gold Coast in what was then rainy Queensland.
Without any sense of direction or what to do next, I caught a bus to Surfers
Paradise to a backpackers hotel and this was the start of my second Australia
adventure.
Over the last 2 ½ years I’ve met countless new friends,
gained new enemies, travelled to New Zealand, New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Japan
and received a masters degree in criminology for a private university. The
experiences were rich and fulfilling and even though there were great times,
there were also horrible ones as well. Not to say that these experiences have
not made me a stronger person, but over the last few years I’ve grown and
adapted to call Australia my home far better than the previous time I came as a
study abroad student in 2007.
While I did my best to try and stay for an extended period
resulted in me switching to a working holiday visa after graduation and
allowing me to stay for another year and sadly, at the this time there was no
other options for me to stay other then spend more money on education or find a
wife. Neither of which I wanted to pursue especially since finances were not
viably there and some women just weren’t on the same page as me.
However, I leave for Sydney in New South Wales and then back
to the US bringing with me the knowledge I’ve gained and the cultural awareness
that this country has given to me as an outsider especially looking back at my
home country, the US. While the memories will forever be there, the travel bug
hast still definitely got its bite on me and I look forward to coming back here
sometime in the next 5 years whether for work or holiday. There are still
plenty of countries I would like to visit on this side of the hemisphere and
plenty of opportunities to force me out of my comfort zone and into the abyss
known as foreign territory.
Australia has been great and if any friends are looking to
come down for whatever reason, all I can say is do it. You won’t regret it nor
want to leave.
Until then,
Cheers and 再见
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