What started off as “Yeah Polly, I’ll be in Sydney maybe for a couple of months” soon turned into Cathy staying a good 6 months! And she is now the first to leave Sydney from our little group (the road trip group) which not only signifies a solo appearance at netball on Thursday nights now, no more road trips and no more music concerts – but it also means that the departure date for all of us is now looming and approaching with haste.
Cath and I had hoped to join our travels as we were both set to go to New Zealand and Fiji followed by LA. Unfortunately because of our tickets and when we had to use them by, Cathy having to work and myself at Uni we just couldn’t get out dates to match, consequently Cath has gone travelling on her own, we said goodbye to her last week and it was all quite teary actually! The weekend before we had a meal out and then a few pubs in Coogee (student central, especially exchange students!), followed by toasting her last night on Thursday drinking some Passion Pop in front of “The Breakfast Club” and then all came together to wave goodbye at Central station on the Friday night. She’s doing the east coast in next couple of weeks and then joining up with Aine and Seamus in New Zealand. I’ll probably next see her in December at my birthday party back in England.
So the realisation is starting to set in that I am actually going back home. And there is just so much to organise! I fully couldn’t sleep the other night because things just kept going round and round in my mind of things that I had to do! I ended up getting up and writing a list! Nightmare! There’s been times this year when I’ve felt like time is going so slowly and I was really getting the chance to do everything that I wanted to do. And then you reach this part of the exchange and the weeks seem to just fall away, especially as I am still at uni and still working two jobs as well! I finish work next week though and hope to get all my assignments out of the way this weekend, which will free up time to do any last minute things that I’ve been meaning to do the past 12 months!
I have booked a final trip to Melbourne; I’ll be there for a couple of days as soon as I finish classes on the 4th of June. My flat mate Cat in Edinburgh is travelling with her boyfriend and she’ll be here in Sydney for my last few days which is really cool! So it’s all go go go. I’m sure my reflection on my exchange year will be far more insightful and reflective in a couple of months when I’ve done all my travelling and am safely back in the bosom of my family, so for right now I’m just going to make the most of Sydney!
