21 June 2006

i can take a road that'll see me through

i leave dunedin tonight to ride an overnight bus to christchurch, where i will arrive at 3 am. i plan on sleeping for a few hours in the bus terminal before running around christchurch like mad, doing last minute shopping (maybe waiting until the day before (of) my departure back to the states to buy souvenirs wasn't the best plan) and stopping by the museum if i have time – dragging laura and evan (who are currently in christchurch and oh so kindly offered to tag along) with me.

and then a flight to auckland, where i have a four hour layover. i leave auckland at about 10 pm on the 23 june on an overnight flight to los angeles, where i arrive about 3 pm on the 23 june. and then another seven hour layover in lax before another overnight flight to boston, where i will arrive at 7 am and collapse into a big heap but somehow need to stay awake until at least ten otherwise i will mess up my internal clock more than it definitely already will be at that point.

my room is currently in shambles, because i am the most stressed out and disorganised packer that i know.

i keep telling myself that it will get done. it's just a matter of actually ... finish. somehow, space doesn't seem to be the issue (probably since i sent all my dive stuff back to the states with my parents) but weight is definitely, definitely going to be a problem. hopefully they won't weight my carry on (since there's a seven kilo weight limit) as i plan on putting my laptop, two textbooks, and two books to read during the course of travel in there, in addition to clean underwear, my toothbrush, and a ton of jetlag pills, aspirin, and airborne medicine.

i'm a bit stressed, can you tell?

exams are over and hopefully they went well. mostly, the past week has been lasts: last tramp, last international dinner, last lecture, last happy hour, last DH at steffi's, last flat white. this is different from leaving a semester at BC – i have no clue if i will ever see most of these people again, although i now have a stack of skype names and phone numbers scattered around the world. i just hope that something comes of it. i hope that, even if it's a few years down the road, someone will ring me, saying that they are in the states and where am i and could we possibly grab a drink? perhaps it is wishful thinking.

if nothing else, i feel like i have learned a lot about myself in the past five months. i consider myself to be so independent, fiercely so, and maybe too much. to the point where i ended up spending a lot of time by myself. i crave my alone time at BC; this has made me realise how much i need my friendships – the kind where i can call someone or knock on their door and they will always, always go grab coffee with me or go for a walk and ... talk. those deep, meaningful, philosophical talks are so rare here, when you've only known someone for a few months. and i miss them.

still, i am torn about leaving here.

the last tramp of the semester was a bit disappointing – we didn't even find the road to where we wanted to go, slept inside david's two-door hatchback car for a grand total of three hours one night, and it rained – a lot. still, here's to us, and a month's worth of trips together:


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[me, laura, and david on our last tramp]


[a very sad, incomplete list, but a few little things:

things i will miss about new zealand
kiwispeak: cheers, boot, takeaway, petrol, ay, give way,
food: gingernuts, flat white, mintchips cadbury bars, hokey pokey, wine (so good and so inexpensive)
the smell of the cadbury factory
my marine science classes
happy hour at the cook
adventure
excitement
! road signs
all the road signs actually
beauty
the octagon
thursday night international dinners
jazz at robbie's

things i will not miss about new zealand
my freezing cold flat
the fact that my towel never dries, so each morning after a shower, i "dry" myself off with a progressively worse smelling towel
instant coffee]

by the way, if you are in or around or can get to the boston area, specifically cape cod, we're having a bbq on the fourth of july. give me a ring (oh my goodness, i'll have a mobile again, crazy).

there's a very good chance i'll continue to update this. keep checking...

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