Real Life in Sydney

Exciting news: I finally feel like I've settled into just living like a regular human being in Australia.

Disappointing news: I only have three more weeks to feel like I'm living like a normal person and actually have my life together here. But hey, I'll take what I can get, I guess.

Even though I'm still doing cool stuff here in Sydney, both alone and with the rest of the group, like going to surf camp, Jervis Bay, Luna Park, etc., I feel like overall, I've settled down into the routine of regular day-to-day life. Instead of going on excursions every couple of days, I've started doing normal things like I would at home - going out with people from work, hanging out with Joe and Sarah and binge-playing 48 races of Mario Kart until 2 am, watching Netflix with Sophie, going out to dinner and milkshakes with Liza and Cheyenne and JJ, and just...hanging out and taking some time for myself every once in a while. And it's been really nice.

At the beginning of the trip, I honestly felt kind of exhausted constantly. I loved getting to see everything in Sydney and getting to know everyone in the group better, but going to different excursions every weekend, even during the week sometimes, and being so excited to be in Sydney that we tried to do everything all the time was pretty draining, and I'm thankful that at this point, we've seen most of the touristy stuff, so it's totally acceptable to just come home and play video games and only go out once or twice a week without feeling like I'm missing out on what Australia has to offer.

As the rest of our trip continues and I try to wrap my brain fully around the idea that I will be home in three weeks (that's insane!), I'm really excited to keep hanging out with the friends that I've made here through the program and work and live a semi-normal, non-touristy life in Sydney, Australia. The past month or so has definitely been my favorite of the trip because being here is finally feeling normal and I've managed to fall in love with the feeling of Australian city life.