Bye bye Sydney

In the craziness of what has been the last few weeks, between preparing for leaving, applying for jobs, saying goodbyes (the list goes on), I've been unable to live up to my one post a day goal. So now, I'll hope to keep a close account of the trip Sarah and I are about to embark on. For those keeping track, I'll be visiting 10 separate countries in the next 25 days:

Australia
Singapore
Malaysia
Thailand
United Arab Emirates
England
France
Switzerland
Ireland
USA

It's going to be a whirlwind tour, and one that I will enjoy.

That being said, saying goodbye to my friends in Sydney was quite hard. It's been a great year - and a difficult one at that, but it was just an incredible experience. I was blessed with the chance to meet people from all over the world, get to know people who weren't like me at all, and to enjoy spending time with them. I hope to see at least some of them much sooner than I think I will. They are all such great people and have made my Sydney experience so much better. I keep thinking about the great relationships that I had from JMU, and now this? I am lucky indeed.

As of now, I'm in a hostel in Melbourne where I will be staying until Wednesday morning when I fly to Singapore. So it'll only be two full days, so I'm trying to figure out the best way to pass the time. The Broadway Musical Wicked is being shown here, and I thought about checking it out, but there isn't a show until Wednesday. I might take in a Rugby League match tomorrow. Definitely things to do here. But I kind of wish I had just made it a longer time in Sydney.

I got into Melbourne today at around 3. The airport is a good distance away from the city, but I managed to easily find the bus into town. I hadn't really thought about getting directions to my hostel, so I just jumped on a train up towards North Melbourne station. I got off there and realized that I had no idea where I was. And that isn't a good feeling. I found a map that listed very few street signs and just started walking. Before I started to panic, a cabbie spotted me, a clueless tourist with a huge bag (26 kgs) and stopped for me. I instructed him of my destination, which he had to look up on a map, and we were off. We reached the hostel in about five minutes, and I realized I would have never made it. I checked in, dropped my stuff in a tiny two person shared room (the beds are probably a foot and a half apart), and grabbed the tram into the city.

The next couple of hours I strolled around centre city. There's a lot of shopping down here. I toyed with the idea of going to see a movie, but Mamma Mia by myself? I don't think so. I just walked through the shops and crowds of people, felt cold, and decided to come back to my hostel for conduct some more research while paying for overpriced Internet. I did buy travel insurance as well. Which is a good thing, apparently. Tomorrow will bring a new day and more of a new city. The first of many.