I am approaching the two-week mark from arriving in Townsville and despite living halfway around the world, I feel completely at home, relaxed, and calm. I can thank this peaceful transition to my wonderful roommates. But when looking back at my short period of time in Australia, half of my stay thus far was solely panic and stress.
During my long flights to the country my mind was flooded with contradictory emotions. I was scared but excited, anxious but ready to move forward, and unsure of the future but positive in my abilities to start a new adventure.
I arrived homeless and with no direction of where anything was or where to start. It is at this moment, where my negative emotions overtook any positive self-reinforcement I had previously held. With help from a roommate from Africa, Maggie, I was given at temporary living home at the Riverside Convention Center, a Seventh-Day Adventist Church, I learned where the campus was located, how the bus worked, and where to start looking for a place to live. Without Maggie’s help I do not think my transition would have been as easy. It amazes me how one person can change everything. Though I doubt I will ever see her again, I believe she changed the course of my trip here and therefore deserves my recognition and thanks.
With some guidance and direction I began calling dozens landlords and uni students, willing to see any place available. Lucky enough, my fourth day here I found my new home for the next 6 months.
A week has passed since moving in to my permanent home, and it seems as though I have been here for months, in only a good sense of course. It is dumbfounding how with the right people you begin to start living more in the moment and any past stresses seem to disappear.
And as I spend my days relaxing and appreciating this new life in the tropics, I now must await classes to start…and all the stresses that come with that.
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