Goodbye, Tassie!

This is the start of my 40-hour day. I leave in an hour to catch a bus to the airport, then I'm off!

Here's some photos looking back at my trip.





























PS: Sam, I shaved.

A bit of reflection

I'm sitting in the library studying for my last exam, and realized that I should take a moment to reflect to reflect on my experiences here in Tassie.

What I've learned:

• McDonalds tastes just as bad no matter where you go, though it is completely inavoidable from time to time and the powerful lure of the Mac Attack is too much to stand.
• American culture is everywhere, and it influences everything and everyone.
• Stereotypes are often really unfair. It's a real shame the way some cultures are represented to the public in a way that completely misrepresents its people.
  
• Tradition is powerful. Nearly every house in Sandy Bay has a massive wall in its front yard and a gated driveway, even though crime rates are astonishingly low here. It's a custom brought from England that still is widely used just because that's the way they do it.
• Small shops are awesome. There are takeaways and newsagencies that I've wound up going to regularly just because I enjoy going there. A familiar, friendly staff can go a long way for a business.
• I can survive without a car. I got used to walking 5-10 miles several times a week for class. It's really not that bad. :)
  
• Rice is delicious. I've been eating rice 3-4 times a week just because it's easy and cheap. My roommates and I have gone through more than 100lbs of rice since the 1st of July. Going to have to use my rice cooker more often back home.
• I need to travel more in the US. Living abroad has given me a broader view of my home country, and I realized that I haven't seen much of it. We've got the most diverse geographical features of any country in the world, and I should take advantage of that.
  
• I crave activity. Before moving here, I was working about 40-50 hours per week on top of classes. Having no job, only four classes, and no car or motorcycle to tinker with left me with a lot of free time. While I'm glad I had time to do what I wanted, I feel a bit useless and unproductive. I'm looking forward to getting up at 5AM to drive in circles again and then staying in the newsroom until midnight after shooting photos in the rain all day.
  
• Long-distance relationships are not that difficult to maintain. Before I left, I was nervous about how the distance would affect my relationship. With regular communication and solid trust, we're just as happy as we were back in June. If anything, the time away has helped me realize how lucky I am that I was successful in wooing Sam on the balcony of Brian's apartment freshman year. :)
• I'm growing up and I'm not sure how that feels. I turn 22 tomorrow and am frankly not all that excited for it. Six months from now I'll be preparing for my last college exams. After that ?????
• I've also learned that most things are completely trivial. I used to get worked up over the smallest problems and let them take over my emotions. After living more independently for 4.5 months I've learned how to just say "screw it" from time to time and not worry about things that I don't have control of.

Things I miss the most:

• A big(ger) bed and a sprung mattress. My twin-size foam pad is flat after four months of usage.
• Holding hands
  
• Dr. Pepper
• Greasy Mexican food
• Walking on the right side of the sidewalk
• My job(s) and the feeling of satisfaction after receiving a paycheck or making the front page
  
• My motorcycle
• America's Funniest Home Videos (reruns of course)
• The feeling of security in knowing that I'm only hours away from my family by car. Accordng to google maps, I am 56 days and 8 hours away by car. 210 days 4 hours if by foot/kayak.
  
• Friends that I've known for years. I love the friends that I've made here, but nothing can replace the people you've grown up with.

That's all for today. My exam is 9AM tomorrow, then I'm celebrating afterwards with friends. No real special photos this week; it's been raining on and off every day. Looking forward to seeing everyone again.

Exams Loom Ahead

School's out and we're in our ridiculous three-week-long exams period. No one understands why it takes three weeks and it seems to be unanimously hated. I've got three free weeks before I have any tests, so I've been exploring the community a bit more. Last week I kept hearing about "The Royal Hobart Show". It was all over the radio -- live broadcasts from the show and advertisements for it after every song. They even made a pubic holiday for it, shutting down the Post and banks. I didn't have a clue what it was, but I went to it.


Turns out it's just a fair/livestock show..a rather small one at that. The Iowa State Fair and Mississippi Valley Fair are both substantially bigger than Hobart Show. The weather was particularly gloomy the day that I went, so I decided to make my photos reflect that. I almost always shoot color so I thought I'd switch it up a bit this time.

Downtown near the bus station:


Out the window on my 40 minute bus ride to Glenorchy:


Mt Wellington, which actually got a good bit of snow last week:


Onto the fair show. I had to check out the pig races:


There were only handful of rides, and none of them were very crowded.


..and the Australian Defence Force let children play with assault rifles :D






Saturday I spent some time at the Salamanca Market, which is quite famous and is one of Hobart's biggest attractions. It's basically a huge flea market/farmer's market and you can get really anything you want there.

The performers can be really interesting. Heidi Limebeer was singing on Saturday. She's an extraordinary singer from Sydney. Check out her myspace page and listen to her songs: Click me!


Here's a typical booth in the market. I'll be going back this week and getting some more delicious Bruny Island fudge.



Yesterday I went for a hike up and over Mt. Nelson, which I live at the base of. It took about an hour and a half to get to the top moving at a pretty aggressive pace, then about 2-3 hours to hike down the backside and walk back around the base via the Derwent River Highway.

This was a typical view going up, lots and lots of eucalyptus trees.




Here's a view from near the top, looking west at Hobart.


..and here's a closer crop of that same shot for detail. The building that's kinda hidden in the edge of the treeline is the Wrest Point Casino hotel, which is just 3 blocks from my house


I stopped at the top, got a sarsaparilla, and headed down. The hike down was much more enjoyable. It was less of a cut path and more walking though the woods, like shown here:


I decided just to walk home from the bottom instead of bussing. It was about 2 hours on the highway right along the coast. Tons of awesome houses for sale.


..and here's me from last night, trying to improvise some lighting out of boredom:


Hope you enjoyed!