pre-departure pep talk

Leaving Kansas City in T-minus 9 hours.

For some reason I find all this flying around the world and leaving everything behind journey to be the most frightening thing I've ever done. Which makes me feel like such a baby because it's Australia--not even a non-English speaking country. A lot of poisonous creatures, though. Some random old guy struck up a conversation with me at Papa John's the other day as I was waiting in line to pick up my pizza because he saw that I had with me an Australian guidebook (by DK Publishing; beautiful pictures, see and buy here). Anyhow, without much in the way of introduction he suddenly launched into conversation about how Australia has the highest concentration of the most poisonous creatures on the planet, and how there's little or no evolutionary explanation for why these critters got such crazy-murderous venom lodged in their teeth/spines/spurs/you-name-it.

So my fear of being tragically stung/pierced/bitten and poisoned aside, I hope I make the most of this trip. Sidenote: I feel really proud that I was even able to fit this trip into my schedule. Seven semesters after the start of college and I have finished a major and two minors and this semester abroad is really only for the credit. I'm relieved not to be worrying about whether the classes I take will fulfill any requirements, etc. Pain in the butt, all that bureaucracy is. End sidenote. I do hope that I gain some clarity from my time abroad, especially regarding What I Want To Do With My Life (capitalized because whenever people talk about it they make it sound like a proper noun, yeesh, scary).

My main goal is to try out a non-science internship as part of the program and just break the monotony of science classes and tests and GPA-grubbing. The program is divided into two parts: the first half is spent on two classes, an Australian culture and society class and an elective of the student's choice. The second half consists of an internship in Sydney and another elective. I'm going in hoping to find an internship in magazine or book publishing/editing. Truth be told, I'm not sure what the difference is between magazine and book publishing, and/or editing of either one. Really, I'm wandering blindly into a field that I have little (read: no) experience in for the sake of stepping out of my comfort zone and seeing if I want to Do Something Else With My Life. My thought was that if I have a good experience in Australia I would take a year off next year and delay entrance into medical school. After all, what's the point of having a med school already accept me and hold a spot for me if I don't ever really ask them to hold that spot for me? Terribly convoluted sentence, I apologize. Long story short I am quite unsure about what the future holds, but my thought process is that med school can wait and life needs to be lived now. And so, that leads me to Oz.

Besides pursuing a non-science internship I also want to extensively travel and see the sites, you know, hopefully beyond the touristy garbage. After reading Bill Bryson's In A Sunburned Country (which you can buy here), I have become almost giddy with excitement to form my own opinions of the Outback. If there's anything at fault with Bryson, it's that he is too goddamn cheery about everything. Even when he's writing about being nearly stuck in the middle of the desert while contemplating what it would be like to drink his friend's pee, Bryson is utterly and uncannily radiating sunshine through every orifice. Almost enough to make me gag, but hey it was a good read overall. I recommend it (mainly since it made me laugh out loud at several parts).

It's getting to be about six hours before I have to wake up for my flight and my attention is lagging, but some final thoughts/goals/whatever:

I hope to swim a lot and catch a lot of sunshine (if only to return to Boston and become hopelessly pale again).

I expect I'll fail to feed myself and probably become frustrated with not being able to stay in contact with family, friends, and Andrei.

I want to visit Cairnes/Great Barrier Reef as well as Uluru (Ayer's Rock) and taste the Outback for myself even if that means drinking my own pee as a desperate measure.

I hope not to suck at meeting people, especially Aussies.

I don't want to die of a box jellyfish sting.

Finally,
I promise to write anyone a postcard if you leave me your address. Don't be shy now, dear reader!

Ok, more when I land on Australia ground. Thanks for keeping up with me, friends and loved ones and strangers! :)


OH, another final note: Slumdog Millionaire swept all four of its Golden Globe nominations tonight, including Best Drama, Best Director, Best Original Score, and Best Screenplay. So this news plus my previous gushing review should certainly sway you into going to see it, mmk?