I love traveling anywhere and seeing what life is like places that are new to me. I can’t think of a better way to spend my summer.

I just hate leaving.

It’s not that I’m nervous about where I’m going or what I’ll do (I love the adventure of flexible plans); it’s that I’m nervous about what I’ll miss. Life doesn’t stop just because I decide to trek to the other side of the world.

But it’s the changes that occur in the distance that make leaving difficult. But it’s those same changes that make leaving fun.

If I never went anywhere then I have no idea what kind of person I would be today. It’s precisely because I left and endured the inevitable change in my self, my perceptions, the relationships, and in my friends that I’ve become the person I am.

Not that it’s all be roses, and to say that the growing pains didn’t cause tears would be a lie, but I wouldn’t give those up for anything. The person I am now is worth the changes I’ve encoutered.

And the person I’ll become are worth the changes I’ll endure from this leaving.

And now I’m very excited for this trip to Australia.