The other day I was cleaning off a book shelf when I found an old journal of mine from when I studied abroad in Australia back in 2001. Before these handy little blogs came about I used to write about my travels in a little notebook (and I guess I still do). Reading over what I wrote provided glimpses into that time of my life: scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef, camping in the rainforest, dancing with friends until dawn, living overseas during 9/11.
I also used the book to take notes during some classes, which included an Aboriginal studies course and Spiritual Well Being. The latter class was unlike any other college course I've ever taken. We would spread out on the floor and the teacher would lead us through guided meditations. (Keep in mind, the university I was at was just outside of progressive Byron Bay). Notes from my final lecture of Spiritual Well Being on Oct. 24, 2001: "Radical forgiveness calls upon the highest human virtues. You can forgive anyone for anything because that person taught you a lesson and made you who you are today. Nothing is wrong so there's nothing to forgive."
I passed all my classes with high marks despite taking off a few weeks in the middle of the semester for a trip to southeast Asia. My journal entries from Asia include practicing yoga at the airport in Singapore, drinking beer out of teacups in Bangkok and trying to communicate with a Buddhist monk.
On my way back to the states I took a monthlong detour in New Zealand and spent a week in Fiji. I stayed with a Samoan family in Auckland for a week before heading to a rural area to work in a greenhouse picking cherry tomatoes. Each morning I would sit on a skateboard and make my way up and down rows of tomatoes, picking and trimming them to the tune of the Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar." After working there a few weeks, I went almost two years before eating another cherry tomato!
What a different (and even more incredible) experience returning to New Zealand seven years later with my family. I guess I'm posting this because it reminds me how fun and important travel is. It also reminds me that you never truly know where life will lead you. That's the beauty of it.
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Mike! This takes me back to the days of spending Halloween with aussies in a Goth Snow Party, Winning $40AUS at the Melbourne Cup only to be pinched on my bump by a man dressed as a tiger, endless nights from the fruit bats, early mornings with the cookaburras and lifelong friends found on the journey. I'm soo glad to have shared some of those with you...as well as soo many memories. Chrissy and I are planning a trip to a llama farm in the late summer/fall. Get ready!
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