It has now been almost a month in Newcastle and while my first week in Cairns was magical and so many things from my bucket list were checked off, life in Newcastle has been something else. It’s crazy to look back at my notes I wrote to myself in the first few days being here in Newcastle. In them, I wrote about how much I wanted to go to another city. I felt as though Newcastle was not the place for me and now I could not think of a better place to be spending my semester. The atmosphere at the University of Newcastle is very much of a college town and it was hard to adjust to that reality when I had different expectations. I felt in the beginning as though I was living some else’s dream. I didn’t imagine being in the same routine as a college student back home or that I would enjoy that kind of lifestyle at all. Nor did I imagine I would go through any type of culture shock, especially not in a country that shares the same language as my home.
Now I embrace all those feelings, I have reflected greatly and have met such amazing people. The energy I feel here in my somewhat small town of Newcastle is one I never have felt before. Everything and everyone is so welcoming. The separation of campus and the city does not seem so big anymore and it honestly has such a familiarity to Flordia in the best ways possible. It is as though my favorite things in my hometown were plucked right out and placed in the beach town of Newcastle. I am so grateful that I endured the struggle of the first week and started to feel comfortable in a place that I happily call my home. Even while writing this post I am sitting outside of my dorm building and feeling so much love. All my friends are stopping by to say hello and having a conversation with me, which doesn’t make it difficult to remember the other amazing moments.