One door closes, so another door can open

This morning I decided that I would write my very last blog post, only to realise that today marks exactly one year since I wrote my very first blog post.  Call it coincidence; fate; well planned; whatever you want, but I know that today is the right day to call it an end.  It has been 52 days since I left Austria, even it only feels like last week.  I cannot describe the feeling that I had when I walked through immigration at Sydney airport and was confronted with all of the Australian accents and that big blue sign that said "G'day welcome home".  I got to Brisbane, and hey, what do you know, Mum was late!  Most people would say that would have ruined their whole reunion, but for me, it was actually a perfect welcome back; it really felt like home.

My first night home, I saw parts of my family and my best friend when we went out to dinner.  In a way it felt like I had never left, and that things hadn't changed at all, especially when Matt managed to hit his own thumb with a pool ball.  Then again, someone would mention something that everyone knew straight away what they were talking about, and I was the only one left in the dark.  I guess the tables were turned as well.  I would say something that my friends and I would always joke about and everyone would just stare at me until I realised they had no idea what I was on about.  That was the fun of returning home after so long though.  Plus you never ran out of things to talk about.  The first week home in my delusional state of jet lag, I managed to bump into a couple of people and this bright spark apologised to them in German!  The first time it happened the lady gave me a really strange look and as I walked away, I thought "what's your problem cranky bitch, I said sorry!"; then realised that, yes I may have said sorry, but not in a language that she could understand.  To this day, I catch myself randomly thinking in another language and wonder what on earth is going through my head sometimes.  You can take the girl out of Austria, but you can't take Austria out of the girl.

Since arriving back in Australia, I have actually done a fair bit of travelling.  I'm now living in Darwin and really enjoying it.  I've really thrown myself into photography, trying to document every minute of my gap year and also trying to answer the really annoying question of "what is the scenery like in Australia" that my Austrian friends and family so often asked me.  It's a really tough question to answer because we really do have everything here.

I've been trying to think of the best way to say goodbye to my blog, and I decided that I was going to put a whole pile of photos into a video that kind of recap the incredible journey that I have been on this year.  So here it is...

"I guess it's going to have to hurt, I guess I'm going to have to cry, and let go of some things I've loved to get to the other side.  I guess it's going to break me down, like falling when you try to fly, sad but sometimes moving on with the rest of your life starts with goodbye" ~ Carrie Underwood.

Until we meet again

Adios Amigos

Tyarna xx