Belated signing off

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Trip Start May 27, 2006 Previous
Entry Trip End Jun 10, 2006

  Ithaca, United States
Thursday, July 6, 2006

Well, this is incredibly belated but I feel like I need to provide some closure for everyone who has been following my travels. After a busy four day tour of Sydney, it was finally time to head home. With the time difference and the international date line to cross, I actaully arrived in the US before I left Sydney! I left Sydney around 9am on Saturday June 10th and arrived in Los Angeles around 6am on Saturday June 10th. I reunited with Mom, Dad, Brian and Toby (the dog) in Rochester late Saturday evening local time and once we got home I had time to do laundry, hand out souvenirs, and sleep before getting up in the morning to repack to head to Ithaca to start my summer job. I'm living at Ithaca College until July 14th as an orientation leader for new incoming students. I love the job and I think it's actually helped me re-adjust to life in the US. I'm working with people I didn't know before starting the job, so really it was a lot like traveling and having to make friends with strangers. Luckily I get to spend more time with these folks than just a night or two in a hostel! I also think it's been good to be in a place that's familiar to me without having to jump right back into living at home. I think an immediate transition from traveling around the world to Alfred, NY would have been a little rough. I've been able to ease back into it by heading home for the weekends.

So far, the hardest part of coming back has been going from "Fiji time" where things just get done when someone feels like it's time to do it to orientation time where according to my boss, "On time is five minutes early." On the other hand, the dining hall on campus has allowed me to satiate my cravings for salad and sandwiches to the point that I'm already sick of them. It's amazing how you can go from complete sandwich deprivation to sandwich overload!

I'm working on getting more pictures up online. I've got a great internet connection at Ithaca, but I'm just lacking the time to post things. The life of an orientation leader is a pretty busy one. Our days are full from the time we wake up til the time we go to bed (and sometimes even during the night if a student gets locked out of their room!). Anyway, check out the Australia album for more pictures. http://photos.yahoo.com/amandainfiji

I think that's it from me for this travel blog. Thanks so much to all my devoted readers - your support while I've been gone has meant so much to me! It's been great to come home and hear how much people have enjoyed reading about my travels. I'm hoping to be able to study abroad again next spring, so maybe you'll have the opportunity to read that blog too! Thanks again and love to you all!

Amanda

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