Week 14: The Blue Mountains Revisited

I’ve got two more weeks of classes. Three weeks until my last paper is due. The end is in sight and I don’t quite know how to feel about it.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m so ready to be done with lectures and essays. Especially essays. Two and a half months without any homework is a dream. But soon after I finish the semester, I have to leave Australia.

This morning, I woke up before 8 AM (a Herculean task). I met up with a classmate and a few of her friends, and we drove out to the Blue Mountains. I’ve been before, in the 3^rd week of my trip. It was there that I successfully threw a boomerang, rode the world’s steepest railway, and went rappelling.

Today, we did none of those things. We walked to some waterfalls and ate lunch at the Echo Point lookout. It was a nice break from the city and all the work I have building up here. Nature has a way of making me stop worrying about the things that are stressing me out. Maybe it's the vastness of the mountains that makes my problems seem inconsequential, or maybe it's just getting away from my regular scenery. Either way, it's welcome relief, even if it's short-lived.

It was a good day. I got to meet some new people and share a day with them. Oh, and I took some pictures because how else would everyone else know I went somewhere cool?

Day out with friends #bluemountains #waterfall #emilygoesabroad

A post shared by Emily (@emilyhannahk) on May 27, 2017 at 8:18pm PDT

When I got back home, I took a long nap (the consequences of waking up too early, I guess). Now I’m back to the grind, with 5 papers and a quiz in the coming weeks. Hopefully, I’ll be able to post on schedule. After that, I’ll be travelling and therefore should have plenty of time to ramble at you through the internet.

See you next Sunday (probably). And thanks for reading!

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Week 13: True Stories Told Live

Hey all!

Today marks 3 months since I landed in Australia. That puts me just past the halfway point in my trip. I’ve seen some amazing places, met some great people, and gotten to settle into life in a new city. But one of my favorite experiences of this semester so far is a thing that I totally could have done at home, but never quite got around to. I went to a Moth StorySLAM. 

The Moth is an organization that hosts live storytelling events, including StorySLAM competitions. The stories are about 5 minutes long and they have to be both true and about the storyteller. Some of the stories from these events are broadcast on the radio and on The Moth Podcast, which I love. 

I’m a writer (clearly) and live storytelling is a medium that fascinates me. There’s something about being able to hear the the pride when they talk about watching their loved one overcome a hardship, the regret when they talk about something they’ve lost, or the seriousness with which they describe a harrowing moment. It adds this dimension to the story that is one of the hardest things to capture in text (sorry, guys).

Or maybe what draws me to The Moth is that these stories are told live, with no notes allowed. I’ve got horrible stage fright. I challenge it constantly with choir and a cappella performances, but my presentation two weeks ago was delivered in a wavering voice and with a heartbeat that could probably be heard back in Boston. These people, as nervous as they are, get up on a stage in front of hundreds of strangers and tell a story about their lives. And they’re competing! Just the thought of doing what they do makes my entire vocabulary leave my brain.

The Moth holds monthly StorySLAMS in cities across the US and a few in the UK and Australia. I’ve been within an hour’s drive of a Moth event pretty much every time they’ve happened since I first heard the podcast. But I never actually went to one until Tuesday. I heard stories, ranging from a crazy firsthand account of a lightning strike (complete with St. Elmo’s fire) to a moving story about a woman’s visit to the home her family had lived in before the Holocaust. I’m still awestruck by the bravery that it took for those people to get up there, but also by the skill it takes to weave a story for a live audience. 

Maybe one day I’ll try my hand at live storytelling, but for now I’m content to keep myself out of view. And besides, there’s no backspace key on stage.

Here’s a picture from Tuesday night:

A post shared by Emily (@emilyhannahk) on May 16, 2017 at 2:21am PDT

And here’s a picture of a really cool mural in my neighborhood. The Block is an Aboriginal community here in Redfern. The history is really incredible and I'd recommend looking it up.

I'm really lucky to be staying in Eora country this semester. #aboriginalart #redfern #emilygoesabroad

A post shared by Emily (@emilyhannahk) on May 17, 2017 at 10:43pm PDT

I hope your week is full of wonderful stories.

See you soon,

Emily

Week 12: Open Letter to My Mom

Hi Mom,

I just got off the phone with you and I know I told you I was going to bed, but it's Mother's Day and I need to write a blog post.

It's been 2 months and 26 days since we were last in the same place. I'm having an incredible trip and I'm so glad to be here, but I miss you. I missed you during Passover when you weren't at the Seders I went to. I missed you when I was in New Zealand and I had to plan my own vacation. I missed you last week when I saw an ad for a Mother's Day brunch discount. I'll miss you tomorrow, the next day, and the week after that.

I could go into how great of a mom you are, how you've supported me in all of the things that I do, how you encourage me to do my best and pursue what I love, or how you've helped me grow up into a slightly taller and hopefully somewhat mature adult. But it's late and I don't want to write a whole novel.

I'm having the best time in Sydney. Today alone was filled with a bonfire with friends and a Eurovision party. This is an unreal semester, but it's days like today when it hits me just how far from home I am. I couldn't even call you until late tonight because you wouldn't have been up yet.

I'm glad you're celebrating Mother's Day with the rest of the family and that it was lovely speaking to you on the phone. I'm so lucky to have the best mom in the world (I know everyone says that, but I'm objectively correct).

All My Love,

Em

Week 11: I Don't Know About You...

I got a lot of messages involving this one Taylor Swift song on Tuesday.

I don't know about you... but I'm turning 22! #damnimold #brandeisabroad #emilygoesabroad

A post shared by Emily (@emilyhannahk) on May 1, 2017 at 8:12pm PDT

It was my 22nd birthday. And like every other birthday I can remember, it involved a mini existential crisis about how the passage of time is inevitable and what it means to get older. You know, the normal stuff. This year, though, it was a little different because of graduation.

"But Emily," you might be saying, "you're a junior. You don't graduate until next year."

First of all, I don't know why you're talking at your computer screen. I can't hear you and you're reading these words a while after I wrote them.

Second, I'm not graduating this year, but if I hadn't taken a gap year before college, I would be. Which means that all of the friends who were in my grade through high school, most of my friends who are closest to me in age, they're graduating. And planning life as a "real adult" (whatever that means).

I'm not doing that yet. I've still got more school left to do before I need to worry about starting grad school or whatever it is I'll do first. But I'm also hearing about my friends' experiences with saying goodbye to the life they've built at university and trying to find a place for themselves in the larger world.

And I'm really glad I took a year off because that sounds terrifying. My 23rd year (which, for those of you about to correct me at home, has started now because you're not born on your "1st birthday") will be different from most of my friends' because I'll still be an undergraduate student. I've taken life at a slightly different pace.

This isn't one of those essays telling you to make sure that your aunt's best friend's kid takes a gap year or whatever. But there's something liberating about deciding not to go straight into tackling the next task without taking some time to plan out what you're going to do when you start it.

To all my friends (and any enemies or strangers) who are graduating this month, congratulations on all you've achieved! You're going to go on to great things whenever you're ready to get started.

To all of the High School Class of 2013 who isn't finished with college yet, we'll get there when we get there. And that's awesome.