leaving wonderland

Well, it's just about time for me to leave this crazy little island. I can hardly believe I've been away almost five months. Tomorrow I leave Christchurch at 3:00pm for Auckland, then fly overnight to LAX, then fly again at 3:10pm (still July 1) to ATL. Hooray!!!For a while, it seemed to me like July would never come - but it's here, almost. Back in February, I doubted that I was social enough to make it through the semester . . . but now, surprisingly and miraculously, I have made so many wonderful friends.

I can hardly wait, but at the same time I'm actually quite sad to leave the new friends I've made here. Though at times I felt like I was dreaming, this place has become my reality. I'm afraid I'm going to have some reverse culture shock for a bit, and I'm not really sure what to think now. These lines from Mary Chapin Carpenter's song "We're All Right" have been helpful throughout the semester, and I hope they'll be good advice in my transition back to "normal" life.

No roadmap, no signposts
No north star, no lifeboats
No miracles coming in sight
No voices to guide us, no angels beside us
No shaman, no mystical light
No omens, no compass, no seer, no prophet
No cavalry coming in sight
But we're all right
We're all right
We're all right

Anyway, I think I owe a big thank-you to everyone who encouraged me to go abroad - especially to those friends who had already gone and come back alive. :) This time has been more challenging than I could have imagined, but I'm so glad I came, even if I still don't know why I did. I'm so much looking forward to seeing EVERYONE again, and I'm also looking forward to manners, Southern hospitality, Elliott (my car), real coffee, my cats, country music (and public acceptance of it), a dishwasher, and not standing out in pink.

I'm also going to miss so much of my life in Wonderland, like the general laidback-ness of life, tea (dinner) in Flat 47, bike volunteering, ICF, tea times (although I think I might bring that home), walking everywhere, hokey pokeys, constant excitement, freedom from expectations, and all of my new friends. Of course, there's also a lot I won't miss, such as the metric system, unrefrigerated eggs, wearing the same clothes all the time, my flat, the dark and loud "library", general inefficiency, anti-intellectualism, and anti-religious sentiment. Of course, no place is perfect . . . but I'm ready to go back to normality, or at least what's normal for me.

I wish I could conclude in a perfect way, but I just don't know what to say. Thanks for reading, commenting, emailing, snail mailing, and sharing this country with me! I'm so thankful I made this crazy island my Wonderland . . .