Takeoff!

Today is the day! A long-awaited day that has been looming on the horizon since I booked my one-way ticket to Sydney about three months ago. I've had my visa since February and the idea of traveling to Australia since January 2010 so this day really has felt like a longtime coming. The seed was planted when I was on a three week trip to Russia with Lafayette and a classmate on my trip told me about a summer he spent living in Northern Sweden raising huskies. "How did you swing that trip?" I asked him, to which he replied "Workaway." He told me about the company which helps people who want to travel on a budget connect with farms all around the world who will put you up in their home in exchange for work. "Now THAT sounds like something I'd much rather do than rush on into the real world of jobs and responsibilities"I thought to myself. For whatever reason Australia was the place I dreamed of and started researching on the workaway site.

My wanderlust never came to fruition thanks to a lack of guts and a desire to stay close to my friends and family after I graduated. I was excited to get to New York and find a job but I couldn't help but feel really jealous of friends that actually had the guts to spread their little birdie wings and fly off into REAL "real world" (looking at you Court, Petey, and Celeste.) And so I joined the working world and was extremely happy to be employed after a long job search most of us in the 2010 graduating class had to deal with.

To say I was lucky to end up at Collective with absolutely no connections to the company or experience in the industry is an understatement. Not only was I able to go to work and NOT wear a pantsuit like I always envisioned people in the real world wearing everyday, I worked with people who became my friends. It was an incredible learning experience and a little too much fun most of the time. Despite knowing how lucky I was to be employed in a thriving industry with the opportunity to advance my career, there was something holding me back from diving in head first.The wanderlust kept nagging at me in the back of my mind and it finally reached the point where I had to act on it.

And so after 2 years and five months at my job I knew it was time to quit and start the next chapter. To everyone else I'm sure this news came out of left field since I never really talked about the little Australia seed that was growing in my brain. But trust me, it's been there for a while. Growing from a a little baby Joey into a full grown kangaroo. Eventually I ditched the workaway idea once I learned about the different visas and found the work-holiday visa which lets you work for real money instead of housing in exchange for hard physical labor. Real money can get you housing too so that's pretty cool.

I need to wrap this up since my delayed flight is hopefully boarding soon! New York City you and your inhabitants have been very good to me for nearly 3 years. I can't count the ways I've changed and grown up while living inside you and I'm so glad I didn't spread my little birdie wings until now. It's very hard to say goodbye but I can't wait to see what's to come.

Thank you to everyone who made an effort to see me and say goodbye in this past month! I LOVE YOU ALL XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Below please enjoy some snapshots from one of my last days in NYC!