goals, dreams, ambitions

I made it! I am here in Sydney, Australia (already one month into my masters program)!

It feels like just yesterday I was applying to the uni, and then opening my acceptance letter while in Mexico last summer. I felt like it was decades away from being reality, but now as I sit in my Newtown house in Sydney with my whole new life right in front of me, I know now this is reality. Over the past month I have lived every minute in the now, but after booking a flight to Melbourne and then Tasmania I now have the future on my mind. Time is passing so quickly, I feel it is necessary to get some of the things I want to do in order.

I have decided to create a rough timeline of this next 12 months ahead of me just to get my mind in order.

The next 4 weeks: research research & more research--multiple presentations/assignments due. Also, gym at least 6 days a week-getting back in shape!

Then I have a one week Easter break which I will spend in melbourne/tasmania- Laura, Tamara, and I will be renting a car in Tasmania to road trip and camp.

As soon as I return to Sydney I only have 4 more weeks to finish all my final projects, then semester 1 is complete.

Winter Break--I will have 6-8 weeks, which I plan on spending half in Fiji, and the other half in New Zealand with Belinda and Owen.

When I return the last week of July I will have to find a new place to live, and begin semester 2. I will have lectures on Monday, Wed, and Friday. I am hoping to get a job this semester. I will be all finished with semester 2 by the first week of November. At that point, I am hoping to head up north towards Brisbane. I would like to spend the rest of 2011 in Brisbane and a few weeks diving the great barrier reef. I then plan on returning to Los Angeles by mid-January. I only want to spend a week or so visiting family and friends, then I would like to head down to Central America for 3 months—I would like to perfect my Spanish, becoming yoga teacher certified, and also contribute at least one month at an eco-village in Guatemala. I will fly from there at the end of March into Jackson, Mississippi—I have my job interview around that time. Then start teacher training by the end of May. I am really looking forward to becoming a HS Art teacher. I think it will be lots of fun—I am still a bit undecided about whether I will teach in New Orleans or Jackson-that decision is up to my brother. I will go wherever he goes. I have learned while away that he is my rock and I function best when near him. At that point, I will be settled and committed to a career job—which I never actually thought would happen to me. I will be a month away from the age 27 when I begin teaching—I think I will be content and ready. At that point, everything I have wanted to accomplish will have happened. And, if another great idea pops in my head, I still have the summers off for travel and vacation! Yipppppie! Life is enfolding beautifully right in front of my eyes.