You'll never know how independent you can be until you are truly independent.

It's been exactly 3 months since I left home, but honestly, once I got used to this foreign city, it felt like so much more than 3 months. Before I came I didn't really want to admit it to myself that I was leaving, cuz I didn't really wanna feel all that messed up when I still don't need to. So on the very last morning, when I woke up thinking that this was my last day at home, the emotions rushed in, and I spent the whole morning crying. *hesitate* Well a lot of it was by mum and grandma, but I cried a lot anyway. I'm proud of myself though; a lot of people have the 'I don't wanna go any more' thoughts before they leave, I never had that. I was still really looking forward to my new life here.

I had quite a lot to get used to. For one, I miss driving, a lot. For another, I hate - hate - long distance relationships. Me and my boyfriend have had experience in long distance relationships; back then we were in different collages anddifferent states. We got used to the adjustments and the compromises, but it wasn't all that bad actually. Even in worst case scenarios, I'd still get to see him at least once or twice a month. But now we're in different countries, different time zones, and we have such different lives. After 3 months I still find it difficult to not be able to reach him whenever I need him, and I doubt I'll ever get use to this distance. But I'm not just talking about my boyfriend here. There'll be times when I have little, totally random things to tell a certain friend, or my mum, or my aunts, but it's not so easy any more. The trouble of calling versus the tiny insignificant random one thing you wanna say, well, it just doesn't make sense. I still call them, but I'd miss them even when I'm talking to them. I guess I'm just the kind of girl that prefers face-to-face interaction. Oh, and when the internet connection breaks down...makes me wanna literally cry in frustration.

Then there are these little things that you can never prepare yourself to face, and can't really bring yourself to tell people when you're having trouble with them. Like when I first came here I was appalled at how they use they're plastic bags. In Penang, plastic bags are banned, so we don't ever use plastic bags, unless we go to the wet market. Here they use plastic bags like it's free! (okay it is free for us, but not for them! I mean they have to pay someone to get these plastic bags right? uhm, okay I'm digressing.) They'd put 2 or 3 items in one bag and then use a new bag for the next item! On a typical shopping trip I'd have about 5 or 6 different bags when all of my groceries could actually fit into 2 bags! When they rip open a new bag I wanted to shout at them to keep loading my things into the old bag! And after that I'd spend the journey home thinking about how many bags they use in a day, and where those bags end up, and what's gonna happen to them, and what people are gonna do with them. Okay I know this is weird but I'd really think about them for a whole hour or so! And it kinda makes it impossible for you to have a good day when you spend a whole hour thinking of plastic bags. *pouts*

People in Melbourne are so friendly. And I mean sooooooo friendly! You'd walk down the street and have total strangers greeting you. If you're standing in line for coffee, the cashier, the window cleaner, and the person behind you in the line will all wish that you have a nice day. In my first week here I would never greet anyone back, it's just so weird! I'd be giving nice innocent people sceptical looks, thinking what they want from me. Within a few weeks of being in Melbourne, I've also noticed that people say 'Cheers!' instead of 'Thank you!', so I jumped on the wagon. But when I said 'Cheers' to people they tend to gimme this very weird look. So I started observing whether Asian girls say 'Cheers' and it turns out Asian girls in Melbourne just stick together with Asian girls so it was no problem for them. (Oh and for the record, use 'Thanks'. It's the safest)

Okay I am ranting again so I'm gonna just end very abruptly now. Oh and, 37 days until I fly home! I'm going to eat every hawker food I can think of and I'm gonna become so gloriously fat. :D