As It Was Before & 4 Years On..

It has been rainy with overcast skies for the past 3 days and we have not been going out much. So I'm going to post an entry of my recent trip back into University of Canberra.

I studied here for 6 months as an exchange student 4 years ago. On a Monday a week ago I decided to follow Alex into uni and explore the grounds on my own while he had his 3 hour lecture.

Garden next to the concourse where students sit in the sun

Across the garden, School of Applied Science

The walk on my own brought back a heap of memories. Crossing the gardens, hanging around the concourse area and even walking into the library brought all the feelings that I had felt in the past, alone on my own in a foreign land, different culture, different air, different sights and smells, coping on my own and watching out for myself in a place where the nearest call for help would be 4000+ miles away.

Because I was an exchange student, the only one from my uni back in Malaysia, I was alone and had no friends who came with me to this foreign place. There also wasn't another exchange student from Malaysia. Most students travel to another country with friends undertaking the same degree. Me, I was alone. I didn't even stay on campus. My choice of courses for the semester were unique since I was here on exchange. All that limited my ability to meet friends the way most students do with their course mates or flat mates. Sometimes I wonder where I got the courage and the confidence to have done it all on my own back then. Was it the ignorance of youth? Or was it that I really had bravado?

All I can say is that I was really blessed. I met great friends while here, attended a great church, had a fantastic land lady and even met my husband to be! I can tell you so many testimonies, evidence of how I was here not by chance (ask me about it!) and even though it was all foreign to me, God had my back covered. So it was probably some youthful ignorance and some bravado but mostly God's favour on my life.

Well, I didnt mean for this post to be so deep :) So let's get back to the pictures!

Back then after classes, I would normally walk from the uni to the bus interchange which is located next to the Belconnen Mall. It was a ~20minute walk and I took that same walk that day. It was a walk down a slope past student residences, then past a lake where I would always stop to admire the beauty and the birds, cross a wooden bridge, walk past some restaurants by the lake, then drop by the Belconnen Public Library before hitting the mall for some window shopping and lastly board the bus for home.

The walk down the slope past student residences

Serene walk towards the lake

Lake Ginninderra

View across the lake

Towards the restaurants

Bridge walk

Looking back midway on bridge

Some 'Wind in the Willow'

By 'coincidence', my landlady worked at the Belconnen Mall hence most days I need not take the bus home - saving $$ - instead I followed her back when she ended her day at 5pm. Bus fares are expensive here. $3 each trip. So was that a blessing? You betcha!

The 3 hours spent that Monday reliving my memories was very meaningful and it gave me a reminder of all the things I have got to be thankful for. For everyone who has studied somewhere foreign before, do go back when you have a chance to. Going back as a more mature you, seeing through the same pair of eyes yet it is a pair that has seen more since then, is an experience so personal and meaningful to yourself that it is hard to put them into words to describe to others.

I had a great day. I am excited to see what's in store for me this time around in Australia. Not as alone, but just as new. A new age (approaching my late twenties now!) A new phase of my life (No longer a student! Soon to no longer be a single girl!) A new home. (No.32)

cheryl