I can remember it like yesterday, just sitting down in the living room with my family. It was weird to think that I wasn’t going to be there for a whole year and not see any of them for a year but I wanted change and I think I needed to do this. The morning of the day of my flight it still hadn’t sunk in, I didn’t show much emotion as it didn’t feel real. My mum was helping me pack still and was making sure everything was all ready as mums do, I didn’t know what to say to her though, and I knew at some stage we were both going to be upset. Ross was taking me to the airport even though mum offered to but I know I would have been worse if she would have taken me and I wouldn’t have wanted to leave. As we were working are way to Heathrow Airport my mum had given me a card to open but said don’t open it until I get to Australia but I couldn’t wait so I opened it in the car, when I read it I was starting to feel a bit upset but she knew I would be okay and that a year isn’t that long when you think about it. Once we arrived at check in I knew there was no going back and this was it now and that I was going to be on my own soon. We sat and had a cooked breakfast together which was lovely and I haven’t had one since and it’s been just over 2months, not good!! When my gate opened we started to head over, we cuddled and kissed but I felt speechless and scared, we just told each other we loved each other and that speak soon and the usual take care. I kept waving until I couldn’t see him anymore, then I was on my own.

The plane journey to Dubai went smoothly, and I was travelling on the new airbus which was really cool, although I wasn’t in first class which was not so cool. Both of the flights were okay and I just sat and watched lots of films mainly and read a few magazines. On my arrival at Perth Airport it was raining so I was thinking great, bad weather already. It was quite dark too and I didn’t know what to expect on my pick up. I was put in a taxi which was a bit random and the taxi man was like I don’t know how to get to Vickery, I was like great just what I need. Anyways we eventually got there in the end and I got settled in to my new home for the next year!! I was very upset when I first got into my room, no internet and no phone which meant no way of contacting home, it was horrible. Later that night I heard a knock at the door, it was Jenny!!!! It actually made me so happy to see her, someone I actually knew from home! We were both quite homesick at first so I went and stayed at hers, it was so funny because we were like running through the rain with our pillows and quilt cover, we wasn’t impressed!

A few days later Sarah and Jaye arrived. I was walking out of my house one morning and saw the back of a girl that I thought looked like Sarah so I was like Saaaaraaaahhh, the girl turned round and it was Sarah, I was like woooooo!! It was so nice to see another familiar face. Now that a few of my friends were here it made me feel less homesick but I wasn’t extremely happy still. The weather was getting us down abit and the fact that we would have to start actually studying soon!

As time went by and a few weeks into being here we were all surprisingly settling in and starting to enjoy ourselves. We started to explore places to eat and party!! We found a place called Northbridge in the city, it’s like so good!! We still even go there now to get drunk and there are lots of different pubs and clubs. The first few weeks we started going there we went to Mint, The Library, and Impact, but then we went onto explore other cool places like Mustang, Eurobar, The Deen, Elephant and Castle, and Paramount. We love Paramount, it has different levels and more importantly it has a kebab shop right across the road, good times!! Talking of places to drink, we started to drink at our local on campus, The Tav. I have to say I wasn’t too impressed with the Tav at first but now I really like it, especially Wednesday nights which is like the best night to go out and get drunk!!

Anyways moving on from the whole drunken scene, I have done other things than getting drunk, like study; go to the local zoo, Kings Park, the Beach, Fremantle Prison Trip etc. I remember going to Kings Park a while back, I went at night with Reb, it was so beautiful with the skyscrapers and the lights beaming off from them and reflecting into the Swan river. I was feeling quite down at the time and homesick so Reb came and picked me up and took me there to remind me of why I’m here, and seeing that view really did make me think. I went to the Perth zoo not long ago, that was also lovely, I actually went right next to a kangaroo, they are so cute and I just wanted to pick one up, I’m definitely going there again sometime soon! I love animals and it was just so nice to see new ones for a change other than ones back at home. Fremantle Prison was quite cool, a nice bit of historical background of the Perth and its convicts, nice!! I liked that it would be quite spooky and scary and I think the tour guide was trying to scare us but didn’t really work to be honest. I would like to do the night time underground tour of that next time, maybe on Halloween, scarrry!!! Moving onto the main reason why I came here…the beach and sunshine!! I’ve been a few times now, been to Cottesloe, City Beach and Scarborough Sunday just gone, the other times were a bit cold but Sunday was sooo hot, it was lovely!! I laid out in it all day, went in the sea a little bit and got burnt to a crisp, I suffered the next day seeing as I put a very small amount of sun cream on, ohhh well!!

Overall so far being here I am really enjoying it. I’m really looking forward to finishing study in about 6 weeks time though and when it starts getting hotter, going to be so much fun!! I have a job now, had it for nearly a month now, at the Sunglass Hut. I really enjoy working there, the girls are lovely and the pay isn’t bad either. Also I have enjoyed studying over here as it has shown me a different way of working and I have learnt a lot of new things. I have been studying the Suit Project, Illustration, Merchandising and now the Tube Project. I would say I enjoy merchandising the most as we have been trend setting, making mood boards and creating our own label. It gives you an incite of different industries I could work in too with the variety of techniques I have been using. A reason why I came over here was to get new contacts too, not necessarily all fashion contacts but just meeting new people. All the people I have met so far are really cool and nice and some I definitely want to keep in contact with, I’m really glad I came here in the end and will definitely miss it when I leave next year.