ONE YEAR

One year ago exactly, I got on a plane at Sydney Airport and headed over to the UK. It's simultaneously hard to believe that it's already been a year, and that it's only been a year.

It feels like no time at all since I stepped off that plane and started my new life here - I feel like there's so much I haven't yet done, so many adventures still to be had, that it can't possibly have been a year.

At the same time, I can't believe that I have only lived here a year - I have made friends that I know I'll keep for the rest of my life; I've learned to love a new city; I've settled into work; I've lived in three different houses. I've also seen four completely distinct seasons, which is something you don't get back home. It's now changing into autumn, and I'm back where I started. In the past year I have:

- Travelled to London, Edinburgh, Derbyshire, Wales, Prague and Zagreb, often with family or friends from back home
- Swum in the Atlantic
- Coppiced
- Stood in a cathedral listening to a woman whistle 'Jerusalem'
- Climbed Arthur's Seat
- Fought with snow
- Picked apples off a tree and eaten them
- Walked 10 miles, singing
- Made a Christmas dinner
- Moved house a couple of times
- Learned to punt (sort of...)
- Made many many friends

In the next twelve months I will do some or all of these:

- Go to Munich, maybe twice
- Go to Devon
- Celebrate Christmas with some Australians in Cambridge
- Go to Africa
- See the Northern Lights (in Iceland? I hope so...)

And that's just the things I have planned. I'm sad because one year past means only one year left (probably? Possibly. I don't know) and that seems so short - but what a blessing this year has been.