Australia...wow thinking back on my trip and my experiences, I’m shocked. Shocked at the fact that its been almost five months since I have left, shocked at how much I miss it, but most of all I am shocked that its over. Going to Australia has been my dream; it was my life goal. Ever since I was a kid I have wanted to go to down under. And it was everything I thought it would be. I saw it all, from wild kangaroos to poisonous plants. I went surfing, I scuba dived in the Great Barrier Reef; I saw huge spiders, and big old crocs. I touched the red sand of the outback and swam under a waterfall in the middle of the bush. I met so many great people, who I miss terribly. I really did it all.
I lived in Queensland for five months, there I worked as a volunteer student with an organization called Youth With A Mission (YWAM). I was apart of a Discipleship training school (DTS) of 42 wonderful students, and together we learned about God, the bible, people, other cultures and ourselves.
For nine weeks my school spilt up into five teams. Each team went to its own locations and did various missions work. I was apart of the Aussie Youth Team. We were a group of ten and we travelled all around Queensland working with the youth of Australia. We hung out at skate parks, put on free BBQ’s, did some landscaping and cleaning, ran bullying and self esteem seminars, taught religious education classes, helped out at camps and just chilled and got to know some interesting youth.
But now it’s over. I have been back in my small town in Ontario for almost five months now. I have been working my tail off at three different jobs and enjoying the convenient lifestyle of North America. But in two months, life as I know it will change. In only two months I will be taking off on a jet plane and heading down to Buenos Aries, Argentina.
Argentina is the first location of the Photogenx 2013 track, from The University of the Nations, in Kona, Hawaii. The track is eight months long. During the track I will be travelling to every continent, while I learn about photography, and other aspects of media and have opportunities to do mission works in every city I visit.
I am so pumped to start this track. I am also terrified. Haha! But I know it’s going to be amazing, fun and really interesting.
