The term nomadic is generally associated with feeling lost or feeling like you don’t belong. This word has really resonated with me in the past few days, but not for the same reasons. Nomadic simply means not endemic, or not from one place. Maybe everyone with a bit of wanderlust doesn’t really belong in just one place. Maybe, being nomadic means that a little bit of you belongs everywhere.Hobart has been an incredible experience and after just a few weeks I could already feel it becoming home; but, just because Hobart feels like home doesn’t mean Missoula or Idaho Falls feels any less like home. I have become nomadic. A girl with homes in both hemispheres.

Study abroad  has been the best decision I have made thus far. It provides so many opportunities for personal growth, new friendships, getting out of your comfort zone, and exposure to situations you never could have dreamed possible. I’ve been in Australia for two months now and I’ve fed kangaroos, chased a possum from my tent, made incredible friends, eaten so much Nutella, been judged for eating peanut butter, saw a platypus while white water rafting, gone to markets, and so much more. It’s amazing what happens when you have to find your own way in a country you’ve never been to. People assume that Australia is just like the states, and parts of it are, but overall it’s the experiences you have that make a place what it is.

I’m incredibly luck to have five pretty fantastic flatmates. As a group we have three Aussies, two Americans, and one girl from Holland. They have made my transition to Hobart so easy and I couldn’t have asked for better friends. We spend so much time laughing and watching stupid shows. Just in case you’re interested, Aussie TV is mostly the crappy TV shows that no one watches in the US. My flatmates joke that they are “the shows of my people.” We have definitely become quite and eclectic family of sorts.

The biggest changes I’ve seen while I’ve been here have been in myself. I have been forced to be less indecisive and to go do what I want to regardless of whether or not someone comes with me. The level of independence required to be somewhere alone is huge. It also makes you value your friends and family that much more. I no longer fear that the most important people in my life will disappear if I leave. The people that are most important will make an effort to stay no matter where you are. I’m almost as far away as I can be from the US and my best friends and I still talk. In this day and age, we can change nomadic to mean homes everywhere, because even if you aren’t around physically, it doesn’t mean you’re gone.