quinta-feira, 4 de dezembro de 2014

2014, in fifteen small paragraphs.

Okay, so I have a lot of catching up to do. And let me just warn you in advance, this is going to be one very long entry.
My last entry was on June 2011, I had been making little entries here and there but hadn't posted them, I just kept them as drafts. I guess I just thought I was going to get around to posting them, which I never did.

So, I cant exactly remember or really recap the past 3 years, but what I can say is; that it was some very good years. Filled with highs and lows, just like any good year, filled with new friendships and some painful goodbyes.

Sadly, I am fast approaching a time in my life filled with goodbyes. I just finished Year 12, and I sat my last exam on the 17th of November. I have officially graduated High School; something I thought was going to be so far away has come by so fast.

Finishing high school can give you a bittersweet feeling. Of course there's the feeling of relief and joy that you've 'made it', and the wonderful realization that you dont have to sit a test or write an essay for the next 4 months. But you cant help but feel overwhelmed and scared about what's the next step.

For me, I'm still not entirely sure of what the next step is.

All I know is that I'm going to Australia early next year for university. I still dont know what university or what city in Australia.. I've applied everywhere, but it all depends in a score I will get on the 15th of December.

I'm very keen on going to Melbourne, simply because I fell in love with that city ever since I first visited it, back in 2012, which you would have known about if I had posted the entry talking about the trip. oops.

I fell in love with the Melbourne atmosphere, the city is big enough to feel overwhelmed but also small enough to feel like home. I love it there, the street art, the parks, the people, the culture; its all amazing!

This June/July holidays me and my class went on our first DIS international trip, to Melbourne! We went there to visit a school thats been in partnership with ours, called Haileybury. This school is the biggest private school in Australia, and it is awesome! That trip was definitely a memorable one.

This year, we had quite a few adventures.. We went on two school trips and made a bunch of new Melburnians friends. However, this was also a very tough year…

I didnt know if should have believed people when they told me that Year 12 "isnt that hard" or that "its the best year of your life". Now, I know, i shouldnt have had… Because Year 12 is tough. For the first time ever, I realized that there's no easy way to do some things, and that sometimes you just have to sit down and do them properly; in order to be rewarded for it. After so many years of 'putting things off' and 'relaxing' it was quite hard to take Year 12 with the seriousness that it deserved. And I admit, I should have tried harder. But, now, all I can do is hope that I've learned my lesson, and hope for a good grade…

Now, putting all the bad things of Year 12 aside, I can also see why people enjoy this year so much. It is full of new found freedom and a lot more responsibilities. I started driving to school this year, instead of taking the school bus, they gave us unsupervised 'study periods' instead of classes all the time at school, and teachers actually started seeing you as 'almost equals'. I loved these parts.

I can also safely say I've made some friends for life. As the end of the year approaches, and the sudden realization that I have to say goodbye to all my friends hits me, I can quickly separate my 'classmates' from my real friends.  I start to see how much these people mean to me and how much they've shaped and influenced my life. I cant even imagine how my next year is going to be without seeing them everyday at school, and cracking jokes, or talking about how class went. It is going to be so bizarre to walk into lecture rooms and not know everyone in them, or heading to lunch in a coffee shop instead of my familiar benches filled with my friends. I am honestly going to miss my small, crazy, and wonderfully weird school.

I am not going to recite my entire graduation speech, but the main part can pretty much be summarized into one simple sentence: Timor will, and always will be home, the friends I've made in DIS are family, and the memories and lessons I've gained from here will never be forgotten.

Leaving Timor is going to be one of the hardest things I'll have to do. I'm not only leaving my school, my friends, my family, my comfy room and my car behind; I'm leaving home. I'm leaving everything I have ever been familiar with. And I am so not ready for it.