Calling all free spirits

 If you look into my room, you will see neat piles on the desk, a color coordinated closet, a perfectly made bed, and an immaculately swept floor. I have a journal with to do list after to do list, an agenda with my next 3 months planned out, and an email account that is divided into 5 different folders giving every incoming email I receive either a place to go or it must be deleted.

My opening paragraph is how I am choosing to openly confess to all of you that I am an absolute control freak. Society looks at people like me, and they roll their eyes and get annoyed. They don't understand the fact that when I look at a dirty kitchen, I actually feel a slight tick as my breathing gets more panicked and the nerves build. Or how if someone with dirty shoes walks into my room, my throat constricts as I do everything in my power not to beat them out with my broom.

You laugh, but living like this for 20 years has been maybe the most stressful and annoying thing in the world. I thought being a control freak was hard, but then I got to Australia where it turns out that being a control freak is not only hard, it is impossible.

I should have realized what I was in for when, after my 13 hour flight into the country, I proceeded to be kept waiting at the airport for an additional 4 hours as my ride casually headed over. When you land at 6 am off a red eye and proceed to get to your house that is 15 minutes away at 11, the "sorry girls I was just running a tad behind," just isn't the type of apology that makes you feel better.

In Australia, rushing is somewhat of a foreign concept and working seems to be something they make time for on the side. As is displayed by the surgeon's postponement of my surgery from a Sunday evening to Monday, even emergencies aren't dire enough to impose upon someone's weekend.

Coming from the US where we are defined by our jobs above all else, you sit and stare in awe as your teacher does not apologize for not answering your email, but instead sits there and tells you the story about how he blew off work to go to the beach thus legitimizing why he never emailed you back.

The other day I had a conversation with a transplanted American who is now raising her kids here. What stuck out to me the most was when she mentioned that it was in no way abnormal for a kid coming out of Australia's top prep school to choose to be a waiter and surf for 10 years over going to college. The parents of these kids will casually mention at a dinner party that Johnny is just hanging out post high school with no shame or second thought. In America, Johnny's mom would be going into a long-winded explanation about how Johnny is going through a rough patch in life but that the break from school will actually lead him to success that your kids may never have because he'll go back into everything with a fresh start. Meanwhile, she would be pouring her fifth glass of wine as the mere thought of her son straying from the norm would internally be ripping her to shreds. The race to the top, which exists even among friends in America, just is not a thing here. These people are truly just hanging out.

I always found it odd that my classes here are composed of just as many 40-year-olds as there are 20-year-olds. Instead of appreciating the fact that my older classmates have probably lived a life full of adventure and excitement, I choose to stress about how in the world they could be paying their bills on top of loans? And how could a healthy marriage be established when they clearly didn't have a stable income yet? And on top of that, if they are just going through college now- are they going to have time to have kids? You can't prioritize a career when you have kids- and they were clearly running out of time to have the kids as women have an expiration date, so what will they choose?! These type of questions among many others swim through my head constantly as I observe daily life here, but if I am going to make it out of this country a sane person, I have to let go of all of the preconceived notions America has instilled in me.

All of this being said, when you are used to planning and plotting every minute detail of your life and everyone around you is running off to go be free and live, the internal struggle really heightens as you try and spontaneously ditch life for the beach, but then find yourself tanning and still making the two million to-do lists in your head and not your notebook.

Noosa Heads- Australia's Version of the Hamptons for a last-minute weekend trip. Life could be worse

 Learning how to relax, although challenging, is starting to become easier the more I realize that I am actually an outcast for being so uptight. In America I am exceptionally motivated. Here I'm told to "chill mate because all will work itself out." And they're right. 

In fact, school was completely cancelled on Wednesday for a public holiday so that everyone could go to a horse race.

Yes, my hat is larger than I am.

All in all, I really can't complain about the life I'm living down under at the moment. Having to learn to loosen up and have more fun is a pretty great problem to have.

Stay tuned for the next series of adventures

-F