Thank you, Oz.

So this is it - my Aussie adventure is over!

You're probably wondering what I got up to after all my travelling...

I came back to Sydney and immediately got in touch with the recruitment agencies I had been working with, and registered with two others: IPA and Mosaic Recruitment.

I worked for the War Memorial Hospital (near Bondi Junction) as a receptionist for one month, which was completely out of my comfort zone since I hate hospitals... It's a rehabilitation hospital for over 65 year olds, so it was pretty heartbreaking at times - definitely one of the most challenging work experiences I've had so far. I learnt a lot during my time there. It was interesting discovering the environment in which my grandfather (psychiatrist), grandmother (nurse), and sisters (GP and physiotherapist) have evolved in. I also met a lovely old French man suffering from Parkinsons' disease, Alain, and am still in touch with him now. He moved to Australia in 1968, arrived by boat in Melbourne, came to Sydney to find a job and asked his girlfriend to come and join him when he was settled down. He has an incredible story, I'm so glad I met him.

The HPCA also asked me to come back to work for a week and a half, it was lovely to see my old colleagues again! I then worked for the Community Relations Commission as a data entry operator for one month.

I lived in The George Hotel (on George Street) in a 6-bed dorm from September to December. I had originally planned to stay there for one or two weeks, but ended up meeting so many great people that it became like a home for me. I honestly can’t describe how much fun I had these past few months. A real human experience.

I've been back in Paris for 2 weeks now - I do miss Sydney a lot, but I'm not sad to be back in Europe. Sydney is a very "cosmopolitan" city but it's not "international" enough for me. I like feeling like I'm in the middle of everything, and I must admit that being in Australia kind of made me feel disconnected from the rest of the world at times. It also becomes tiring to have to renew your circle of friends every few weeks/months: everybody's travelling so nobody really stays in the same place for long...

The next chapter is London, I now feel ready to settle down somewhere. This year has made me realize so many things. I know that I'm going to appreciate my job so much more, as well as little European things I never used to before. I'm happy with where I'm at, knowing that so many of my dreams have come true this year. Here's a little article which describes exactly how I feel today: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matt-kepnes/travel-is-awesome_b_4344632.html

And now I have a special reminder that I can make anything happen if I truly want to.

I wish all the best to my friends who have also decided to go travelling this year: Julie, Alexandre, Jaume, Thomas...

ENJOY!!!

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Here's hoping that 2014 will live up to 2013! 
Merry Xmas and Happy New Year :)

Love, Laura Xx

My birthday weekend!

We flew to Singapore with Air Asia – it's quite easy to find cheap deals to fly there since it is one of the main hubs of East-Asia... We stayed at Fragrance Ruby Hotel in Geylang, the "red light district" - it was actually better than we expected. We met up for dinner with my friend Christos, who lives a few streets away from the hotel. Such a vibrant area, and the street food is amazing! 

We spent the following day visiting the city with the hop on/hop off bus tour. Definitely the best way to visit the city – it was SO hot and humid, we were exhausted!! Our fave spots were Orchard Road, Little India and China Town.

Thanks to Christos, we were able to join an improvised weekend trip to Malaysia which his group of friends had organised. We embarked on a hilarious 6-hour road trip, arrived in the jetty around 11pm and boarded a tiny motor boat to get to Pulau Sibu Island. It was the craziest thing ever - the sea was pitch-black, the sky full of stars and the water was being lit up by the fluorescent plancton as the boat was speeding through the waves... Awesomeness. Absolutely loved it. We arrived on the beach and were welcomed by the lovely Sea Gipsy Village crew. We spent the night on the sand watching the stars...I actually ended up seeing a shooting star a few minutes into my birthday - a bit of a “pinch me I’m dreaming” moment!

I think this was probably the best birthday I've ever had. We went on a snorkeling trip in the morning, they took us out to a tiny beautiful little island and I finally got to see my baby Nemos ;)

We just spent the afternoon lying on the beach, enjoying the sun and the lovely warm water, it was simply perfect for swimming!

We stayed at the bar all night, met a group of Irish girls who told us to swim all the way to a little fishing boat out in the sea to see the fluorescent plancton. We stripped off and swam out to the boat, spent about an hour in the darkness, truly magical! I was brave enough to wake up around 5.30 the next morning to watch the sunrise...

It was pouring with rain the next day so we weren't able to do much...Drove back to Singapore and went to the Gardens by the Bay by night with Christos. We then went up to the Ku De Ta bar on the last floor of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. Kati has all the photos so unfortunately I can't put any up yet! 

I must mention the amazing 7/11 mashed potato I tasted at 2am. Thanks for the tip Christos!

Thanks to my wonderful Gambita for such a lovely, amazing and unforgettable girly trip...Can't wait for the next one!!!!!!!!!!