Hi guys!
Well, after all the time I spent telling you what a huge December I had, January was obviously feeling a bit left out and has seriously done it's best to outdo it. This month has been so flippin busy! Just looking over all the things I've been up to as I type this explains why I feel like I need a nice big glass of wine and a two-day nap. I have a lot of moments to get through, so without any further ado, let's get in to it.
I slept my way through the countdown to midnight on the 31st December for the first time I can remember this(last?) year, but it was for a good cause. We laced up our boots and went for an overnight hike up the mountain on new year's day, so I needed my sleep! I'll have a full post about the hike up on the blog soon, but it involved many river crossings, track detours and precipitous ledges that I will fill you in on.
We travelled back from New Zealand in the first week of January, and my real worries started to brew. I wasn't able to send away my passport for my Indian visa whilst overseas, so I had to send off my application once I arrived back in Australia with just 8 days to spare before my flight to India. The average processing time is 5 days with extra time for postage on either side, so I had vague hopes that it may miraculously happen in time but these soon faded. Daily phone calls to the embassy and airline resulted in cancelled flights and becoming all-too-familiar with their hold music before my visa finally arrived 5 days later than my original flight was destined to depart. Although frustrating, at the end of the day the whole situation could have turned out a whole lot worse, and I've definitely learnt my lesson about applying for visas in time!
It wasn't all bad though- in the midst of the stress of waiting for my elusive visa, I had a lot of time to kill trying to keep my mind off the situation. I had a coffee catch up with my 'study' group from last year that never did all that much study together and it was so lovely to be able to spend time together free from the impending doom of exams! I also tried to do lots of life organising with my spare time, and got inspired to do a whole lot of sorting and tidying in my room after watching Marie Kondo's Tidying Up series.
And then, just when the final vestiges of my patience had been used up, what should arrive in the post but my long awaited passport and shiny new visa! After a frantic morning of phone calls and packing I boarded my flight to Delhi the very next morning. It was a joy to step out of the airport at 6AM to a chilly breeze and the waiting arms of my friends!
To round out the month, I celebrated my 22nd Birthday on the 29th. The day itself wasn't my most festive birthday of all time as it was mostly filled with stressful last-minute organising of our placement and our first foray into the hospital which left me feeling completely overwhelmed! However, it was very special to spend a birthday with my new-found indian side of the family and they treated me to the most incredible cake!
From the way things have been panning out, it looks like my 2019 is going to keep bucketing along at this pace, so here's to many more adventures and hopefully also some sleep-ins on the horizon soon!
How was your January? Was it as crazy as mine?
Kate x
Sounds like you had a super busy one! I remember having to sort my visa for my elective overseas, it was a nightmare. Happy belated birthday!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Jane! Visas are such a nightmare, haha!
Delete