Young wanderlust

When you don't know what home is anymore

livew — Thu, 8 May 2014 16:32:39 GMT

You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart always will be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place.

Home is where the heart is. Home is where you feel comfortable, where you get used to small things like catching the bus into the city, how to get around the place and enjoy the smallest things. But more importantly, home is where you find people you love and care about, and make friendships and memories you will keep within your heart forever.

My return date is creeping up rather quickly, and many emotions rushes through me when i think about it. I am in a state where I'm confused, I do not know where I belong anymore. Between these two worlds, where is my home? When I return to my bed which I left 11 months ago, will I feel at home again? Or will I miss the feeling of sleeping in my current bed, in this loving and caring hostfamily who has opened their hearts and let me become one of their daughters?

I am so extremely grateful, I have met some of the most amazing people in this year. I have gotten a best friend, a girl who explained to me why our friendship was so special, and that is because we knew it would not stay like this forever. I will not always be here, because I will return from this country in not too long. It must have been hard getting close to me, knowing I am just there for a set amount of time. That our friendship has an expiry date in one way. But after all, she made me her closest friend, and I am so thankful I've been blessed with an amazing friendship like this. As she carefully explained; We knew things wouldn't stay like this forever, so we have made the most out of every moment. Things such as short roadtrips up to Windy Point, small picnik breaks in green areas in this beautiful city and just moments with her nostalgia at the playground of her primary school.

When you live around it, your vision gets blurred and you do not realize how lucky you are to have all these wonderful things surrounding you. I think they have been amazing, and I think I contributed to open her eyes realizing how beatiful her homeplace is. I am so amazed by the opportunity I have to make her see her town with new eyes; through my eyes as a "tourist". In one way, I think she has fallen in love with the place again, just as I have.

Adelaide is my home. Oslo is my home. The world is my home.

Returning home

livew — Wed, 30 Apr 2014 18:08:00 GMT

The moment she walked into her old room, a wave of emotions crashed heavily into the depths of her heart. She embraced the white walls; let her fingers linger around the framed old memories. Memories and dreams that had just been put away for a year, replaced with new memories and dreams. Now it was time to unpack these memories and dreams again, and leave the other world behind. Dark clouds filled her mind; she could not let the thoughts about meeting her old friends stop haunting her. Would they be different? Or would they be exactly the same? She realized that the things that were the most important a year ago would not be so important anymore, but what she valued the most now, no one at home would ever understand. A sparkling tear dropped down on Idunn’s cheek, like a reflection of everything she had seen and done a year on exchange. A reflection of how everything had changed and what person she had become. Like it all was collected in one perfect, beautiful little tear drop.

„Det er godt å ha deg hjemme igjen, kjære.“
„It is good to be home too, mum, “ Idunn replied, but in the internal conflict in her head the two worlds she lived in had brutally collided. She looked up at her beloved mum’s face, trying to force upon a smile to match her mums cheerful look. Idunn’s eyes looked like they were not connected to her smiling mouth, filled with water like it was the great blue ocean that separated these two countries. The deep blue ocean she crossed to get home. If there is such a thing called home anymore. Being separated from her mother’s safe arms, she had matured in ways that no one except her would understand. There had been times when she felt so helpless to be hours away from home, when she knew the ones she held closest to her heart needed her. There had also been times she felt helpless being so far away, when she was the one needing help. They had been twelve months away from each other, and the relief of seeing her mother almost felt unbearable. On the other hand, leaving the woman that had been her mother for a year felt almost unbearable too. Idunn picked up the white box filled with photos taken from this other world, and began hanging them up to her wall – a desperate act to hold the memories close and never forget.

The first day of school. A nerve-racking day; a vulnerable day; a day she would meet the people that would turn into her best friends. Idunn looked at the picture of a smiling girl, proudly showing off her uniform. She had left her best friends, yet to return to her best friends. The picture she was holding in her right hand was of her with the family she stayed with, the people who were once just names on a sheet of paper. People, who had become her family, people who had opened their hearts and their homes to shelter her. She walked out the arrival gate; nervously scanning the room for the faces she had just seen pictures of. Feeling scared, more little and lonely than ever, and yet so excited, she spotted the familiar faces in the crowd. This was the moment she would meet them, and everything would begin.

She stepped back and admired the wall, but with a pain in her heart. A year had passed and she was standing on the brink of a world where she was surrounded by the paradox of everything and yet nothing was the same. Smiling faces were looking at her, those lazy crazy days of summer, the everlasting beach with sand soft as silk, pictures from important events, days she and her friends had discussed every day before and after, and dreams and adventures she had experienced. All the amazing people she had met, people that she probably will never see again. Idunn’s legs could not keep her standing anymore, and tears were welling up in her eyes blurring her vision. The memories on her wall seemed even more faded than they already were. No more staying up all night talking to her friends which brought her to laughter and tears in a second language, no more spontaneous things she would never think of at home, and no more walking into the particular town which was her home, just to take a walk. No more a different country. She had now gone back to the same place she came from, and she would go back to the same things she did last summer and the summer before, but with no idea how to proceed. Idunn got up on her trembling legs, doing the one thing she thought of, that could calm the rough sea between her two worlds.

“Kommer du? We will be late! ”
(Are you coming?) asked Helene, who was standing in Idunn’s doorway waiting for her. Helene was happier than ever, finally Helene’s best friend had returned home. A year apart had been hard, and doing every-day things without Idunn by her side had been difficult. Giving her the last hug and fighting the tears when Idunn left, and Helene had waited at the arrival, giving her the biggest hug and fighting the tears again, welcoming the girl that knew all her secrets, home. Helene flicked her blonde hair back, watching her old best friend putting lots of pictures away in boxes.

“What are you doing? Don’t you want those up on your wall?” Idunn got up on her feet, and walked across the room into Helenes arms. “I will put those away for now,” she said, embracing the warmth of her best friend, who she had been talking to all night some nights through the year, who had brought her to laughter and tears. Idunn had taken down the pictures and dreams, and put them away, saving them for the return to that world. The world where she learned to grow up and to become her own person. She knew that somehow, some way, she would find her place between these two worlds. Now it was time for unpacking her old dreams and memories, that had just been put on hold for a year. She looked up at Helene and smiled, “I’m ready to go.”

Throwback; Full Moon Party 2012

livew — Wed, 30 Apr 2014 16:52:00 GMT

I am still amazed my parents let us do this. The fact they trusted me this much, but not only me; the world as well.

We were sitting at Cafe 69 in a dusty road on Ko Samui, my best friend, my parents and I, sipping on a fancy smoothie made by the local chef with ambitions on getting cafe 69 on the world culinary map. The clock was ticking, and we knew it was less than an hour before we were supposed to meet our taxi driver to take us down to the dock. 16 years of age, we had made a little mistake the night before the event, and we were most certain we would not on earth be allowed to go to the world famous Full Moon Party. My parents faces were impossible to read.

Suddenly, my mum says "Okay girls, get your feet running, get your neon tops and get your butts back to the hotel - you will be picked up in 30 minutes!" We were screaming with joy, rushing back to the hotel getting ready. We had only heard about this party, and we did not know how this night would turn out to become one of the best nights of our lives.

"Do not accept any drinks from anyone, stay together and be careful!" That was the rules our taxi driver came with when she dropped us off down by the dock. "And adding to this, have fun girls" she said and left the dock, leaving us alone in the humid, warm, tropical weather, before we could enter one of the boats taking us to Koh Phangan.
The boat was crowded with party-people, singing loudly and passing a bottle of something around. "Do not accept any drinks from anyone", that was the first rule we got told. We clearly stood out, as young as we were with our sun-bleached blonde hair and our scandinavinan cinnamon-tanned skin. We passed it on, knowing how dangerous it could be. As the boat speeded up, we leaned our head backs laughing and just getting the taste on how incredible life sometimes can be.

Colors everywhere, music pumping from the massive speakers and the first thing my best friend does is buying the wrong top. We didnt know before one stated it out "You know your wearing a Half Moon Top, right?" We cracked up laughing, and before everyone gathered down on the beach, we managed to change the top.

The sun went down, the music was louder, the smell of food intrigued the air and the sound of Thaipeople selling buckets for a cheap price was everywhere. We were singing, dancing and throwing around us with neon paint. Norwegian flags were painted everywhere, and I became a part of an australian indian Tribe. The music were the only thing I could hear, and I was smiling more than ever dancing to the rythms, seeing the beaming neon colors and the variety of people coming from all over the world to enjoy this night. Moments like this reminds you of how important it is to enjoy every moment, and make them last forever.

We arrived safely back in Bo put in the early morning, after new friendships were made, new memories were made and a bucketload of paint was used. And for some reason, a pair of goggles, a new hat, some neon beads, and a bunch of other pointless funny things were hanging around my neck. I'm still unsure of why I got all those things, and maybe thats for the best. For now, they are hanging in my room and I laugh every time I look at them. Maybe one day I will return to the amazing island of Koh Phangan, and pass them over to the next couple of young norwegian girls having the time of their lives.

Photos: Queensland

livew — Wed, 30 Apr 2014 15:53:00 GMT

Safari trip from Cairns to Sydney!