Monday, December 30, 2013

Happy New Year!

I've been incredibly lucky over the years with the people I've met.  I've been able to make amazing friends from all over the world and I feel very fortunate the opportunity.  They've all been lovely people, but I do also believe that knowing so many different people from different places and cultures has helped me to develop as a person and given me a far broader outlook on life and people more generally.

There are massive drawbacks though.  With so many of my friends having only been in Sydney short term (or having been people I met when I was myself traveling), it's meant that my friends often leave (or I do anyways).  It can be tough to grow close to people and then find yourself completely alone as they go home.

So, with this all in mind, I was very excited to be welcoming old friends back to Sydney!  Christian, Corinne and Phil were friends I met during my masters program and were from Switzerland.  They were all traveling through Australia again and had managed to time their trips to coincide not only with one another, but also with New Years Eve.

New Years Eve in Sydney is a great time.  The weather is warm and the city is still experiencing the "holiday mood" that grips Sydney for a good two to three months.  I managed to find a spot for all of us to watch the fireworks that evening.

Seeing my friends all again was incredibly special.  We talked about old times and reminisced about our studies, but we also talked about what was happening going forward in our lives too.  Too often, you can discovery that old friends were merely friends during that a particular time of you life.  It's a joy when you find old friends who you are able to interact with as though no time had passed at all.

We found ourselves an amazing secluded spot in the middle of the city to have our picnic and to enjoy the fireworks.  The new construction on Barangaroo had started, so this was a secret little location that few knew about.
We were able to get amazing views of the fireworks completely unobstructed and without having to pay any exorbitant prices.
Sometimes everything just seems to work out perfectly.