The last few days have been a good time for me. My sleep schedule is all over the place since I got here. But sometimes that’s the price you pay to meet new people and connect with them. A few late nights the last few days.
I felt a little out of place at the hostel in Sydney if I’m being honest. I wasn’t able to make many friends because I didn’t have the energy to be extremely social while I was there. I’ve struggled with that at times. Staying by myself in an AirBnB for four weeks altered my energy levels.
You don’t have to make friends everywhere. I know this. But sometimes I put pressure on myself because I want to make amazing memories wherever I go. I want to make a lot of friends. Sometimes you’re just not going to meet people that you connect with. And that’s okay. I am trying to gain the right perspective. Dealing with expectations like that can be difficult.
For the first few days here I was a little wary of mixing in with anyone. When I arrived the receptionist told me I should keep to myself until my test results came back. But around dinner time on Friday, I met one of the women that works at the hostel and she instantly put me at ease. She told me not to be worried about it. It was someone’s birthday and she encouraged me to join the party.
So I did. And that’s all it takes for me sometimes. Just one person being friendly and welcoming changes your mindset and gives you the energy to be social. I had a fun time meeting some of the people staying here and we spent some time on the beach in the evening just hanging out.
On Saturday I met a really awesome group of people. Their names are Jade, Meghan, Brandon, and Sebastian. Two American women and two Irish men. They’ve been traveling together for a while now and they have so much love to share. It’s really uplifting. Hanging out with them and sharing that type of energy has revitalized me.
The first night we met we went down to the beach and spent the entire night there. A few of the planets were out and it was such a clear night. We didn’t know that Saturn and Mars were visible until we got down by the water. The planets looked unusually bright compared to the rest of the stars and we used our phones (a handy astronomy application called Star View) to confirm that they were indeed planets.
I’ve never seen a planet with my own eyes and it was a very cool moment for me. I find space fascinating and the fact we stumbled out there and had a nice little surprise like that made the experience a little bit more special. It was very serendipitous.
We stayed there until the sunrise and it was absolutely beautiful. At one point the sun, moon, Saturn, and Mars were all out in the sky. Byron Bay is such a nice little area. Especially for a sunrise. But by that time I was dead tired and had to turn back to the hostel. Did I say my sleep schedule was out of order? I didn’t get to sleep until seven in the morning so Sunday was a lazy recovery day for me.