I sprint on tip-toe to the chain link fence on the ocean cliff. I throw my arms on the top bar and balance there, letting the mist expand in my lungs. The shore is burgeoning on high tide. It bulges over the waves and washes ashore, creeping to the base of the cliffs. Towards the horizon, the sea is lapping and rippling and occasionally reflecting the pink clouds. I lower my feet onto the grass and fall back to sit on the lawn.

I ponder into the dimming horizon, trying to feel the continent of Australia from across the Pacific. When people ask me why I chose Australia for a semester abroad, I normally joke and say: great rock climbing and hot men! As much as I do enjoy both those things, there’s a lot more to it than that. I turned twenty last February and everything is changing. I’m living away from my parents, I’m fresh out of an almost four year relationship, and I’m beginning to figure out my path as a writer. It’s like I’m molten lava, flowing and solidifying over the crust. I’m expanding, rippling, simmering into something new. Australia is my way of continuing the lava flow. It’s an adventure and a way of showing myself that the world is bigger than I ever thought.

The biggest draw to Australia was the University I chose to study at: James Cook University. Its programs, clubs, and exotic location in a tropical rainforest fit all my requirements for a semester abroad. One of the biggest draws is the JCU rock climbing club. It’s the perfect chance to make friends, learn more about climbing, and improve my skill and knowledge.

JCU’s other pull is the New Media classes. I love story. I love it as a craft, as a tool for humanity (The Storytelling Animal by John Gottschall) and as my defining strength. I could have gone to England to visit Shakespeare’s house in Stanford or walked in Charles Dickens’ footsteps, but I like to be ahead of the game. The art of storytelling is changing dramatically (The Art of Immersion by Frank Rose). Taking classes like Arts in Perspective fit perfectly into my interest in narrative. Gottschall said that, “The technology of story has evolved from oral tales, to clay tablets, to hand lettered manuscripts, to printed books, to movies, to televisions,[to blogs!]  to kindles and iPhones… but it doesn’t fundamentally change story. Fiction is as it was and ever will be: Character + predicament + attempted extraction”(187). This blog is my own test in new media narratives, yet the story structure still holds true. There’s me, the character, who’s at the entrance to my twenties, and the most dynamic years for my identity. The predicament(s): All that will arise from my first foray into international travel, experiencing a slightly different culture, and being far from home. Attempted Extraction: you’ll have to read to find out!

The motel’s path lights flicker on and I see tendrils of fog unfurling in the yellow. I knew that I had to come back to Pismo Beach before going to Australia. Since I was eight, this beach has been at my core. When I come here, I can’t stop smiling, I run around like a six year old, twirling and spinning, and I allow my hair to be infected with sea salt and chlorine. Coming here wipes away all the gunk of my past and primes me for the next adventure.