Mental Health Update: A Paradigm Shift

Don't worry, its not a mental health breakdown.  Quite the contrary actually.   I've been to a lot of new Sydney neighborhoods--I mean suburbs--recently (I say neighborhoods because even though they are technically suburbs, they are literally in the city) and they're forcing me to explore a bit more.  Which is good.  I'm always around students and travellers and it seems that that's all there is in Sydney.  Sydney has seemed very transient.  Coming across "Sydney-siders" is a lot more difficult than it should be.  But having to go to all these new places for various reasons had made me see Sydney in a different light.  Like it is some place that someone could live long term.  Like its someplace I could live long term.  Its been difficult (and still is) to imagine Sydney as home because I know its only temporary and I treat it like its only temporary.  I realize now that if I were staying long term there are things I would do differently.  Like get a real job, find a nice(r) place to leave with my own stuff, and get a car.  I like Sydney.  It's laid back, accepting, easy to get around (especially on my new bike), warm 9 months out of the year (disregard my recent whinging, it is winter here!).   I've even gotten used to the return of the 80s and the more alternative dressing style  Today I saw a girl in a black tutu and black and green stripped tights.  It was not a costume.  I may not fit in when I return to the real world.

I think I'm going through the stages of transition (that I made up) right on schedule.  I knew coming to Sydney a few things were going to happen:  I'd be super nervous yet excited, I'd get depressed and want to go home, I'd come to love it, I'll not want to leave it.

I've analyzed my state of mind in my own little made up timeline:
Month 1-2:You move to new city, everything is new and exciting which we call the "Shiny Ball Syndrome"
Month 2-3: Shiny Ball Syndrome slowly wears off.  You want the different things to be normal again (like driving on the wrong side of the road)
Month 4: put energies into something productive.
Month 5: Acceptance of the new city
Month 6: Growing fondness of the new city
Month 7: ??

I'm glad I decided to come for a year. Some people said that a year is too long, but even a year feels temporary and it took a whole 6 months for me to feel like Sydney is a place I could live. The next three months will probably/hopefully solidify my feelings for Sydney. Then it will be time to leave. Funny how that goes. (I won't be coming home in 3 months, I'll be travelling around Australia and living on a farm until February...I am not stupid enough to come home just before winter hits and miss summer here).