Life has been absolutely INSANE the last 6 and a half months. I ended the year on a beach in Australia partying at random! It was a very cleansing experience being at the beach and I am glad it wasn't too big of an affair before I left new years day for New Zealand.

NZ was great. It was so beautiful and spiritual. It was really, really cold but the whole place was a really uplifting event!

I left NZ a couple of weeks later and headed to California. I expected it to be much like Aus. It was absolutely not. It was totally different. Because I was so unprepared for the change, I was really unhappy my first couple of weeks. Then I found a place close to school, found a job, made some friends, found a routine that had me working, 'studying' and heavily involved in clubs, societies and a sorority for Monday to Thursday and then partying and travelling over my long weekends!

I made so many awesome friends who became my American family. My friends also nicknamed me 'Raffie' and it's stuck.

While being based in Orange County (the next county from LA) I travelled to the United Arab Emirates and England for a conference, to Hawaii to visit a friend and talk to kids about sustainability and microfinancing, as well as visit Mexico to help in a volunteer run hospital (and later, on another trip, to party). I also visited national parks, California Park, Disneyland, Vegas and of course, Hollywood.

I have just came back from a surreal trip to San Fransisco to spend this week, my last week on the West Coast with my American crew.

My around-the-world ticket will then take me to the East Coast, then Canada and then over to Europe.

My ticket expires in June next year, so I effectively have a year of travel ahead - woohoo!

Kristiana
p.s. I am now officially finished with studies and am in proud possession of a Bachelor of Creative Industries (Media Communication) and a Bachelor of Business (Marketing)!