FINALLY - I have arrived at Australia! Greetings from OZ!
Indeed, it is the first time I've ever been to this part of the World. I got really excited about this - especially that I am coming for the 'Wine Australia Travel Scholarship' (what a name! 'wine' + 'travel' --> isn't it that's ME!?). Since the interview last November, then got the confirmation on the day before my birthday last year - making it one of the biggest birthday gift ever in my life - I felt really wonderful to have got the chance to come over!
Actually, it's not just that because it's free - so I'm so happy & excited (yet, definitely one of the reasons though...). It's also because I got the chance to learn more hands-on things about wines - which I have become really passionate about. Probably I might not be that really talented to learn about wines and be a really really good taster, however, I still believe that for every kind of 'knowledge' - there are so many things to learn every single day. So, getting to know what I gonna go after, and how much I am passionate about the work I am doing & the knowledge I'm pursuing - that's definitely one of the biggest achievements I have ever had in my life.
Plus, this trip actually made me believe that if one sticks on to the passion one has, there should be some way out - and reward will come eventually. I'm not saying that the 'reward' is there now ('reward' be it "economically-sustainable" as one of my travel-mates was talking about during a open-discussion today, or be it "early-retirement", etc.) - yet for sure, I believe I'm on the right track! Sooner or later, I'll be there for the 'economically-sustainability'. Yet, meanwhile, I am so much enjoying and felt pretty much contented.
Before I left, one of my friends was saying to me - seemed like I didn't know much about my trip, and not even bothered with the packing and things, until the last minute. True - very true, I didn't care that much. The fact was I still got the 'alert' I got to be prepared, but just that every trip is so different - culture different, location different, basically even if I so-called prepared, it doesn't mean that everything gotta go really fine. So, just get myself prepared at the best as I used to, be prepared to have some 'surprises', that's fine already. Plus, probably I'm happy to stay FRESH for anything that could happen. Everytime I travel, that's another new learning occasion anyway. Learning for life, learning for living, learning for human touch...
Writing this note here, it's my 3rd evening here. In just these 3 days, there were (again) a lot of thinking and a lot of sharing I gotta do. From my experience, it's not easy for me to keep updating... I thought I could do my blog, and make a dedicated website for my trip - but after the first 'real day' for the scholarship started - I ANNOUNCED THAT 'I GIVE UP!' I don't think I could update that frequently, and write down everything I got in mind...
SO - excuse me for that - although I really wanna share... but the time I spent everyday for the tasting, travelling... already kept me busy & tired - so after I got back to room, I just wanna relax as far as I could, and get ready for the next day.
YET - I still try best to squeeze some time to keep writing a bit here, and post photos! Then all my dear friends reading here - you can have a glance of my days here! See you all soon!
With love,
Jennifer.