It was my last week in a New Zealand. After WWOOFing, I’ve took a bus to Turangi to meet a friend, which is further up north.

I met Mary in Vietnam two months ago. It’s a funny story how we met: I had snapped at her partner for sitting on my bed. (I had gotten into a bicycle accident ten minutes beforehand and was shaken up about it.) Then I later apologized about being rude to him, and that’s when I met Mary! We became friends fast. She’s so rad. She’s also vegan and we ate tons of vegan food during the time I visited Turangi.

Making new friends during my travels has been so easy. Usually my social anxiety warning light is flashing, and it has been ignored more as I went on. The friends I have made didn’t mind that I was a bit nervous at first, but when people are present and kind, it’s easier to relax.

Mary and I hung out at the ski fields, where she was staying for work. We had a great time, even without skiing since my rib was still sore. And then there were the some of the most spectacular sunsets I’ve ever seen, the spectrum of colors reflected off the snowy mountains.

Later in the week, I tried my hand at climbing for the first time and reached the top several times before the pain in my ribs flared up again. Otherwise, I would have kept on going.

In 2006, one of my cousins fell 800 feet to her death from rock climbing in Washington State. This deterred me from ever trying climbing. But I’m so tired of being afraid. I’m tired of this fear that was instilled in me. This is not who I am. I was warned to never try something like climbing and was kept within the boundaries of “don’ts.” But you don’t grow that way. You never know what you’re good at until you actually try it.

The week has drawn to a close, and so has my worldwide trip! I have departed New Zealand to return to the US of A, thus completing the circuit of going around the world. I will be flying so far out east, that I will land in the West again. By the time I arrive in Seattle, I will have landed almost the same time as I have left, so I will be living the same day again.

And what an incredible three months it has been! It’s hard to find the words to describe this experience. It’s like living a typical year of my life compressed into three months. It has been beautiful and frightening, surreal and visceral. And now it’s all over. It has changed me. This calls for a separate entry, and that one will come when I have finally returned and the dust settles.

I’ll be home soon.