Days end

Today I’m going to buy my tickets. I need two more to connect everything together, one to Bangalore where I need to sort out last visa things (India really needs to work on its approach to Visas. It’s like they don’t actually want people to come to their country) and then another ticket from Dubai back to Frankfurt.

Things are moving steadily, with university matters slowly sorting themselves out. I’m pretty confident I’ll manage to get into a Uni somewhere in the Netherlands. That’s a good thing, because I’d have no idea what I would do if that plan goes awry.

For the rest I’m just enjoying my last days on the beach. It’s much better, now that I know what’s going to happen afterwards and I only have a little time left. I don’t have as much guilt or angst, so in a way I’m actually enjoying myself more than previously. There’s this thought process that goes ‘yeah, I really should be or shouldn’t be doing blah, but it’s only for a few more days’.

Yes, that does mean that my time of reflection and research isn’t quite as quiet as I would have liked. Still, there will be enough time for reflection and research when I hit Uni again. I’d hate to spend my time here reflecting and then end up wishing I’d spent more time partying when I’m in Uni. I guess what I’m trying to say is that we should really use a place in the way it’s meant to be used. Palolem happens to be a place for socialising, partying and drinking. Hurrah to that.

I talk about the fact that I’m leaving, but I really wonder how I will feel when that day finally arrives. It is unstoppable now; I have to go back. My visa can’t be extended any further, my ticket can’t be moved, my parents can’t be convinced and my money can’t be made to last any longer.

Well, actually that last one isn’t exactly true. I’ve still got some money due to me, but unfortunately, though I’ve been trying to collect for a few months now, I haven’t had a great deal of success. That is – as I told a friend – probably a good thing, because while my friend owes me the cash it is still owed to me and if I would have had it, it would probably be long gone by now.

Hopefully I’ll get the cash when I hit Europe, so that I can use that as my seed money to get myself set up. Otherwise it will have to be a matter of tightening the belt and living like a pauper for a while. Well, actually it will more likely be a matter of living like a pauper for about the next two years.

Poverty with purpose does have its uses though. It makes one far more aware of the value of money and how to get cheap deals. I was really good at that when I left Australia, but these last couple of years I’ve let my penny pinching slide a bit. A penny saved is a penny earned, right? On the other hand, a penny spent is a penny enjoyed. The latter is currently my philosophy, but somehow I suspect I’ll have to slide over to the former in the foreseeable future.

Oh well, Ce La Vie.