I am nearing the end of my year visa (with still no option for Americans to extend for another year) and am in the throws of trying to find sure footing for the next step in my journey.

Over the last month I have had an onslaught of adventures, from finding how to live on no money in Brisbane, to having a job that pays for all travel and accommodation, to taking photos of surfers for a magazine/website, to finding my strengths as well as my weaknesses in the grand scheme of backpacking. (You know, like that one jacket I have no room for in my suitcase, but I love it too much to send home… Which may have been a good thing since winter is coming.)

At the moment, I’m in a little town of NSW called Armidale, in an area dubbed “New England”. The cool air and smell of decaying leaves that are the staple of my autumn in Colorado leave me just a little homesick for my rugged Rocky Mountains. The college town with bookshops and coffee shops sprinkled about bring me back to my university days. The people I meet constantly reminding me of the 6 degrees of separation, and how when you travel, you’re never really ‘solo’.

As a preview of the “next step”, I am getting my TEFL certificate (teaching English as a foreign language) and will get back into my niche of teaching and academia, but in a way that will let me work and travel the globe.