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Hello, Malaysia! It's been a while.

I've only been back for 2 days but oddly enough, it feels like I've been back for a couple of weeks. I have to admit, leaving Tassie wasn't easy. As the plane left Hobart airport's runway, my heart sank and I already felt miles away from that beloved island. As I listened to the two slightly pudgy men beside me talk about the conference they attended in Hobart, I thought about how weird it was that I had become so attached to the island. I didn't think I would.

Arriving in Melbourne was nothing short of boring, and there was a pretty crappy surprise for the passengers of EK409 when we found out that our flight to KL would be departing at 5am instead of 3:35am. I spent my time in transit watching the remaining episodes of Breaking Bad and was sufficiently blown away by the series finale. The flight was full (aka there were no empty seats left at all) and there were many toddlers on board - more than I'd ever seen. Emirates staff also reshuffled my seat so I ended up in an aisle seat, wedged between a Scottish man and a woman from a country I couldn't identify (by her accent, I mean). I slept for 3 hours during the flight, pretty much from the moment we took off - I didn't even realise I'd slept through the safety announcement until I woke up. As the plane neared KL, the toddlers on board started crying. It was like a chorus of squishy, warbly creatures with scrunched-up faces and balled-up fists that got louder and louder as we descended. Thank goodness I couldn't hear most of the crying because of the earplugs I got from Michael during exam season.

One funny thing I noticed as I got past immigration in KLIA was the unfriendliness of the locals. I walked up to the counter and said, "Selamat pagi!" The dude behind the counter glared at me and nodded slightly before taking my passport and scanning it. I thanked him and he didn't respond. I guess being in Australia, where customer service is pretty darn awesome and cashiers at Coles/Woolies ask about how you are and how uni is going, is the exact opposite of how employees treat customers here in Malaysia. Saying hello to a cashier here would just illicit a surprised and hostile reaction, usually followed by a grunt and/or a nod. Staring blankly at the baggage carousel took about 50 minutes because the bags took unusually long to come out, but seeing my mum waiting for me at the arrivals gate was definitely worth the wait. Up until yesterday, I hadn't seen my mum in about 9 months - the longest I'd gone without seeing her. I'd forgotten how small she is, and I had to try not to hug her too hard because I'm pretty sure she'd actually break if I did. Meeting the new driver was pretty nice, he's very friendly and easy to talk to. Surprisingly, it wasn't terribly hot when I got back, which was a relief. I crashed for about 4 hours in the afternoon until my dad got home because I was so exhausted from the long trip.

I'm missing Tassie slightly less today, probably because it's so good to be back home and with my parents (sister is coming back in 2 weeks, yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!). I'm looking forward to eating 'til my stomach explodes and seeing the rest of my family and friends. It's really quite nice to be back (mark my words, though - at the end of January, I'll be aching to go back to Tassie).

PS I checked my exam results in the plane once we touched down in KL and I DID NOT FLUNK ANYTHING! Heck, I did a lot better than I'd expected for Environmental Management and Behavioural Ecology! WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YAY YAY YAY