THE BEGiNNiNG - DEPARTiNG

Abandoned. Everything I once knew; family, friends, my safe familiar reality all gone. My senses overwhelmed by unfamiliar sights and sounds. Everything being processed, analysed and filed away.

I find myself in Ho Chi Minh International Airport. Where the sound of blinking fluorescent lights and the smell of black smoke from the diesel generators create the sense of urgency and discomfort. My brain has been in overdrive since leaving Sydney. Suddenly my comfort zone of reading people has been replaced by a culture and language which eludes me. Ten straight hours of attempting to apply my understanding of the human psyche to new foreign subjects and I'm exhausted.

I had travelled for ten hours, but due to the time zone difference only four hours had past. I'd awoken at 5:00 am after only two hours sleep, bid my family farewell and filled with excitement of the unknown I boarded my flight to Sydney - to my new life aboard. Life had always been so predictable, this was the first step of letting go.

I've had little travel experience, family holidays, road trips with friends, but nothing to this extent. My mother always had a tight grip on me growing up. Out of love and fear of loosing me to the outside world. I think part of me wanted to escape that.

Random thoughts fly through my head like a dropped water balloon. Passports, flight attendants, the dark man standing in the corner, with a semi-automatic firearm employed to provide a sense of security and order.

Exhausted to the point where I keep falling asleep but the sensation of my head falling jolts me awake. Its six hours until my next flight. This is the price you pay for a cheap student airfare. My new environment has me on edge. Every fleshy part of my existence is screaming to sleep. I'm fighting a battle against myself to stay conscious.

My thoughts sway to the dirty run down airport building I find myself in. Barely closed off areas where shops used to be. Air conditioning attempting to keep the hot humid air at bay. I sat alone in the aisle of blue plastic chairs. My only company is a single fuzzy television playing a Vietnamese soapy.

This at least gave me the opportunity to adjust my skills. Block out the spoken word, focus on the overlooked forms of communication. Soap operas are always a great study tool in any language because they are simply human emotions on steroids. Jane finds out that Jack is having an affair, queue the dramatic shocked face with a touch of hurt and a hint of a heartbreak.

I convinced myself that tomorrow would be better, as the seconds seemed to take hours to pass I finally boarded my flight to Tokyo.