France and Australia

I'm having quite a stressful time of late with certain problems in my life (which I won't go into here) which has lead me to have night after night of insomnia, and this constant heatwave doesn't help things either.. however...

January for me is an interesting month.

I know that in the northern hemisphere it is freezing but in Australia (and most of the southern hemisphere too I imagine) it's the hottest month of the year. And it's my favourite month because the stress of Christmas is over, New Year's drunken antics are over, yet people are still in a happy, holiday and relaxed mood and some people and many offices choose to take their vacation over this period.. suffice to say, not a lot of work gets done! My friends who are teachers also have almost the whole of January off, and of course all students do too.

So from December-February so many people I know have gone on, are still on, or about to go on some sort of vacation and frankly, I'm jealous. I can't really go because I can't afford it and I don't really have anyone to go with because everyone is so busy and wrapped up in their own lives (especially those with husbands and kids who can't leave them to go on a trip with l'il ol' me) so I'm feeling kind of depressed because most years I go on 2 vacations and this past year I've been on a grand total of 0.

I feel a bit stupid admitting this, but I'm tired of logging into my Facebook and being bombarded with status reports and photos of people's vacations CONSTANTLY. I don't think people have any clue about how I'm feeling, just like when I'm being bombarded with photos of babies and kids CONSTANTLY. I know it's selfish of me to act like this, but I'm just kind of sick of feeling like the only husband/boyfriend/partner-less, childless, homeless (ie I don't own my own home), and now vacation-less one!

Is it wrong of me to just wish once in a blue moon someone could empathise with how I'm feeling? I feel more comfortable talking to strangers than my own friends about how I really feel... I mean one of my friends gives me advice such as, "Don't worry, you'll get a (boyfriend/better job/more money/a house/a holiday) soon".. I'm sorry - but that is CRAP advice!! What the heck does that mean? All it does is make me feel worse and feel more pressured to 'hurry up' and do something about my sad state of affairs.

Note that I'm just in a complainy mood because I'm actually feeling sick (as well as having the insomnia) and being stuck at home with noone to talk to makes you think a bit too much about these things.

But to get to my point, what I wanted to say mainly was that I am DYING for a vacation yet I can't go and even if I could, I have noone to go with. I constantly wish I were in France right now (yes, I know, even though it's snowing and freezing and it's beautiful and sunny here in Sydney, Australia). I just need a change of scenery.

Don't get me wrong. I love my friends, but I am just itching and dying to make new ones! I'm dying for an adventure, dying to be in a place where nobody knows me, where I get to start from scratch so to speak.

Almost every French person I have spoken to has asked me, "So why do you want to move to France? ... you live in Australia!" It's apparently every French person's dream to go to Australia (and everyone else's in the world too ;) ). I guess it's some sort of 'paradise' to some but like every country, there are problems too... I admit the weather is mostly pleasant all year round but weather isn't everything, at least not to me. Sure it's really important but after living in Sydney for WAY too long I'm just dying to go somewhere and do something différent!

According to the Quality of life Index France is named best place in the world to live, and Australia is second.

According to a UN report Australia is second again, and France is 8th (Norway is 1st).

And then on other charts such as these, Sydney is usually in the top ten cities!

So I can't help but feel a little bit crazy for wanting to move away from such an 'ideal' city but meh, I have my reasons... :P I know that eventually I'll come back here again (as almost everyone does after they have kids) but for the moment while I'm still young and free I want to roam the world. I don't just want to see France but all of Europe as well. It is my aim to spend my birthday (November) and Christmas in France this year! So watch this space...! ;)