Living in Nelson: Part 3

My last shift in Nelson was spent training my replacement. As we were walking back to the laundry room, she asked me if I had liked it here. 

I've been asked the question before but this time, less than 24 hours before I left, it stopped me in my tracks. 

My mind skipped straight past the work itself and instead thought of the people that we shared this experience with. All of the goodbyes we've had to say. All of the laughs, the conversations, the meals shared, the films watched, the walks had, the things seen. I thought about saying goodbye to everyone who's here right now and how sad it has been making me. 

"Yes, I've loved it. It's like we're a little family."

*

Everyone bar Julia ordered a steak, I was charged extra for "dairy free", and I learnt you don't sip an espresso, you down it like a shot. 

Watching the four of them talk and laugh and joke after 3 months of living together, I found myself forming friendships that 2 or 3 nights here and there just hadn't given me. 

My first girls afternoon in forever, and my a little heart jump at being included in "friends". It's funny how much that word means to you when it's applied by people you really care about. 

Saying goodbye to Julia and Celea was awful. 

I waved them off in front of the YHA, and spent the next half an hour dreading what work was going to be like. How was I supposed to get through cleaning all of the bathrooms without Julia singing and dancing and telling me all about the book she stayed up reading until 5, 6, 8am? 

I have missed them both every day since they left, and I'm really hoping we see each other again in the future. 

This was the first time I cared that "we''ll keep in touch!" isn't always possible, and the first time I realised how sucky it was to be making friends who didn't live in the same country as me. 

Speaking of people who don't live in the same country as you, but also filed under DO YOU REALISE HOW FAR AWAY NEW ZEALAND ACTUALLY IS?! you have Jess. 

Jess is quite literally one of the coolest people I have ever met, and I actually thought she was lying when she said she was 17. If I could have been that well-read, that funny, and that just.... seriously cool is the only word, at 17.... well I just wasn't. 

From conversations about books (I made the mistake of recommending the worst book she's ever read, she recommended 5 books I blew through in as many days) to life in New Zealand and outside of it, Jess never ever failed to entertain me or make me think. 

I was so sad to say goodbye to her when she left, and spent the next 3 weeks expecting to see her stylish self sat at Reception waiting to tell me about some new book she had thought of for me to read. 

And then to know I left Nelson ONE DAY AFTER SHE GOT BACK was just almost too much. 

I really, really, really hope I get to see her again one day. 

I look at this picture and it just makes me happy. Heart full, belly butterflies, smile on my face happy. 

I had so much fun with these people. That's all I can think of to say, looking at this. I loved them all so much. 

I ate almost every meal with Hannah in my last 2 weeks in Nelson. If I was sat in "my spot", she was always sat somewhere nearby. We would walk to Countdown together, work together, and even went outside and did toursity stuff a couple of times. She would tell me all about her travels to Vietnam, and her plans for the next year. I would make her laugh, and continue to be amazed at her late night runs. 

She gave me a bracelet she had made herself when I left, and was awake to say goodbye to me at 5:45am in the morning.

I consider myself incredibly lucky to call her a friend.

I almost skipped down the road to the coffee shop, I was so excited for us to go there. Hannah was with me, as much a bundle of energy as I was. "Look at how many of us there are!" she said. "I know, I know! We're all together!"

I sat and drank my last coffee in Nelson, laughing and talking with the people I had met there, and felt eternally grateful to Tom for choosing Nelson as the place to work.

I found friends in Nelson, friends that made me laugh, that laughed with me, and that became the thing I loved most about New Zealand's sunniest city.

One of the things I loved most about the last 6 months as a whole.