strangers to friends

Since I was a young child, the most acceptable and universal advice I received from my parents was to not speak to strangers. I was trained to believe that all strangers were dangerous and untrustworthy. Thus, I dragged this constant fear with me over the years and I became this shy and quiet person, unable to make new friends in a new environment.

But over these past few weeks, I have been brave. I have been slowly getting out of my comfort zone and making small conversations with the people around me. I like to think that strangers are just friends we haven't met.

A week ago, I had arranged to meet with a young girl from Germany who had travelled down to Melbourne for a short stay. She had read my blog not so long ago and we had kept in contact through short, sweet messages online. Along with her two friends from Japan and Korea, we explored the heart of Melbourne. I brought them to places that I had heard of and places that I knew how to get to. Growing up in the suburbs, the city is still an unfamiliar place for me even though I go there most of the week for school. 

We travelled on trams to restaurants for lunch and giggled over sweet nothings during the trip. We darted past crowds at a festival to get our faces painted and watched pretty girls dance on stage in their flamboyant, colourful dresses. The streets were hustling with people who rushed by to get to their destination. We had no destination, we were just free spirited wanderers. We stopped here and there to capture images of buildings and landscapes that I had forgotten were beautiful because I had seen them countless of times. I made a promise to myself right there to look at things as though I had never seen them before. Only then will I remember how marvellous things are to the naked eye.

mai gazing at the view

the shrine of remembrance

the view from the steps of the shrine

pretty girls lining up to go on stage

evening naps at the gardens 

the city alongside the yarra river

The days fluttered by and then it was time for them to leave. I brought them to the train station and we said our goodbyes with long hugs that broke my heart. We promised to write to each other and send postcards wherever we are in the world. And then my life resumed back to normal, back to the cycle of school and sleep. My world is quiet again.

mai, lucy and mai linh at the station

I can't believe how lucky I am that I had become good friends with a couple of strangers all the way across the globe. To be able to meet with these lovely ladies from different countries, of different ages and backgrounds because of my blog still has me speechless. I feel incredibly blessed and only hope to meet more amazing individuals throughout my life.

dead sea

University has started once again and I have already started to skip some of my classes because I just don't have the motivation to learn something that I'm not passionately interested about. I haven't had time to do things that I love, like writing now that I'm spending most of my time travelling on trains to and from university. To keep myself from spiralling into the rabbit hole of misery, I decided to have a test shoot during one of my breaks with my friend Shauna at the beach.

The shots didn't turn out exactly how I had envisioned it and I'm not completely satisfied with them but it's only because I'm extremely self critical about my work. I know if I'm not hard on myself and play the critic, I'll never grow and get better.

So here are a few of the photos that I really liked from the photoshoot.

the end of summer

A week before Summer ended, a few close friends and I decided to go fishing to celebrate a friend's birthday. The birthday boy told me were going to one of his most treasured places in the world. Even though we had to leave the house at 5 in the morning to start driving, I was awake and excited as ever.

We spent most of our morning in the darkness on a long highway. There were so many cars driving in the opposite direction heading towards the city that the passing headlights were like a trail of stars, twinkling right next to my window. I should have captured that moment, but I was too scared my friends would judge me for hurling a big camera around and taking pictures of 'useless' things. I'm slowly learning to be more brave so I can take photos of whatever I like without the people around me questioning why.

The sun had started to rise when we arrived at Cape Paterson. It was truly magical as my friend had described it. We walked across the carpet of rocks until we found a suitable spot to fish. I felt really alive sitting down, holding onto a fishing rod with my legs dangling over the cliff. I caught my first fish as well and to add even more excitement, it was the first fish caught on the day.

my friends being eaten alive by the waves

patient hands

the biggest fish we had caught that day

I've always been one full of wanderlust, wanting to travel to different places around the world, but it's places like Cape Paterson that makes me want to explore the hidden wonders of Australia first.