Hello all, it’s me, Syd. It’s been just about 2 weeks since I first landed in Aus, so here are my first thoughts.

Australia is big, I mean really big. Of course, I knew it was big before coming but there’s a difference between knowing and knowing. I landed in Melbourne, after a whopping 25 hours of flying, and in my Uber to the hotel, I immediately noticed how vastly spread out each neighbourhood is. I attended a ‘local’ netball game last night after seeking a team out on my neighbourhood’s Facebook group. Side note – we won 28-10, not because we’re a good team but because the level is shite. It took me 35 minutes and 3 different buses to get there, it was either that or a 56-minute walk and I repeat this is a local netball team. One of my teammates asked where abouts I live, “north Thornbury”, I said to which he replied, “Ah, not far then!” – I’m getting a bike tomorrow.

My housemates have been wonderful, they have welcomed me into their friendship groups and ferried me around in their cars to pick up free desks from old Irish ladies and houseplants in their B&Q equivalent: Bunnings. Tom (28) grew up in Australia with an Irish mum and an Australian-Maltese dad. Tom works in IT for the Melbourne Metro and is a sweetie pops, he is always looking to help in any way he can. Ash (29) moved to Australia from India with his parents and sister when he was 10. Ash works as an IT consultant for a bank. He’s cooked me some great food and shown me lots of cool places to booze – legend.  Overall, the people here seem to be very welcoming and easy-going.

My first weekend here was wicked. It just so happened to be the Australian Football League (AFL) grand final day, which is their equivalent to the premier league final, but instead it’s a weird mix of Gaelic football and rugby. We hosted a barbie at our house to watch the game. In the end the Collingwood magpies (Melbourne team) beat the Brisbane lions! It means nothing to me either. What I did enjoy was the copious amounts of delicious food and beer we had to celebrate. We ended our night at 6:00 in Brunswick, it was ace fun.

In terms of cultural differences, there aren’t too many to name (yet). I felt very homesick in the first week of being here; with the time difference it’s hard to keep in contact with loved ones. Another thing that I found immediately jarring is how isolated Australia is. It was a 9.5-hour flight from Guangzhou, China to Melbourne, and this is one of the closest places to fly to. The fact that I need to board a domestic plane in order to explore any other cities for the weekend is also hard to wrap my head around as a spoilt European.

I’m ready to embrace the Melbourne/Aussie life while I am here and will equally be prepared to pack up and move on whenever I feel ready to. I’ve got myself a job doing door-to-door sales selling energy efficient heat pumps on behalf of the state of Victoria, it pays well and gets me out the house. I’ve made some more friends this week, booked a small dance festival in November, and I’m looking forward to future plans that will inevitably build up along the way.

Missing all my friends and family dearly. Chat to you soon. X