Love Affair

My love affair started in 2012, when I first made the long journey over to Australia with two friends for a short holiday. Since then I've been ruined. Since then most of the days in the USA have been planning and saving to return.

In late 2013 I returned for a year away, a gap year, granted I was in my mid-twenties, but it was a time for me to explore the wonderful country and culture. A time to try and get it out of my system. I was suppose to come back to America rejuvenated and ready to continue my career that I spent a lot of time and money achieving. But after returning, the need, the urge, to return was even greater. Australia is like my drug, it's hard to kick, and all I want is more.

In early 2015 I started to save and plan for the great move. In late 2015 I found out that I was granted my permanent residency visa and started making plans for my return. Started planning for my return to the country that helps me feel whole. The country that helps me feel less anxious, where I feel like I fit in, where the food is better, the people are nicer, and the weather is better (mostly).

It comes with a lot of excitement, but a lot of sadness too. A great quote that resonates with me says,

“You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart always will be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place.”― Miriam Adeney. 

Although I have had a wonderful love affair with Australia, and am very excited to return, I am leaving behind loved ones. I'm leaving behind friends, and more importantly family who I am very close with to move half way across the world. Like any good love affair-the lust fades, and some days will be harder than others, which will include homesickness and doubt about my choice. However, I must listen to my heart and return the the country that took grasp of me so many years ago. See you soon Australia.

Bye for now <3

Exciting News!

13 months go I came home from a year abroad. I came home with heaps of photos, new friends from all over the world, and wonderful new memories. I pushed my boundaries and did a ton of new things that I never thought I would do. In that year I changed. I grew as a person, and found myself. I found a part of me that I had struggled with not having/feeling for a long time. When in Australia I felt that piece of me that was missing was unleashed, I felt complete and content for the first time in a very very long time. I embraced that, which I believe helped me accomplish all of these new adventures and challenges I was faced with while there. 

When coming home I was so sad to leave, and felt like I was leaving this great place, that I wasn’t ready to leave yet. I felt like my story in Australia was not over yet, it was not complete, but the visa expiration said it was. I was so determined not to lose that piece of me that I gained in Australia, however I realized when returning that the complete me cannot exist here. Culturally Australia and the US are very similar, but they are also very different and part of the reason that I felt so comfortable and so at ease there was their culture and their way of life. It matched up with my beliefs, my morals, and my own personal moto. 

I decided in January to start saving to return to Australia. In July I had saved enough to apply and had all my documentation in order to prove I had everything they required. As of September 2nd I found out that I have been granted the visa to return to Australia as a “Skilled Permanent Resident”. The Social Worker profession is considered a skill career field and an in need field in Australia and becoming a permanent resident gives me added benefits such as; being able to join their socialize healthcare system, have a retirement plan, and apply for jobs that are looking for permanent work. I am very excited about returning to Australia and looking forward to filling the void inside that I have had for the past several months. 

I am looking forward to seeing old friends and family and making new friends. I am excited for 4 weeks a year vacation from work, and being able to feel like work is not something that defines me. I look forward to the increase in income I can make there and using that money to feed my wanderlust and continue to see the world. I will deeply miss my family and am not looking forward to saying goodbye (wish I could move them with me). But thankfully technology has made it easy to communicate with them regularly. I am not looking to leave until early 2016, would like to have one more cold Northern Hemisphere Christmas, but a lot of planning and packing will have to happen between now and then. I’m excited for this next chapter in life, and looking forward to seeing what that chapter has in store for me. 

Bye for now <3

Missing Australia

It’s been 8 months since I left Australia. Not many people know this, but when the plane took off leaving the Sydney airport I cried.

I cried because I knew I was leaving the best experience of my life behind.

I cried because I had changed so much and yet I knew everything at home had stayed the same.

I cried because I was leaving behind friends that had become my second family.

I cried because I felt content in Australia, finally whole.

Don’t get me wrong, it was hard being away from home and not being able to see my parents and family.  I was looking forward to spending some quality time with them; however, I was sad because I felt like I was leaving a piece of me behind, a piece that wouldn’t/couldn’t exist properly in America.

The options are vast in Australia. I felt, and still do feel, that socially, emotionally and financially things were better for me there. Career wise the opportunities for me are plentiful. Mental heath in North Carolina is a very broken system, and realistically nationwide it has many issues and struggles. I’m not saying that Australia’s health care and mental health care system is perfect, but there are huge barriers that America still needs to cross for me to be productive in my work and make a living that I can survive on.

I also was so much happier. Most of you that know me know that I have had itchy feet for a long time. The constant desire to travel and see the world that drive to experience new things will never change.  I have never truly been content and happy in where I am living. Always moving hoping that the next place I live will fill the void. Until I moved to Australia. I finally felt that connection. I enjoyed living there.  Their culture, way of life and way of thinking mesh so well with who I am and want to be. The anxiety that I struggle with had decreased dramatically while I was there. I felt like I fit in. I felt at home.

Sure, Australia is not perfect.  It struggles with the same economic instability as the rest of the world and it also is quite expensive compared to certain parts of America. But as friends and family can attest, since returning I have done nothing but compare America to Australia: the food, people, fashion, nightlife, working conditions, the list goes on and on…but 95% of the time I’m explaining how Australia does it better. Except for the bacon. lol. Some feel it’s unpatriotic, I find it to be my truth. It doesn’t make me any less patriotic; I actually felt more patriotic while living abroad. Living there has just opened my eyes to a different way of life, a better life for me.

Needless to say, I'm missing Australia everyday. 

Bye for now <3