In 3 days I’ll be heading to the other side of the world. Australia, are you ready? Australia, am I ready?! I’m both so totally excited and so completely terrified. Here are a few reasons for such:
Why I am excited:
- I am bored of life in Fife, Scotland. Nothing ever changes, I need change/excitement/adventure.
- Warm weather and sunshine!! (can’t freaking wait to wear flip-flops and shorts) – although then I remember I am skipping summer this year and going from Scottish winter to Australian autumn/winter (but I’m sure these beat even Scottish summer anyway!)
- Travelling and seeing different areas of Oz when not working.
- Going swimming with dolphins (such a dream!)
- Have a weekend away to Whitsundays booked (it looks amazing!)
- I am going with accommodation and a job all set up (this could also be seen as a downside in that not total freedom is occurring, however having a base when I first arrive, for me, is a positive – get some good travel tips and experience a real Australian lifestyle).
- Because duh, it’s AUSTRALIA.
Why I am terrified:
- I have to travel for 30 hours alone before getting there – which should be fine however I can sense much boredom/stressing if anything goes wrong. As long as I can navigate to the departure gates on time and get on all my planes, all should be good.
- I am going to be living in a house with a family I do not know.
- I’ve never looked after children before, and that is now going to be my job for 6 months.
- I cannot cook well, and I am going to have to cook for myself and children. Toast and pizza anyone?
- Not sure how I am going to make friends – where does one meet people when working as an au pair?
- I fear I won’t take advantage enough of my time there – laze around and not explore as much as I should. I’m a sucker for beaches – maybe at least I can check out many different beaches and count that as seeing more?
- I’ve lived back at homehome properly for 9/10 months now – I’ve become used to having family near and having people there if I need anything. Time to say hello to independence again (that’s also a positive)!
Although to be honest, right now the excitement trumps the terrified. I don’t like goodbyes, especially when I am not entirely sure when I will be returning – I’m not looking forward to that part of leaving. However, I’m SO excited that when I get off the plane in Adelaide I get to see one of my best friends from home who I have known since we were just tiny people!! She leaves after about 2 weeks of me being there – I’ll have a friend for that long at least, and I know we’ll make the most of our time together.
Will I achieve any of the following?
I am such an unorganised person. I’m not really one for making plans. This is sometimes a fun way to live, however I would appreciate it if I could work on this and at least make some plans for things I want to do/see/places I want to go, otherwise I may achieve little. I just need to make sure I motivate myself to go out and do things even if by myself (it’s just so much easier to make plans and stick to them when others are involved!). I should probably make some form of bucket list or something for my time in Oz. However, I feel it would be too long and would just stress me out on where to start.
I hope I will start running more (nicer weather = more outdoor runs – although this may be an issue when I first arrive with it being too hot). I would love if I could make myself join a running club and/or be brave enough to enter a half marathon or even any other kind of running race while in Oz (maybe I should start with a 10km). I love running but I fear failure of having to give up and not complete a longer run, so I have many doubts about this happening.
Hopefully I improve my cooking skills. It’s not so much that I’m bad at cooking, it’s more that I can never decide (I hate decisions!) what to cook/never want to go and buy all the ingredients/get too impatient to cook proper food (and yeah okay, probably just don’t know how to cook many things also – but that’s what recipes are for, right?). Maybe this will improve when I know I have to cook for others.
I would love to join some random club or something while in Oz (not counting wanting to join a running club). I feel it could be a good way to meet people. I know there is a good website which offers a great variety of courses/classes in Adelaide (WEA South Australia)– I must keep this in mind. A photography class would be good; I’d love to be able to take better photos, especially to have some good travel ones. I’m more likely to opt for some random fitness classes though!
I really hope I do a surfing lesson at some point, it looks so cool, and being a swimming lover, I love being in the water. No sharks please!
That’s just a few of my many thoughts before this life change, but it’s time I had a new chapter. Even if it all goes wrong, I know I would always regret not jumping at the chance of being offered a job in Australia – just book it and go!
