Month One

Ever since I was a little girl with dreams as big as my cheeks, I’ve wanted to visit Australia. My childhood best friend went on holiday with her family one year, and I remember memorising their anecdotes and the photos framed on their wall. Today it’s been a month since I landed in Sydney, Australia, where I’ll be studying for a semester at Macquarie University. One month down, six to go.

And what a month it's been.

Sydney is a city of internationals. In fact, I can’t think of one person I’ve met who was born and raised in the city. After thirty hours of travelling, my first form of human interaction was with the driver who picked me up from the airport, who was from Nepal. The girl who gave me my keys was Indian. The girl who first showed me the harbour bridge and opera house was Norwegian, and the one who walked me round Darling Harbour was French. If all of these people had found a home in the city, I knew I would too. For once, my Russian/English/Spanish background fit right in. 

When I travelled up the East Coast for a week, it was a similar story. The Australians were few and far between. Australia Day was spent on the beach in Byron Bay with two Brits, one Canadian, one American, and one Scot. We could’ve been an ad for sun cream or for cider, which struggled to stay cold but which we drank anyway. Byron Bay is a breath of fresh air you won’t know you needed until you inhale. Within seconds, you’ll become another barefoot wanderer. You’ll lie on the beach with sand in every crevice of your body and bathe in live music as the sun goes down and realise that life is about simplicity.

As much as I love meeting internationals, there are perks to travelling with locals too. When my friend, Christina, and I worked out our schedules, we realised we had just one day in Brisbane. We arrived without any sort of plan, and I imagined we’d mooch through the day somehow before flying back to Sydney the next morning. Christina soon remembered she knew a local from Brisbane, Gage. Thank goodness she did. We surrundered all control of our bodies and let ourselves be led. The tour began with lunch looking out over the cloud-covered city, followed by a spontaneous drive to a wildlife sanctuary. The fur on kangaroos is softer than koalas, in case you were wondering. Also, watch out for the rainbow lorikeets. One second you’ll be distracted by their colourful feathers, and the next their claws will be digging into your scalp. Our day in Brisbane ended with stacked plates and stomachs full of sushi, before being led into a dim cocktail bar concealed behind a red curtain. A secret gem we’d have never even known about if we hadn’t been shown. 

Speaking of travelling with locals, I was lucky enough to go on a couple of tours with a company called Coast Warriors. Within a week of being in Sydney, I’d found their website through Facebook. They run three tours weekly, one of which is around the Blue Mountains. Although only an hour from the city, I couldn’t imagine getting to the Blue Mountains by myself, but it was an area I wanted to see. According to the reviews, the tour was run by two local Aussie guides who would show me around the Blue Mountains and throw in an authentic BBQ, all for an affordable price. I woke up on Wednesday, tour day, to blue skies. Something told me it would be a day to remember, and I wasn’t wrong. At 7:30am, I got into a bus full of strangers who became fast friends. Together, we climbed down countless steps to gasp at untouched waterfalls, ran out of breath climbing back up steps which were half my height, and guessed Aussie slang on the bus ride back to the city. Out of 40 words, we got about 10 right. It’s much harder than you’d think.

Not only did I see my first kangaroo in the Blue Mountains, but I ate a few pieces of kangaroo later that same day. I won’t lie, it felt a little wrong, but it’s all part of one, big Australian bucket list. Other than that, I’ve eaten anything and everything, from pink prawns to barbequed snags (sausages) lathered in dead horse (tomato sauce). I’ve had a coffee flavoured smoothie on Bondi Beach, eaten my weight in free breakfast cornflakes in Surfers Paradise, and been to two Taco Tuesdays in The Rocks (I recommend the beef). Here’s my official verdict: vegemite is pretty much exactly the same as marmite. And a Tim Tam is a Penguin bar without the joke.

In a month, I’ve visited the beach with the whitest sand in the world, swam in water clear enough to see my toenails, spotted dolphins, improved my social skills, tanned enough to expose the freckles on my face, spent too much money, tried sandboarding, failed at sandboarding, learned the best experiences are born from spontaneity, sang karaoke until my throat hurt, and woken up every morning wondering what I ever did to deserve such an experience. I couldn’t be more grateful. 

Thank you to every person I’ve met along the way who has made this month so memorable. And a special thank you to Abe. In three weeks, you’ve shown me more than I could’ve imagined and made Sydney feel like home. Thank you for being you.

If the next six months are a fraction of what this one has been, I will consider myself very lucky. Even more than I already do.