Expectations VS. Reality

When I first came here, I was so happy and excited about everything. Everything was great and I was sure I’ll never miss home. People who have been in my situation kept telling me, it’s 3 to 4 months when you start feeling home sick. I laughed at them.

After my first 3 months here, I was having a really hard time. I was feeling lost. Like I had been feeling before I came here and somehow thought moving would fix that. I realized how hard it can be, to be pulled out from everything and everyone familiar and placed somewhere you’ve never been at. I reckon my biggest problem was my expectations. I thought that Australia would be everything I ever wanted and dreamed off. And I didn’t know what to do when it wasn’t.

I wouldn’t say I got home sick, I just realized that everything wasn’t as I expected it to be. And how lonely and far for everything familiar I was. How hard it was not being able to call my sisters or my best girlfriend whenever I was feeling down or tell them daily how’s everything going and what I’m going through.  

Let’s just say after all my travelling I’m used to people being very curious and chatty towards foreigners. Whenever I’ve encountered people on my previous trips they’ve been curious, chatty and friendly. I’ve made heaps of good friends and I’ve always felt like they understand how lonely traveling solo can sometimes be.  Here, when I went to see my cousin’s friends with him for the first time, no one said a word to me. Normally people would at least introduce themselves. Whenever something like this have happened, I’ve been thinking to myself, what’s wrong with me or did I do something wrong?

I’ve always been very social person but here, making friends seemed hard. I mean, you meet a lot of interesting people but they are not friends who you can talk about everything. And believe me I tried to get to know them better. I’ve invited people to go to do a bush walk, a yoga class or just hang out. Never happened.

So yeah, I spent almost 3 months at my aunties house doing nothing. My cousins were working or at school and my auntie had her work and friends. Work was hard to get, because I’ve never worked in Australia before. Friends were hard to make and I don’t have a car (Or a license) So It was also hard to get around. I spent a lot of time in my room and felt stupid and worthless. I did stuff I wouldn’t normally do. I went drinking often since all my new ‘’friends’’ wanted to see me when they were drunk. I felt like I had to go. I had to do my part. I’ve always needed a reason to go out partying and drinking heavily has never been my thing. I was a mess.

   

Then I started to realize that If this isn’t what I want to do and where I want to be I need to do something about it. I started to plan what to do next and where to go. I figured big cities are more approving and have more people in my situation so It’s easier to make friends with people who understand you. I started to spend more time with one of my new acquaintances who was always been easy to talk to. He became my best friend.

Three sisters at the blue mountains   

 
    

Kurnell

I realized that I had been stressing out about wasting my time and I took actions to go and do my regional work to get my 2^nd year visa. I did all my courses and met new people. Different people. All around the world. I also organised and planned all kinds of nature walks and trips I always wished to do. I moved to another town. I got heaps of new friends out of my countless housemates. I started working with awesome co-workers. Few of them have visited me here in Melbourne. Stuff started to work out. Because I did something about it.

I’ve been here for almost 10 months now and I still don’t know if I’d want to stay. I do know that I don’t want to go back to what my life was. Just to be clear there was nothing wrong with my life in Finland, I have heaps of friends and a big family. I went and did a lot. It’s just, I know that I want more from my life and I feel that I can’t accomplish those things back in Finland.

I realized my happiness is about what I do not about what other people do or think of me.

https://www.instagram.com/pinjaelisa/

To Finn or not to Finn

Oh, Finland. 

Sometimes I miss familiar things. Like food I would eat on the run or on a bad day. Or the specific sparkling wine everyone would like. Or all the milk products I took for granted and can’t really find here. All the nice places I would go for a walk or a run if I was feeling down. Days we would just go out with one of my best friends and take pictures cause the snow just looks beautiful. Sometimes I even miss my stuff. I wish I had taken those sandals with me, oh and the eye shadow called flame. 

My friends and family I miss everyday. 

2 of my gorgeous sisters.  <3

I’ve been in Sydney a lot. I’ve seen all the most popular tourist attractions. Since I haven’t really lived in any backpacking places I haven’t met any Finnish people in my whole 9 months here. I’ve met Irish, English, German, American, Scottish and people from all over Asia, but not Finns.

My first 6 moths I lived in a town called Camden, 45 mins from Sydney. Nice and quiet suburb. My dad's cousin and her two sons who are my second cousins live there. It was an easy and a good option for me to go there. It's kind of like my safe harbor. If I'm confused about anything they are there to help. It's good to have someone in a foreign country, especially if you are traveling alone.

In my previous workplace we had 8 Irish girls working there at the same time. Lovely and friendly girls. But when they spoke to each other, they seemed so effortless and everybody seemed like they knew each other previously even though they didn’t. I got a bit jealous. I was thinking to myself If only there was another Finn. Would it be so easy and effortless? Or is it just Irish people? I never thought that I’d actually miss Finns.

Then I came to Melbourne. I had been here for 2 days and I randomly walked pass 2 Finns having a conversation in Finnish at the tram stop. So random. Do Finns like Melbourne or is it like this in every city? 4 days later I met this Finnish photographer and she was so lovely. Talking to her was so effortless and easy. I felt like I knew her before.

I’m in this Facebook group called Australian Finns. In the group, you can ask anything and get tips about Visas, trips, cheap flight’s and so much more. So, I saw a guy looking to meet up with other Finns in Melbourne. I messaged him, saw him on Wednesday and again yesterday with a bunch of some new people. So yesterday I met 2 new Finns. I’ve been wondering can I still talk Finnish normally. I speak with my siblings a lot via skype and face time, but it always feels a bit clumsy to switch languages. But when I was talking to these guys, so easy. Somehow liberating too. You can say so much more with just few words. It’s hard to explain but you know exactly what to say.

I also met a British guy and a German girl yesterday and they were both really nice too. Maybe in general it’s easier to get to know to people who are in same situation as you.

It’s silly now when I think about it. The biggest cultural difference between Australia and Finland is the fact that Finns don’t talk to people they don’t know. They barely look at them. If you look at someone and that person looks back you look away! If a random person you don’t know says hi, you walk away cause that person must be crazy. Lol. I’m not even kidding. Finns like to keep their personal space and distance. You don’t stand too close to anyone else unless you have to. You most certainly do not step on someone’s blanket or a towel at the beach. No way.

And here I am, feeling a bond between me and Finns I’ve never met before. Who, in Finland, I would probably never even talk to.

Getting work in Australia

My RSA ( Responsible service of alcohol) was one of the first thing I got done when I came to Australia, cause I wanted to have the option to work in a bar cause it’s always fun and there are bars everywhere. When I switched states, I realized my NSW RSA doesn’t work in VICTORIA cause they don’t accept RSA’s done online. So first thing I did was to take that same course again. It was good. Mainly same stuff that I knew already but I learned about the law differences. When I was doing my regional Work as a Traffic controller in Bathurst ( More about that later) I was doing my first bar job in Australia. It was fun and I enjoyed it a lot. When I came to Melbourne I thought that It’ll be great to do bar work cause it’s the easiest way to get to know people and I'd be doing something that I enjoy doing.

In my defense, nobody looks good in yellow.

                                    

At first I lived in this small country town called Camden, and I didn’t feel too welcome and it was really hard to find a job. But I’m telling you guys it’s not hard to get work in Australia. If it seems like it’s hard to get work somewhere, go somewhere else! When I switched to another city I got hired almost immediately every time. My advice to anyone looking for work: don’t stress. I’ve been in Australia for 9 months now and I’ve had 4 different jobs. It’s not the best to switch jobs all the time but I really want to include travelling to my lifestyle so I kind of have to. For my next job I’m hoping to stay there at least 4-6 months.

Here it’s okay to go around with your CV and ask for work while you introduce yourself. I personally think it’s great! I’ve been living in Melbourne for almost two weeks now and today I had my first trial shift in this Bar & restaurant in the Melbourne CBD. It’s a big place compared to the other bars I’ve worked in before. I was really stressed out because I’ve been mainly working in the country side. It was so cool! Super nervous and excited at the same time. All the co-workers seemed cool and the atmosphere was great. I got the job! I can’t wait to start working there.

I’ll write more about it in 2 weeks when I actually get to work there a bit more than 2 hours. 

1st weekend in Melbourne

I want to tell about my first weekend here in Melbourne. One of my best friends came here on Thursday night from Sydney, he had rented a car which was awesome.

On Friday morning, we went to the DFO -outlet mall to do some shopping. We spent 8 hours there and it went so quickly. Now you might think that’s normal, but I’m not a big shopping person. I personally think it’s so much more fun to do shopping online. Despite all this Friday's shopping was fun and I even found a new purse to replace my old Guess bag that looks like it’s 100 years old. My new bag is beautiful CK leather bag. I love it. And the sales there are 40-60% which is a real good deal! After all this we went to get some dinner. We went to this great Italian place at Brunswick. This place was called the stone mill 347. Small place, probably family owned. Really nice atmosphere and great food. I tried goat for the first time ever and I was not disappointed. This place is rated 4.3/5 on google.

Later that night we went to the IMAX theater to watch the new IT movie that was released a day before. I’m a fan of scary movies but I didn’t think IT was scary enough. Movie was a good and well-done but not scary enough for my taste. Worth seeing still. Made my Friday perfect.

Saturday morning, we found a place for breakfast from google but it had a super long line outside and we decided to go to a place opposite of that place. It was a good call once again good breakfast, I even ordered waffles, which I never do. I rather eat salty than sweet. But this dish sounded too good to skip.  Anyways it tasted good and looked amazing.

Pretty good looking huh? ￫

Saturday was warm and sunny and we went to check out St. Kilda beach. I’m a huge fan of beaches and can’t wait for summer! I also went to my first ever Rugby league game later that day. It was Parramatta eels (From Sydney) vs. Storm (Melbourne) and the atmosphere was great! Enjoyed every bit of it. A big game like American football or rugby has always been on my bucket list and I’m really happy I got to experience it. The game was exciting, both teams played very well!       

I’ve also seen a Rugby union game 3-weeks back, but it’s a slightly different sport. That time it was AU – NZ and Australia didn’t have the best game but still a great experience. I reckon small things make the game, like the audience making waves or standing still and quiet during the Haka. The haka was my favorite part and I didn’t even know that such thing existed before I came to Australia!

Sunday was a chill day, we didn’t do too much. Just grocery shopping and I went to look for a job by walking from pub to a pub and handing out my resumes. I’ve been here for a week so it’s about time to get a job. Ps. I love working!! Life is too boring without a job.

Later we had dinner at a rooftop bar in the city. The restaurant was a Greek place and the food was so good! YUM! I’ve been to Greece before and the food was to die for! Definitely going back for the food.

Monday, I got a call from one of the pubs!! Doing my trial shift in 2 days! So excited. It’s a nice place close to the city and I can get there easily with the tram. So thankful for this opportunity!

We checked out the famous Hosier lane on Monday. Melbourne is a really artistic city. It's vibrant and chill. I might be falling for it. Check this out. 🔽

''Revolution starts with one woman and a brick stone wall''