Need Some Structure in My Life

Back in Chicago I worked full-time during the day and went to school full-time at night. I never had a slow moment and always had somewhere to go or something I had to do. Now that I'm in Melbourne and deciding which job path to take and what to fill my spare time with, I'm struggling a bit.

I know that I just got here and everyone I meet says, 'Whats the rush in finding a set routine? You just arrived! Take a break and enjoy your holiday!' Well I don't know how to do that. And when it comes down to it - I'm not on a holiday, I am trying to make a life here. I feel like I need to have somewhere to go or something to do that is worthwhile to me in the long run. I can only go into the city so many times, eat at the different cafe's and do the all the touristy things that Melbourne has to offer, before I need something more.

I've been researching online and have decided that I am going to enroll in French classes down at the Alliance Francaise de Melbourne. I loved taking French in high school and was able to test out of it in college so I could get through the other courses I needed to graduate. To this day I regret that decision to some extent. I know at that time in my life I was much too busy with work to be fully committed to continuing French at a college level, but to some degree I think that was a very lazy excuse not to go through with it.

I've been here in Australia for just under 2 weeks and I would say that 8 out of every 10 people that I meet think that American's are uneducated and pretty stupid. For example, I was in a cafe the other morning and was minding my own business, enjoying my latte and reading the paper, when I overheard the baristas chatting to another Australian customer. She said that she read a survey that asked more than 5000 Americans to look at a map of the world and see if they could identify what country was incorrectly placed on the map. (The map showed Australia upside down) Apparently the results showed that 70% could not correctly answer the question.

Of course I had to chime in with my American accent and challenge her findings just to keep her on her toes, but in the back of my head I'm thinking could that be true? Could the average American really not be able to discover that on a map? SO in the hopes of proving the 'stupid American' stereo-type wrong I am going to use my free time learning another language.

I know that I won't stay in Australia forever, like some people back home are convinced that I will, and I want to be sure that I'm not limiting myself to possible opportunities because I only speak one language. I have no idea how this will all work out, but I submitted my application this morning and hopefully every Saturday for the next two months, from 9am to 1pm, I will be chattering away trying to learn something new.

Au revoir!

New House in Melbourne

Tonight is my second night in my new house in Melbourne. I've moved in with two girls from New Zealand, Hayley and Victoria, and have been having a great time so far! Hayley works for a men's clothing store in the city and Victoria works in medical research. We live only a block or two away from the train line and a 10-15 mins ride into the city, so the location is perfect.

As you all know, after a long and stressful day yesterday I finally put together my dresser and clothes rack in time for my mattress and bed frame to arrive today. Well after the debacle that the IKEA purchases brought I thought there is no freaking way I am going to try and put together and damn bed! So I somehow convinced the salesman, at this little hole in the wall bed shop down the street, to deliver and assemble my bed for free this evening! So about 5:30 he turns up with his little tool kit and put it all together in under an hour! I can only assume it would have taken me days to get it finished and probably a stint or two in AA; so it was nice to have it all sorted before I was even finished with my first glass of wine with dinner.

Lindsay came over a little bit ago to see the completely finished room and enjoy an amazing feast that Hayley tossed together for us all. So all and all today was 100% productive in Melbourne.

Here are a few photos from dinner and of the new house....

Bathroom that Victoria and I share

My bedroom

Stairwell upstairs to kitchen and living area
Dining room and Kitchen
Living roomBalcony / Patio area

Victoria, Hayley and Linsay

I Made These Almost Entirely On My Own!!

Ok seriously the last time I am ever trying to assemble something on my own. It took me about 8 hours to make both of these before I called Lindsay for help. The dresser has no handles yet because I got mad and threw them out; and the hanging rack more often than not has a lean to the right of about 30 degrees, but other than that I am now OFFICIALLY unpacked and with the exception of my bed frame am situated into my new house. (As soon as I get the bed set up tomorrow I will post some pictures of my place)

American Blogger Meet Up

Yesterday I had the wonderful chance to go and meet another American bloggette right here in Melbourne. Danielle over at America to Australia lives here with her family and is an expat like Linds and I, from New Jersey. As the days pass here in Australia the world seems to get smaller. Every time I turn around there seems to be another blogger from the states living here in Melbourne looking to meet more American expats! It's just so weird to me that Lindsay and I only just met last week for the first time and already feel like we've known eachother for years through our blogs!

Today I finally went to IKEA and bought new bedding, dressers and other bedroom type crap to put into my new house! I've been living with Lindsay since I arrived last week and the other day I was lucky enough to meet two girls from New Zealand who needed a third roommate for their house down the street! I've got the IKEA stuff being delivered tomorrow so hopefully with the help of Lindsay's tool kit and a few bottles of red the two of us can figure out how to assemble it all so I can actually start living in my own house!

I'll keep you updated on how that goes because as you all know I am not very handy when it comes to building anything!

Backtrack a Minute

Me and Anth

Uncle Mark Grandpa

Around the campfire

Another cousins shot

Little Abby

Roberto family gathering wouldn't be the same without a 'cousins' photo

My brother Tommy and Uncle Andy deep frying the wings!!

I forgot to post pictures from the going away party in Minnesota before I left. We had such a perfect day for it and the whole family made it out for one last get together before Anthony and I hopped on the plane.

First Few Days Down Under

I arrived Satruday morning in Melbourne and was so happy to see Lindsay and Caity waiting for me at the airport! It was such a long flight and was good to see somewhat familiar faces when I finally got here. Pretty uneventful flights over and thankfully was able to sleep for a good part of it.

Lindsay and I have spent the last few days running around the city and getting used to everything. She's been here since February so it's been great having my own little tour guide. It is so much different here than I ever imagined it would be and is nothing like anywhere in the states. Yesterday, as we were visiting different neighborhoods to live, it finally sunk in that I have just moved my entire life around the world and I had a bit of an "oh shit what have gotten myself into" type of moment, but as the days pass it gets easier and I'm becoming more comfortable with the city.

Although the one thing that I don't think will ever get easier is the lack of Target Stores here. I mean they have Target stores, but they are nothing like the US - the only thing they have are overpriced crappy clothes. No make-up, no hair stuff, no food, and minimal houseware type things. So I will miss the one stop shop of cheap products, but if that's the worst thing I think I'll be alright.

Otherwise, not a lot has happened since I arrived just getting acclimated to the trains/trams , getting bank accounts and my phones set up, so nothing too out of the ordinary. I'm still waking up at all hours of the night and trying to get on aussie time, but other than that a whole lot of relaxing and living the good life!

Here are a few pictures from the last couple days....

Me on some bridge near the Southbank

Flinders Street Station in the city

Here is a photo of Lindsay for all of you skeptics at home that tried to convince me she was fictitious.

Arrived Down Under

Ok just wanted to update the fam back home in MN that I made it to Australia in one piece and am catching up on much needed sleep. Will be sure to post all about the trip over tomorrow when I'm back amoung the living!

Packing + Nicole = Disaster

I woke up this morning and told myself that I was going to get completely packed and ready to go for next week so I could go out and really enjoy my last few days with family and friends. And after 2 hours of messin' around and going through boxes I was no further than when I started.



I got up early around 7:30 unpacked boxes, did some laundry and began to fold my clothes into different piles based on what was going, staying or being donated. Well after about 45 minutes I looked up and just saw a mess of clothes everywhere and all sense of organization and structure was lost. I wanted to open a Heinekin and sit down to try and figure out what the heck kind of mess I had created, but it was only 9 AM and I was feeling a bit uneasy about opening a bottle when I was already feeling very overwhelmed by the entire situation. So needless to say I decided to just throw all the piles into the laundry baskets or my luggage and start again on Monday - wouldn't want to be stressed out for the big party tomorrow :)

McGoverns Patio

I really couldn't have planned my move back to MN any better - the weather has been sunny and beautiful everyday!!

Last night I met up with my friend Maddie who I haven't seen in forever it seems like! We did spend the last 4 years together at college and living down the street from each other, but for whatever reason never managed to cross schedules. So it was nice to have a chance to get caught up on all the MN gossip and see each other once before I leave.

Tomorrow is the big going away party for me and my cousin so I am off to Sam's to pick up what I can only expect will be a large amount of hamburger meat and cookies!