Tag: living abroad

The fork in the road: Australia

I’ve heard that anything done once can be a fluke, but if you do it twice it becomes a pattern. New Zealand was supposed to be one last hurrah. It was a way to say my dreams were worth pursuing, however grand they may have seemed at the time. And now? I am currently living in Australia, in this fever dream I’m calling life.

After New Zealand

When I had left for New Zealand, I was a mess. I had a job that I sought since college, a partner, and student loans freshly paid off. But something was missing. So I left, on the chance I might find myself. And I did. I came away from the trip more confident than I ever had been. My confidence to move mountains was restored.

The Task to move mountains

Holiday working visas are no easy feat to pull off. You have the application fee, the plane ticket, and the initial months without work. Not to mention miscellaneous, unforeseen expenses. For example, if you’re tired and want to grab food after your flight. Or if your bank randomly adds foreign transaction fees to your card. If you’re doing back to back holiday working visas it can be extremely difficult.

My timeline is as follows: Pandemic -> quit job -> find work -> Pay of Student Loans -> get cavities -> New Zealand… New Zealand -> find work slowly -> start making good money -> travel last month of visa and accrue debt. Then I come back home and have 9 months to make money, which created a completely new timeline… Hop off plane -> say hi to family -> go to alumni event -> become soccer coach -> new job saving a Gala -> Finish Job -> Mini Vacation -> Job Market collapses -> become cashier -> Hop on plane. So as you can see, very little room for error. All this to be unemployed in a foreign country (at least for a couple weeks).

So as you can see, even if you are focused and know what you’re doing, you will have a period where you use the money you saved. This is especially true if you want to have a mini vacation, like I did my first week.

My Mini Vacation

New Zealand was messy. I spent two weeks in Auckland where I befriended a British person right away. This friendship pretty much sealed my fate of drinking every day (for the first couple weeks). For this trip, A week in Sydney, a weekend in Melbourne, and then a house in Adelaide. Sydney was bank account and tax I.D. (as well as a mullet) where I ate free breakfast at the hostel, made cheese sandwiches, and had pasta. My splurge was on a rooftop bar during happy hour. Melbourne? Pure vacation filled with live music, brunches, and clubbing. Did I take the train? Of course! And then a 12 hour bus ride to Adelaide. If I didn’t have the weekend, I would’ve lost my mind. And Adelaide? Settling in and getting to know my roommates.

The coming weeks

I just set up transfers with my US bank. Pro tip: do not pay international wires as they will have high fees and not the best conversation rates! Instead, get a Wise account. You could also try Revolut, although I haven’t used them. Set them up as an external transfer, similar to what you’d use for banks back home. That way, you can transfer money to Wise. Once you set up your account, you can transfer it to whatever country bank account you’re using!

My next task is to find work, which means updating my resume and getting a few licenses specific to handling alcohol and if I want to go the extra mile, a food handlers card. It involves reaching out to local recruiters for the industry I’m applying for and as an extra measure, joining local business professional networks.

Once that’s done, I can start looking into things such as run clubs and perhaps even board game cafes!

Is it worth it?

Obviously, yes. The amount of growth I will achieve on this trip is immeasurable. It’s tough to start but gets a lot easier as the visa goes on. I have my own room, with a desk, so I’m already doing a thousand times better than when I started in New Zealand! Cheers to the future and I’ll be trying to post when I get the chance!

As always, thanks for reading! If you have questions about travel, feel free to reach out! I love sharing my experiences! I’ve also expanded to medium, so I’m expecting a lot more traffic in the coming year!

New Zealand, New Mike: Avocado toast and other things

So I’ve been in New Zealand for a couple months now! And I’m still alive! In fact things have been going quite well as I fall into routine. I’ve been attending professional meet ups, cooking, and getting ready to join a community garden as well as learn about repairing bikes.

What have I been Cooking?

When push comes to shove, I usually adapt and New Zealand has proven no different. I have been baking quite a bit, so below I’ll show off some of my creations:

Flatbread!
Peanut butter cookies!
Bread!
Cheese Puffs!

Flatbread! Why, you might ask? Because it requires 3 ingredients: flour, salt, and oil (plus water). Easy, cheap and healthy. Cookies? I made 60 and it was fantastic; literally ate cookies for three days. Homemade Bread? For a first attempt, it tasted delicious and also looked fantastic. Cheese Puffs? I took my love of cheese to the next level and learned how to make snack food with it!

What have I been doing?

What a great question. I have mostly just been enjoying my time off. I worked a little bit at a stadium serving food and this last month have been attending professional meet ups. The one I found most interesting was on becoming a business analyst, so now I am trying my luck as a consultant to those who need business advice. It’s fun and exciting, and I haven’t felt this motivation since I graduated college. I’ve been doing a bit of writing here and there and just recently got back into coding. I also recently attended a toast master where I got to practice my public speaking and since those are hosted weekly, I’m going to continue to attend more. I might not have a steady job right now but I’m hopeful if I focus this month on finding work, I’ll be able to find something I’m happy with.

Finally Doing ACA

I’ve mentioned it before, but I’ve been doing a few ACA (Adult children of Alcoholics) meetings while I’ve been here. I’ve now been going twice a week and it’s been really fantastic for my mental health. Not easy but I’ve felt a lot of personal growth and really feel my mindset shifting. My problem before is I always tried to tackle everything on my end, now I have a support network where I can openly talk about just how fucked up my childhood really was. It was the missing piece in my self confidence journey and has allowed me to be more vulnerable on the whole, not just in the meetings.

It’s interesting taking this journey overseas but the distance from home really does help quite a bit. I am completely vulnerable over here and I can truly see who I am. I’m proud of how far I’ve come and know that I’m at the finish line.

Travel?

Travel? What travel? I am simply living as I’ve said a couple times before. I have done a bunch of day trips but outside of that, not much else. Since travel is hard to write about, here are some photos instead:

A visit to a lighthouse after a long day of hiking
Rock formations carved out from glaciers, one of the most majestic things I’ve ever seen
Just a normal view around the Wellington area

As you can see, it is absolutely gorgeous here. This trip is exactly what I needed for this chapter of my life and I’ve really enjoyed just traveling around the Wellington area.

Tips and Tricks for Survival in a Foreign Country

I think the biggest recommendation I can give is to simply save up for the trip. Do proper planning and have a piggy bank from back home so you can spend happily. I’m happy that I chose a country where the US dollar is strong, so all the saving I did back home goes a lot further. By saving ahead of time, you take pressure off of “needing” a job and free up time to grow as a person. If you’re working a job just for the money, it can be tough to feel inspired by the experience. I’d also recommend breaking up your trip into markers and my favorite is to break everything up into three month increments. Ask yourself how you’re feeling and if you feel overwhelmed, know that you can always go home after 3 months. If you feel ok after 3 months, push yourself for 6 months and don’t underestimate how much you can change in a 3 month period.

What are Kiwis like?

They are nocturnal. Jokes aside, I’ve found them to be overall pleasant. I had the impression going over that they’d be some of the nicest people I’d ever meet and overall that has been true. But I also realized everyone is simply human. Living with up to 28 people (yes, you read that right) I’ve met a lot of travelers in the last couple of months. And while some cultures I quite admire, I realized that back home isn’t as horrible as I thought when I was leaving. It can always been worse. That said, there is little I have to worry about over here. Kiwis are relaxed individuals that prioritize social interactions over work. I’m hoping in the coming months, I socialize with the kiwis even more and start to really feel like I’m one of them. I have a mustache and long hair now, so I very much fit the aesthetic style of the kiwis.

A Nice Showcase of my double chin

More insight to come

The longer I am here, the more I’ll learn about myself. I am slowly regaining a long lost confidence and it feels really good. And just, yesterday, I touched Thor’s hammer! If that’s not a sign of good things to come, I don’t know what is!

May I one day be worthy.