Zhwantraveling blogg

A lot of thing has happened since last year. So how do I now sum this up? I can barley remember what I had for dinner last night haha..Well let’s still give it a try. The last time I wrote my blog, was mostly about my East Coast trip in Australia. Having friends overseas with different time zones, can sometimes be hard to update each other. That’s one of the reasons it can be good to have a blog. Let’s try to start from back until now.

June, July, Aug 2018

I moved in to my friend, Armine’s apartment in Elwood when I came back from my trip. It was very convenient, because her roommate was moving out at the same time, so it was perfect. The beach was literally less than 5 min walk from home and we had an ocean view from the kitchen. We lived between Brighton beach and St Kilda beach. At the same time not too far from the city. She has a little furry son as that I loved to take care off, his name is Spyros. I used to look after him a lot and he always was listening to me when I was letting him run free on the grass close to the beach. BUT one time he got afraid of a big dog and he just ran away. I had to run after him and call him, but he was so fast that I lost him! Imagine the stress. Even two workers from the beach was helping me to find him. I was afraid a car might have hit him or something, because the road was close to the beach. I was wondering if he is that smart, that he crossed the street to run all the way home. I took the chance to go home, I called after him and there he was hiding in the garage among the other cars! I was so relived and surprised at the same time, that he actually could remember where we were living and finding the way home.

After a while, it was time for me to find a job after all my traveling and having fun. Winter was coming up and I had to look for jobs.

I found an agency related to my education in the social work field. I was happy because it is hard to find jobs that you are qualified as in a new country. It was a process though with a lot of paper work such as national and international police check, children check, doing a first aid certificate and CPR, getting a Victorian driving license etc. All this takes a bit of a time but when it was finally done, I got some casual jobs as a support worker. I started to work in a crisis accommodation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls aged 15-18 years and helped young women to access health, education and housing services. At the same time, I worked as a fundraiser for UNICEF as well. I had a colleague there that shared interesting stories that I still remember. I won’t mention his name (so if you read this, I hope you don’t mind that I share a bit of it, it’s because it was so touching). He told me he was in a relationship with a girl, but she found out later that she had cancer (final stage). He wanted to marry her, but she didn’t want to “burden” him. She took wedding pictures with herself; this was even in the news and magazines. He worked nearly everyday for 12 hours for a year after that and he gave away ALL his life savings to a monk monastery. He lived there and was teaching the kids. His mother wanted him back though and she wanted him to get married. He was happy where he was and didn’t want to leave. His mother said she was dying so he had to leave. The monks were laughing, and they just said, you will understand when you get back. It appeared that his mother was never sick, she only said that to get him back home. (How did the monks know though). :O

I have met so many new people and new friends this year and this is only one of the stories I just shared briefly but many friends have come and left as well for different reasons, makeup and break ups or that their visa was expiring for instance and had to go back to their home country, or they moved to another country. It can be emotional to be very close to someone and next they must leave again. Isn’t it crazy though how one decision we make can take us down to a completely different path to what we ever imagined taking?

Anyway, it was my first time to experience winter in Australia. I wouldn’t personally call it winter; I would compare it more to Autumn in Sweden. I noticed though that the apartments in Sweden are more isolated and it’s much warmer inside. I got to see snow the first time in July. I went with a few friends to the mountain, called Mount Buller. It was beautiful. July is usually the peak of the summer in Europe, so it was weird and cool at the same time that I saw snow in July.

Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec 2018

Let’s move on. I found a good deal and went to France for 2 weeks. I hiked in the Alps in Chamonix Mont Blanc, which was really incredible and loved the city Annecy, which was super charmy as well. When I got back to Melbourne it was still cold but it was getting better and better. I got introduced to dancing bachata and dancehall. I used to dance in Sweden and was so happy to start again. Through the dancing I got to know a “dancing community”. Made new friends there and with common interests. When the summer was coming back, all the festivals and activities was coming back. It is one of the reasons why I love Melbourne so much because it’s so liveable, especially during the summer, it never gets boring! I also love how warm the people are and it is easy to make friends. They invite other people easily into their circle and groups. The warmer it got the more trips I started to do.

The first long road trip was to Perth. I flew there but we drove all the way back from Perth to Melbourne! It took us one week. The drive was extremely long, but we saw amazing nature on the way and was camping in a tent on the car! I think my favourite place was Esperance (Lucky Bay). The water was so clear, and we saw kangaroos on the beach. Speaking of Kangaroo. We hit one on the freeway, it was so scary! I felt so bad for the Kangaroo, but we didn’t have much choice. It is dangerous to stop because of the cars behind us and we had coming traffic towards on the other side. We were lucky nothing happened with us and the car was safe as well. Probably because it was a big car (Landcruiser). If it was a normal car, it could of went very bad but poooor Skippy though!! ☹ ☹ ☹.

I was camping again but this time in December during the Christmas holiday. We went to New South Wales. I love to discover the nature in Australia, although there is a lot of wildlife you see, for good and bad!! I went to Australia’s highest mountain, which is called Mount Kosciuszko so cool, but I remember it started to pour down rain and it was a big thunderstorm with flashes.. so I guess it wasn’t the best place to be in that weather. We ran to like a shelter house and when it stopped, we just continued.

I had to move out in December because our lease was expiring. I was lucky that one of my friend’s roommate at the time was going back home for 2-3 months so I could move in to the city! I was now a city girl and the building had gym and pool and we lived in the heart of the centre. Everything fell to place even though it was last second.

Rex had an idea he wanted to do during the Xmas holiday, I joined him and we did it together. He got xmas gifts (sleeping bags) and rapped them in gift paper. We drove around in the night because he didn’t want any attention and we gave all these gifts to homeless people on the street. They appreciated so much, and some of them had never received any gift in their life. Spread the love! The more we give, the more it will come back to us in return when we at least expect it. My roommate named him Jesus hahah because of his good actions he used to do…he even bought plenty of umbrellas and stored it in his car just in case he would see random people out don’t have any, to give it to them. Such a good heart and inspiring. What can seem small for us, can mean so much for someone else.

I celebrated New Years eve with some friends. I had dinner will Elena and Ella. I travelled with Ella the year before I came to Australia in South East Asia. We were invited to a house party (it was the dance crew) and we went to a Latin club after that. We saw the fireworks at Yarra river, it was crowded but lovely!

Jan, Feb, March 2019

More trips were coming up. I was glamping in Grampians, went to Tasmania for a week. Crazy beautiful nature there!!! If you ever go to Tasmania, make sure not to miss Mona museum. It is a different one compared to other museums. I have done 4XD in the forest, visited a pink lake here in Melbs. I also saw Wilson’s Promontory, loved it as well! I saw wild wombats, ostriches, kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, parrots you name it! No need to go to a zoo or sanctuary hahah

I had to move again after 2 months, because the person who was away was coming back. The roommate that I was living in decided to lease an apartment at Eureka Tower, which is Australia’s tallest building. It is by far the nicest apartment I have ever lived in so far. We lived at level 38 with a view over the whole city. It was 2 min walk to the train station. We had so many restaurants and Crown Casino next to us. We had a cinema in the building, gym, pool and sauna. I was living a “luxury life” for a few months of my life haha! My roommate that I was sharing room with was from Sweden as well and luckily, me and her got along very well.

I got another agency as well and got some more work on the side. I was supporting clients with different types of diagnoses. There is one client that is in my age. His story is quite sad, but he is physically disabled. He went for skiing with his family when he was around 18-20 years old, he is in his 30 now. He was in an accident and he got paralysed after that. He cannot even eat or drink, everything is fed through a peg to his belly button. He lives in a beautiful house, in the richest area in Melbourne. Both his father and brother are doctors. Life is so unfair and strange sometimes. It gives us perspective of life and to be grateful of what we have, because it can all be taken away from us just in a split second.

I had another client with Borderline personality disorder she was around 50 years old. Her mother took drugs when she was pregnant with her. Her mother adopted her away when she was around 2 years old, and she was in different homes and institution most of her life. She is nice and she loves car rides (Out of topic but it was a bit scary in the beginning to drive on the left side of the rode, when I have been driven on the right side all my life). The job duties don’t seem hard when you take them out for activities or to the beach etc until an incident or a scenario occurs! I had one situation when she randomly assaulted a girl on the street, she spat on her and tried to hit her out of nowhere! She was regretful afterwards and apologised and said that the medication is not working for her, which I passed on to the manager. Another time in the car, she was whispering that she is cold. I asked her if she is cold but she changed her voice and said no, WE are not talking to you and start cursing. It sounds like the diagnose Schizophrenia as well but I couldn’t help to think in that moment, what if she is possessed. A doctor would never claim that though…

My working holiday visa was expiring in Feb, so I had to decide before what to do. I choose to apply for a student visa. I started with study an English IELTS preparation course. You need it for many purposes, if you want sponsorship in Australia, or want to study at UNI, or apply for a skilled visa. I have done the test twice but I am still aiming for higher points. The exam is pricey as well, it cost 340$ and it is valid for 2 years.

April, May, June, July 2019

Guess where I went in April, to FIJI!! To celebrate Sala and Raes wedding. Sala is originally from there and Rexy was the Bestman. A funny thing that happened at the airport. Rae and Rex wanted to do a little experiment, so they swapped their passports just before boarding and they got away with it! Either the staff are “racists” haha cuz they both come from the same country, but they don’t look alike at all or they just didn’t pay enough attention. Anyway, at the actual wedding, I know that I wrote very good about Rex before but he has a little devil living inside him as well lmao, he insulted Rae so much during the speech, revealing things from their childhood hahah it was so funny, I almost felt bad for Rae but he said good things about him as well of course. He probably felt he had to add some nice things so the parents wouldn’t kill him lol. I think we were like 10-15 friends from the crew in Melbourne that flew there. I enjoyed it so much there, so much dancing in their wedding and I love their culture. They had two weddings though, one “normal” and one in the village with totally different clothes and rituals. They have something called Cava that they drink, it comes from the tree but taste like mud. If you drink it a lot, the mouth gets a bit numb, but I didn’t like the taste of it.

If you ever go to Fiji, you have to go to Cloud 9. It is a bar in the middle of the ocean with food and drinks and the water is just so beautiful! You can snorkel and see lemon sharks and fishes. I was there on my actual bday so it was perfect!

One time a few of us wanted to go to a cave in the ocean. It was walkable and a local with 2 kids showed us the way. Buuut the tide water had risen on the way back, so we had to swim and the current was sooo strong, it was hard to swim. A few of the crew can’t even swim because no one taught it in their home country. So they almost drowned, well especially Rexy and Miguel hahah but we made it after all.

We all had dinner in the evening at our hotel, omg the staff were sooo sweet, a whole group was singing for me everyone that works there. I do have good memories from there.

When we went back, only like 2 days after I celebrated my bday again hahah…I invited friends over and had dinner, cake and drinks then we went out, had a booth and danced all night!

I started to study another course, Certificate IV in Business, I am currently still studying it. You are only allowed to work 20 hours per week when you are an international student. It’s mostly international students from Italy and some other countries in my class. Did you guys know that the students wear uniforms until they start UNI. It can feel a bit old fashioned, but I actually think it’s a good idea because everyone will look the same and it reduce for possible bullying (if someone has less money than other students, it can show on their clothes).

I have one classmate that is from America. She is going back soon to the states; she said her boyfriend is in UK and she will visit him first. She has been in Aus for 2,5 years. I asked about her relationship with her bf and she told me he used to be in Aus as well but his visa expired so he left the country to NZ and came back on a tourist visa. BUT they asked to check his phone and found that he was texting with his boss the day before. He apparently worked cash in hand and it’s not allowed, SO he got deported back! He is now banned from Aus for 3 years. This is the reason why my classmate is leaving Aus because her bf moved so she will eventually move to UK.

I moved again but this time to Brunswick. You could say it’s more of a hipster area, very cultural with a lot of restaurants, bars and shops. I would say it’s the artistic side of the town with many creative souls that is into music, art etc. It is approx. 15 min away from CBD. But one thing that is scary which happened in a park very near us was that one woman was jogging and she was hit by a falling tree and died! A mother of 2 or 3 children. It’s very sad, but when things like this happen, caused by nature, I believe it was destined that her last day had arrived.

I started to take yoga classes as soon as I moved here, it suits well with the area I live in. I even experienced a high awareness of my third eye in the yoga, but it only happened once. Im gonna sound super hippie now and it is hard to explain but in the end of the session when it was relaxing mode something happened with my senses. They got much stronger than usual and the music we were listening too got somehow more powerful and louder, like it was a part of my body. I didn’t hear it just from the outside it was dancing within me haha Gosh it sounds like I was on something hahah, but it was pure meditation! What I was feeling was that I was in the moment and so calm, tingly and full of joy and happiness. It lasted the whole evening and I went home with the biggest smile on my lips like a crazy person hahah..if this hasn’t happened to you, I don’t expect you to understand but I just wanted to share it.

If you are still baring with me and find this interesting, then I will share some more stories.

My friend told me about a website a long time ago that people search for friends or company to do activity with or show Melbourne. You can either do it for free and some others can pay for it. My friend was a prom date for a guy because he didn’t have anyone to go with. When she told me about it sounded like a fun thing on the side and I thought why not let’s see what this is. I never used it although I had an account until one day a girl contacted me and asked if I could pretend to be her friend for a bday dinner. I was a bit sceptic at first, so I brought a friend with me. It was her husband’s brothers bday and she didn’t get along with some of the relatives there. She invited us for the dinner, it was food from Argentina, and gave us some $ as a gift because we helped her with the awkward situation. She didn’t know many people in Melbourne because she moved around a lot in Australia, so u can really find anything in that website haha. It was a fun experience now when I think about it afterwards. There are other pages as well that I found out recently. In Melbourne they have heaps of like people or students that need models to do like free facials, massages, eye lashes, nails or for very cheap or even photoshootings some of them can be paid sometimes or music videos (which I have done :D) etc, all these pages here are new for me and have been fun to explore :D

Aug, Sept, Oct 2019

I have done some few trips and activities during this period. Went to Sydney a weekend only for food haha and tried the best places there to eat, there is one restaurant that spins and you can see the whole city with a nice view and we did some 4-wheel driving as well, which was fun. It’s not that fun to be the passenger but I got to drive as well and that was fun :D I have also tried snowboard first time in my life. No one wouldn’t believe that since I’m from Sweden. It was very challenging but I’m happy I tried. We did take a class as well, it helped a bit but next time I’m sticking to ski hehe..

Its hard sometimes to keep contact with my friends and family from overseas. It’s 14 hours between me and my sister. She lives in NYC. She is living the hectic life over there with her studies at UNI, she will get a bachelor’s degree very soon in Psychology then study to a master’s degree (she wants to become a physician Assistant within neuroscience and neurology). She volunteers at the hospital as well and working at the biggest Adidas store in Manhattan. She has told me a lot of the times you can meet famous and rich people shop for thousands of dollars. There have even been times when artists and basketball players hit on her and try to invite her to different events to other city’s like LA or their own talk shows and offer to book flight ticket etc. She of course always turns them down and show them

her ring and explains that she is married. Her job seems fun though, she told me that the soccer team from Real Madrid was even there and was signing their autographs to customers, so she saw all of them and the line was so long, it went all the way out from the store. I am so grateful for the technique. Even with 14 hours’ time difference, sometimes we manage to talk on the phone, and everything is reversed like we are living in different dimensions. When she is going home from work, I am going to work. Or sometimes we are both eating but in one zone it’s night time and the other day time. We managed the other day to talk video with my mom as well, all three of us at the same time. Imagine to be able to communicate from Sweden, USA and Australia at the same time and to see each other. I loved it! It was like we were all together again. I’m proud of my sis, at the same time she wants to be healthy and works out as well. She even got offered a job as a personal trainer when the manager saw her train hehe, go girl! They would offer her to get the certificate for free as well, but she is pretty busy at the moment with everything she is already doing and at the same time take care of her dog.

It has been hard though recently for my sisters’ husband and his family because his father just passed away. He used to be a famous American football player when he was younger. He was missing not long ago from his nursing home and it was on the news. He finally got found, but when they found him, he had already passed away in the nursing home, most likely to a heart attack. It was sad, times like this I wish we could all be together. All I can do from far is to send my prayers, thoughts and send love.

Speaking of health, I have been mostly working this periods in the mental health sector as a support worker with either youth work or with homelessness as well. One of the places is called Salvation Army and is a crisis accommodation for homeless people. Something surprised me here a lot that we don’t have in Sweden, is that they have something called prevention and harm reduction in this state (Victoria). It means that some of the residents at the work place use syringes for drug purpose, as example heroin. This mean that the nurses who work there can give syringes to the residents to prevent them to borrow the needles from each other. The purpose is to prevent diseases to spread. This has advantages and disadvantages. The perspective of this is that it is a public health issue and not only on an individual level as a crime. I could never give a syringe to a client when I am aware of what this resident will use it for. It is an ethical dilemma and there is no rehabilitation behind it, and I think it is encouraging them to maintaining their addiction and habit. (This is my opinion). It is also a hazard to be around residents knowing they are high on drugs and that anything can happen.

One random thing that happened at one shift was a father and a son met again there after haven’t seeing each other for like over 10 years, crazy! Is that really a coincidence or meant to be?

I remember one shift, I had an interesting conversation with a chaplain who was working there. He told me “The more grateful we are, the happier we become”. He told me he used to volunteer in Zimbabwe and give food for homeless people with no social network around them. It was only once or twice a week. Always the same food and not a big proportion.

But they were always grateful to get food and wouldn’t leave any left overs on the plate. He compared It with the residents who lives in Melbourne (Salvation Army), how they can complain that they food is not good enough though they have variety of it every day. Maybe the less we have the more we appreciate what we already got?

It is useful to work for agencies because you get to try different positions in your work field. Another work I did while I had a break from school for like a month was as a reception for a company that works with different programs with people with different disabilities. It was fun and I got to do many tasks and meet a lot of workers and clients. One of the workers told that she is adopted, and her sister is adopted as well. They were both raised in the same family but one of them got in into drugs, destructive circle of friends and was struggling in life. It made me think about how much biology matters and how much environment matters. Some people think only environment matters but I have read both parts matters. There have been twin studies, where identical twins lived in different families but they both still had some qualities that were the same. It’s interesting.

The most recent job that I do is at a youth resident, they have they live in their own units though but close to where we have to office. Another thing that was new for me was that they can get depo medication, which means instead of taking medication every day. You can go to the doctor once a month and get it injected so it last for the whole month. The technique even in medicine is going forward.

Wow if you have come this far, that’s amazing! I am just happy to share a few stories from my life. Sorry if there are some grammar mistakes :D This took a while for me to write because I kept pausing and postpone it, but it’s finally done. Thank you for reading my essay haha ! Here are some pictures as well.

Cheeeeers lovebugs,

Sara

It was over one month ago I updated my blog. Im gonna write it in english this time because I don’t have a Swedish keyboard.

So anyway I started my trip in Cairns. I flew from Sydney to Cairns and met up with Matilda. She was in Bali for a month before to meet me up. We stayed at a hostel called Giligans, which is like a party hostel. We booked our trip with an agency called Peter Pans so all the hostels, bus rides and activities were booked. Early in the morning the day after we went to the jungle called Cape tribulation (Daintree forest). Daintree forest is around 200 million years old. We took a boat ride in the creek and saw wild crocodiles, that was really cool! We could not swim in the sea at all because they had too many crocodiles. They have apparently the best immune system in the world and the guide told us that doctors will be able to use their blood to prevent diseases for humans in the future. We could only swim in lagoons but not the sea.

Me and Matilda took a walk in the jungle to explore the area a little. We were told not to be out in the dark because its dangerous. We got a bit lost though and we didn’t have internet or any reception on the phone. It even started to get dark so we were on our way to go back to the hostel. We were far away though. Suddenly we saw so many wild pigs running and crossing the street, I think it was a whole family. Luckily a guy drove his car and passed us. He drove back and asked if we were okay and if we needed a lift. Normally I would never take a lift from a stranger in car but in this situation, it felt much more safe to go with him then to be left there. We took the offer and got back safe. The day after we heard that a girl was missing in the jungle and there was helicopters searching for her.

Its a lot of wild animals in Daintree forest, We saw Cassowaries, spiders, snakes, scorpions by the pool and many others.

The next day we went on a boat trip to scuba dive in Great barrier reef, its one of 7 natural wonders of the world. We saw a small shark for the first time but they are not dangerous.

When we went to Magnetic Island, it was so random. We had a mixed dorm and one of the guys turned out to be Swedish, he was not only Swedish he turned out to be from the same city as us from Gothenburg and he was working close to where I have my apt. Later we even found out that his best friend that he traveled with last year is a co worker to Matilda! Haha how small is the world sometimes? She worked in the clothing store Zara, so funny and really random though…

It was my bday in Magnetic Island so me, Matilda and Anton the Swedish guy rented a 4wheel drive car and drove around the Island. It was really beautiful and we saw Wallabies, they are like small kangaroos. In the evening the hostel was having a party and quiz, I even did a little dace battle haha which was fun and I won hihi :P

We sailed with a boat company called Wings for 2-3 days with a group to Whitsunday Island. This is suppose o be one of the most beautiful spots in the East coast but unfortunately we didn’t have any luck with the weather. It was cloudy and rainy :( but hey, we have to make the best out of the situation and Wetsunday was still beautiful! :P We did a lot of snorkelling and I have never seen so many big fishes in my life. We had fun with the group and did a lot of games and drinking games. One of the guys played guitar when it was sunset and we even saw dolphins.

We skydived in Airlie beach! The night before we had dinner with the boat crew and everyone that was on aboard. Me and Matilda decided not to stay out so long that night. But the unexpected days are usually the most fun…so we stayed all night and partied haha we slept for like 1-2 hours (hungover) not in the best shape to skydive plus that I overslept lol. I was pretty nervous but I honestly think I would of been more nervous if I had more energy haha so it made me a bit calm and I just accepted that I will jump out of a plane, like a crazy person. The view up to the sky was so beautiful but once the door opened in that plane then I realised its for real and I will face my fear. I had no choice just to do it! The free fall went super fast and the air is kind of “hard” because it goes fast. U guys will never see the video, it was awful haha..when the parachute came out, then I felt I could relax and actually see the view. It was a really amazing experience and I was proud of myself that I managed to do it.

Me and Matilda went to a place called Hervey Bay to visit and old lady, she is around 70. She used to be nanny for her dad in Sweden but lived most of her life in Australia but she is from Germany. I must say she is very interesting, fun lady and very talkative. I asked her if she wants to move back to Sweden, since her children lives there. Her answer was “I must have severe dementia if I move back to Shit hole Sweden” hahahah She told us sooo many stories. One of the stories was that when her mother wanted to get married, her grandmothers dad die when she was pregnant. So her mother had to wear black on her own wedding day! She hated the colour black after that and didn’t to wear it or her children to wear it. She even cut her daughters black dress one time because she hated black.

She used to do belly dancing for many years and had a lot of outfits that she even made herself. Me and Matilda tried a bunch of them, they were really nice. The old lady drove us to Rainbow beach were we saw wild dolphins and fed them.

From Rainbow Beach we went to Fraser island. Fraser Island is the worlds biggest sand island and one of the most dangerous places. The island have dingos (wild wolves) venomous spiders, jelly fish and sharks. The hostel divided us in 8 different groups with 8 people in each group to have our own 4 drive wheel. Of all the groups we they split us in two groups to do activites. We all slept at a camping place full of tents. I think Fraser Island was one of my top favourites, I had a lot of fun and the island was amazing. We had fun in our group and we cooked together. We all had some nicknames, Matilda was called Tildi, I was called miss Frigit haha don’t ask and then we had marshmallow man. An Irish guy who got super drunk, fell in the stairs and got a big bruise in his face, peed on him self in the tent while he slept close to his friend hahah and why he was called marshmallow man was when we had a bonfire we barbecued marshmallow but this fella ate them while it was fire on them. He was too drunk to feel any pain. We stayed there 3 days.

We went to Surfers paradise, which looks like Miami. There is skylines and the beach and a lot of restaurants. They have really good night life and it was for sure the nicest hostel room, it felt more like a hotel. We did a few things there in a short time. We went to dream world which is a amusement park, they even have a zoo there with beautiful tigers! We went to a waterpark as well that was fun. We felt like kids again :) We also went to a sky point and saw this awesome view over Surfers paradise.

Our last stop before heading back to Melbourne was Byron Bay. A cute little place, a bit hippie and it reminded me of Ubud in Bali. We hiked to a light house, I was involve with that walk it was such a beautiful road and view. Will I ever have enough of the beauty of Mother Nature? I don’t think so…

In Byron they have the best waves apparently so we wanted to try surfing in Australia!

I was a bit traumatised still because my experience in Bali a year earlier was not so good but I still wanted to give it one more chance. I can say that was the last time! My surfing board was in the water infant of me and a big wave came. I took the rope to “bring back” my board but somehow it got tangled in my finger and a new wave came and pushed away the surfing board again with my finger! It hurt sooooo bad!! I couldn’t continue the surfing because of the pain. I went to the doctor when I came back to Melbourne. I must say I’m really impressed by their health care system. When I booked my appointment at the health centre, I got a appointment the day after and I could see a doctor straight away. In Sweden it takes time until you get an appointment plus you always see a nurse first. He send me the same day to do a x ray! The result showed a broke my finger. I have a new appointment but this time at the hospital, they will decide if I need a surgery or not. Luckily I have a medicare like the rest of local people in Australia so I don’t need to pay for the health care. Australia and Sweden have that agreement.

My friend told me there is an app and if u feel sick u can just “order” a doctor home to ur house the same day and its for free! I’m sooo impressed, the rest of the world needs this as well.

Anyway if you read all this, then it means it was an interesting story :P and you are awesome that read it all, its more fun to share it. I had an amazing time really and the time went so fast, now its time for me to settle in Melbourne. :)

Sending a lot of love to you guys, xoxo!!!

​Hej igen alla härliga vänner!

Nu ligger jag två veckor efter med bloggen och tänkte uppdatera lite vad som har hänt hittils. Om ni vill åka till Melbourne någongång så rekommenderar jag starkt att gå till deras museum i stan som är gratis och heter National Gallery of victoria. Jag brukar inte vara jätte intresserad av att gå på museum eller det beror på vad det är för något. Denna var skit cool, de hade flera "kreativa rum" med exempelvis ett rum som hade flera rum som var som ett hem men var fylld med röda blommor överallt. Jag vill ej spoila för det är roligare att själv upptäcka det men kan visa lite bilder. Den dagen var jag med Carro och vi gick även till en gata som är känd för sin graffiti. Gatan heter Hoiser Lane och är känd för sin street art. Där tog vi lite häftiga bilder. Carro är fotograf och jag älskar att ta bilder så vi är en bra kombo heheh, vi promenerade även till deras botaniska trägård som är väldigt stor.

Jag har tidigare nämnt att vi bor ihop med en till tjej som är från Irland. Hennes mamma var på besök så vi åkte alla ihop till en djurpark, stället heter Healesville Sanctuary och låg en liten bit bort. Det var kul att se hur miljön ändrade sig på vägen dit, från en stor stad till landet och så fiiin natur! När vi kom fram fick jag se djur jag aldrig tidigare sett i mitt liv. De hade alla möjliga djur som resten av världen ej har. Jag fick äntligen se kängurus! Australien är ju förknippat med sina kängurus så jag fick äntligen klappa och mata dom med morötter. Jag visste inte att de hade dålig syn, ibland kunde de knappt se morötterna haha..dom var i alla fall hur sööta som helst. Jag såg även massa koalas. Fun fact: Tydligen så bär ca 95% utav koalorna på klamydia. Det är lika vanligt för dom som för oss när vi är förkylda.

Just det, jag har även spelat fotboll här haha..det var så kul faktiskt! Har ej spelat på år, sist jag spelade var säkert i skolan. Vi var blandat tjejer och killar och det finns en grupp på facebook som annordnar massa gratis aktiviteter. Jag gjorde tom mål! Jag kände mig som ett barn igen hehe men träningsvärken jag hade dagen efter var inte lika kul..

Vi har även varit på grillfest och födelsedagsfester både hemma och utomhus. En hemma fest var nära att esklaera. Då hade två killar sagt något "respektlöst" om en annan killes ex. Killen var med med sin nuvarande tjej men även hans ex var också där samtidigt. Det blev att han tog fram sin kniv och de började bråka. Som tur hann folket stoppa dom och ta bort hans kniv. En hel del svartsjuka och drama men det löste sig tillslut.

Jag har även varit på utomhusbio. Det är sååå mysigt! Det var i deras botaniska trägård i stan och bakom själva skärmen kan man se alla skylines. De hade foodtrucks och hyrde ut beanbags. Såg en film som heter I Tonya, den är verklighetsbaserad och handlar om en tjej som tävlar i skridskor och kommer från en trasig bakgrund och är gift med en man som misshandlar henne. Jag tycker att filmen var bättre än förväntat.

Åhh för första gången så har jag även varit på Hot Springs, det är såå skönt. De har små varma källor utomhus mitt i ingenstans. Var där från eftermiddag till kvällen. Dit ska man när det gärna är lite kyligare i luften för då blir det extra härligt. Det rekommenderar jag starkt! Dit kan man åka med sitt tjejgäng men även med sin partner för det är romantiskt.

Här är det också påsk och folk är lediga så i helgen ska vi campa yeeiihh!! Ska åka med ett stort gäng till Great ocean road, förhoppningsvis även till Grampians som är en nationalpark. Får hoppas på att inga äckliga spindlar eller andra djur kryper in i tältet. :)

Massa pussar och kramar

Hej alla fina!

Jag hade skrivit ett lååångt inlägg i måndags för att återberätta helgen. När jag var klar efter över en timmes skrivande och jag hade sparat och ska publicera inlägget försvinner ALLT! Om ni någon gång har varit med om något liknande kan ni känna igen frustrationen. Min syster fick panik då hon hade en deadline inlämning och hade skrivit en artikel på 8 sidor och allt bara försvann när hon skulle skicka det. Det visade sig att hon hade virus på datorn. Hennes lärare var som tur förstående. Gud ge mig tålamod när sånt händer haha sååå jobbigt att skriva om allt och minnas alla detaljer för det känns ej att det blir lika bra som första gången men men får göra ett försök ändå. So here we go..

Vi börjar med i fredags, då gick vi på 30 års fest. Han hade hyrt hela baren och vi hade det trevligt väldigt kortfattat.

I lördags hängde jag Desi, Nadia och Carro på stranden hela dagen. Det var smockfullt med folk som inpackade sillar. Det var 35 grader så inte konstigt att det var så mycket folk. Vi gossipade lite om gårdagens kväll och bara gottade oss i solen. De hade en festival på stranden som vi gick till som heter Streat Eatz. De hade uppträdanden, aktiviteter och massa food trucks. Det var speciellt ett gäng som kallades för bearded guys eller något liknande. De gjorde knafeh som är en arabisk efterrätt. De var underhållande för alla hade långt skägg, dansade på borden och spelade trummor, så sköna :)

Efter det gick vi tillbaka till stranden och kollade på en Såå vacker solnedgång, det var härlig stämning. Nadia och Carrotitta på pingviner på vägen hem som alltid kommer till klipporna efter solnedgången. Hundratals av dom. Desi skulle förbereda sig och packa inför en festival ett par dagar.

Michaela är en amerikansk tjej som är från LA och bor i Long Beach. Jag bodde ju där för ett par år sedan och studerade på California State University Long Beach. Bästa tiden i mitt liv så det är lite kul att hon är just därifrån. Vi mötte upp några vänner, två killar och en tjej. Killarna är från Aussie men den ena killens rötter är från Indien. Han sa om jag skulle åka dit skulle folk tro jag är en Bollywood stjärna o folk skulle ta masa bilder hahah..Jag brukade alltid tittade på Bollywood filmer när jag var yngre. Så om jag någon gång vill känna mig som en kändis så kan jag åka dit lol..Den andra tjejen är också från LA men från Santa Monica. (Dit flyttade jag under sommaren efter att jag var klar med skolan i Long Beach). Loved it! Många som jag träffar tror jag är spansk men bor i USA eftersom jag tydligen har en stark amerikansk dialekt. Får försöka öva in Aussie dialekten.Vi var på några barer sen gick vi ut till en bar som Michaela brukar jobba på. Jag sov hos henne den natten. På morgonen hade Michaela stuckit till jobbet. Hon är maneger i en klädesbutik, så hon hade sovit typ 4 tim den natten. De bor ihop med två killar till. På morgonen klampar ena killen in när varken Desi eller Michaela är där. Han blir så överraskad o förvirrad av att se mig där. ”Who are you”? jag ställer samma fråga tillbaka hahah men vi reder ut ganska fort vilka vi är :P

På söndag går vi till Luna Park som är en av världens äldsta nöjespark. Jag, Nadia, Carro och Matilda. Jag och Nadia hade vunnit biletterna på en danstävling helgen innan och de är värda ca 60 dollar per biljett så det var nice. vi åkte massa åkattraktioner dock är det bättre på Liseberg ;) Framåt kvällen blev det bättre då spelade massa olika DJs. De hade en sektion med ”silent disco” då tog man på sig hörlurar som hade tre olika färger. Färgerna var kopplade till tre olika DJS. Det var så annorlunda men väldigt kul! Det är bra om man vill kolla statistik på vad folk gillar att lyssna på och även om man ej vill störa grannar och själv bestämma volymen på musiken.

På måndag gick jag och Nadia till Melbournes största gratis festival som var sista dagen. Det fanns vattensporter och allt möjligt. Det finns alltid något att göra i den här staden! Massa event, festivaler etc. Älskar det verkligen, går inte att bli uttråkad. Folk är supertrevliga och man får lätt vänner. Vi gick dit i alla fall och köpte varsin brasiliansk acai. I kön lärde vi känna några som vi joinade dem och tittade på fyrverkerier med. Kvällen blev oförutsägbar och vi umgicks med dom, mötte upp Matilda på en quiz bar. Vi åkte sedan och rökte vattenpipa på deras ställe. Det var intressant att höra den ena killens historia hur han kom hit som flykting för ett par år sedan från Syrien och inte ens kunde engelska. Nu äger han både resturang och ”bröllopslokal” och bokar in olika evenemang. Vi åkte dit och det var superfint med alla dekorationer. Allt är möjligt om man verkligen vill och är engagerad.

Resterande dagar har bestått av lite rooftop bar mitt i stan. Jag har även varit på drive in bio..Sååå mysigt under bar himmel och ta med sig massa snacks och dricka. Såg filmen Red Sparrow. Hängt med internationella vänner och kört beer pong, varit ute på resturang etc. Lär känna nya människor varje dag på olika sätt. Nu är det snart helg igen och på lördag ska vi på en color festival!

Puss på er!!!

Hej!

Bakgrund:

Den 15 februari 2018 reste jag till Australien, på min systers födelsedag. Jag hade länge funderat över om jag skulle göra den här resan. Jag ansökte om ett working holiday visa förra året när jag backpackande i Asien. Jag hade bara en chans kvar att resa dit på det visumet eftersom det gäller endast tills att man är 31 år. Jag tvekade lite innan av privata skäl men nu ångrar jag inte alls att jag åkte! Jag hyrde ut min lägenhet och fick tjänstledigt i ett år av jobbet. Det är viktigt att njuta av livet och maxa den till fullo! Detta passade mig utmärkt :) Jag har tidigare bott i LA i cirka ett år då studerad jag där på universitet men nu vill jag testa på att resa lite till och även jobba i Australien. Hemma i Gbg jobbar jag i en öppenvård med psykosocial problematik och trivs väldigt bra. Det hade varit så givande om jag kunde jobba med socialt arbete här med men kan även tänka mig att göra något helt annat också. I början visste jag inte om jag skulle resa till Perth, Sydney eller Melbourne. Av någon anledning skrev min systers kompis till mig som handlade om något annat. Nadia heter hon och gick i samma klass som min syster på gymnasiet. Jag hade inte träffat henne på ett par år med tanke också på att min syster bott i NYC de senaste 5 åren. Det visade sig att hon också skulle flytta till Australien med en kompis i 1-2 år och snabbt blev vi sammanlänkande. Känns som att det var lite menat, så hiimla kul! Nadia och Carro åkte ner redan i slutet av dec så det var skönt att komma till ett boende. Min resa dit kändes oändlig, tog ca 30 timmar. Åkte från Gbg-Dusseldorf-Abu Dhabi-Melbourne. Jag kom inte iväg direkt utan blev fast i Tyskland pga snöstorm. Dom som känner mig vet att det brukar hända mig att mina flyg blir sena eller inställda haha..i alla fall det blev inte helt fel eftersom min kusin Nina bor där som jag ej träffat på 10 år. Det var kul att träffa henne och familjen samt se lite av Tyskland.

Nu har jag snart varit här ca i 3 veckor redan och jag tänkte ge en liten sammanfattning på hur det har varit här hittills. Första veckan var jag heeelt jetlagged, somnade 8-9 på morgonen och vaknade sent men tillslut kom jag in i det. Det har även varit lite praktiska saker som att fixa tfn och bank konto, skattnr osv. Huset vi bor i är fräscht dock ligger det en bit bort från stan. Folk kallar det "ghetto" haha men jag som är uppvuxen i Angered som är en förort tycker att det är super lugnt här bland alla hus. Jag har ett eget rum och vi är 4 tjejer som bor ihop. Den fjärde tjejen är från Irland och har bott här i 3 år. Hon har även en hund. Den hunden har dock varit lite problematisk. Inte hunden i sig men vi från Sverige är vana att ta hand om djur och hundar på ett annat sätt. Jag la snabbt märke till att det kunde gå dagar innan hon gick ut med honom. Hon släppte honom bara på altanen för att göra sina behov. Det blev att jag gått ut med honom fastän det ej är mitt ansvar så tyckte jag synd om honom. Jag kunde ej hålla mig och det blev att jag pratade med henne om det. Hon hamnade i affekt och menade på att hon gör så gott hon kan och att han har problem med sina bakben och ej kan ta långa promenader. Min åsikt var att det är viktigt för hundens psykiska och fysiska hälsa och att man kan ta kortare promenader. Det har blivit en liten förbättring i alla fall..nog om det, Melbourne i helt är ju en helt underbar stad! Jag älskar den!! Folk är super trevliga, sociala och det finns både strandliv och stadsliv här.

Man träffar på så mycket folk hela tiden och vi blir inbjudna till olika event och aktiviteter. Vi har strosat runt i stan och på stranden. Vädret är underbart här! Dock kan människorna vara lite flummiga och veliga ibland men det är en annan femma hahah..Vi har vunnit festival biljetter på en danstävling när vi va ute :) Vi har blivit inbjudna till en surfhelg i ett stort hus vid havet, åka fri jetski, åka yacht båt o födelsedagar. Killarna är väldigt generösa och framåt i den här stan lol.. Vi har fått nya vänner bara på att vara på stranden, på tågstationen på väg in till stan osv. Det händer ju aldrig hemma i Sverige på samma sätt. Jag har träffat speciella människor med väldigt intressanta historier. Jag träffade en tjej som berättade när hon var 18 år så var hon ute med sina vänner och såg en kille. Direkt sa hon att "I will have his babies" haha den tiden hade han flickvän i 2 år så det blev inget. Efter det blev de tillsammans i ca3 år men det tog slut och hon flyttade till London. Det var slut mellan de i 4 år och han kontaktade henne, åkte till London och hämtade henne. De har varit tillsammans sedan dess gifte sig och fick barn. Romantiskt juu haha hur livet kan ha sina vändningar, love it! På gott och ont :) Sen träffade jag en annan som hade dom sjukaste historierna. När han var ca 1,5 år tog hans släktingar hand om honom i Malaysia eftersom den mamman gick bort i barnafödsel och förlorade även sitt barn. De gav bort sin son i ca 10 år av empati. Han växte upp där och pratade deras språk. Flyttade tillbaka till Australien när han blev äldre, fick lära sig engelska och gå på internatskola. Han var med om en MC olycka och låg på sjukhuset i ett år och koma i 4 månader, tappade till och med synen. Han blev återställd tillslut. Detta var en superkort sammanfattning ändå blev det så långt.

Nadia har startat en onlineshopping, så smart så jag har varit med och medverkat och fotat lite med deras fina kläder! Jag gillar att hon tänker utanför boxen och vill jobba från sin dator för att kunna resa världen runt och ej fastna i vardagsrutiner. Tjejerna är så sköna och jag är så glad att vi kommer så himla bra överens, goa med massa positiv energi. Nu får jag nog runda av för vi ska till en 30 års fest. Imorgon ska det vara 35 grader pheeuuh !

Ill keep u guys updated!! Pussss