Hey girls and guys!
For those who don't know me jet. As you can read here about me. https://steemit.com/motorcycle/@raymondhvh/introducing-myself-and-my-goals-in-life
I'm a dutch internship student in Melbourne Australia.
About a week ago I had flown from Amsterdam to Melbourne. And this is my experience so far.
First I prepared my packing at home months ahead. I tried to bring only the essentials
Jokes aside. Its required to have a good plan for packing your suitcase when you travel to a new living space. When you live somewhere for 5 months you might think of not bringing things you can buy there like clothes or shampoo's. This way you save space for what is really needed like your laptop. Camera. Travel wallet outlets. Expensive perfume. Also be sure to have your Visa requested in time! For Australia a work and travel visa lets you stay at maximum of 12 months and costs you about 320 euro's. For my ticket i paid about 1050 euro's, Travel insurance is 240 euro's. First days of hostel cost me 250 euro's. To pay a agent to find me a internship costed me 580 euro's. *(You can do this yourself if you are not in a hurry. However since its done now by my agent. It provides a safety.) In total I paid about 2500 euro before I even arrived. Keep this in mind if you are interested to go here for internship. Its also unpaid!
It started off by flying to the airport in Frankfurt. I have only took a plane in my life once before, To Berlin. My second journey is 27 hours of travel time! Amsterdam - Frankfurt - Bangkok - Melbourne. I've watched bad movies such as the new "fast and furious" and "chips" It was a though flight. I am not used to it and I am 1,84 meters long. However the food was great. I got to fly with Thai airlines.
Bangkok from air.
Arriving at Melbourne.
The day I arrived I stayed at Base Backpackers St Kilda. This I had booked online before arriving, so a shuttle bus picked me up.
On the bus I already got talking to the local people and made my first friend. Once I arrived there was this giant Monday night party going on in the hostel. It took me by surprise but I went along and had my first beer here!
That night I got to explore the local area immediately
As it was late the streets where empty but I loved the way it looks. Made some more pictures on my not so good smartphone camera and went to bed.
Next day I woke up and had no jet lag at all. This I experienced later in the week. I took a sleeping pill every night for 3 night to get over it.
The thing that took me with surprise in Australia is the food prices. McDonald's charged me 13 something dollar for a menu. And the breakfast at the hostel was really minimal and bad. I calculated the cost of food being here 5 months and it really added up a lot!
The next day I started looking for a apartment, I've already contacted several people back at home to make sure that I had some inspections to do. about 5 of them replied. I did this using flatmates.com One that is located in st Kilda. It was not the cheapest with 200 dollar a week. But it was brand new. However its location is still 30 minute to the central of the city. As for me I wanted to experience how its to live in the city itself. This was to far away because at night I would have to really plan going out. Later that day at the hostel there was another party with playing trivia. I've met some new friends and we had some drinks and I kinda got forced to use Facebook to befriend them online.
So our team actually won the trivia game! A 100 dollar drink or eat card was ours.
I've went and got the service of a "job search package" as well. This girl helped me get a sim card. Get my bank account requested and having a tax number. As I do not really need those (jet) because I've got a internship job already figured out when i was in Holland with my agent. Also I had to get a public transport prepaid card at 7 eleven(which is also really expensive here! You will need to spend from about 8 to 12 dollar a day when you travel like I did when inspecting apartments). Its a all-round kind of store that offers you coffee. money transfer and public transports or smokes. I've seen they also got gas stations.
Then it turned out to be day 3 of my hostel staying. This was the last day at the hostel and I was about to visit my 4th inspection. The second and third inspection turned out to be really cramped up places for medium priced in the middle of the city. It did not look very clean and was packed with 6 to 8 people all being students. Really uncomfortable.
So I went to this 4th inspection and WOW. Did I get blown away! I Arrived earlier as supposed to and started to walk around the neighborhood.
This was basically the backyard!
The best thing is, this was only 15 minutes apart from the central of the city.
You could see the skyscrapers in the background when you get outside.
Once I got inside I got greeted by a very friendly woman called Lan. Which I now can proudly call my friend.
She showed me around and the apartment had everything you can ever wish for.
A library. Fitness. Pool. Sauna. Garden. Nice kitchen and more
I had a king sized blown up bed. And plenty of space. The price was the same as the first apartment i visited!
Me and Lan instantly clicked and we went to get a coffee around the corner.
I officially arrived in Melbourne and could begin getting settled ! In my next post I will write about getting myself a motorcycle.
SNEAK PREVIEW!
And why it had to go back to the garage. How I do and do not enjoy the food around here. My first day at the internship company and which company that is. And of course. Beer!
I hope you like my story. I try to tell them as honest as I can. If you got any comments for me to improve or any questions to ask PLEASE react on my post! Also up-vote it if you want to see more honest posts ! I am planning to experience everything from the great ocean road to skydiving and scuba diving. Going to Sydney and having a BBQ with friends. Riding with other bikers and drinking special beers. Or even date someone !
Greeting and thanks for reading. Have a nice day.
Raymond.