We Aren't Living Out of Our Bags Anymore! Exclamation!

So I realized I haven't updated you guys in a while. We've officially been here a little over a month, which is pretty exciting and also a little terrifying, haha. I actually am starting to feel like I live here - it just felt like an expensive vacation for awhile. Also, we forgot to mention in previous posts that after the disaster of flying here, the airline actually LOST all of our bags, then ended up delivering them to us a few days later.

It's been mostly really good. Regis is excited he will be starting work soon, which is awesome. We finally got to unpack our crap after almost two months of living out of our suitcases and sleeping in friends' or family members' spare bedrooms (Shout out to Scott, my brother Luke and Regis' parents!). We finally have our own bed - FYI, Ikea pillows are no bueno! The neighborhood we live in is really nice and it's close to a couple train stations and tram stops, so getting around is super easy. Another great bonus is a beautiful park is about a block away and we are REALLY close to the beach. Did you know the beach is my favorite thing ever? It basically is - Regis is a close second :)

Caulfield Park - Complete with a cool duck pond!

St Kilda Festival

I have almost gotten used to biking on the street here - it's absolutely something I never did in Charlotte, mostly because of the lack of both bike lanes and NC driver skills. Now I can bike to the beach in about 15 or so minutes, which will be great! I really like getting the cool beach vibe along with living in a huge city - Regis and I are both super ADD people that need lots of activity options and this place has not been disappointing thus far. Plus, PENGUINS! (Don't worry, there's a penguin picture in this post!)

I think the only issues I have (and probably will for a while) are the loneliness factor and the fear of the unknown. I have pulled out my phone a few times to text one of my friends from Charlotte to hang out without thinking before quickly realizing they're about 10,000 miles away recently. We only know about five people here, which is a great beginning (I knew one person when I moved to NC) but it is definitely lonely going from a large group of friends to this. It's obviously something I knew we'd have to deal with and I'm sure will subside eventually. Our new roommate seems cool, which is a good start! All 3 of us went out for Valentines Day the other night, and it was a blast.

Valentines Day drinks!

The fear of the unknown thing is a bit more difficult to put into words and is something I'm a bit hesitant to share - basically it's been something I have been dealing with since several months before we left. I'm going to start off by saying I am generally a super relaxed person and my motto has always been "worrying doesn't accomplish anything, so why bother".

I developed some pretty bad anxiety during the fall. I always used to think it was something that people made up for attention, but it is something a lot of people silently struggle with, and to be frank, kind of sucks to deal with. I had a few panic attacks at work, then a few outside of it that gradually got worse - it was quite miserable and I was terrified of how they were affecting me. To make a long story short - I went to the doctor, got a short term solution in the form of a medication I would normally never take and thought everything would magically go away when we got here.

It mostly did, but comes back every now and then when I worry about someone not calling for a job, or thinking of possible short term plans so I have some kind of backup, or our place STILL being on the market, or basically just freaking out in general about uprooting all of our shit and moving here - and everything I hoped went away will just start. I think until I begin and am adjusted to whatever job I'll end up with, it's going to be something I'll have to deal with. I guess I just wanted to vent about this because I'm sure my Instagram posts and snapchats of the beach make all my friends back home think everything is always perfect. Nope!

We chose to take this outrageously insane (but VERY planned out) risk, and I'm absolutely positive we're both going to look back at these struggles a year from now and say that this move is the best decision we've ever made.

I mean come on... PENGUINS, right? :)

Adorable.

Regis here, been a minute

So Laci called me out for creating this blog that I haven’t really been posting to.  I guess this blog post is to appease her and say “hey look I wrote a couple”.  The real reason I haven’t wrote anything is that I haven’t really had anything to write about.  Life has been pretty much wake up, apply for jobs, do something outside, drink a beer, sleep, repeat.  Up until this point we have been living as cheaply as possible due to the fact that we have no income.  We have actually become quite good at finding dinner and drink specials to lessen the blow.  But that’s about to change, very soon!  Quite simply, I accepted a job offer!  And Laci should know shortly if her or the other candidate got chosen for her job to.  But enough about Laci, back to me! 

I was offered a job at Monash University in the Maintenance Technology Institute.  I know that sounds like I’m going to be fixing shit that breaks on campus but that’s not at all what I will be doing.  The MTI is a research and development standalone on campus that works with around a dozen mining companies across Australia, China, and South Africa.  Their job is to implement sensors and data acquisition onto excavators and drag lines to monitor the performance and stress that the machines see.  My job will be 2 fold, first I will have to travel to the different mining sites to install these systems and troubleshoot any problems.  Second, when I am not traveling I will be analysing data back at the Monash Clayton Campus.

To those of you who know me through FSAE this probably seems kind of comical and to be honest I agree with you.  For everyone else, this whole "lets move to Australia" thing started due to an alliance between my FSAE team and the one at Monash.  Long boring story, but you can all blame Scott Wordley for Laci and I moving to Oz, and now I can thank him for helping me get a job here. 

Things are starting to finally seem like they are going our way, especially after the disaster of traveling here.  We will be moving out of Scott’s house on Saturday into a flat share apartment we found on Flatmates.com.au.  Now if only someone would buy our lovely 1-bedroom condo on the 30^th floor of a prime residential building in Charlotte.  Its furnished and has amazing views from the floor to ceiling windows and balcony.  It even has a pool and a car parking space.  It could be yours for the price of $260,000.00.  Please feel free to find it on Zillow.com and if so inclined schedule a viewing. 

Just in case you weren’t clear, that last sales pitch was supposed to be funny, unless your actually in the market.

Regis

Ps. I don’t have any cool photos to share.  I’m not Laci, I don’t take photos.