Coming To Australia

Do you ever wake up a bit exhausted, even after a lengthy night’s sleep? You move over to the edge of the bed and sit there a while? Do you begin reliving the past days, months and years, accepting that surely today would be just like another day in the past few years. Why would it be any different? You’re not different, so what would make this day any different to all the other days. You haven’t done anything differently. You make the same choices each day, the poor ones. You always go for what is easier or quicker. Whatever brings you comfort, whatever makes you forget temporarily that this is your reality!!! Whatever will make you feel good, that’s where its all at. Except that it is momentary. Well maybe the challenge is to make it last longer… Should you even bother leaving the room today? Do you wish you had a copy of yourself, someone to go through the day for you? Why would today be any different? Why does today deserve your attention, your presence? What is today even?? Follow the story and you will see how I got here and how I got out…

Once upon a time I was an immigrant in a foreign country. Coming from a third world African Nation, I moved to Australia to find an education. African Nations offer quality education, except you cannot get credit for that qualification anywhere else in the world. I was a well raised 20 year old young man. No drinking, no partying habits, well mannered, tidy, funny, all the good stuff. My parents raised the money for my relocation amidst their challenges and got me a spot at a university in Australia, one of the top 3% Universities in the world. They outdid themselves and I was about to throw all of it away…

The moment I landed in Australia and got picked up from the airport, I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the place at night. Tall buildings and expensive exotic cars, beautiful friendly people, white people everywhere. Yes, that is what I said. My country would have about 5% Caucasian people by population. This is what it felt like, my estimation, not verified. So, seeing this many of them really made me feel so lucky that I was finally here. I could not even imagine what the future held for me, but I promised myself that I would do whatever it took to make a life here.

Fitting in was my biggest challenge. I had a deep African accent, so I found myself repeating my words all the time. I only had friends from my lectures, all which where either Caucasian, Asian or Indian. No Africans! I found Africans in this country to be rather vain and rude. It’s as if they came here and did not want to be associated with their own. So, I distanced myself from all that drama. I soon developed a slightly Australian-African accent and communicated better with my peers. In about 6months, I made my first African friends. In a bus ride home, they ambushed me and bombarded me with questions. I soon learnt we were from the same country and they were so humble. We became friends and we started to hang out. These were 2 females who then introduced me to all their family and extended family. It was a good feeling. A piece of home… A few months later I met a guy from the same hometown. We became friends too, more like besties. We did almost everything together until we decided to move in together as well. We got another girl to partner with us and acquired a 3-bedroom place to ourselves. I will call him Mike and her name Charity.

Two months later, the house had 6 tenants in it. This of course was against our tenant contract, but I found that these two had friends whom they wanted to live with and being me, I couldn’t say No. Our house became the typical party house every weekend. People would drive in to come party at our place and then head out to some clubs, leaving behind a mess I would then have to deal with the next day. I was always the sober driver due to my non drinking habits. I saw it all and I experienced it all. I watched girls hook up with one guy at my house then end the night with another. I watched four people drink a case of beer in under 10 minutes. I watched people share ecstasy pills and lose their marbles. I even struggled to sleep at night while my housemate had loud sex in the room next door. Before I knew it, “If you cant beat them, join them..”, I had my first drink… Dominoes began to fall… to be continued