How Australia has changed me

...Back from the chapter 1!:

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My last memory of Melbourne was a bit gloomy, sad, mixed with a sense of defeat. On a late afternoon, near the end of November 2014 I was loading my stuff on a taxi that was taking me to the Tullamarine International Airport: my parents got me a last-minute flight back home. 'Damn it'-I repeat in my head- 'What could have possibly gone wrong?- I was so pissed off! And with no desire to go back to Italy, not even a remote one. Anyway, the next day I woke up in Rome once again, in my bed surrounded by things I was trying to take a break from, perhaps, run away from. (not to be harsh, but my emotions were pretty tangled and tense at that time). To be clear, I never had any resentment or hate towards my family whatsoever. It was just that the feeling of stretching myself beyond my current life, trying something new was loud and pulsing.

December, (always in 2014) rolled by heavy and tedious, with days followed one after the other, but on the contrary, I had the chance to celebrate the New Year's Eve and my birthday with family and relatives; even then, some residue of restlessness and uneasiness was still lingering around, exasperated also by my family's concern about the unstable and cranky attitude of mine. Despite my parents' advice and the tension growing more every day, I held my ground and finally I grabbed the chance to contact my Italian bank and proceed to transfer all savings I got left into the Australian account that, cleverly, I hadn't closed. That was a good move, as the currency from EURO to AUD was favourable. I felt super happy and with some money that would get me through, at least, the first stage once I got back to Melbourne.

A week after, I bought a one-way flight to Melbourne: it was the 30th of January 2015. My mum, my sister and my dad hadn't no other choice but surrender; they gave me the best of luck and a big hug.

I landed the next day in Melbourne, after a tranquil flight, at night time around 8 pm. Once I got to the Central Station, I was submerged by a gentle summer breeze mingled with a strong aromatic smell of different food. I sat down on a bench indulging myself in that feeling. The guy who was hosting me for a small period, arrived 1o min later to pick me up. We met on that night, after a quick correspondence back in Rome through an online platform created by all the Italians in Melbourne. He presented nice and easy going; we jumped off at the tram stop right next to his house: dark red brick's townhouse, situated in one of the poshest and well-off areas in Melbourne. - Even now, when I walk by that place, several memories pass through my head -. Later on that night, after a bubbling chat with the 2 other guys who lived there, I sunk into the bed snuggling and sniffling the freshness of the linen.

I woke up the next morning with a different feeling compared to the year before: I was back here to make it work, giving myself a second chance. From that moment on it was just a roll of an endless list of subscriptions to job platforms, Gumtree ads, dodgy interviews and messaging from shady people with murky job offers! After that miserable experience in Port Campbell, I learnt that I wasn't any longer up for the babysitting. Unfortunately, as time passed by, I wasn't receiving the outcome I hoped I would get. During this uncertain period, I had chances to visit some of the landmark places in Melbourne and outsides, having fun, meeting new people, being independent, but despite all this, I was caught by the dark zone of not having a job.

A couple of months had already passed, and my available time in that house was running out as the lease was about to end: just a couple of weeks left ahead! I absolutely needed to go all in or otherwise, I would have relapsed in the same risk to remain with no money once again. Some days I was feeling alright, others, well, if I had the strength of getting out of bed, I wandered around the city discouraged and powerless. As the days were passing by, moving several times, jumping from one lousy place to another, I finally came across a room in a townhouse in Brunswick, an area northeast of the city; the cleanliness of the place wasn't great and reflected the owner who was as sloppy as he was quirky! I ended up cleaning that room from top to bottom.

Finally, at the end of March, after months of job searching, Bakers Delight offered me a role as a sale representative in their Toorak store: I wish I could have found that position earlier when I was still living in the area. Anyway, despite the fact I was living one hour away, I took the opportunity and by the end of that week I was working some shifts. Things started to get better as my hourly wage was pretty satisfactory; I felt that I was getting back on track. But another stumbling block was standing around the corner: over time my boss revealed himself a very bad payer and there was no way to have a payslip on time unless I nagging him with text messages . It was a debilitating experience and on top of that I piled up 3 months of rent and lack of food in my pantry. (one day I had to step into a Reject shop to buy a very cheap meal for the nigh). The level of anxiety was rocketing up since I had to face the landlord annoyed question about his rent almost every week, in addition to a tremendous fear to find all my luggage outside his house door!

That didn't happen, thank God! even if my family had to help me with some money to pay off the debt.

After 2 years, in 2017,I got to move out of that place to start a new chapter of my life with a my actual partner who I met a couple of months before, right in the middle of my turmoil. Now we are both living in South Yarra, not far from that little red brick house in Toorak, in a cozy and cute apartment and we will get married!

At the moment I am reading a book called "The obstacle is the way" and when I look back at my bumpy path in Melbourne, I can definitely tell what I came back for.