How ya going?

This is what Australians say instead of "how are you" or "how's it going"...and I love it! 

We have had a busy and fun last few days...getting settled in our neighborhood, exploring the city, looking at apartments, job interviews, and being tourists! We went on one of those hop- on/hop-off bus tours. Cheesy but fun and informative! 

Lunch at Bondi Beach

A walk down to the bay...

First home cooked meal at our place (Mexican duh)

And spent the day at the Opera House/ Botannical Gardens/The Rocks area 

More uniforms (creeper alert)

John started work today and has a work dinner tonight.. So I plan to apply for more jobs, look for an apartment, go for a run, and meet up with a friend of a friend tonight or drinks! 

Happy Halloweener to all of you in Amurrica!

G'Day Mate!

We're here we're here!  

After 20 hours of travel, we arrived in Sydney around lunchtime on the 28th. The flight wasn't bad at all! I was dreading it but I slept about 12 hours and watched Real Housewives and The Devil Wears Prada (classics). The food wasn't bad and we got this view flying into Australia. 

All of our luggage arrived (holla!) and we got a cab to our extended stay apartment in Chatswood. We will be here for about a month - until we find a place of our own 

John doesn't start work until Friday so we are going to take this week to be tourists. 

Some observations so far:

Opposite side of the road driving is going to take some getting used to...

Sushi trains- gimme some of dat!

School uniforms- HOW PRECIOUS

Womp womp....

Today is the day!!

We have managed to fit our lives into 7 duffle bags, 2 carry ons, and a guitar case. 

Depart Nashville at 4:45pm Saturday----> arrive in Dallas at 6:45pm----> depart Dallas at 9:55pm----> a quick "stop over" in Brisbane---->arrive in Sydney at 8am MONDAY 

See ya, Amurrica! Hello, Australia!

 

Welp. We are less than a week away from moving to Sydney. I'm feeling a lot of things. I'm excited, scared, nervous, happy, stressed, anxious, sad, unsure, overwhelmed..but mainly excited.

Of course we are super happy and excited to be doing this. We chose to do this. But that doesn't mean that we don't have doubts or worries.. that we aren't going to miss our family and friends. However, this feeling that I have-- a combination of all the things I listed above-- is not new. I have felt this a few other times in my life.

I felt it before I left for college. I chose to go to a school where I knew no one in a big city where I knew no one. A plane ride away from home. I will never forget the sinking feeling when my parents dropped me off at my dorm room for my first night alone. It's that "oh shit" feeling... you know?

I felt this before I left to study abroad in Spain. Heading to a country where I didn't know the language.. by myself. No friends or family for thousands of miles. Four months of unknown.

And I kind of felt this when I realized John and I would one day get married. I'm sure he felt it before he proposed.

All of these decisions-- to go to DePaul for college, study abroad in Madrid, commit to John for the rest of my life-- were the BEST decisions I've ever made.  And so all the things I'm feeling now tell me that this will also be one of the best decisions of my life. Some people go their entire lives without experiencing this feeling--- because it's scary! It makes you feel crazy and sad and happy and anxious all at once! It's risky!

But this feeling has taken me to some pretty awesome places and introduced me to some pretty amazing people. So I'm going to embrace and trust in this feeling.. it hasn't let me down yet :)

3 Years

Happy anniversary to my favorite person! Wouldn't wanna move to the other side of the world with anyone else. 

Is Rudy going with you??

Yes...Rudy, our sweet, 9 month old Goldendoodle is coming with us. This part of the move has easily been the most stressful and the most expensive. This was a difficult decision. If we were going for a few months then we would leave him here...but we will be there for a while...and he's family...so he is coming with!

Australia has one of the most strict and complicated import processes for animals. They don't have rabies in Australia so any animal that comes into the country has to go through a longgggg, tryingggggg, expensive process. He has several shots/tests that must be done within hours of his flight to Sydney and there is a special "crate sealing" that must be done by a vet before his flight. Rudy had to get a certain blood test and we made sure to do that as soon as we knew we were moving. He has to stay in the states for 150 days after this shot and then he has to be quarantined in Sydney for 30 days. 

So Rudy will be staying with John's parents and then flying over to Sydney in January. The quarantine facility has visiting hours twice a week so we will visit him there when we can. He will be done with everything and back in our arms in February. 

We are going through a Pet Relocation service since we will be in Sydney for most of the process. We are hoping this will make the move easier on him and us. We can't wait to be all together again in our new Sydney home!