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Published: February 28th 2007
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View from my desk
Sadly, it seems certain I will never have such a view at any job again. After about four movies on an uneventful flight from Bangkok I was back in Sydney, though it was quite a bit colder than when I had left back in January! I was sooooooooooo happy to be back.
I started work three days after arriving and settled in straight away. It was a bit of an adjustment working full time, but I absolutely loved my colleagues and went from knowing just the basics about immigration law to learning a great deal. The view in the office was amazing, as the picture to the right shows. It took my breath away on the first day! It was fun being one of only two Americans in the office and at times people from the other divisions who were dealing with Americans immigrating abroad would ask me questions about the locations of obscure US cities. Luckily I always knew the answers!
While I was looking for a long term place to live, I stayed with Alf and Paul. Unfortunately, it was not as easy as I thought finding a place and for two weeks I lived with them and commuted the hour on the train to and from work. Let me say I
Centennial Park with Emma
This massive park was right near our house. know now I DO NOT want to commute, if at all possible! I finally found a house in Surry Hills, a 35 minute walk from work with some lovely people. At first there was a German guy, two British girls, Elise and Natalie, and Emma, from France, and her boyfriend. Her boyfriend ended up leaving, Elise, Natalie, and Bert all went home, and the final crowd moved in. Jane from Melbourne came in first, as she was in Sydney trying to get work in the fashion industry. Alison from England, over on working holiday moved in shortly after. So it was the four of us girls and we all got on really well and went out tons. Unfortunately our landlord was a bit of pushover and the house ended up having one problem after the other but I absolutely loved my flatmates and the fact I could walk to and from work, so those facts more than made up for the shape of the house.
Other than an overnight to the Blue Mountains with my friend from work, Navleen, and a day trip to Hunter Valley, the wine region of New South Wales, I didn't get to travel outside
Sydney this time as I really could not take time off work. On the weekends I would do lots of exploring/walking either alone or with my flatmates. Even though it was winter, and the Australians often thought it was freezing, I thought the weather was near perfect...a fair amount warmer than winter in Atlanta. It was great just living there. I was able to see Coldplay with Paul, and Snow Patrol with Alf, so was even able to get my concert fixes while I was there. I even managed to make it to a rugby game and after lots of explaining on Alf's part, I think by the end I finally understood it..! (Though I was strictly reprimanded at work when I said that rugby league and AFL, Aussie Rules football. seemed about the same; do NOT say such a thing to an Australian male, as they will spend 5+ minutes setting you straight!)
At any rate, I was so happy and felt so lucky that I was able to get work experience there and everything worked out so well. My last few days in Sydney, in August, my friend Els from Belgium, whom I met in Cairns back
in December, came to Sydney and stayed with us for a few days. It was great to see her again. I left Australia on 8 August and it was very, VERY difficult to leave and say goodbye to everyone; even more so than the first time I left. Alison is going back to England in February and will hopefully come visit me in London, and I am hoping to visit her in Portsmouth. I am also sincerely hoping that I will be working back here in Sydney with the same firm once I take (and hopefully pass!!!) the bar exam in July. We'll see. It was extremely difficult to come back, though it was great to see family and friends here again. But taking 17 hours for the fall semester and being back in Georgia was...not exciting. At times it almost felt like my eight months away was a dream and had never even happened, which was sad.
But my next stop: UK! I'm leaving for Edinburgh on 27 December. I will spend a few days in Scotland and some random places in England before beginning study in London on 8 January. I will also be working in the
View of the city from Centennial Park
And apparently I cannot take a straight picture. firm's London office two days a week. I will hopefully head somewhere in mainland Europe for my spring break in March, and my parents and maybe even my sister will be coming to visit. I finish study/work at the end of April, then I will have three weeks to do some more travel before coming back to the US on 17 May to graduate and begin two months of full time study for the bar! Fun times.
Stay tuned and keep in touch!
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