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Published: September 17th 2016
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Australia is one of my greatest memory. I went there also for my studies when I did my bachelor in trade in 2012 I had four months as an intern to do in a company. I did mine in a structure called Stirlings Australia in Perth which was selling stainless steel mainly in southern Asian countries. Even though I was not very familiar with steel that was a great experience. I went there from April to July and I remember it very well it was very hot !
The flight to reach Western Australia was quite an adventure itself. That was more than 20 hours flight with a stop in Dubai airport for approximately 6 hours. This was the first time I had a stop in Dubai as I flew with Emirates but I remember my first impressions about this place. That was so huge.. I felt like I was an ant among all those people running here and there around.
Anyway on the way to Perth I was sitting near a French couple from 1 hour drive from my home in France. That was comforting me as it was the first time I went abroad for more than one month. I come from Brittany in France and when you're travelling I believe even if sometimes you don't want to see other people coming from your comtry and speaking your language sometimes it feels really good ! I had a big jetlag at that time and I remember being so sick for about one week one time I couldn't feel the grass under my feet and wasn't seeing anything. That was very weird normally Im not sick but there were six hours time difference between WA and France. When it is 2 pm in France it is actually six hours more so 8 pm in Perth. That much time difference need some time to adapt. I was calling home by mistake in the middle of the night the first few times.
Australia was for a long time considered a jail where to take prisoners. But now it is becoming a very touristic place for a lot of foreigners especially French students coming to make good money to pick fruits or to work in the mines. Nowadays Australia is a bit more restrictive about giving jobs to French people as far as I heard. Around Perth there are a lot of tattooed persons or piercings also are very commun. And I was very surprised to notice a lot of English people. The family I stayed with in the end come from England and they settled here for the climate and the good way of life. Australian people drive on the left and are not crazy about american people. I remember that was the first time I saw a local program there I was astonished with how many ad cuts there are during a film or a TV show. You should be really motivated to have to patience to follow it until the end ! I remember it because they were watching the voice. Something else that surprised me a lot was that everybody has a pool, a great house and a big garden and terrace even though they are working in a warehouse. Workers are more paid than employees.
I was living in a family for the first two months who went to pick me up at Perth airport in the middle of the night. They were waiting for me with a board with my name on it was exactly as in a movie. I remember their home very well that was huge and beautiful. Somebody from UAE was renting a room there also but wasn't talking much. The rent was damn expensive I had to pay $600 every two weeks and it was almost that I also had to pay the little small plastic bag to put my lunch in when I was leaving to office. My mother had to send me money couple of times in the beginning for me to manage at least the rent because as an intern of course I was not paid. Somebody from the office and living nearby was picking me up and driving me back home that was very kind. Some other time I took the bus but the bus station was quite far from the company so I had to walk a bit far to reach the place but that's OK as it was sunny. People were looking at me as if I was an alien because there are not many pedestrians for long distance walks. I had to take the bus otherwise. Anyway the fact of writing all this I remember everything little by little. Writing is indeed good for memory !
Australian were driving fast. And there is no space for pedestrians to cross the road. When the signal turns green you have couple of seconds to cross so you better run before some car crushed you because that's almost what happened to me that was scary ! My job was very interesting I was dealing with customer prospection and I learnt many things about Asia and the transportation system I was not much familiar with. I had great colleagues and I learnt a lot of "Aussie" for Australia or Oz slang. There was another French intern there at the time she arrived couple of months before me. They were so funny and crazy I had such a great time. They used to doing a hotdog day in the warehouse once in the week at the office and I used to go to play pool quite often after work along with a beer glass.
After a while I was not comfortable with the family I was staying with for few reasons and I started to look for something else especially because of my budget. One of my greatest colleague offered me to stay with him and his wife. I gladly accepted and I spent two great months visiting and having fun. I went to many parks as there are in Australia to see Kangaroos and other local wild life. I was so happy when I saw the first one jumping around people. I also carried a koala in a zoo. They take a lot advantage of it as it is a very specific animal we find only there so it was quite expensive to carry it and to ask them to take pictures of me with it but as a tourist I accepted because that happens once in a life time ! As a result I paid $30 and they gave me something to carry to protect my clothes from it to tearing it with its claws. When the lady put the koala in my arms I felt like I was going to drop it. It was so big ! Like 9kgs. But amazingly cute. Then I asked the lady to take as many pictures as she could for my memories. She put a eucalyptus leaf for the koala to look at the camera. Actually the animal doesn't care at all about yourself it just wants to eat the leaf. But that was so cute. I could have stayed there for hours to watch it.
I came to know after that they are celebrating what they call "Christmas in July" because in July it is a lovely weather and they just want to take advantage of it to celebrate it in summer on the beach. I said to myself why not ! There were few shark attacks when I was there, people need to be careful about where they bath and to respect red flags for no bathing. I wanted to see dolphins also but in four months I didn't see any. For my last day they finally allowed me to see one fin quite far away. I was disappointed. For a good bye my host family offered the restaurant and one dolphin necklace as I couldn't see one. I felt so grateful for all they did to me. In the company they all signed a good bye card I felt so happy. That makes great memories. When I think back about it I miss them as I miss all the people I had the chance to meet abroad. As usual I cried at the airport.
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