Friend Wanted

When we moved into our house in Fullerton about 11 or 12 years ago, I faced a problem similar to the one I have now; I had no friends in our new neighborhood. I felt the best way for me to meet new kids in the area was to advertise, so I posted a sign crafted out of printer paper and colored pencils. To the best of my memory, it said FRIEND WANTED at the top in bold and underneath, I listed all the qualities I was looking for in a friend. A few days after posting the sign, our neighbor walked her daughter over (probably out of pity) and alas, I had a friend!! Moral of the story: I am starting to consider advertising for friends here, I mean, it worked once right?

In reality, we are slowly but surely making friends. This weekend was a fun one for us; we went out Thursday night in South Yarra at a swanky bar called Electric Lady Land, Friday night brought us to St. Jerome’s and The Lounge in the CBD (Central Business District), and Saturday night we were back at St. Jerome’s, The Hummingbird Lounge, and the Hoo Haw bar. On Saturday night, we went out with a friend of a friend of Noreen’s and her girlfriends and it was so nice to hang out with a group of fun girls. The perfect end to the weekend came with a relaxed Barbie (our first one!) Sunday afternoon at another new friends house! All in all, it was a perfect weekend and life is really starting to fall into place.

All of the girls in our apartment are now employed—yes, I got a job! As you are aware, Noreen is working at Little India, and April got a serving job as well at a bustling restaurant on Chapel St. called Café Sienna. I’m also going to be working on Chapel St. at a cute boutique called Peter Alexander (check it out at peteralexander.com.au) that sells pajamas and lots of cute, kitschy gifts. I knew when I walked into the store that it would be the right place for me; it was funky, creative, and all of the girls working there seemed incredibly friendly. I start on Tuesday at 11AM, so I’ll have plenty more updates to come on that!

After looking at about 16-18 places to live, Kelley and Lauren finally found and moved into their own place. The poor girls really struggled to find an apartment, but now it’s all over and we are so excited to have them living really close to us in South Yarra. Our place is a lot more quiet now that they’re gone, but I’m sure they are thrilled to be done with living out of their bags.

It feels like we have been gone for way longer than 3 weeks, and at this point, I must step back and say how proud of us I am. In three weeks, we have managed to find somewhere to live and move in, get jobs, and have begun to make friends and make a life for ourselves. Before I left, lots of people asked why exactly I wanted to come here. My answer was generally to explore, learn and enjoy life a little. Though I feel the same way now, I have also begun to see that I am getting something else out of coming to Australia: I am beginning to grow up. I know that I can take care of myself in every aspect of my life, and you know what? It feels damn good.

I added photos into my photo gallery, make sure to take a look!!!