While I was studying for my degree, I couldn’t get Australia out of my head.I was obsessed with the idea of surfing every day, enjoying the sunshine, seeing as many koalas and kangaroos as possible, and meeting interesting people from all around the world.

And while I did experience all of this, I must say that moving to Australia was very different from what I had imagined. Let me explain!

Taking the leap

In April 2025, I decided to move to Australia without a job or a home waiting for me. My only plan was to stay in a hostel for the first two weeks and figure out the rest along the way.

I was quite scared because, even though I had lived abroad several times, it had always been to study or work. I had always had a job, a home or a school to go to, but this time, I decided to take it one step further and simply go and leave everything behind.

My first night in Sydney

When I finally arrived at my hostel after more than 30 hours of travelling, it was around 7 or 8 p.m. It was dark, and I felt completely disoriented.

I remember walking into my room and sitting down for a moment, trying to process everything that had just happened. I was starving, so I went outside to find something to eat. Luckily, my hostel was very close to Chinatown, where restaurants stay open later than usual, so I managed to find myself a bowl of noodle soup.

When I returned to my room, everyone was getting ready to go clubbing, but I was far too exhausted to even consider it.

I went to bed that night with a strange, empty feeling I had never experienced when moving abroad before. Somewhere between the jet lag and the fear of making the wrong decision, there was also guilt about leaving my loved ones behind.

I had never spent an entire year abroad without seeing my family or friends. That night, the thought of going so long without a familiar face started to sink in.

The freedom I had been so excited about suddenly felt overwhelming. I had always dreamed of moving to Australia, but now that I was finally there, I couldn’t help wondering whether I was actually ready for it.

The hostel that changed everything

Buuut the next morning, I decided I’d had enough of feeling sorry for myself! I wanted to give Sydney a chance before judging the whole experience on one jet-lagged night.The hostel organised daily activities, so I started joining them and putting myself out there. To my surprise, so many people were in the same situation as me. They had just arrived on Working Holiday visas, with no jobs, no homes and barely any plans. And somehow, everyone seemed completely comfortable with it. So I decided to embrace it too.

During my time at the hostel, I came across some incredibly interesting people. I met divers who worked all around the world, hot-air balloon pilots, landscape designers, festival videographers and people from all kinds of backgrounds.

I remember thinking that, of course, I knew these kinds of jobs existed, but they weren’t exactly the kind of careers you come across every day. I’d never actually met people doing these things for a living, and I found it fascinating. Some were travelling indefinitely, others were changing careers, and some simply had no idea what they wanted to do next.

Meeting all these people made me realise just how many different paths life can take. There were so many ways of living that I’d never really considered before, and somehow, I found that incredibly inspiring. And that was when I began to realise that Australia wasn’t just going to be another adventure, but an experience that would challenge me, open my mind and teach me a lot about life, other people and, most importantly, myself.

Finding my feet in Sydney

What was supposed to be two weeks in a hostel turned into a whole month! I was having a lot of fun exploring Sydney with new people and why not exploring the clubs!

Eventually, my bank account decided that a whole month of hostel life was more than enough, and it was time for me to find a job. And, surprisingly, I found one after just three days of walking into hotels and asking if they were hiring! Turns out, showing up in person worked much better for me than sending applications online, where nobody seemed particularly interested in replying to me.

That ended up being my first and only job during my entire year in Sydney. I met wonderful people there, some of whom I’m still in touch with today. I also moved to what would become my favourite neighbourhood in the entire city: Paddington.

I loved Paddington so much that I ended up living there twice, in two different apartments. First with flatmates, until my only-child self decided that sharing was enough and it was time to have a place of my own.

I arrived in Sydney not knowing what to expect, and slowly, without even realising it, I began building a life on the other side of the world. I’ll share more about working in Australia and Sydney’s different neighbourhoods in future posts!

What Australia taught me

Looking back, I realise how overwhelming it can feel to arrive in a new country without a job, a home or any real plans. But I’ve also come to believe that there’s something magical about that uncertainty. You arrive with an idea of how things might go, and then the people you meet and the choices you make take you somewhere completely different.

If I could give one piece of advice to anyone in the same situation, it would be to embrace a little of that Australian “no worries” attitude. You don’t need to have your entire life figured out the moment you arrive. Give yourself time to settle in, meet people and discover what feels right for you. Every person you meet, every place you live and every unexpected experience can become a stepping stone towards something you hadn’t even considered before.

And maybe that’s what Australia taught me most: to feel a little more comfortable with not knowing what comes next. On that first night in the hostel, uncertainty felt overwhelming. Looking back now, it was the beginning of a life I couldn’t yet picture. After all, some of the best experiences happen when you leave a little room for the unexpected.