Hello again from Sydney!

One aspect that still amazes me about living so far from home is the time difference.  In Australia, we pretty much live the entire day before all my friends and family on the East Coast of the US! With the change in time also comes a great change in weather. What I would normally consider the “Winter months” is summer here. It has barely dipped below 70 degrees, and I am definitely not complaining!

I am now finishing week two of my classes and internship.  While my course load is not as heavy compared to my typical semester back at Pitt, organizing my day-to-day schedule is a little trickier due to the 30-minute commute to my internship site.  As mentioned in my first post, the company I am interning with is called 25fifteen.  They are a space for new startups to develop their ideas and receive funding and guidance.  Currently, I am working with two startups called Wildcard and Aircamp.  Wildcard is a mobile application that functions as a savings account for millennials in Australia and Aircamp is similar to the popular app AirBnb, but serves as a tool to find camping/”glamping” sites in Australia.

 

Generally speaking, Australians are more relaxed about their jobs compared to workers in the States.  This is especially true in the start up space.  This approach to work definitely suits me well because rather perceiving a job as the centerpiece of a person’s life, it serves as a means to an end to spend more time with family and friends.  I think if this was the attitude back home, people would be less stressed about their jobs.

All in all, my time down under has been surreal thus far, but not everything has been easy.  Financially, Sydney is an expensive city, and I definitely feel my wallet thinning out daily for purchasing basic items like food and household products.  Unlike the US, minimum wage here is extremely reasonable, with basic café and store jobs paying up to $25 AUD/hour (about $20 USD!), making average prices more affordable for locals.  As my trip continues, I hope to figure out ways to better manage my week-to-week spending.

This weekend, I am excited to be traveling down the coast to Melbourne for a couple of days! It is an affluent, multi cultural city that has heaps (Aussie slang!) to offer, and I hope to explore as much as I can during my stay.  In my next post, I will be sure to tell everyone about my experience there.

See you soon,

Jonnie