Settling in

posted on Feb 19 by Floris in the Blog, Sydney category

Today it’s exactly two weeks ago since I arrived at this office. I was sitting in this very room, wondering about how my new life here was going to take shape in the upcoming weeks. Back then I literally just arrived in Sydney, everything was completely new to me. Even now I feel the complete difference, in the way the surrounding is more familiar to me, and I’ve started to know the characters of the people that work here, and in that I’m starting to find my way around Sydney as well. I’m very glad with the way it all went. I have settled in a pretty nice, decent home, in a good neighborhood, with quite possibly the best internship position imaginable for me.

Speaking of that home, I believe it’s time for some pictures, isn’t it?

Oh, hang on, that’s the wrong picture. He was in our office the other night, and actually, now that I’ve come to think of it, he’s probably still here somewhere, since nobody has killed him. Not too worried though, it’s usually the small ones that are dangerous.

And that, my friends, is where I’m sleeping these days. There is no internet yet, and the TV isn’t connected either, but I’ve got a private fridge, a shower, a kitchen and good housemates. I’ve been making long days at the office as well, coming home late in the evening, so I only use it for sleeping and showers basically. And some cooking as well, but I’ll tell you about that later.

That last picture is my sad attempt at taking picture of myself in the mirror. And yes, I am indeed wearing a cowboy hat.

The kitchen and bathroom, which I both share with 3 other people (so far, there is still one unoccupied room left for someone to rent, so there might be more people at some point).

Okay, so the fridge is stocked with fruit and vegetables. The closet next to it… not so much. But to be fair, I bought all that on Wednesday, and I haven’t gotten around to eating much of it. I’m just not there very often.

I did cook myself dinner though. Some corn, with broccoli, potatoes and chicken. No surprises there, but it was a nice dinner. Then I put the rest of it in the fridge, microwaved it the next day and had the same dinner again. Living the student life!

Little story to go along with that though. I was in the car with Mike and Jackie (I should really ask her how to spell that), and told them about my dinner the night before. Here, have a transcript:

Floris: So I tried to make chicken last night…
*overall confusion spreads in the car*
Mike: You tried? How can you try to make chicken?
Floris: Well, I failed.
*at this point, Mike starts laughing quite loudly*
Mike: So what went wrong?
Floris: Well, you see, we have this fire alarm…
*Mike loses it and nearly crashes the car in his laughter*

You need to hear him laugh to appreciate the situation though. We’ve had our fair share of cultural differences, it’s been quite a funny week.

I’ve had some startup costs moving in here, as I had to buy bed linen, some salt and other cooking ingredients. It’s amazing how much stuff you use every day without really thinking about it. Everything from towels, to dishwashing liquid and cooking oil. Got some milk, and one of those handheld milk-creamers so that I can make vanilla lattes in the office. I also bought myself some new clothes, including that hat back up there. And my sunglasses broke, so I’m going to have to replace those. My room isn’t quite decorated yet either, so I might have to buy some picture frames, and maybe an extra light.

On another note, I’m thinking of buying a car in the next few days. It’ll bring a lot of stuff within reach, lower transportation cost and time to several locations I go to often, and probably make my stay here a lot more comfortable. It’ll also open the door to me going out on shoots by myself, and just make me more independent. I already look at the right side of the road when crossing it, so I figure getting used to driving on the left will be quite easy.

In my next blog post, which is set to arrive tomorrow, I’m going to talk about some of the projects I’ve worked on in the last two weeks. There is some really exciting stuff in there, things that make you go “fricking hell, you got to do that on your second week on the job?”. As a final teaser: some of the stuff I helped on might even be on Dutch television next week. How is that for a cliffhanger?

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