4 STEPS TEPS TO A FRESH START WORdS And dESign By hAnnAh ByRnE
I left Australia at 21 with a pretty firm plan of living in Spain for a year. It’s now 4 years later and I’ve never been. Of course I told my people that I’d be back in the family bosom within 6 months. “No matter what happens, you can always come home,” were my dad’s parting words, obviously imagining his youngest child and only daughter holed up in eastern morocco, pregnant to a people smuggler, having sold her left kidney for clean water, a piece of dubious looking lamb and a pouch of hashish. “No matter what!” he re-iterated. Hadn’t I been a good kid? kept out of trouble, lied my way through my teens and kept a clean nose? australians are everywhere. With a population of just over 20,000,000, we’ve done a pretty decent job of spreading ourselves out across the world. It’s the same story with canadians, south africans, brits and kiwis (who are clearly just copying the aussies). so what makes the itchy-footed colony-kid go travel, stay, come back and want to go again? some people get bored with their lives and opt for a new haircut, buy a new pair of sneakers or start crocheting. my friend and I had an ongoing joke that once we got bored, it was time to change house, city, country or continent. life seems a little dissatisfying? pack your life up into a brightly coloured backpack and get on a train. someone asked the other day about how difficult it is to establish yourself in a new place. the answer: not very hard at all – you just need to change your concept of people and friends. I remember a seinfeld joke where Jerry was talking about children becoming best friends over the realization that they both like cherry soda (or something along those lines). and when you start to move around a bit more, the same deal goes. You bond over a mutual interest in sunsets, music, the 30s, sneakers and bad moustaches. You
befriend people at the drop of a hat and it’s fun. I’ve made a rough list of tips to get you going in your new city of choice.
TIP 1 Work in hospitality. No matter what your career aspirations, your proficiency in Microsoft Office or your film making abilities, you are now a waiter, line cook, dishwasher or bar keep. Hospitality is a melting hotspot of party kids, students, artists and deadbeats. stick it out for a few weeks and if it’s really not your bag, get yourself out of there once you’ve established a few key social contacts. If you can handle the late nights, lazy mornings and kick-around afternoons, you’ve found your calling. the parents will be proud!
TIP 2: Hang out in crowded places and
start eavesdropping. any mention of a social outing and it’s up to you to get an invite. my best tactic is to sidle myself into a conversation. most people are just too polite to say no. “Dinner tonight? I’ll bring the wine!” “Oh I make a wicked chicken sandwich, this picnic is going to rock!” Oddly enough, everyone seems to like chicken between bread.
TIP IP 3 Invest in alcohol ‘cos it is, after all, the
great social lubricant. It might set you back a few pennies but it’s fun to be generous and your new position of designated drink buyer gives you social status. One drunken night will set you up for life and before you know it, you’re the loudest laugh in a group of jokes that don’t make sense about people you’ve never met.
TIP 4 I hate to say it, but Facebook is ac ac-
tually a good social networker. make one friend in your new city and spend a lazy afternoon prowling through and adding their friends. Write some flattering wall remarks, comment on photos and events and set yourself up as an active local socialite.