Metaphorically Surviving the Outback

Part of making such a big move is being truly able to survive all by yourself. Like no friends, no relatives, no acquaintances, if fact when you get there there's a big chance no one will give a rat's ass about you. And you must be prepared for that or else you'll crack.

And this is a big one: it's not only being able to find a place to live, and finding a job. These are trivial. It's important to be able to cope with the sudden change (and this is a very big lifestyle change).

So the main idea is to have as many things settled down before you leave (and I mean learn all the things that can be learned) so you can use most of the energy you have to adapt. That should make sense, it's only a reminder.

Here's a list (not comprehensive whatsoever) of things that i expect to change (to be extended): 

1. the climate
2. using english on a day to day basis
3. having no one to talk to
4. different culture/lifestyle

So I'll have to start adapting right now: 

1. The first thing I totally suck at is cooking my own food. I was spared until now, but my time has come. And I started doing this one month ago. What I found out is that I hate cooking. The simple fact that I have to pay attention to such a casual task is driving me nuts. The solution to save me came from here: Minimalist Eating. 3 ingredient recipes sound so cool I will try them as soon as I get more time to search for good quality ingredients.
2. Washing clothes. I wonder how many perfectly good clothes I will ruin in this process. :)
3. Getting more familiar with aussie slang. I've went on imdb and checked out the top 100 pure Australian films. I got to see some cool stuff and some crap, all in all that didn't serve my purpose entirely. So the next step is getting my hands on documentaries about Australia and probably getting some literature.
4. Getting more familiar with English. Today I decided that after I finish reading all my books in Romanian I'll switch to English (exclusively... probably buy some cool books from amazon). Remember? This is the same reason I'm writing this blog in English (only for this post I've looked 4 words in the dictionary)

No OZ embassy/consulate in Romania?

The answer is yes. Australia has no official representatives in Romania. The embassy that handles us is in Serbia.
And the consulate was closed at the end of 2009. That's a shame...

The silver lining is that I've procrastinating calling them for one month and a half and it turned out it wouldn't have mattered if I took the decision to call them then.