Jacqueline and her internship in Sydney, part 3
In January, Jacqueline went to Sydney for a new, unexpected adventure and a really cool internship. Especially for you, she’s keeping track of her experiences! Part 3.
- Adventure
- Internship Abroad
- Studying Abroad
- Living Abroad
- Working Abroad
- Australia
Jacqueline in Sydney: “You don’t have to become a BFF.”
In the beginning I felt rather lonely and was afraid I wouldn’t make any friends and had to spend my weekends by myself. The first day I met some people in the hostel where I stayed but they were all backpackers and would leave two days after. Then I searched for Facebook groups as “Dutchies in Sydney” and asked there if more people were in for a drink. A few people responded and I ended up having drinks with them. Through one of them I met others as well. Now I’ve already had some great weekends with different people!
Via Abroad Internships I already had a get-together back in the Netherlands. This was very nice as I met Marit there. She’s living 50 minutes away by public transport right now but as we really want to see things the distance doesn’t really matter. Especially not on Sundays as the tickets for a whole day are only $2,50. Until now, I’ve met Marit every weekend and sometimes other people are coming with us too. She really became a good friend of mine!
Group of girls
After a few weekends I found a group of girls and we see each other every weekend. We also have a WhatsApp group to share our stories. Two of them are au pair and Marit and I are here for our internship. You get to know so many people. Now I’ve become really close with these girls and they are all Dutch. But I’ve also met a Danish, German and an Australian girl. Another good place to meet people – apart from Facebook – is the Dutch drink that’s being held every last Friday of the month in the Bear Bar. It’s a lot of fun and you can spend your evenings speaking in Dutch.
I’m still convinced Facebook works the best. I’ve met a girl that’s living here for already a year and she wants to stay for another year after this. I am spending a lot of time with her as well and she knows everything about Sydney. Very useful as she can always give me good tips.
From my own experience I can say: don’t be afraid, talk to people, post a message. Everyone is here by themselves and no one believes it’s weird that you look for people to hang out with. And who knows, maybe real friendships arise, like how it feels with me now. We already want to organise a reunion with the girls when we’re back in the Netherlands. There will always be people you meet for an evening and then never see again. Just enjoy everything and don’t worry too much about people leaving. You’ll just meet new friends along the way!
A bit more tired
In the beginning I noticed that I just didn’t feel like going out or having a drink with people. In the end, I always went and you should really go as you’ll get to know others that way. It’s really worth to do it. And there are always people you have more of a connection with than with others. That’s not a bad thing, but remember that you don’t have to become a BFF with someone, everyone understands you’re just looking for friends there and that you’ll have your old friends again when you arrive back home.
