2019 – Year Review

2019 – where do I start?
I guess where it all began.
On the first of January of course.
If you think now this post might be long you are right 😉

The way that my year started was like a forecast what my year will be like.
I went skiing and had an accident out of pure stupidity. I was with my nephew and wanted to be the cool aunt so after like ten minutes of skiing we went on an offside route and we swapped our skies because we were the same size and of course this was so dumb that I fell very bad and had to go to the hospital. In the hospital they found out that my leg was not broken but to find out what I had I needed an MR. I got an appointment about four weeks later but in that moment I was just relieved that it was not broken and I was able to take my flight three days later to Melbourne for my job interview. The doctor didn’t recommend it but anyone who knows me knows that nothing could have stopped me from taking that flight. They gave me a splint and crutches for the time till the MR and thrombosis injections for the flight and that’s how I flew to Melbourne.



The only thing I had to figure out was how to carry my suitcase with crutches. Well if you really want something it makes you creative so I “wore” my suitcase with a suitcase belt around me so basically I pulled it behind me. That’s how I took a train from Graz to Vienna, the flights from Vienna to Berlin, Berlin to Singapore and finally Singapore to Melbourne. At Melbourne airport I got picked up with a cart and after security check I had to make my way to my hostel (it was 2am) but I was too proud to take a taxi and went with the tram. Altogether it was a 40 hour journey and of course in my room with bunkbeds only the top ones weren’t taken (lol). Looking back I don’t know how I did it, I just did it.

The first day I just rested of course but having in mind that my interview was on the third day, I started walking on the second day. I went to Melbourne Zoo and walked four hours without crutches. The next day I had a really good interview that ended with a job offer so I was really happy.
After two more days it was already time for me to go back home to work. And yes that’s no joke, I went straight back to work, I wasn’t even one day on sick leave. I thought if I can fly to Australia with the splint I might as well go to work.

Two more weeks and it was time for my MR, it was two pages long but basically I hurt my ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) really bad and the doctors recommended surgery. But I wasn’t really in pain so I refused because I thought what if they make it worse? And I can walk and do anything except extreme sports but that wasn’t really  bothering me 😅.
I went to physiotherapy for eight weeks but the therapy was basically for nothing as the therapist didn’t really show me any exercises but was just massaging my foot.

During that time (February) I also finally got my Visa approval (waited for it for two months) and I was the happiest girl in the world as that meant that I can live my dream.
So I had to organize to quit my job and rent my apartment and everything I wanted to take with me had to fit in a large and a small sized suitcase. I had to book the flights, open an Australian bank account, sell my car, thinking about how to manage my Austrian bank account from overseas, thinking about insurance, making a farewell for my family and friends,…
There’s just a lot of stuff to organize when you move to a country outside Europe.

Then finally in April it was time for me. I decided to spend a week in Bali before my arrival in Australia to relax but what else would happen to me than having another accident (You can read in detail on my Blogpost https://karosblogspot.com/2019/04/14/bali-a-holiday-to-remember/#more-99 ). The accident happened on the 10th of April and I arrived in Melbourne on the 14th and was meant to start working in May but because it was Easter week they asked me to start earlier so my first day of work was on the 16th of April, two days after my arrival.

I arrived at like 5am in the morning, quickly brought my luggage to my hostel because I started to look for apartments when I was outside of Australia and set up three inspections later that day. Again I arrived in Australia with an injured leg (this time the other one) so again I had to make all my way in pain but this time I also needed medical assistance because I had ten stitches that needed treatment. Without health insurance I went to GPs, had to pay $80 each visit and didn’t even get proper treatment because doctors here in Australia are really bad compared to Austria. I changed the Clinic four times and still wasn’t satisfied. One doctor took my stitches out too early so I was wondering if he even studied Medicine.

It was about end of May when the wound finally closed and I started another physiotherapy here in Australia with a really good therapist for my January injury because I thought one day I wanna go skiing again. He showed me a lot of good exercises and I had a gym included in my apartment and a lot of motivation so I started training every day almost one hour, including running, swimming and the exercises he showed me.

Beginning of June I got a rash on my Bali injury because I think the skin got irritated from the swimming and the wound wasn’t properly healed yet. So I had to stop the training as the rash was spreading all over my body and I even wore gloves for work. Again I needed medical assistance and again doctors were for nothing. No doctor was able to tell me what I had. I spent loads of money for creams and doctors with no improvement. I had a really bad time then because the rash was so itchy that it kept me up all night and I had lack of sleep plus working full time. I felt really alone and just wanted to take the next flight home to see a good doctor. But I pulled through and it was about end of July when finally everything healed quite good.
Then it was also time for my first holiday with a friend who came to visit me in Melbourne (see blogposts  https://karosblogspot.com/2019/07/30/sydney/#more-165 and https://karosblogspot.com/2019/08/11/bali-the-2nd/#more-184 )

In August I transferred store (to go back to Managment) and moved to a new place because I got approved as a volunteer Live in Mentor to live with two 17 year old Teenagers to be their role model and mentor. I didn’t plan for this to happen at the same time so my new store was a ninety minutes drive from my new home (one way) every day. It was really hard and a lot of pressure plus the atmosphere in the new store was not good. In the end I decided to resign in October after trying to do both for three months but it was too much. I reached my limits and I had to choose one. I always wanted to work with teenagers and worked in retail for ten years already so the decision wasn’t too hard.

I took a one week break to go to Tassie ( https://karosblogspot.com/2019/11/06/tasmania-❤/#more-231 ) before starting two new jobs
as Christmas Casual close to my home which was a perfect fit because it’s flexible hours (only like 15/week in one job) and the contract is only for the Christmas period from November till January. In February my visa expires anyway and I still want to travel a bit through Australia before I leave.

In November I had some troubles with one of the teenagers I lived with and felt really bad. It was also the time before Christmas where I missed my family and home the most so I had like an emotional breakdown ( https://karosblogspot.com/2019/11/18/what-am-i-hoping-to-find/#more-257 )

About middle of December it started to be good again. After having really bad weather for most of the time, Summer was finally here and I started to meet my friends again and met new people and started to enjoy my stay. I also had something to look forward to because on the first of February one of my sisters will come to spend the last week in Australia with me before going on a three weeks travel through New Zealand, Hawaii, Maui, New York and Miami.
We have a very close relationship and used to see each other once a week whilst now it has been almost a year so I’m really looking forward to see her again.

In conclusion I say 2019 was the most challenging but also exciting year of my life and I learned so many lessons. I had really bad phases here but they only made me stronger and I was able to grow so much as a person. What I saw and experienced in one year was insane. I’m really grateful that I got a chance to do this and to find out that Australia is not really my dream but I’m so proud I tried it and I will never stop chasing my dreams.
I already have some new dreams and can’t wait for my next journey. I post this today to close my year 2019 and start all fresh and full of new positive energy plus so much more experience in my year 2020.
Thanks for reading and happy new year!