After two months of limbo, and relying on the pure kindness and love of family and friends, we are so thrilled to announce our exciting news:
We're moving to Melbourne, Australia!
A few weeks before our wedding, Ben was given the amazing opportunity to transfer within his Australia-based company, continuing his work as an environmental geologist. He accepted, we got married, and for the past couple of months we've been patiently (mostly) waiting for our work visas to go through. We got the official email on Monday, booked our flights yesterday, and we're heading out in ten days!
Kind of like the first year of college, moving internationally is making us realize just how uninformed we are about the world. The things we've grown accustomed to in the USA are things that might not exist in AUS. We've had to do some research on things like credits cards and bank accounts (they actually DON'T have a Bank of America in Australia!), and if Ben's wiiU will be able to function in the great Down Under (apparently, it can..? yay..?). We have discovered that Netflix is not available, and are hoping that their libraries (do they even have those? haha) are stocked with DVDs of Smallville, because we're only at Season 7 and we really must know if the simple farmboy Clark Kent grows up to become Superman (please, no spoilers!). I've begun to wonder about terribly vain matters, like if there will be familiar makeup and soapy lathering products in Melbourne, or if I should stock up on my Neutrogena and Body Shop favorites... or if I should just use Australian beautifying elixirs because they're probably healthier for me anyway. Will we still be able to cook Kraft Spider-Man Mac and Cheese? Blow part of our retirement fund on Starbucks caramel "macchiatos?" And most importantly, do they have Dunkaroos in Australia?
All that aside, preparing for this move has been quite the experience. I've personally relocated within the continental U.S. several times, but doing so internationally is a first for both of us. Ben's work contract is a minimum of two years, so we'll be living down under until at least the 2015 holiday season. We are truly excited for the opportunity to establish ourselves as a married couple, away from any home we've known. It's hard to say goodbye to our wonderful families and awesome friends, but the world is a small place - and we'll definitely be keeping in touch with every technological device and app we can utilize.
CK
You should eat pumpkin pie before you go. They don't celebrate thanksgiving, so they think pumpkin pie is the weirdest idea. Also you should probably buy a dvd player there, they have this dvd region code that is different in Australia so you need to change your settings and can only do this a few times in an electronic's lifetime. Also they totally have The Body Shop there :)
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