Searching for a job and a home in a city where I knew no one

By my third year of university, everyone around me had started job hunting, but I had absolutely no idea what kind of work I wanted to do. The thought of simply going along with the expected path into working life didn’t sit right with me. I wanted to find something I genuinely cared about, so I took nine months off from university and moved to Melbourne, Australia.

I didn’t know a single person there. I was living in a language school dorm while searching for both a job and a place to live at the same time. The thought that I might end up homeless terrified me, so I barely slept and spent my days handing out résumés. It was probably the hardest period of my life. But I just kept moving, and within two weeks I had found a room in a shared house and jobs at three different restaurants. Finding both a home and work in a place where I knew no one gave me a huge sense of confidence.

Rethinking everything I thought I knew about work

After that, I worked almost nonstop. I was incredibly busy, but I found it fulfilling, so it never felt unbearable. Of all my jobs, working at a bar changed the way I thought about work the most. The other student staff, who were around my age, would finish a shift, get paid, and immediately spend the money on drinks right there. I had assumed everyone worried about finding a career, but they didn’t seem concerned about it at all. I had always thought saving for the future was simply what you were supposed to do, so seeing that was a shock.

Until then, I had thought of work as something you did for the sake of your “future.” But as I spent time working with them, I began to wonder whether work could instead be a way to enjoy the life you’re living right now.

Whenever travel breaks apart one of the rigid ideas I’ve been carrying around, I feel a little lighter. Discovering a new perspective and realizing, “Oh, you can live like this, too,” somehow makes me feel kinder. I also worry that if I stay in one place for too long, the way people think there can quietly start to feel like the only set of rules that exists. I want to remain open-minded and able to embrace different ways of living. That’s why I want to keep traveling.

A shift in values led me to a workplace where I can be myself

My experience in Australia had a major impact on the way I approached job hunting afterward. Before, I thought career choices were mostly about identifying your strengths through self-analysis—something like, “If I’m good at communicating, I should go into sales”—and then finding a job that made use of them. But Australia added a different question: what actually makes me happy? I started thinking about things like values and relationships, not just skills.

It took some time, and at one point I even turned down a job offer I had already accepted. After six months of part-time work, I eventually chose the hostel where I work today. The people here come from international backgrounds and bring a wide range of perspectives, so even everyday conversations can be inspiring. I don’t think I would have found a workplace where I can be myself if studying abroad hadn’t so completely changed the way I see the world.