How and Why I Moved to Australia

When I was a 25, based on a strong gut feel and without having any friends or family to welcome me, I moved to Australia. I eventually became an Australian permanent resident.

This is how it went down.

Backpacking trip

At age 22, I was working and saving money to go on a big trip overseas – a rite of passage for all young Israelis. The only question was where would I go? South East Asia? India? South America?

My friend who was backpacking in Australia at the time said he was spending his days doing outdoor activities in beautiful nature and his nights partying. This sounded like exactly what I wanted at age 22.

I bought my ticket and was about to head for a 6 month backpacking trip in Australia. It was my first time travelling by myself. I was full of excitement and nervousness.

My time in Australia broadened my horizons in so many ways. I’ve had countless experiences that pushed me to grow as a person.

I went skydiving, did bungee jumping and got my PADI underwater diver’s license.

I became great at making new friends to spend time with, and pretty good at saying goodbye. I had a few awesome, short and intense travel romances.

I learnt how to juggle 3 balls like a boss.

Quite late to the party, I learnt to cook dinner for myself, and how to do my own laundry (the first time I did it was a pretty big deal).

Every day I made the decision of whether I wanted to stay in the place I was or keep travelling… Which meant I was always exactly where I wanted to be.

Australia became imprinted in my head as a place for freedom and self growth, two of my bigger values in life.

Quite quickly, the friendly locals also won me over. Australia seemed to be a happy, relaxed place full of happy, relaxed people.

When you thank an Australian, they respond with “No worries”.

If they’re feeling really relaxed, you might receive an even more extreme version of that – “No Dramas”.

Think about that for a second. Aussies have so little to worry about, they don’t even have dramas that could end up being something upsetting.

This figure of speech reflects a the people’s attitude – a very different one than I was used to in Israel.

Coming back from my trip

After almost 6 months travelling in Australia, coming back to Israel was a massive reverse culture shock. Everything felt stressed and rushed. For the first time ever, a feeling started sneaking up on me. It didn’t feel like home. I wanted to go back to Australia.

I spent months trawling Australian immigration forums, and learning as much as I could about Aussie immigration law.

There was a section of the law dedicated to the “Skilled Independent” migrant scheme – for educated, skilled people with no family or employment seeking to immigrate to Australia.

I came to the conclusion that under this scheme, if I completed a Bachelor of Computer Science at an Australian university, I would become a permanent resident. I could stay in Australia forever, or for as long as I wanted!

I was even pretty interested in Computer Science. This sounded like a great plan.

Except, to everyone else, I was just a wide eyed 23-year old dude who had just gotten back from a big overseas trip. What did I even know?

Everyone thought going to Australia was a very bad idea, an escape from dealing with the “real life” in Israel.

Leaving Israel isn’t so easy

It’s pretty uncommon to emigrate out of Israel today, and it was even more so when I was 23.

Me (or anyone else) wanting to move overseas was seen by many as an affront to the idea of Israel as a homeland of the Jewish people, almost treason.

If there were problems at home, why wasn’t I willing to sacrifice my own selfish desires? Why shouldn’t I stay and contribute to the country I was born in?

I tried to tell my friends about my plan to go to Australia and shared my doubts with them. Almost no one supported it.

They all focused on what could go wrong:

• Australian higher education system is not as good as the Israeli one – how would you find a job if you ever decide to come back?
• When you’re there, you’ll always be the immigrant, the foreigner. They’ll never accept you as an equal.
• It’s so far on the other side of the world. What if you had to come back in an emergency.
• You’ll miss your family and friends. It’s not so easy to make new friends you know.
• Not to mention that friendships with Israelis are full of love and warmth. Foreigners are cold and uncaring.
• You’re clearly going to Australia because you want more __________ (independence, fun, sex). You can do that in Israel! Just __________ (move to your own place, go out more, date more girls)!

Only three friends told me that if it’s my dream I have to go for it. As I presented my difficulties to them, they helped me think of ways to solve them. Thanks Nati, Tal and Sefi 🙂

The worst case scenario

When I looked at it with a level head, the worst possible scenario was that I have a bad time in Australia, decide it’s not for me, and go back to Israel. Nothing was irreversible and I wasn’t committing to moving there for the rest of my life.

The worst-case scenario was not that bad.

Telling my parents

Another big issue was the oppressively expensive cost of education in Australia. For a foreign student like myself, Australian university cost 8 times more than in Israel per year.

Realistically, the only way I could afford to go would be if my parents supported me. But they also naturally wanted to have me close to home.

Israeli families are tight. Very tight. Physically speaking. Many Israelis live close to their parents, and visit them in person every weekend.

Me wanting to go to the other side of the world would seem like it would break the family apart.

So it was no surprised I agonised for months before going to talk to them about the subject.

Chatting with my friend Sefi one day, I had a realization. He said: “Your parents would definitely help you out if they can. That’s what they worked so hard for – give you chances to be happy in life.”

Eventually, when I chatted with them, my amazing Mom and Dad were very level headed. They suspected Australia was a passing fad, and wanted me not to make rash decisions.

“If you go to university in Israel and still decide you want to go to Australia, it won’t be easy, but we’ll support you all the way.”

My parents figured that as I get into the groove of Israeli university life, I’ll just naturally forget about Australia and focus on my real Israeli life. I wasn’t even sure myself – maybe I would. I was going to give it a fair shot.

University in Israel

I enrolled to Ben-Gurion University in Be’er Sheva (a city about 100km away from Tel Aviv) a university that was well known to have a fun, active student lifestyle. I had my own room in a shared apartment and quickly made a strong new social circle.

But, being honest to myself, I couldn’t get my mind off Australia. After a month in my new university I realized it wasn’t what I was looking for. I wanted to be somewhere else.

I hung a huge map of Australia across from my bed. It was the first thing and last thing I saw every day.

I told some of my new university friends, but I think many of them didn’t believe me – I was studying hard just like the rest of them, the thought that I won’t be there next year seemed crazy.

I was still cramming hard and getting high marks in my university courses during the days, but I was spending my nights reading about universities and cities in Australia. I eventually decided on UQ – the University of Queensland in Brisbane.

Still during my second semester in Israel, I secretly translated my documents and sent them to UQ to enroll to a Computer Science degree. I hadn’t told my parents any of this. I wanted to spare them and me the drama.

When I eventually decided to tell to my parents, I had already been accepted into UQ and was due to start my studies there a few weeks after the second semester finished in Israel.

Second conversation with my parents

I needed to tell my parents that I’ve decided to leave Israel – for sure this time.

I gave Israel university a chance, and now it was time for them to keep their side of the bargain – and support me, both financially and emotionally – just like they promised a year before.

This say that this conversation was hard and emotional for all of us would be an understatement.

I came into their room on a sunny Saturday afternoon and said: “I need to talk to you guys.”. I close the door behind me and start to say what was on my mind for months and months now.

“I gave Israel a fair chance. I kind of like university life. But I still want to go to Australia.

“This isn’t about me trying to run away from you. I still love you, so so much. Israel is just not the right place for me right now.

“Would you be able to support me like you said, a year ago?”

I remember my Mom sitting on their bed, not speaking, looking into space, with tears rolling down her face. I was crying too.

I remember my Dad’s questions, trying to make sense of the situation. Of how our family life would look afterwards. I assured them I would come for a big holiday home the first time I get the chance.

Eventually, even though it was very hard for them to see me leave Israel, my parents supported me.

It was an incredible selfless act to do something like this for me which was so hard for them. It’s a prime example of good parenting. I can’t be more grateful to them for that.

University in Australia

It was going to happen! I’m going to Australia!

Right after finishing my first two semesters of university in Israel, without any study break, I headed straight to Australia to start my first semester there. Luckily, UQ accepted my first two semesters from Israel as credit, and I started second year courses immediately.

I loved my new life in Australia so much. For a year, once every week or so, I would have a moment of thinking “Holy shit. I’m living in Australia. This is actually my life.”

With some experience under my belt now, I can say the hardest thing about moving somewhere new is potential loneliness – not having a strong peer group of friends. Luckily, that was taken care of.

I was living in a college (the Aussie word for “dorms”) on the grounds of the university of Queensland. If you left your door open in college, it was an invitation for people to come in and hang out. I always kept my door open, and quickly met a lot of new Australian friends.

My curriculum there had less lecture hours and I had a lot more free time. The cool thing was, no one knew me in Australia, and I could reinvent myself to be my best self. And so I did.

I started rock climbing on a weekly basis with a friend. I was going out a lot, dating a lot and eventually had my first serious girlfriend. I also became a dating coach.

My new Australian self was a lot more relaxed, a lot more confident, and a lot happier with life. It’s fair to say that Australia still stood for freedom and self-growth.

Getting the Visa

My gut feeling all those years before was right. Australia was exactly where I wanted to be. Now I graduated and my student visa was going to expire. I wanted to stay longer.

Luckily, I planned for this occasion. All my time studying Australian immigration law and choosing a Computer Science degree paid off – these were the exact criteria I needed in order to get a “Skilled Independent” permanent visa.

And so, 5 months after graduation, and a little over 5 years after setting my foot in Australia for the first time, I officially received my Australian permanent residency. I could now stay in Australia for as long as I want.

And stay I did, for another awesome 4 years. I stayed until I decided to live another dream and again moved to the other side of the world – Colombia. But that’s a different story for a different time 🙂

Summary

I had a crazy idea to move to the other side of the world. I wasn’t even sure myself that it would work out.

Realistically, I had to face two fears. One was the fear of uncertainty. Who knows what would happen? Uncertainty plays itself over and over feeling my mind with doubts. People around me were happy to point out how everything could go wrong.

But when I really broke it down – the worst possible outcome wasn’t irreversible. I would go to Australia, have a terrible time, and realize I was wrong.

I could always go back to my old life if things didn’t work out the way I thought they would.

The other fear had to do with my family. I wanted to be a good son to my parents, a good brother to my siblings. I didn’t want to break my family’s heart.

But not going to Australia would break my heart. I would eternally live with regret. I had to give it a chance. I’m ever so grateful to my family for helping me take that crucial step in the journey of my life.

Deciding to move to the other side of the world is never easy, especially when you’re a 23 year old with no life experience… But I still consider moving to Australia the best decision I’ve ever made.

Some crazy decisions are just hard. And sometimes they’re worth it.

Live your dreams!