OU migration and our moving to Melbourne

So, this week's subject is about the migration of people, why people are interested in living in other countries and refugees.

That got me thinking about our short-term migration in 2007. Why? For two reasons. Firstly, a bit of a career move, but also because Paul and I loved travelling the world and wanted to try a new country.

So I looked for jobs overseas for literally years, then on one day I had two job offers. One from New York City and the other from Melbourne. I had a weekend to decide and it was a toughie I can tell you!

We arrived in Melbourne in June 2007. What a city it is! We had to make our house, Paul needed to find a job and I started my postdoc work. I'll never forget keeping milk in a bag outside til we could afford to buy a fridge!

OU talks about the relationship that us "migrants" have with the country we left and the country we ended up going to. The refugees of course have drastically different and more traumatic reasons than we did.

And our relationships with people we left back home? We used to Skype my Mum and Dad each week. The time difference was an issue of course so Paul and I would Skype on a Sunday morning to my parents when for them, it was last thing at night...

My closest friends Jane and Lindsay came to visit at one point and it was amazing to see them. They stayed for a nice long time.

Apart from that I emailed people. Occasionally talked on the phone. MySpace - ha remember that?! Oh, and Facebook started while we were there...