Lost in transit

I wonder how much it is a Melbourne thing, too.

It depends. I have seen people come and go and most of the time is a mixed reaction, basically a long list of comparations between this and that country. But if vanishes after time.

I've been thinking about this a lot of times. Can I go back, do I want to go back, will I fit in again? There is no reason for me (yet) why I should hit the road home, but I can't imagine what this life would be like. To me it's like the thought of moving to another foreign country. And I've only been away for five years now.

Although I am not Australian, I share your experience. As much as I love the little Bavarian town where I was born, I cannot just simply go back anymore. The Silvia today is a different person from the Silvia who left the Munich airport, three years ago to live in California. I love to go back to see my friends and family but I also know that living in California has let me see the world from different angles.

I went and lived abroad for almost two years. One of the reasons I left was that I felt like I didn't fit in here. When I came back, I spent so many sleepless nights remembering and wanting to go back. Which I still do, from time to time, but my base is here where I was brought up. And you know what? Maybe I don't fit in as well as I want but I don't stick out either. Living abroad on my own made me more at ease with myself and I think that shows wherever you are. I feel like a world citizen and that way, you can fit anywhere.

Is this really a big deal in Australia? Having lived in London for the last ten years and seen, oh, about a million Australian acquaintances come and go, I always thought doing a couple years abroad was simply an Aussie rite of passage? Or, as is the case most of the time, have I missed something?

Kevin, I think there's two groups of Aussies in London. The ones you mention are the ones on two-year working visas who come and go as they have for decades. Generally, these are the younger set who use London as a base for further travels. And yes, you're right, it's a rite of passage type of experience.

But it's now quite clear (to the Australian government anyway) that there's a second, someimes slightly older, group who leave Australia and never go back or do go back but after an extended period of time, say 5 to 10 years. These are the Australias who have dual citizenship or ancestry visas or right-of-abode or just married a Brit - and they usually come to the UK for career purposes. There are so many more great job opportunities here than back home, and, if you are like me, you are constantly torn between choosing to follow your career or choosing to return home to family and friends knowing you'll have to take a severe pay cut or, worse still, find no suitable work at all. I think it is this second group (which is apparently getting bigger and bigger as time goes on to the point that the Aussie gov. realises it has a big time brain drain on its hands) which this article generally refers to.