Hello, I am Miri…
Hi there 🙂
How are you doing?
My name is Miriam and I am the new Intern at Eastside Radio. I am from Germany, where it’s going to get colder and colder right now as winter is coming, so I am very happy to find myself living in sunny Sydney for the next months. Today is my first day at Eastside Radio and I am so excited to learn about the work at the radio station and get inspired by the creative atmosphere here.
I arrived in Sydney already two and a half weeks ago. Before I came to Eastside Radio, I did a language class. Although it was a course about Business English ( a little bit too much Business for my taste and hence quite hard to follow for a non- economist like me), I really enjoyed getting the chance to meet other international students here in Sydney and making some new friends.
But in fact, I didn’t come here on my own but with one of my dearest friends I went to school with back in Germany. In Germany, there was a new school system established a few years ago which makes teens go to school only for 12 instead of 13 years to get the highest degree. This is why it has become quite normal for young German adults to take a year off after graduating to either do a social project in Germany or to travel around and see the world before then eventually starting their studies at university. So one day, me and my friend were sitting in a little cafĂ© located nearby our school during lunchtime. Drinking a hot chocolate, we chatted about our plans for the time after our graduation which was only a few months ahead. We then agreed on going to Sydney together-  and here we are 🙂 It took us unbelievable 27 hours in total to get here- taking our first flight in the German town DĂĽsseldorf and then travelling via Amsterdam and Abu Dhabi before finally arriving at Sydney Airport.
So, what are my first impressions of Sydney? Since I attended the language school in the middle of the CBD, I was surrounded by skyscrapers directly from my first day on. Coming from a rather small German town, Aachen has about 250 000 inhabitants, you can imagine that I was not used to that at all. But what’s so fascinating to me, is that Sydney easily combines nature and busy business areas in one town. So you can walk down one of the crowded streets where women in high heels and business dresses and men in neat suits pass you all the time, but at the same day see palm trees, take some time off and relax in Hyde Park, wander around the Botanic Garden or just enjoy yourself with some friends at one of the beautiful beaches.
What really gives me relief, is that Australia, or at least Sydney, does fortunately not seem to be the all time life endangering spot I expected to go to. Aimimg to prepare myself for Australia, I read a travel diary by travel journalist Bill Bryson. He basically started his book by informing the reader about all the different possibilities to find an unexpected and in most cases very painful death in Australia- starting with spiders, snakes and aligators, continuing with dying of dyhydration in the outback, being forgotten in the ocean by a touristboat you were actually confindet about to be taken back with safely after your snorkeling trip , getting caught by a shark while you are having a relaxed swim, or simply picking up a certain type of beach shell which apparently is inhabited by a vicious kind of slug. In fact, he invited his readers to come with him on a journey to, as he states directly in the beginning, one of the world’s deadliest countries.These were obviously no good news at all for a person like me, who tends to even be afraid of simple housespiders.  But since I came here, I have just seen one single spider. A big and hairy one I have to admit, but it was okay 🙂
Other than wanting to improve my English, I have come to Australia for three main reasons: Firstly, I want to see something of the world and Australia has so much beautiful nature to offer. After finishing my internship, I want to to travel up either the East Coast or the West Coast, maybe even both if I have enough time. I also definitly want to visit Uluru and get to know more about the indigenous Australian culture. My bucket list of things I want to do or see in Australia gets longer and longer the longer I have been in Sydney and the more I read about the country.
My second reason to come here is to gain new experiences in working and to find out what I really want to study after my year off. I was happy to get the internship placement at Eastside Radio, since I have always been interested in Journalism on the one hand and cultural issues like music and literature on the other hand. When I was a kid, I really was a book worm. It all startet with my dad always reading out Enid Blyton’s “Famous five” to me before I had to go to bed, which I absolutely loved. I still love reading because a book can take you to a totally new world. I love it when a book really catches me so much  that I want to spend all my time over its pages and finish it in just a few days. I also always liked to listen to music and to read about the stories behind a song or background information about a musician or band. When I was young, my father and I always listened to different CDs he loved while driving in the car to go food shopping or so .I still remember singing along loudly to “Ring of fire” by Johnny Cash when I was about ten years old, probably without even understanding the lyrics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfCOJLRk2D4
There was a time when I was a big fan of bands like Nirvana and was fascinated by the life of Kurt Cobain. I also like older British bands like the Beatles or Oasis, or newer ones like the kooks or the Arctic Monkeys and alternative Indie bands in general. Recently, I got a little bit more into Reggae and sometimes even Rap. Since no one in my environment was really into Jazz, I didn’t get into so much contact with this genre. That is why I am happy to now having the chance to learn lots of new things. At the end of my Internship, I would like to either be affirmed in my idea to become a journalist, or to have found some new inspiration to become something else.
My third reason for coming to Australia is to become more independent and self-confident. I am only 18, so I guess it is actually very normal to depend on your parents, family and friends, but I think it will strengthen me personally to have made the experience to be far away from home, to be on my own with everything that comes with it: the fun and the pride to have managed that on the one hand, but also the missing and maybe sometimes even homesickness on the other hand.
So this is me. I am looking forward to having a great time here at Eastside Radio. I hope you all also enjoy your summer and do something that makes you happy- even if it is just a small thing like listening to your favorite music on the radio.
Best wishes to everyone
Miriam