Wednesday 20 April 2016

Thoughts on moving to a new city



For those of you who don't know, at the start of this year, my husband and I made the move from Sydney to Launceston, Tasmania. It's been almost 3 months since the move, so I thought I'd share a few of my thoughts on moving to a new city.

Leaving friends, family and routine

Having lived in pretty much the same area all of my life, moving to a city 915km away from my home town was a pretty big adjustment. It's a strange feeling moving to a place where you know basically no one else. I think this was definitely the aspect that I found hardest, particularly in the first month or so, but as I have slowly been meeting more people and joining new groups, I am feeling much more settled and comfortable in calling Launceston my new home.

Stepping out of the comfort zone and trying new activities

When you have lived somewhere for a while, you get used to your daily, weekly and monthly routines, and it can be easy just to keep going through these motions without stepping out of your comfort zone. However, having moved somewhere completely new, I have definitely tried to push myself to join new groups, clubs and associations.

Signing up to the local gym so that I can attend classes a few times a week has given me the chance to meet new people, as well as try out some different classes (the pain in my arms that I felt the day after a body combat class last week was definitely an indication that it was worth trying something new).

Finding a new church has been a massive blessing in terms of meeting people and forming some new friendships.

It does sometimes take a bit of trial and error (turning up to a social soccer competition which was in fact an all-male team was an interesting experience), but it is definitely worth testing a few options before settling on the right one (I have recently inquired about an indoor soccer competition, which, I made sure to clarify, is a mixed team!).

Exploring new places

One of the aspects that I have most enjoyed about moving to Launceston has been the opportunity to discover a whole range of new cafes, restaurants, wineries, farmers' markets, hiking tracks, running tracks, forests and mountains, just to name a few. As it has only been 3 months so far, there are many more places that I have on my 'to discover' list (including some of Tassie's best surfing beaches), but so far I have absolutely loved the excitement and fascination of finding some new stomping grounds.

Leaving behind the craziness of a big city

In terms of what I'm not missing so much, I think at the top of my list would have to be Sydney's traffic, public transport and general 'craziness'. Now that I work from home, my daily commute from the bedroom to my home office (via the kitchen for some breakfast) has given me an extra hour each day (not to mention quite a bit of a financial saving thanks to my Opal card happily sitting in my wallet, unused). I was actually a little surprised to find myself in traffic the other day, however it lasted for about 5 minutes before the road cleared up again. Definitely a refreshing change from Sydney.

I must admit, I do miss the Sydney shopping scene, however with online shopping being so accessible these days (thanks Asos Premier), and the ability to hop on a plane to Melbourne or Sydney, things could be a lot worse.

If, however, there was one place that I could bring to Launceston, it would definitely be a Gelato Messina store.  Oh how I miss that milk chocolate with choc peanut fudge gelato...

All in all though, while it has been a pretty massive few months, I am really enjoying living in this beautiful city, and am excited to continue discovering more of Tasmania.



1 comment:

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