To the Paradise "Down Under"

After spending some weeks in California, I soon found myself in the opposite corner of the world: in the beautiful land of Australia. This was my first trip to the Southern Hemisphere, and those who look for paradise “up above” have no idea how beautiful it is “down under”!

I left Germany on a Friday night and after a disorientingly long journey, I woke up in Melbourne on Sunday morning (give me my Saturday back, universe!). I was there to attend a conference, and the city welcomed me with both arms. The conference was in Southbank, which is a very posh suburb in Melbourne. I spent some time walking along the banks of the Yarra river. I’m used to seeing rivers flowing between mountains or European countryside. This was an entirely new experience, because Yarra flows along the magnificient skyscrapers of the city. The slow breeze along with the surprisingly sunny weather made walks around the conference venue very refreshing!

I have said this time and again: I’ll always be a city girl. Give me a lively city with good public transport and I can live there forever. There’s just so much to experience in a city and if you add in old school (but extremely fast) trams to the picture, you get the beautiful city of Melbourne. Thanks to the helpful locals and a good public transport network, I could explore a lot of the city on my own. It was super convenient to have free trams in the Central Business District, which was a short walk away from the conference venue! This instantly placed Melbourne in the list of the most well connected cities I’ve had the pleasure of visiting, and it is perhaps one of the only non-European cities in that list!

I ended the last post hoping for a European summer, but my year was pleasantly interrupted by an untimely autumn! Despite knowing the Science behind seasons, I was surprised and excited to see the beautiful fall palette at this time of the year. The conference venue was directly opposite a beautiful garden, and I felt like the universe rewarded me with an additional slice of my favorite season!

An untimely autumn also means shorter days, and longer nights. The banks of Yarra were decked with city lights as soon as the sun set. It was magnificient, and the city is built to be really fancy. A walk by the river at night was peaceful, as was the night view from my hotel! I looked at the moon and got excited to be looking at an “upside down” moon (Science enthusiasts can read more about it here)! I was farthest from all homes I’ve known and built, but I didn’t feel alone. I soaked in all the night views I could, for I was soon heading back to the European summer, where night was a rare guest.

I couldn’t help but feel proud of how far I’d come, both geographically and emotionally. I have spent most of my life doubting myself, and it took me a long time to have faith in my ideas, my work. When I submitted to this conference, I had no hopes of getting accepted. My partner, on the other hand, had finished his research on Australian visitor visa process long before I got notified of my acceptance. This trip was a leap of faith, a breath of fresh air and hopefully an experience that would change my outlook towards my PhD. In the Research field, this was hardly a victory (I had only presented a poster). But I refuse to let Academia dictate my emotions, or my life. If I celebrate only the most important victories, I will spend most of my life unhappy!

I was a little overwhelmed before this trip, because this was my first time attending such a big conference. What I didn’t factor in, though, was that I was combining this experience with my comfort zone: traveling! Melbourne 2023 will surely be one of the most memorable trips of my life. Stay tuned, for I’ve not yet covered the highlights of my trip… and the best is yet to come :D