Simple Swedish Podcast - #221 - Mitt år i Australien (svår)

Episode Date: April 17, 2024

Här kommer ett avsnitt där jag pratar i vanlig takt. Jag berättar om mitt år i Australien. Det var den första resan jag gjorde på egen hand, och jag var borta i ett år. Det förändrade mitt liv på många sätt.  -------------------- För att stödja podden och få transkript till avsnitten - bli patron för bara 5€ per månad – klicka här! För att läsa mer om vårt 9-dagars hyperintensiva och unika språkbad Language Lock-in Boot Camp - klicka här! ------------------- Instagram: swedish.linguist YouTube: Swedish Linguist Website: www.swedishlinguist.com Language Lock-in: https://www.languagelockin.com/ ------------------- Ett smakprov (sample) på transkriptet:   Nämen tjenare tjenare! Välkommen ska du vara till Simple Swedish Podcast. Och det här avsnittet tänkte jag köra i vanlig takt.   Så ja, det verkar som att jag har börjat att köra avsnitt i vanlig takt, kanske typ var tredje avsnitt.   Så om du inte förstår det här avsnittet jättejättebra - det är helt okej. Fokusera på de andra avsnitten, och efter ett tag så kommer du att förstå även de här lite snabbare avsnitten också. För att, ja, det är många som har sagt att de gillar de här lite snabbare avsnitten. Och att det inte är så svårt att förstå. Och jag tror att det antagligen inte är så svårt att förstå för att man har lyssnat ett tag på den här podden, och man har vant sig vid hur jag pratar. Så grattis! Om det är du..om du lyssnar på de här lite snabbare avsnitten och du känner att det här förstår jag ganska bra. Så grattis till dig att du har nått en lite högre nivå. Och om det fortfarande är svårt för dig, oroa dig inte, du kommer att nå den nivån också. Bara fortsätt lyssna på Simpels Swedish Podcast, och andra poddar på svenska, och fortsätt lära dig svenska. För att det är såklart viktigt att lyssna mycket om man vill bli bra på att förstå talad svenska. Så vad ska jag prata om i det här avsnittet då? Jo, jag ska prata om mitt år i Australien. För, ja, ganska länge sedan nu. Det var 14-15 år sedan typ. Då spenderade jag ett år i Australien och det var min första resa på egen hand, hemifrån, så. Så jag flyttade faktiskt hemifrån med att åka på en ett år lång resa till andra sidan jorden. Men innan vi börjar, jag ska bara tacka fyra stycken patrons. Det är Diego, Karen, Lauri och Peter. Tack till er för att ni stödjer podden. Ni får transkript till alla avsnitt. Det kostar bara 5 euro per månad. Det är mindre än en öl kostar i Sverige. Så för det lilla lilla priset får ni transkript till alla avsnitt. Och om ni köper två öl per månad så får ni lite mer.   Ni får tillgång till chatten, vår exklusiva chatt, där ni kan skriva med mig och alla andra.   Jag planerar också att fortsätta med extra avsnitt för patrons på 10-euro-nivån. Ja, då ska vi prata om mitt år i Australien.   ....för att läsa hela transkriptet till detta och alla andra avsnitt, klicka här!

Welcome to Simple Swedish Podcast. This episode I'm going to do in normal tempo. It seems that I have started to do episodes in normal tempo, maybe every third episode. So if you don't understand this episode very well, it's totally okay to focus on the other episodes. And after a while you will understand also these a little faster episodes as well. Because, well, there are many who have said that they like these faster episodes and that it's not that hard to understand. And I think that it's probably not that hard to understand because you've listened to this podcast for a while and you've gotten used to how I talk.

So congratulations if you listen to these faster episodes and you feel that you understand pretty well. So congratulations to you for reaching a higher level and if it's still difficult for you, don't worry. You will reach that level as well. Just keep listening to Simplest Swedish podcast and other podcasts in Swedish and keep learning Swedish. Yes, because it's of course important to listen a lot if you want to be good at understanding spoken Swedish. So what am I going to talk about in this episode? I'm going to talk about my year in Australia. Because quite a long time ago now, it was 14-15 years ago, I spent one year in Australia and it was my first trip on my own, from home.

So I actually moved from home with the one year long trip to the other side of the world. But before we start, I just want to thank four Patreons, Diego, Karen, Lauri and Peter. Thank you for supporting the podcast. You get a transcript for all episodes. It costs only 5 euros per month. It is less than an eel costs in Sweden. So for that little price you get a transcript for all episodes. And if you buy two eels per month, you get a transcript for all episodes. And if you buy two beers a month, you get a little more, you get access to the chat, our exclusive chat, where you can write to me and everyone else. I also plan to continue with the extra episodes for Patreon on the 10 euro level.

for patrons on the 10 euro level. Well, then we will talk about my year in Australia. So I spent one year in Australia between 2009 and 2010. And why did I do that? Well, I had graduated a year before. And I spent a year without doing anything special. I didn't work much, and that was probably because I didn't find a job. And I didn't want to study either, because I just didn't know what I wanted to do. It's quite the same thing that has happened many times in my life. I don't really know what to do.

I'm in a bit of a situation right now too, because I have an apartment contract that runs out in May and I have to move. It's my decision, I want to move from this apartment. But I don't know exactly where I want to move. Should I stay in Valencia? Should I move somewhere else? Should I spend a little time, maybe travel a little? I don't really know, we'll see. It would be fun to do something new for a while, but I think it's a big chance that I decided to go to Australia after I hadn't done that much that year after high school. It was actually my cousin who came up with the idea of bringing a working holiday visa to Australia. holiday visa to Australia. I thought it sounded like a really nice idea. We both had saved money.

So we decided to go to Australia in November 2009. November 2009. And yes, the other side of the earth. And it was a long journey there. I think it took like 36 hours. I thought it was really cool to fly in such a big airplane where you could watch movies and you were served food and drinks all the time. I remember that we went with Cathy Airways. It's crazy how many details you remember from things like this, which was the first of something when you were very young. This trip, I remember a lot of details from that trip. Much more than the trip I did two or three years ago. That's because the brain is quite young and everything is new and exciting.

You remember a lot of details. The first month in Australia we were in Sydney. We took a month's vacation at first. We just chilled, checked in the city, checked in different things and tried not to spend too much money. We tried to live cheaply. We stayed at different cheaply and we lived in different hostels. But the plan was to start working pretty soon. But it took a few weeks and we just chilled a bit.

The first job, me and my cousin started at the same job first. We came together and spent the first time together, but after a while we split up. We met up again. But now it was like this. We were at a restaurant where you got free food. So we had heard about some event, some kind of meeting or something like that, where they served free food. And there we met a girl who worked for this sales company.

And she recruited us, you could say. So we started selling. It was door-to-door sales. Door knocking. So you walk around in a residential area, knock on doors and try to sell to these people. And I'm not a very good seller. And then I was an even worse seller. Or worse seller than I am now.

I knew English but it wasn't that fluent then. I've always been insecure and socially reserved. That was really hard for me. And my cousin, he gave up after a week only. And did something else. But I thought, damn, I want to be good at this. I felt that this is something I actually want to be good at. So I did that job for like two or three months. And I didn't get good at it. I got a little better. My English got very good.

But I didn't get good at selling in that way. And it was quite difficult to sell. We sold roof insulation because there was some kind of... The authorities had some kind of a discount on roof insulation because they wanted to reduce the energy demand in society. So that you could get, what do you think it was, 1,200 Australian dollars in discount if you put in roof insulation. So we sold that. I went up and checked the the wind, at people inside their houses. I had a telescope ladder. I walked around with a ladder and it was really hot too because it was December.

And that's December in the middle of the summer, so it was 30-40 degrees. December, midsummer, so it was 30-40 degrees, then you walked around there with a fucking ladder, and went and knocked on people's doors and tried to sell a roof. I don't know, I'm just a little angry now when I talk about it, because it's a little crazy that I've actually done this. Go around and try to sell roof insulation to people. Then you come there and you pitch, because it's called pitch, when you sell pitch, when you make your little speech

to capture the attention of this person. So then the next step was to go in and see if they can get this discount because you have to like check their roof insulation if they don't have roof insulation then you can sell them or if their roof insulation is very bad. But then you have to climb up the stairs and up in the wind to check and then I was forced to measure their entire house. see how big it was. So, yes, I did that in two or three months. I never got good at it, and it was 100% commission. So it means that... Commission. 100% commission.

It means that I only get money if I sell. And I sold sometimes, but... I wasn't one of the best sellers. I sold... I think I went plus or minus zero. I probably went a little down, a little down in my economy there. But I think I earn enough to manage myself evenly. But I just felt that I wanted to get good at this. I felt that I needed to practice my social skills and to sell myself.

I also tried to get along with girls. I knew that if you're a good seller, it's good to practice selling, because then you get good at talking to girls too. I had heard that. But in the end, my cousin and I decided to go to Melbourne instead. Because we... Yeah, it wasn't the right job for me. And he quit after a couple of weeks.

He did something else. He had a little more money than me, so he chilled a little more. But we went to Melbourne anyway, because we had heard that it was easier to get a job there. And... So yeah, we went to Melbourne. And then it started to get... Well, then it started to get spring there. Or summer, I don't remember.

We had to go in February-March to Melbourne. Yeah, it's actually March, yes, it is the beginning of the autumn. But I remember at least that after a few months the weather started to get very rough, rainy and a lot of rain. Yes, the weather in the autumn there was similar to the weather in Sweden. But I actually loved Melbourne as a city. It was a very cool, cultural city. And very cool buildings and a lot of interesting people. I liked the vibe in Melbourne.

But I didn't find a real job. I mean, I don't know, I didn't have any work experience. I hadn't had a job before in my life. I had a summer job for a few months, I hadn't had a real job. Plus, I was very insecure as a person. job. Plus att jag var väldigt osäker som människa. Alltså det var ju väldigt svårt för mig att hitta ett jobb i stan och jag ville inte liksom ut på landet och plocka frukt. För att det är ganska vanligt att när man är

backpacker så, ja men då åker man och så jobbar man på landet, plockar frukt, gör det i några månader, tjänar pengar och sen så spenderar man de pengarna på att resa runt i landet. Men det vill inte jag göra, utan jag var inte där för att resa faktiskt, utan jag var lite där för att jag ville så här utvecklas som människa. Jag ville öva på min sociala förmåga. I wanted to develop as a person. I wanted to practice my social skills. I wanted to push myself and be a little self-developed. I wanted to be good at talking to girls, that was one thing. I also found my interest in language, actually.

And that happened in Melbourne, actually. So I lived in a hostel, and I didn't have much work. I found some job, like... I know I worked at this Formula 1 event. But my economy was really, really bad. And I lived on a rather down-to-earth hostel. Down-to-earth means that the down-to-earth is maybe not so clean, maybe not so old stuff and stuff.

So it was a little down-to-earth hostel, so cheap. And I lived there for quite a while, well, two months. And there lived a lot of French people. And I thought, damn, it would have been cool to learn a language. And, yes, French would perhaps fit well, because there are a lot of French people living here in the hostel. So if I learn French, they might be able to help me, and then I have something to do.

So I went to the library in Melbourne and borrowed a textbook in French. And then I started learning French there in Melbourne, quite randomly. But I got help from people at the hostel and I thought it was fun. And that was something I continued with since I came back to Sweden. And that was actually where my whole language, I don't know, the course I came in on, the language course, it started there there in Melbourne. But my economy was really bad. I even worked for free at the hostel to get to live there for free. I didn't get any money, but I got to live there for free. So I didn't spend money on living.

Then I went to Perth. Because the weather in Melbourne was getting so bad, and I couldn't find a job. People said that in Perth it's much more sunny. I thought that sounded good so I went to Perth. The most isolated city in the world, or at least a big city. There are not as many backbikers in Perth. And I was there for almost half a year actually. And my economy got even worse. I had zero money actually. I became punk. Punk means that you have zero money.

So I became punk, basically. I had spent all my money. And it was actually like that, my cousin, because then we had met again, after a while separated. He had paid all the food in two weeks before I actually started getting a income. I found a job that I worked with, it's called a moving car. You move furniture, when people move, that is a moving company to move all the stuff.

That's what I did. That was my only real job in Australia. It wasn't a real job because I only got paid in cash and I couldn't work every day. So it was like... But I made money anyway and it was really nice that I was like, yes, finally I have money, finally I can do things and pay things. Shit. I think it's a good thing to have been a punk once in your life. To experience how it feels.

How good it feels when you actually get money. Yeah, and it wasn't particularly hot in Perth. Because I remember, I didn't have a jacket with me to Australia. I thought that in Australia it's hot so I don't need a jacket. I had so little money that I couldn't buy a jacket either. But I remember that one day when I went to a job, there was fucking frost on the ground and I was there with just a sweater. I had long pants and a sweater but no jacket and it was freezing as fuck. So what can I say, I might have to end this a bit now, because this episode is starting to get a bit long. And I don't know, the last time, the last weeks, I traveled with my cousin. We went to Bali, we went to Alice Springs, we went to Darwin, and we checked out Uluru,

Ayers Rock, but you should say Uluru, because that's how it's called in the Aboriginian language. And then we went home after a year. And I felt that a lot of things were pretty unsuccessful. I had come there to work and live a fun life. But it was very difficult for me to find a job. And it was difficult for me to find a job. And it was difficult for me to like... Australia is quite expensive. It's not really fun to be there without money. And I did...

There was a lot I went wrong with. Because I didn't go to Whitsunday, I didn't go to the East Coast, I didn't go to Cairns, I didn't go to Byron Bay, I didn't go to Blue Mountains. I didn't do to Cairns, I didn't go to Byron Bay, I didn't go to Blue Mountains. I didn't do any road trip directly. We did a small road trip from Alice Springs to Uluru. But...

But at least... No, we went from Darwin to Alice Springs, I think. Did we? Yes. I don't remember exactly. But yeah, so it was a lot I felt like I didn't have succeeded with. But at the same time, in retrospect, I can see how much it has given me and how much it has affected me.

Because this started my life out in the world, my international life. After this trip, I knew that I wanted to be in international environments. I started learning languages, I started taking on couchsurfers at home in my apartment in Gothenburg. I continued learning languages and I challenged myself very much in Australia. I pushed myself far, far outside my comfort zone. So that was actually really well done. I can see in the after hand. So, yes, that was, yes, I can of course talk a lot about that, but I've already talked for 25 minutes, so it's time to wrap up.

But before we wrap up, I would like to say that Language Lock-in, our summer bootcamp, I think you've heard about this before Summer bootcamp is almost full, so if you're interested in joining us in the summer then it's time to go to languagelockin.com and register. We also have the winter bootcamp open now in January. So it's open now. So this is actually a very, very cool, unique experience. And it's a unique place in Mora. You're in a house for nine days. You can only speak Swedish for nine days.

We do lots of fun activities. We learn a lot of different things. And you get friends for life. So you can come, no matter if you live in Sweden or abroad. If you want to see videos from the house, from the program, if you want to see what other people say about the program, go to our website languagelaken.com and check out more there and register soon as soon as possible

if you want to be part of our summer program I can really recommend it That was all for me today have a good one and I'll see you soon