My Four Years Adrift in Australia | I Broke Up, Quit My Job and Defied Family and Friends — Now, at 31, I Can Finally Live in Peace

 #   Today we’re sharing a work-while-you-study story

Back home

she had a decent job and a stable life

but life played a trick on her

and her once-comfortable routine suddenly turned into confusion

During that time

“Get away from this place, change my environment”

this thought stayed in her mind

clamouring endlessly

 #   Finally, in her own stubborn way, she “ran off” to Australia

She’s come a long way, and she’s still on that road

The good and the bad — it’s all scenery along the way

“My name’s Alice, and I’m from Binzhou, Shandong. I did a diploma in accounting, and after graduating, with my parents’ help, I got into a local state-owned enterprise. Life was steady enough — I wasn’t earning much, but I was close to my parents, and with my undemanding, easy-going nature, life in a small county town was actually pretty comfortable and relaxed.

Two years later, my boyfriend at the time wanted to build a career in Guangzhou, and even though my parents disagreed, I went along with him.It wasn’t entirely because of my boyfriend — doing the same job for so long had started to wear on me, and on top of that I was worn out navigating the office politics between colleagues and management, so I wanted to use the chance to change my work environment.

But things didn’t go as planned — a new job and a new life brought with them even sharper problems.I didn’t know anyone or anywhere, work wasn’t going well, I couldn’t get used to the food, and my boyfriend was under heavy work pressure too — our relationship wasn’t what it used to be. Far from home, I felt completely isolated, full of grievances, yet my parents also blamed me for not listening to them in the first place. I couldn’t help feeling I’d been naive to give up my once-comfortable life, but I had my own pride too — even though I didn’t want to carry on like this, I didn’t want to slink back home in defeat either.

In 2017, with no way to back down,at 28, I broke up with the boyfriend I’d been with for three years.I quit my job in Guangzhou and, ignoring my parents’ and friends’ objections, made the firm decision to study in Australia.”

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“Because time was tight, I didn’t have enough time to sit the IELTS,so I applied to a not-particularly-well-known school in Sydney to study a hotel management course.As soon as my visa came through, I booked my flight to Sydney straight away, and when the plane landed and I breathed in Sydney’s air for the first time,it all still felt so surreal.But there was no time to dwell on it — I had to throw myself into real life, since finding a rental, studying, working and earning money were all things I had to sort out right away.

Fortunately, before I arrived I’d already got in touch with a fellow Chinese person in Sydney who ran an airport-pickup and rental-finding business — for a fee, he sorted out things like my SIM card and transport card for me. Then, on the set date, my course began, and since my language score wasn’t high enough, I had to take extra language classes — the EAP academic English course that felt so gruelling at the time has actually become one of my most precious memories of Australia. There were around 16 people in the class, all from non-English-speaking countries, mostly from India (it wasn’t that their English was weak — more that they weren’t strong at academic writing, or their IELTS score wasn’t high enough).The difference between me and them was that my English really was weak!At the time I was the only Chinese student in the class, and when the others chatted among themselves outside of class, I couldn’t get a word in. Every lesson felt like walking through fire and climbing a mountain of knives — the teacher loved asking questions, and the other students loved discussing things. Chinese students are naturally reserved and shy to begin with; back in secondary school, the thing I dreaded most was making eye contact with a teacher or being called on, let alone now in an English class. Every time the teacher called on me, I’d have to say, awkwardly: ‘Sorry, can you repeat the question?’ Doing exercises and homework was fine, but whenever it came to class discussions or presentations, I’d be so embarrassed my toes would curl. The teacher even pulled me aside for a talk, warning that if I carried on like this, I might need to redo the language course.

Honestly, for a traditional Chinese person, 28 is well past the age to walk back into a classroom and start learning from scratch — and on top of that, my parents firmly opposed me going overseas, so I felt too embarrassed to ask them for money.All my tuition and living costs came out of savings from my old job, but a 5:1 exchange rate was genuinely hard to sustain — taking on a part-time job is the choice most ordinary international students make.Extending the language course meant paying even more in tuition, and being weak at English made me even more afraid to talk to people — I simply didn’t dare go out and look for work.

I felt like I’d sunk into an endless loop, and I couldn’t help questioning my own choices. Every change I’d made in my life had been to escape my current circumstances, yet it felt like climbing out of one fire pit only to fall into another. If things weren’t getting any better, why hadn’t I just hit pause from the start?But I was already here, and what was done was done — all I could do was grit my teeth and push on.”

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“Heaven rewards those who try. With language, it’s all about speaking and practising more — gritting your teeth and pushing on. Gradually I could understand what the teacher was saying,and in the end my language course wasn’t extended — I moved smoothly into the main course. That gave me confidence, and it also gave me the courage to take the step of looking for work.

Being a student, I could work part-time, but the hours weren’t flexible enough, so my options were limited — pretty much just restaurant work. The owner of a sushi shop happened to be from northern China too, and seeing I was a young woman who’d just arrived in Australia, he gave me the cashier job, along with helping customers collect and pack their orders — fairly straightforward. Since the menu was limited, I spent several days beforehand memorising it, hoping that as long as I could accurately catch what customers wanted to order, everything would be fine.But I was too naive.

Being from northern China, honestly, for my first 28 years I hadn’t really known what an avocado was — rolled up inside a sushi roll, it looked just like cucumber! And chicken and tuna, rolled up in rice, looked exactly the same too. So there were always customers who’d pay, walk off, then come back to say I’d given them the wrong order. Then there were the coins — 5c, 10c, 20c, 50c, and especially the $1 and $2 coins — every time I had to hold the coin right up close to make out the number printed on it before I could be sure how much it actually was, and giving the wrong change during the busy periods was a regular occurrence. I have to say, I’m really grateful for how patient and understanding my boss Bruce was with me back then — he never once raised his voice at me, and he never let me go, otherwise I’m sure I would have hidden at home too scared to look for another job.

Luckily, as I got more familiar with everything, I made far fewer mistakes, and I kept working part-time for Bruce right through until I graduated.”

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”In the final semester of my hotel management course, there was a practicum requirement I had to pass to get my graduation certificate, so I finished up at the sushi shop and joined my classmates in looking for hotel management work.Australia is a tourist hotspot, so work wasn’t hard to find — I Googled every hotel nearby, called each one to ask if they were hiring, then picked my favourite from the ones that were, and went for it.At first I could only start at the bottom doing rotational shifts, but gradually I was able to move into concierge, food and beverage, and housekeeping — roles that didn’t demand much English.Front desk, on the other hand, paid the most and was the most competitive.

After finishing the practicum, I successfully completed my 1.5-year course. When I first applied to study abroad, all I wanted was to escape — I hadn’t looked into anything about Australia, so I had no real plan. It was only later that I found out about post-study work visas, but my 1.5-year course didn’t qualify, and hotel management wasn’t a migration-eligible occupation anyway.

But by then I’d already grown used to Australia’s blue skies and white clouds, the friendly, easy-going and open-minded people, and a life that was free, comfortable and peaceful.So instead of leaving as planned, I extended my student visa for another 3 years of working while studying.By this point I no longer held myself back or lived on edge — I did what I wanted to do, didn’t care in the slightest what others thought, and no longer made things hard for myself out of pure stubbornness.

At 31, I could finally live my own life in peace.”

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“Before I knew it, this year marks my fourth year in Australia. Not long after I graduated in 2019, the pandemic hit, the tourism industry ground to a complete halt, and with no particular edge to begin with, I couldn’t find hotel management work in my field anymore. After that I picked up various jobs on and off, driven by curiosity and wanting to give myself a bit more life experience.

For the past year or so, I’ve gone back to my original trade: accounting.My boss is from the same hometown as me, and he and his wife run a health-supplement wholesale business in Australia. After finishing his accounting postgraduate degree, he found the migration path an uphill battle, so they’re now going through investor migration instead. The couple are lovely people — they treat us employees like family, and often invite us over to their place for hotpot. Besides doing the accounts at the shop, I also help with management, taking care of everything big and small in the warehouse. Sometimes the boss drops by the shop once a day to check in, sometimes he doesn’t come by for several days. Either way, I report to him on how things are going every day, so he’s at ease. A while back,he hinted to me that he’d be willing to sponsor me through employer sponsorship,because he’d actually gone through a lot of staff before me and could never keep anyone — he’d rather hold on to core employees, which saves a lot on management overheads and frees up his energy to focus on other things.

So I’ve started looking into employer sponsorship,and I know there’s still a lot ahead of me, but I’m no longer lost — if anything, I feel more certain, because I know deep down that whatever the road ahead brings, I have the courage to face it.

Looking back on how anxious I was when I first arrived in Australia — my clumsy English, the awkwardness of small talk with neighbours, dreading the sound of the phone ringing, hoping everything could be sorted by email instead. So many times I answered fluently but completely off the mark, so many times I gritted my teeth and rambled nonsense. I remember the first time I called a taxi, and the driver asked me on the phone, ‘Where are you from?’ I loudly answered, ‘China!’ It was only later I realised he was asking where I wanted to be picked up from. Every time I think back on it, I can’t help but laugh, embarrassment and all. I’m also especially grateful to the classmates, housemates, bosses, neighbours and even strangers who’ve helped me along the way.

Thank you too to Rachel from Newstars — she’s handled every one of my visas since I arrived in Australia, and we’ve since become really good friends.

Still on the road, but I believe things will only get better…

Having been treated with kindness, I want to repay others with that same kindness. These experiences have shown me that life can only get better~”

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