Sydney vs Melbourne

There's something wonderful about waking up early on a gorgeous summer's day in December and know that there is a long stretch of amusing work ahead of you and before that, a one hour window in which to do whatever the hell you want...

I have to say, the weather has been absolutely divine this summer in Sydney.  Characteristically, I have been spending most of it indoors, but having the sun out inevitably puts an extra spring in my step.  I have never spent a summer in Melbourne, but I'm glad I came back to Sydney this year, if only for the weather.  Having a good summer job and being able to hang with friends and family has been a bonus too (well let's face it, they're probably more important than the weather :)

The sun was grapefruit red the other day when I was driving home.  I know that that normally means that there are bushfires going on, but they weren't that bad obviously, maybe only a couple going somewhere far away.  The change in colour of the light made the eucalyptus trees tinge red.  Gum leaves washed waratah red by the sun.  A true Australian Christmas!

I've been thinking a lot about my life and how it differs between Sydney and Melbourne recently, well most of the time really.  I think I'm always going to struggle with the lives that I lead in this country.  They're just so disparate and so different it's hard to conceive ever reconciling the two.

For example, in Sydney, my life is clean and bright and lived entirely in the suburbs.  Our house is big and bright and airy and spacious.  My brother and I share the car, we catch the train everywhere, and we rotate visiting friends, most of whom live close by or at least within half an hour.  I have a job that requires me to dress pretty much how I did when I was a med student (except a bit dressier, and with heels), I earn money, I am competent, efficient and high-achieving.   Most of my friends are those from my high school, or the occasional few from medicine.  I rarely go out (in fact, I don't think I've done anything remotely close to what one would consider going out, except to go to the theatre), and if I do, I tire and go home early.  I drink (one glass  of) wine once a week with my dad.  The area in which I work is safe and upper middle class, filled with families and old people.  The sunlight is clear and strong.  In Sydney, I am safe and secure and protected.

In Melbourne, 'my little life', as I call it down there, is dirty and edgy and lived entirely around the city.  I live with two flatmates, one looking for work as a graphic designer and the other a writing student.  The apartment we live in is tiny and dark and has very little light coming into it.  I catch the tram everywhere, most places being within half an hour of each other, but some of my friends do live further off.  I don't have a job, other than typing for my dad.  I spend most of my day in black tights, or if I feel like dressing up, in jeans.  Most of my friends are actors from my school, even the ones I see outside of school.  I don't have many friends outside of school.  On the weekends I do my studies, clean the house, do my washing, and do the cooking.  I go out at least once a week, usually to a friend's house party or to see theatre.  I drink (a couple of bottles of) cider once a week with my classmates. The area in which I live is filled with hippy rich people and bums.  I am asked for money on a regular basis, and depending how much I have in my wallet (usually not much - I'm a student!) I sometimes give it to them.  The sunlight in Melbourne is amber and comes in from the side.  It's cold in Melbourne.  In Melbourne, I am unleashed, uncertain and alone.

It's not all a loss of course.  In the last few months I was living in Melbourne I began to get a grip on some things that made me feel more at home.  I discovered a DVD store within a minute of my house (in Sydney I had to drive) and have developed a weekly habit there.  Some of my Sydney friends are moving down so hopefully that will start a mass migration.  In Sydney, some of my classmates are up for the summer so it's nice to see them around and share the city with them.  Perhaps in the new year I'll get a job in Melbourne, especially since the company I am working for has a major store in the city.  Perhaps I'll class my life up there, or I've move back to Sydney and funk it up in Darlinghurst or Paddington.  Perhaps I'll fall in love with someone in one city and it will force me to stay there, or even better, someone who also has a crisis between the two.  But it's a continual identity crisis for me.  I don't know if it'll ever resolve.

And then of course, when I move to New York or Paris...