Beginning of the process....

The process to migrate to Australia is quite complex, for that reason, I decided to hire a company that  provides a certain service...(in exchange of a teeny tiny amount of money...jeje); this service, obviously, is to help you thoroughout the entire process.  My only obligations would be to send them all of the documents required by DIAC (Department of Immigration and Citizenship), and also sit for the IELTS (International English Testing System)....off course.

I surfed the web and I found different agencies that help you with this process; there are two outside Argentina, especifically in Australia and U.K and the other one is in Argentina (I'm sure there are more agencies but I didn't keep looking). The two agencies outside this continent give you advice through the process; depending on the amount of money you are willing to pay, you have a certain number of phone calls to make questions. The problem here is that you have to do everything by yourself, from documents' traslations to filling different forms that you need to send to DIAC.

On the other hand, with the agency located in Argentina, you can relax because this agency does everything for you (well, almost everything). It has certain advantages, especially for those who don't have the time to do everything that the process demands from you. Besides, the people from the agency tell you about the constant migration changes and they advice you on what's the best choice to make.  The agency's name is Viva en Australia (VEA (Live in Australia)) and it's located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It also offers its services to different countries in Latin America. It could be a good or a bad decision to hire an agency; it depends on personal circumstances but in my particular case I can say that it was the best decision I could've made (well, so far...) since I don't have enough time to do it by myself so it would've taken me many months to get everthing done.

In a future post I'm going to talk about the assessment for my profession and the IELTS.

Cheers!!!
Maitena

Reasons to emigrate....

Like I said in one of my previous posts, I always wanted to go to another country to have a new life experience and to be in touch with other cultures because it really opens your mind and it allows you to think differently.  The reason for that is because you have the chance to see other realities, so the way you see and perceive things change.

I couldn't be part of any exchanging program in the past years; however, last October something went over me (who knows what!!..:) and said "I'm leaving!" The reasons for leaving my country were just that I wanted to have a change in my life, meet new people, learn different ways to get your work done, live in a country where people speak another language (well, that language would be English because that's the one I know and like!! :), anyway, I think I was looking for a challenge. By that time I had already decided that my destination would be Australia...why?? Because I liked the fact that it's an organized, developed country, it's a place where laws are followed, people respect each other, great quality of life, you work and yet you have time for yourself.  The opposite of what it's going on in Argentina; that's the other reason to emigrate (anywhere, as long as it's better than here).

Sadly, Argentina is no longer liveable; the education level has decreased, there are more homeless people who don't even have money to eat!!! there are no jobs, prices are over the roof, robberies, crimes, a Government that's better not to talk about it...ignorant people are easier to handle and this Gorvernment is taking advantage of that fact. That's how things are in this country.  For things to get better, there should be a new Government NOW!! and even if it worked perfectly, we would see the results many years from now...and to be true I don't think it's going to change any time soon.

As you can imagine, I don't want to wait until I'm an old ladie to see an improvement , that is why I decided to leave!!!!!!!!! I know it's not going to be easy but the good thing is that I'm going to work hard and as a consequence, I'm going to see good results; that's the enormous difference and it makes me realize that all the effort that I'm going to make (like leaving my family behind, my friends, everything I know), it's going to be worth it.
And that is why, instead of an exchange program, I decided to go to Australia to start a new life!!! With a lot of hope and lots of dreams!!!

Cheers!!!
Maitena

Why do I want to go to another country????

With this new post I'm going to talk about where the idea of moving to another country comes from, and in order to do so, I'm going to tell you a little bit about myself.  I am an accountant and I graduated from University two and half years ago. Luckily, I'm working as an accountant which it's excellent considering that the economic situation in Argentina is not the best (it hasn't been for a long time now) and it's quite difficult to find a job nowadays, especially in your field.

Since I was 13 or 14 years old, I have always wanted to participate in one of those exchanging programs; you know, when you go to another country with the excuse of "learning English". Once there, you stay with a local family and then, in the future you are going to return the favour, by giving a place to live to a member of that family. I remember looking brochures about these programs and talking about them to my parents because I wanted to see if they could afford sending me to another country. Unfortunatelly, I couldn't go because I also have a brother and a sister who are younger than me so the money was put to a better use (which, if you think about it, was reasonable, although I didn't like it at that moment!!)

Years went by, I went to college, studied and graduated and even though, I never stopped thinking about it, that dream was never acomplished. The reason for that was because I didn't have time since I was busy with finals and off course I didn't have enough money!

On the other hand, once I graduated and started working, those crazy ideas about participating in an exchange program appeared again! So I began searching the internet trying to find a program according to my qualifications. However, I couldn't find anything because all of the programs requiered me to have at least one year experience in my field. That is why I decided to work an entire year and then look for the right program.
As you can see, the idea of leaving Argentina has always been in my head but just as a 4 month experience or a year...top. I never thought of leaving my country for good.
Well, I think this is a very long post!!! In the next post I'm going to write about the reasons for choosing Australia and the reasons for making this "exchange" a little bit longer than usual.......

Cheers!!!
Maitena

Getting started....

Hello to everyone who has visited my blog; this new space I have found in the world wide web, where I'll try to write my experiences, especially those related to this new adventure I want to pursue....moving to Australia!!!! to the other side of the world,  well...at least for me, because I live in Argentina!!!

To be honest, writing a blog is totally new to me since the only thing I have ever written was my personal Diary... when I was 14 or 15 years old!!! 12 years have past since those days so I'm out of practice!! That is why I'm going to try and write the best that I can and do it on a regular basis, whether it's for you (my readers!! :) or myself, because I'm planning to use this blog as my personal diary as well. My intention is to keep this blog and read it in the future and remember those moments and compare my dreams back then with my reality in that moment in the future and see if my dreams have been achieved.

Cheers!