Hannah DeMilta

Chapter Two: Hello Chicago

I’ve sat down at my computer several times over the last few weeks trying to write this post. I felt like I had a lot to say, and I was struggling to organize my thoughts into a concise post. This is my best attempt yet, so please bear with me.

Chicago in Summer, a snap of the city from Lake Michigan in June

I moved back to the US this summer. This was the end of my four-year run in Sydney. It was a both a happy and sad decision to come back here. While in my heart I know it was the right choice and I’m excited for my next adventure, I can’t help but already miss Sydney. It had become a home to me.

One of the hardest parts of leaving Sydney was saying goodbye to friends. I had attended a lot of farewell drinks for friends leaving over the last few years before my own. Sydney felt like a very transient city at times, especially with so many of my friends being fellow expats. However, even my Australian friends were adventurous travellers and world-wanderers. It was never a guarantee that anyone would stay put, but I’m thankful for that experience too.

It was my friends in Sydney who taught me a lot about what it meant to travel and to see yourself as a citizen of the world. It’s been through watching them and their fearless approach to what’s ahead that I’ve gained a lot of my confidence to be away from home for so long, go places that I never thought I’d go, and see the world through new eyes. It’s a wonderful gift and something I’ll carry with me forever now. Thank you guys.

I’ve started a new job, working for The Education Abroad Network (TEAN) from their Chicago offices. They specialize in helping US students to study abroad in Australia, New Zealand, SE Asia and China. TEAN is the very same company that helped send me on that very first journey to Australia, as a study abroad student on the Gold Coast.

It’s a brilliant group of people that I’ve admired since I was a student with them. It feels very fitting that I’ve gone full circle to end up working for this company. I’ll now have the opportunity to help students take the first steps on their own journey.

One of our students wrote a blog post this week about her return back to the US from a semester studying in Shanghai, China. I thought that her description of how it felt to come back was beautifully told. It made me tear up reading it, thinking about my own recent return.

“There are places there to be discovered, they are just waiting for you to come.

Personally, I know about one that melted my heart.

Yes, China made me feel alive.”

Now please excuse my melted heart ❤

Reflection on Three Years in Sydney

Leaving Alice Springs, flying over the Red Centre — Leaving Alice Springs (Norther Territory) flying over the Red Centre

Three years in Sydney… How have I been away for three years? I’ve reached a point where I’m not quite sure if three years is long time or short time to be living abroad. Depends who is asking.

In some ways it feels like ages. When I moved here I thought I would stay for 2-3 years at the most. My aim was to experience Australia in a more in-depth way than just a temporary holiday. I wanted Sydney it to be a home for me. I wanted to create a life here, with a career, friends and community. Reflecting on it now, I feel as though I have that, and I’m very grateful.

I moved to Sydney alone, not knowing anyone here. I remember wondering a lot in my first months when Sydney would become ordinary or completely familiar to me. I also wondered how long it would be until I had friends where I could be myself and let my guard down. I desperately wanted to feel comfortable in my surroundings. I’m not sure when it happened, but much has changed since those days.

Despite loving this place, I never thought Australia would be home forever. I always wanted it to be temporary, as part of my life, not the rest of my life. The thought leaving now, devastates me. While I have no plans to leave in the immediate future, it still isn’t a permanent home.

I know three years is really just a small blip on the radar. I have expat friends who have lived in multiple countries, travelled the world and have been away from “home” much longer than I have. It’s actually funny how non-unique your own story starts to feel over time with the more people you meet. I find it can be both comforting and annoying at times. I guess that’s probably more a life lesson that translates beyond just moving abroad.

Before moving here, I had never really considered the idea of long-term travel or even living anywhere other than Australia. My dream wasn’t to just become an expat or live abroad; it was specifically to come live in Australia. However, lately these three years are feeling like they could be just a start.

One of my best friends came to visit earlier this month from the US. We spent a week in the Northern Territory for a camping adventure in the outback and to see Uluru (Ayers Rock). It’s something that’s been my ‘to see’ list since studying abroad in Australia, and I’m glad I finally made it there, it was a great way to celebrate a three year anniversary.

Thank you for wonderful times and great memories over these last three years Sydney. Looking forward to many more to come. Cheers!

My Blogging Reality, Guilt and Hopes

All I can seem to write about lately are random (somewhat homesick) posts about being an expat, thoughts on being American and reflections on what I miss the most about Ohio. The Tribe season opener was yesterday, and I wanted to be back in Cleveland so badly (and I’m not even that huge of a baseball fan). I don’t publish most of what I write. I just enjoy venting sometimes.

I feel like I should be writing more industry posts related to my work. I’ve had some great learns from my most recent work with Rocketman. However, it feels forced. I sit down to write and I feel so flat about it. I don’t want to publish posts on my personal blog that I’m not feeling passionate about. It seems pointless.

The posts that I really want write and share are about my life in Sydney. I want to record foodie adventures and discovering local venues in Darlinghurst. Instead I just write the occasional 100-word Yelp review. It feels like I never have time to blog, but I guess I just haven’t made it a priority.

Any advice for me on how to get out of this blogging slump?

5 Tips for Planning a Sydney Meetup

I’ve been known to organise a few events here and there, but more often I’m attending events. I attend a lot of events actually. Sometimes, when I’m really busy, it’s almost every night of the week. It’s my plan to write an eBook guide on “How to organise a free or low cost community-based event in Sydney.” I want to give practical advice on venues, ticketing platforms, event format, and communication for people who have a great idea but perhaps have never run their own meetup. Some of it is common sense, but I think there will definitely be some value to be shared for the Sydney community.

In the meantime, I thought I’d share a few quick tips that have been on my mind.

1. List your event details online

Remember when I said some of this advice would be obvious? Yes, this is one of those tips. However, time and time again I struggle to find event pages and registration information. Is this event open to everyone? Do I need to print my ticket? When does it start? What’s the format? Share as much information as possible to help people (especially new people that you haven’t met yet) feel comfortable showing up to your event.

2. Create your event hashtag early

If you want the event to be shared on Twitter with a specific hashtag, start using it early. Even before you have a registration page or speaker you can start communicating all messages on Twitter with that hashtag. This is often an after thought. The organiser will realize they want people to tweet with a specific hashtag at the start of the event (or halfway through). By this time people have crated their own, or perhaps assumed that people wouldn’t be talking about the event on Twitter collectively.

Bonus: Please also make sure it’s something short, easy to remember and somehow ties in with the event name. However, that’s another post for another time.

3. Choose an appropriate venue

Again, this might seem like another obvious tip, but I attend a lot of meetups where the space doesn’t suit the event. If you want people to be able to have conversations, perhaps avoid the noisy pub. It helps to visit or experience locations before choosing to host there if possible. Think about the type of experience you want people to have. Do you want it to be intimate with fewer people having conversations? Host a dinner. Do you want the whole city to attend? Then book a big room.

4. Introduce your event attendees

I’m a firm believer that great event organisers should know or meet everyone who comes to meetup. Of course, this is definitely much more difficult with large-scale or one-time events, but the host or hostess should always make an effort to meet people in attendance. Great hosts will also introduce other attendees, and more than just event in a polite “you both look lonely, so you should chat” type way. They should look to introduce people who could benefit from knowing each other. If people make connections that are personally valuable to them, chances are they will be back to your meetup or event again.

5. Be wary of event fatigue

So you run an awesome meetup or event (every week, month, quarter, etc.) and suddenly after many awesome events you’re simply burnt out. That’s okay. Everyone gets tired and you don’t have an obligation to continue organising your event. However, if you’ve created something awesome with a community and following it’s also a shame to shut it down. Consider setting up a team to help you from the start so when the day comes where you’re ready to leave the meetup, others can take over. The event can live on without you and continue to be valuable to the attendees.

Expat Thoughts: Moving Abroad after College

Ever since moving to Sydney a couple years ago I’ve been receiving emails from students and recent grads asking about finding a job and living abroad. They show up randomly a couple times a month or so, because they found my blog or read a guest post I’ve written on moving. I love those messages, and always try to take my time writing back so I can be thoughtful with my responses.

It feels like it wasn’t that long ago I was sitting in front of my laptop searching through the same endless blog posts and articles. There is so much online in terms of advice on moving to another country, but it’s still tough to know what journey you’ll take. That’s something that I’ve observed from all my expat friends here. When it comes to landing a job and moving on the other side of the world there is no “right answer” on how to get there. We all took different paths to end up in Sydney. I’ve considered writing a short eBook guide (with the help of a few friends) for Americans who want to move to Sydney. I worry that it would become outdated quickly or perhaps too narrow focused.

So while I do hesitate to give out too much advice on certain topics (such as visas or financial advice). I will still openly share my story of how I got here. I also think one of the most important things I can give back to new grads is extra encouragement. I know for a lot of young Australians the idea of leaving the country for work or school, isn’t as much of hurdle, but the majority of us “Ohioans” don’t tend to pack up and move to another country just because we feel like it. It’s not only a lack of knowledge or role models that have travelled and gone before you but also a challenge of selling yourself on the idea (and it’s not an easy sell).

There were some really important people in my life that encouraged me to move abroad. I’m really thankful for that, especially looking back now. I think everyone needs those cheerleaders, especially when you’re a new grad. Just graduating and starting your job search is a scary enough, much less moving somewhere new. When you make up your mind to land a job on the other side of the planet and move to a new city where you don’t know anyone – that is all on you. People can help you, but you’re still the one who has to make the effort and take action. However, it’s the people around you telling you it’s possible that helps give you that extra little push you need.

So to those recent and soon to be grads that stumble across my blog, this post is mostly for you. Please do email me and ask me questions about life in Sydney, moving to a new city and living abroad. I try to answer pretty much all emails, even if it does take me some time to get back to you. Please also know that even though you feel quite isolated, lost, and unsure in your job search – many have had this same experience and are willing to help you if you seek them out.

Getting Focused on Dividing our Attention

A Sydney friend, Josh Capelin, gave a talk at the last local Pecha Kucha about yak shaving. It inspired me to write a blog post and share a few thoughts on multi-tasking related to professional lives. That was five months ago and I’ve been putting it off. You’ll see the irony in minute here, let me explain…

People sometimes frown upon taking on too many projects at once. It goes against the idea of getting focused and seeing something through from start to finish. However, I would tend to agree that I would rather move a few inches across several projects that a mile on one. My mind isn’t scattered, but rather always thinking, dreaming and scheming.

Josh spoke about the many jobs and projects he has taken on. Some might view this is a journey – a path to figuring out what we want to achieve in life or where our careers will take us. This assumes that we are taking this disorganised journey to get somewhere, when perhaps this actually just life. I’m not convinced it’s always a bad thing to get distracted by the details and end up walking around in circles for a while. We choose to wear many hats at once.

I was at a talk by Frank Chimero during Vivid Sydney that I really enjoyed. He had this great message around how he does things the “long, hard and stupid way” this is some of his best work. So perhaps when we are yak shaving and dividing our attention this is also some of our best work.

What do you think? Is this a phase we work through or a way to work?

Blogging for a Cause

I love storytelling through blogs. I wish I told more meaningful stories here actually (need to work on that). Blogging is one way you can give a voice to a person, group or organisation that might not have their own voice online yet. I like shout-outs and links on Twitter, but those short-forms posts don’t always deliver.

I experienced the idea of what blogging for a cause means firsthand a few years ago. I wrote a blog post about a volunteer group I absolutely (and still do) adored called Columbus Gives Back. The next month while helping out at one of their events I was talking to my friend Steph who was volunteering for the first time with that group. Even though she was someone I regularly caught up with, she told me that she had found out about Columbus Gives Back from my blog post. I was amazed. Firstly, because I didn’t think anyone besides my mum and flatmate read my blog and secondly, that my writing could cause someone to take an action (that was awesome).

I’m not telling this story because I think I’m special or because I believe that I’m motivating people to volunteer. Steph was a friend, that’s why she read my blog post and she’s a wonderful, caring person so that’s why she signed up to volunteer. This experience was insignificant in the wider scheme of outcomes, but an important lesson for me personally. It introduced me to the idea that we can share a message that’s worth sharing and reach people online far beyond our day-to-day interactions.

While I’ll always tweet links to stupid YouTube clips, and blog about my favourite foods in Sydney, I hope that I also make a choice at times to talk about meaningful topics on my blog. I like having conversations that matter offline and online. Just something to think about more I suppose.

Share your story. Have you ever blogged for a cause?

Steal My Ideas

I had a really lovely catch-up this week with a new friend Garry. He is a photographer and the local community guy over at Blurb. We spent a good couple hours talking about projects we wanted to work on, and ideas for projects that we wanted to do, but didn’t have time for. We also spent some time talking about those ideas for projects that we want someone else to do… seriously. Don’t you ever have ideas for big projects or businesses that you would love for someone just to pick up and run with? I secretly hope that if I pitch these ideas to enough people that I’ll plant in their head and they’ll just execute it for me. I suppose that’s not very likely.

Even the projects that we want to do ourselves, I think are best shared. Sometimes we’re scared to share ideas because someone might “steal” it from us. Everyone who watched The Social Network is now walking around thinking that the next Mark Zuckerburg is going to launch a competitor website before you can. However I have to believe this is hardly the reality. We are often the ones who are most passionate about our ideas, and many times the idea itself is not so unique.

I want to share more of my ideas. I have found this to be very rewarding lately. I enjoy the feedback, and brainstorming element. I’m not sure what the limitations should be when sharing ideas with competitors, or maybe there shouldn’t be any.

Do you enjoy sharing ideas you have for projects or businesses?

The American Connection

I never intended to have so many American friends in Sydney. That being said, I was never against the idea of meeting Americans when I moved here. It just happens somewhat naturally when you’re an expat I suppose. I always tell people that “one American leads to another…” I had a few American friends that I made when I arrived and somehow through our network we’ve collected up a whole group of yanks living down under.

It’s good fun. We share memories together here — a party for Cinco de Mayo, complaining about the lack of chocolate and peanut butter combinations available in Australia, and just enjoying being tourists in our own city. I cherish those common experiences that seem to tie us together from the start.

I’ve also come to believe that it takes a certain type of American to live abroad. I still have ‘cringe moments’ when meeting fellow American traveling abroad, but I find it’s different when I meet Americans who live in Sydney. I recognise it’s a generalisation, but seriously… they are a lovely crew. I’m not sure if living in another country mellows you out, or as I mentioned, maybe it takes a certain personality type. We somehow all choose to embrace a slightly different lifestyle away from home.

While I’ve never been ashamed of my nationality, but I did used to shrug off my “American-ness” more when I first arrived. It made me feel isolated or different at moments, and I really wanted to feel at home here. I think time has made me feel more comfortable and more comfortable to be me.

So in the end, I love the American connection. It’s that moment when you meet someone miles away from home but you still are randomly linked. Your best friend went to the same University as their cousin in a small, Midwest town (or however the story goes). It feels as though you’ve traveled to the other side of the world, only to discover how small this world actually is.

Sydney Life: Chapter Two

A lot has changed after two years abroad living in Australia. I’m starting to say stuff like “fortnightly” instead of “bi-weekly” and I don’t struggle to understand other accents (most of the time anyway).

I loved Sydney the day from the day I first arrived, but now I can say that I know Sydney. It makes me love this place for a new layer of reasons. I’ve made close friends here. I’ve created memories here – from my first Christmas on the beach to my friends’ engagement party last month. I have a local café, and I’ve become a coffee snob. I can give people directions, catch public transport without getting stressed and even feel comfortable driving on the other side of the road. It seems like small things, but I think it’s a big step to feel completely comfortable with these tiny differences in everyday life. What used to be “different” now becomes the usual or standard, and I forget that it was ever not the standard. It’s strange to think, but beautiful as well.

I said a sad farewell to my colleagues at Switched on Media last week. Work and my friends there have been a huge part of my life for the last two years. I remember asking my director Scot about the culture of the company during our phone interview. I was about to move to Sydney and not know anyone, I was anxious to meet my colleagues. I consider myself very lucky that not only did I meet some awesome people, but I made some of my closest friends in Sydney. It exceeded my expectations, and I’ll miss that crew.

I now feel that I’m staring chapter two of my life in Sydney. I started a new role this week with Rocketman Media (check them out). It’s a small agency that specialises in influencer outreach. I couldn’t be more excited. It’s an amazing opportunity and work that I’m incredibly passionate about. I also feel that it’s an innovative company, and it’s great to feel like you’re at the start of something new. I’ll look forward to sharing more updates with you as I go.

I’m still working on The Fetch Sydney as the local curator. Kate founded the Fetch in Melbourne, followed by Sydney and now has launched it in 7 cities worldwide (and still growing). It’s been an inspiration, and pleasure to be a part of it and watch it grow. We recently introduced the Fetch Community Ambassador program to get more people involved. It was perfect timing with all of the industry events happening as part of Vivid Sydney Festival. I’ve been doing some blogging there too.

Vivid 002 — Lights on MCA for Vivid Sydney

My last bit of news is that I’ve accepted a committee role with Project Australia. They are not for profit with a mission of helping other NFPs and community projects in Australia. I’ve really missed the volunteer work that was a big part of my life before moving to Sydney. It was groups like HOBY and Circle K International that allowed me to make friends and meet like-minded people with shared values. I feel that working with Project Australia will help connect me back to that world, and allow me give back to the community in a hands-on way.

Looking forward to the second chapter.

What’s new with you friends?