AUSTRALIA - ADELAIDE

The most unfamiliar aspect of my stay abroad was definitely the environment of living in a big city. As I come from a small, quiet village. As well as the people living there. Therefore, I am used to a rather quiet, slow environment.

In contrast, the city was a quick-paced, loud place. I had been warned, previously, that life in a city is very different to the rural life. I expected to have to be more careful where I walk and go, as you do hear a lot about how dangerous it can be to live there. But what I did not expect was just how loud the city could be. I had travelled to big cities before and have noticed that they can be quite loud. The everyday life, the people bustling about, the cars, everything tends to add up.

However, actually living in the city for a longer period of time and not just being there for a few days, was a different experience. The first few nights were almost impossible to sleep for me. The cars, the people down in the street, especially the drunk people that were walking around and screaming during weekend nights were all bad. That sound seems to echo in between the high-rise buildings did not help either.

Thankfully, over the next few weeks and months it slowly got better. Getting back home and being able to sleep in the environment I am used to, was still an immense blessing though. Because even though my ability to sleep improved, the constant cacophony of noise did build up more and more the more time passed, and I could definitely feel its effects on me.

Another aspect of the city-life was that there was very little nature in the city.

There are green cities, and in general they are being designed to hold space for more plants.

However, Adelaide as a city was rather void of plants. There was the parks spread around the edges of the city centre and along the river, but otherwise few plants. Personally, I think it is important to integrate nature into urban spaces and help develop them to be more sustainable and closer to nature. Humans, animals, and plants can benefit from that very much in the long run.

My stay in the city has definitely made me more aware of how overwhelming and stressful the city life can be. Especially living in a big city for a long period of time. It should be something that we have to be very aware of the many different aspects that can increase, but also help and decrease those stressors.

Especially in the studies of architecture, I think that this experience can come in as a great learning experience and I will incorporate the new knowledge that I have gained, as good as I can.

But as far as I am aware there is a struggle to bring back not just nature, but also a reclaiming of the native people and their original lands. As far as I have heard the Australian government has given the natives some kind of special access or similar to their native lands and usage of them. That is the reason why nowadays you can see a lot more native people inside cities making music and sharing their culture, as they want to bring it back to the people, bring it and share it with others.

For example, around the harbour in Sydney you can usually find a group of around ten native people who perform dances and music all day long. Other onlookers, especially children, are invited to join them while they do so as well. It was truly a joy to watch them.