1. Firstly, nearly turning back home when you hit bumper-to-bumper traffic just north of Wollongong.
2. Panicking every time you used public transport, because you had no idea if you had bought the right ~zone~ for your pass.
3. Getting angry that no one explained the zones to you, or where to buy the bloody tickets in the first place.
4. Thinking that you might like living in the Northern Beaches because of its ~aesthetic~.
5. Then taking approximately 5000 buses to get there and realising it’s not worth it.
6. Driving over the Sydney Harbour Bridge for the first time and realising that it looks shit from the road.
7. Getting stuck on a slip lane onto the Harbour Bridge and knowing there’s no way off, so you’re going to the Northern Beaches now.
8. Finally understanding that the Harbour Bridge is just super chaotic and it's best to avoid it.
9. Getting confused as to why all the men on the North Shore wear beige chino shorts.
10. Picnicking at the Botanical Gardens and thinking, “Wow, so wholesome.”
11. Going to a house party in a terrace in Surry Hills.
12. Losing your bearings under the QVB and Town Hall and spending all day wandering around underground.
13. Seeing the Santa bus at Christmas time and crying, 'cause you miss the Xmas-decorated fire engines that would drive past your house in your small hometown.
14. Blowing all your money in your first week, because now you can just go clothes shopping whenever you want and you’ve fallen in love with Pitt Street Mall.
15. Which resulted in you having to make a budget for the first time.
16. Having someone take you to get the cream puffs from Emperor’s Garden in Chinatown as a rite of passage.
17. Heading to Bondi beach and hating it because it’s overcrowded.
18. Dating a backpacker who’s living at the hostel above Side Bar.
19. Taking an Insta pic on the ferry to Manly with the Opera House in the background, so everyone back home knows how good you’re going RN.
20. Buying $40 of Macca's from Circular Quay after your first night out in the city.
21. Going to The Establishment for salsa night.
22. Being taken to Scary Canary, Scu Bar, Three Monkeys, Frankies and Cargo by your local friends — because they’re like an alcoholic welcome to the city.
23. Going to Starbucks (just once) because that’s what everyone in the movies does.
24. Dying while walking up Surry Hills on a night out, because despite the name, you didn’t expect there to be actual HILLS.
25. Getting lost at the Night Noodle Markets because you don’t know all the entrances to Hyde Park.
26. Frantically googling anything when locals tell you to meet them on the corner of “George and Goulburn Street”.
27. Marvelling at the Wynyard tunnel after walking above ground like a fool for months.
28. Going to the Boxing Day races at Randwick and buying a fascinator for the first time.
29. Googling what a fascinator is.
30. Crying on Cleveland Street, either because of the traffic you were stuck in or because you had too many at the Norfolk hotel.
31. Walking the Bondi to Coogee coastal walk and vowing to do it once a week.
32. Walking the Spit to Manly walk and vowing never to do it again.
33. Getting 100% lost trying to find platform 25 at Central, and then sweltering in the stuffy air down there as you wait for your train.
34. Getting overly excited going to Taronga Zoo and catching the zippy thing up to the top.
35. Visiting the Grounds of Alexandria and deciding that your real passion in life is to become a florist.
36. Having a heart attack at the rental prices — what you’re now paying for a tiny room would get you a whole house back home.
37. Making the trip out to Parramatta or Penrith exactly one time.
38. Being 100% underwhelmed by the SCG.
39. Singing “The Horses” by Daryl Braithwaite with a bunch of other tipsy people at a club.
40. Wondering why the monorail was taken down before you got a chance to ride it.
41. Getting lost in the various Westfield food courts on Pitt Street.
42. And finally, watching the Sydney fireworks for the first time IRL and deciding that moving here was the best decision you ever made.