Today we’d like to introduce you to Josette Kubicki
Hi Josette, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I’m an Australian expat who moved to the US, first to Orlando, a little over 10 years ago. I had moved over for love – I had met my husband a few years prior online. After meeting in person and having a long distance relationship, we married and decided that I would move to the US, at least for the first part of our lives together. When travelling in the US to visit him and then later moving over, I was fascinated by all of the differences between Australia and the US.
While growing up in Australia, I had known about the major ones, but all the little differences I discovered caught me by surprise. I started a blog about differences between Australia and the US, and tips for Australian expats or Aussies who want to extensively travel in the US. I then created a Facebook Page, “Aussie in the USA”, and an Instagram account, @Aussie_In_States. As I began to find work and enter full-time study, life got busy, I stopped blogging and focused on my social media. As I became acclimated and the differences became normal, my content shifted toward travel in the US. My husband and I love to hike and travel, and we went on many road trips over the years to neat hiking spots. We would explore cities in the area too, if they weren’t too far off. Now that we have a toddler, we don’t travel as much, so my content has shifted more to the everyday.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Moving and settling in the US was a bumpy road. My day job is as a librarian in academic libraries (university and college libraries), and my husband’s is an accountant. A big part of our decision making on me to move to the US instead of him to Australia, is because we thought my library degree would be accepted in the US, whereas he would need to re-certify his CPA.
After months of struggle to get an academic librarian job, I later discovered that although the American Library Association accepts library degrees from Australia and a handful of other countries as ‘equivalent’, it’s up to the individual institution to decide. I found myself in a difficult position where a few academic libraries in Orlando accepted my Australian credentials and others, including a major employer, did not. In other words, my career prospects were also stuffed. Do I try to find a job in a library that does accept my Australian credentials or do I go back to grad school and gain the American accredited degree? In the end, I decided to go back to school. It felt frustrating; a waste of money and time, but once underway, I felt a sense of direction. And when I finally attained my “American degree”, the road went uphill from there.
Regarding my Aussie_In_States social media, that hasn’t been a smooth road either. I started it as a hobby, so I didn’t mind if it would prosper or not. I started getting excited when I saw my FB Page followers grow and grow, from a handful of friends to hundreds, much more than I thought! However, I find myself having a lot of people like my page, but little engagement. That has led to demotivation to invest time to post content. Furthermore, having a toddler keeps me busy! Time is much harder to spare between work, everyday life, and a toddler.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My day job as an academic librarian involves guiding students, faculty and staff to find the resources they need to complete their assignments or research projects. I feel happy and satisfied to be able to have taught someone the tricks to searching in databases and they find sources they need to complete their task.
My hobby in social media sharing also involves guiding people to finding – sharing with Aussie expats where they can find their favorite Aussie imported foods (like TimTams) at cheaper prices, to beautiful, fun, and interesting places to travel and dine at in the US. Some of my posts are aimed specifically toward Aussie expats living in the US, but others would interest a general audience, especially those that like to travel.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
Likes:
* Variety of dining options from the chains to independent restaurants
* Lots of shopping avenues – Florida Mall and Mall at Millennia, the outdoor malls, the premium fashion outlets
* Lots of cultural things to do – art museums, The Science Center, performing arts theaters
* A growing coffee culture – I love Lineage and Foxtail. When I first moved to Orlando toward the end of 2014, they weren’t around. We moved to Georgia in mid 2017, then came back to Orlando mid last year, and realized these neat local coffee chains popped up!
Dislikes:
* The traffic…
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ausvsunitedstates.wordpress.com
- Instagram: @Aussie_In_States
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AusseInUSA
