This week marks twenty years since Nadia and I moved to Melbourne to pursue our Masters degrees.
Why Melbourne?
After we got married in Pakistan in 2004, Nadia and I wanted to go overseas to study. When deciding where to go, we picked three cities that were (a) great places to live and (b) had multiple universities that the two of us could apply to.
The cities we picked were:
We decided all this just as the southern-hemisphere university admissions cycle started and, as luck would have it, both of us applied to and got into the University of Melbourne. [1]
This was great because my older sister was living in Melbourne at the time and she had just completed her PhD from the University of Melbourne. Meaning not only did she know the city we’d be moving to, she knew the exact university we’d be going to as well.
With our university acceptances in hand, a guaranteed soft landing in a new country, and the full scholarship I was awarded for my MBA studies, we leapt at the chance to head down under.
So it was that on 12 July 2006, Nadia and I hopped on a one-way flight to a place almost 11,000 kilometers away and in a hemisphere that neither of us had been to before.
Scan of a Thai Airways paper ticket for Ameel Zia Khan, departing Islamabad at 11:10pm on 12 July 2004.
20 years on
We landed in Melbourne on Tuesday, 13 July 2006, and the very first place my sister and a family friend (who was also my sister’s housemate) took us to for lunch was A1 Bakery on Sydney Road in Brunswick.
It was fitting, then, that on 13 July 2026, Nadia and I went back to A1 for lunch to mark the occassion :)
Selfie of a man and woman sitting at a table in a large, warehouse-sized Lebanese bakery. The woman is holding a knife and is in the process of cutting the Lebanese pizzas that are lying on platters on the table between them.
Settling down
Nadia completed her MA and went on to do a PhD from UniMelb as well. I completed my MBA and went into the job market. Nadia did a couple of other things, but eventually made her way back to UniMelb, which is where she now teaches.
I don’t remember exactly when we decided that Melbourne was the place we were going to call home, but a big part of why we decided to stay was the people we met here along the way. Which is why we also marked our twenty years in this city with our friends and family at the Cornish Arms rooftop bar this weekend.
Photo of a rooftop bar on a sunny day, with space that's been set aside for a private function. A sign in front of this reserved area has the Cornish Arms logo and reads, “Nadia and Ameel 20 years in Melbourne, 1-4pm”.
Looking forward
What are our plans for the next twenty years? I have no idea, because Nadia and I plan our lives in four-year increments.
I mean that literally, by the way. Ever since Nadia’s PhD graduation in 2013, when our lives were finally disconnected from the degree-seeking schedule that universities impose on you, we’ve been making and documenting four-year life plans.
Actually, that’s not entirely true. We do have over 26 years left on our mortgage. So, if nothing else, in 2046 we’ll still be paying that off!
But my point is that twenty years is a long time so, instead of planning that far ahead, we’re just going to do what we can and roll with the punches when we can’t. That is life, and we’re looking forward to what the next twenty years in Melbourne will bring us.
[1] Yes, technically I got into Melbourne Business School which, back then, was only half-owned by the University of Melbourne. MBS is now wholly owned by UniMelb.