Clarissa

My name is Clarissa and I’m from Palembang, Indonesia. Back home, I was an interior designer and had participated in a Catholic organisation and non-profit organisation in Jakarta to help underprivileged children. I had been dreaming of traveling, living and studying abroad until I heard about the Working Holiday Visa from my colleague. After a long and careful thought, I took a leap of faith to resign and came to Australia.

Darwin was my first city when I landed in Australia three years ago. With huge excitement and anticipation, I started my journey in the Northern Territory (NT) as a backpacker for two years. My plan was to stay in Darwin for three months and move to the other states until my visa expired. But here I am, staying in Darwin, I haven’t moved since. People in the NT are very hospitable and warm, which made it easy to adapt and mingle with them. For two years long, I was very blessed to have such an opportunity to work in hospitality in various places across the NT - Darwin, Tanami and Groote Eylandt.

I decided to continue my journey as a student in Darwin because of the NT’s sunset that never disappoints, its peacefulness, the boundless opportunity to experience more of Darwin’s culture and the warm-hearted people that I met along my journey.

I am very honoured to be a StudyNT Student Ambassador, to represent my country and the Australian Careers College. In many things that I am doing there is nothing more exciting than the joy of meeting new people, sharing ideas with them and learning about their culture. I am excited with the opportunity to learn from joining and contributing to the StudyNT Student Ambassador program that will allow me to grow professionally and intellectually.