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Google Year in Review WORDS BY William Huynh @will.huynh ART BY Marissa Hor @marissa.pdf
2021 was the year that as a Melburnian, I was able to get a taste of normality again. Of course, this freedom was short-lived as slow vaccine rollouts, the Delta variant and snap-lockdowns ultimately defined a significant part of my year — and its Google searches. Thus, here is a list of things I googled in 2021. Can you eat the core of a capsicum?/ How to chop an onion/Basic knife skills This year saw me move out of home for the first time, and having not been much of a cook in my younger years, I made a lot of embarrassing searches like these. I’m not going to lie; the culinary learning curve was steep in those first few months. There may or may not have been the odd occasion where the end result was nearinedible and Uber Eats came to the rescue. Why is my washing machine making a loud banging noise? Another chronicle of the trials of living out of home. This time, the field of battle was the laundry room. I mean, who knew there was an optimal load level for your washing, and you couldn’t just throw whatever amount of dirty clothes you had into the wash? Not me, apparently.
Short-term overseas Spanish programs/ Flights from Melbourne to Madrid Having sadly lost my uni exchange to Spain last year, I was hopeful 2021 might offer the prospect of international travel. My year started with searches of overseas Spanish programs and flights to Europe and Latin America. Looking back now, how naïve was I to think I could potentially leave in the middle of the year? Thanks, Delta. Budgeting tips As many will know, living out of home is a financial adjustment. So, I preemptively tasked Google with protecting me from financial ruin. I was disappointed to discover that my days of impulsively dropping $200-plus on a pair of shoes had come to an end. Is Hinge any good? This year saw my first foray into the dating app sphere in my hometown. I had previously used them while travelling abroad, but had a weird insecurity about getting onto them in Melbourne. However, 2021 quickly became my year of saying screw it. I’m going to be stuck in my home city for the foreseeable future, so I might as well put myself out there. And Google tells me Hinge is all the rage.
