Last week before classes begin

Birthday!

Although my 21^st birthday would have been an extra special occasion in the United States, my 21^st birthday celebration here in Australia was memorable in its own right.  A few other Americans on the program and I went out to eat at a BYOB restaurant on Lygon called Tiamo’s.  Everyone shared some cheap wine (from bottles not a bag because we’re classy) and had a great time chatting and eating .  Afterward my 8^th floor friends bought me a red velvet birthday cupcake to celebrate and they sang me happy birthday.  I’m glad I remember my 21^st.

Orientation week was a little lackluster compared to the welcome week activities I am familiar with at Northwestern.  I think the main reason the orientation wasn’t great was because most students here commute to campus a couple days a week and don’t want to trek to campus just to meet people they probably won’t talk to again.  Not many Australians live on campus so making orientation events mandatory is difficult, but I did manage to meet plenty of Australian first year students in my host group which I was happy about. 

I visited the Melbourne Museum and saw some amazing Aboriginal art, boomerangs and shields as well as a 15 person canoes made of tree bark.  Admission was free with a student card so hopefully I can make it back there to investigate the exhibits more.

The last two days of Orientation Week was the societies and clubs fair.  I joined the Student Wine Society and the Science Club and am considering joining the Mountaineering Club and the footy (AFL) team.  The Student Wine society was only $10 and has free all you can drink wine tastings every other week and you get a 15% discount at the local liquor store.  The Science Club does things like pub crawls and barbecues (cookouts) on campus weekly and also does pub crawls (Australians like pub crawls which naturally begin at 5PM).  The Mountaineering Club does a lot of trips to the bush where people can rock climb, canoe and do other outdoors things.  AFL should just be a learning session for me because I can never figure out the rules when I watch on TV.

I just got back from surf weekend.  It was simply amazing!  I got surf lessons and two hours to “practice” during which I fell on my ass repeatedly.  I did manage to stand up a few times and the feeling was exhilarating and I hope to try to surf again while I’m here.  I was a little sore the next day from pulling myself to my feet on the board which I was not prepared for but other than that I have no regrets.  There were some amazing surfers out there who caught the waves with ease and also there were a few kayakers who caught waves too which seemed odd to me.  We stayed at a YMCA center near a different beach and layed out at that beach most of the time and had some friendly yet competitive drinking games.  The surf weekend was only international student so I met people from Ireland, Canada, England, Norway, Spain, France and Italy. 

Fun Facts:

1.     Americans speak louder than Australians, so that is another way to identify an American besides the accent.

2.     The honor system is used for all trams, and each passenger is required to swipe their card when he gets on.  There are undercover cops on the trams to enforce the system, and the ticket for failure to swipe is about $200.

3.     Most Americans are used to a night out beginning about 10PM and ending in the early hours of the morning.  Australians on the other hand begin to pregame a night out at 6PM, arrive at the bars or clubs at 8PM and are soundly back at home no later than midnight.

4.     Canberra is pronounced “Cambra.”

5.     Sunglasses are “sunnies.”

6.     Footy means different things in different regions in Australia.  In Victoria, the state where Melbourne is located, footy means Australian Rules Football (AFL) and in other places of Australia it means rugby.  People also call soccer footy. 

7.     Cheapest alcohol in Australia is called “goon” and is basically wine in a bag and is a worse version of Franzi in the states.

That’s all for now.

Next time: first week of school, first footy practice, 

Moving In Day!

Moving In Day!

As we stepped off the bus onto Swanston Street we all check out our accommodation for the next 4 months.  We live on 746 Swanston Street in the suburb of Melbourne called Carlton to the north of Melbourne.  My room is #805 and it is at the end of the hall so I suspect that the noise will be reduced here.  University of Melbourne Parkville Campus is right across the street and is about a 30 second walk aways which makes it an easy commute to and from campus.  Also the tram runs right on Swanston so we can utilize it to get to the Central Business District(CBD) with ease.

After settling in to our new homes we set out to find out new things on our own.  Lygon Street is parallel to Swanston Street and has a ton of restaurants, stores and supermarkets so getting acquainted with that street is a priority.  However everything is new and getting lost is inevitable.  Australians are superfriendly and are eager to direct any foreigner to a destination.  Melbourne is home to many foreign-borns and has something like 140 different languages spoken in it suburbs. 

In the first week or so we’ve been to a lot of the bars in the area and have met people from a ton of countries and from many different places around the US.  I’m noticing there are not a lot of Americans here and more Canadians than I would have guessed.  So usually people think I am from Canada when I introduce myself.  We’ve been to the botanical gardens, seen the best aboriginal didgeridoo player perform at an outdoor amphitheater and seen Rod Laver Stadium where the Australian Open is played.  Also we’ve located the Victoria Market, which is the best outdoor market I’ve ever been to and has every thing including wine sellers (who sells refills at really cheap prices!) butcher shops, and tons of fresh fruits an vegetables.  Haggling required!

This week is orientation week where all the first years and new international student have the opportunity to get acquainted with campus and the daily routine of a typical UniMelb student.  I was by far the oldest in my group but I had a good time meeting new people and learning a few new things. School starts next week. 

Facts:

1.     Australians always say CBD and never downtown.

2.     Crossing the street is very dangerous because the cars are going the wrong way and there are trams running in the middle that don’t stop really fast. 

3.     Signage in Australia is very graphic.  Signs on the tram promote no smoking with a man coughing up blood on a white cloth with the caption reading, “Money isn’t the only thing you are coughing up.” A pack is about $20 but there are a ton of people importing cheaper from China haha.

4.     When the crosswalk sign turns green there is a rapid beeping to help the blind.  It is odd and takes a little time to get used to.

5.     Melbourne is prounounced “Melbin.”

6.     Internet is pretty poor in Australia compared with the US.  There is a significant amount of people who don’t have great internet access at home, which I’m used to but which frustrates a lot of the Americans especially the girls.

7.     UniLodge: great location, great people, weird indoor design and apparently infested with cockroaches on some floors (although I believe this might be a myth, but the deception scares all the girls to death for sure).  If I can handle Kansas mice I can handle these buggers!

Next time:  my birthday, fun food and surf trip! 

I made it!

I made it!

The 16 hour flight was the longest of my life but thankfully the time passed swiftly with the help of benedryl and free unlimited drinks (is it bad to combine those two?).  From the airport we met the rest of our crew who are also on the abroad program.  There are students from Fordham, Pomona (California), Northwestern and a few other students from other schools. 

After congregating and sharing our common sufferings or celebrations on the just-finished flight over we headed to our bus.  Our first stop was in St. Kilda, which has a great view of Port Phillip and has a lot of hipster shops and tasty restaurants.  My first Australian meal was a pita pocket filled with felafel balls, vegetables and something green that was sliced really thin.  Felafels are made from chickpeas mashed up and formed into balls and then fried.  They are delicious.  After checking out the beach and noticing the leathery back and sunscreen of the bathers we decided to get out of the sun before we ourselves were burned…  Too late for me because I got a light burn on the back of my neck from the intense sun.  Needless to say I applied plenty of sunscreen on from there on. 

After St. Kilda we moved on to a nature preserve where we saw kangaroos and some great Australian scenery.  Finally we moved on to our hotel for our 3 day orientation in Sorrento.  Sorrento is right on a peninsula separating Port Phillip and the Pacific Ocean.  For our Orientation we learned interesting facts about Australian and got acquainted with Australian laws, history and culture. 

Fun Facts:

1.     They eat kangaroo meat here.  Kangaroos are viewed as pests

2.     Australians main form of humor is sarcasm (self-proclaimed)

3.     Vegemite smells like peanut butter, tastes like salt and looks like shit

4.     Australians are obligated to vote and if they don’t they are fined a couple hundred dollars

5.     It is illegal to drive a bicycle with a BAC of greater than 0.05

More to come!