Melbourne Welcome: Day 1

This is only my third day in Melbourne, but I feel like I’ve been here for a couple weeks already.  I think that’s a good sign, since it means I’m really enjoying this city.  But seriously, what’s not to love, especially since classes won’t start for a few weeks.

Anyway, today has been an exhausting day.  It was the first day of Melbourne Welcome, an international student orientation program based at Queen’s College.  Queen’s is one of the residential colleges just North of campus.  It’s surrounded by a fence and has its own quad, so it seems more self-sustaining than a residential college at Princeton.  We all have singles; bathrooms are unisex.

After lunch and a quick safety/sunscreen briefing, we split into our host groups.  Mine is small but diverse; girls from Barcelona, Colombia, China, and the rest of us are from the states (California, Maryland, Michigan, and, of course Boston).  Our “host” is a fourth-year (a.k.a. honors) student.  We started with the usual icebreakers (two truths and a lie, etc.).

Once we knew each other’s names, we went on a scavenger hunt in the CBD.  We went around to different stores and sites, took pictures, and collected things to earn points in a competition against the other host groups.  It was tremendously tiring, but so much fun.  It turns out the part of the CBD I saw yesterday on my errands was only a tiny fraction, and there is so much more.  This city is really amazing.  I took a tram for the first time.  I took a photo modeling a $400 piece of lingerie at a department store.  I rode on the longest escalator in the southern hemisphere.  We got on the subway, too, and had to get off and take a photo at each stop.  It was exhilarating because the doors only stay open for a few moments, so we had to sprint out of the train, pose in front of the station sign, and run back on before the train left.  People must have thought we were pretty strange running around the platform like that.

We were going so fast that I wasn't able to take too many pictures, but I did grab a few shots...

Chinatown, where we had to find an obscure Asian grocery item for under $1.

Of course, I was interested in the trains... these commuter trains are EMUs (electric multiple units) manufactured by Alstom, very similar to the ones I "crash tested" at the Volpe Center.  Of course, there were no accidents on our trip.

The Victorian parliament building.

When we got back to Queen’s (exhausted, of course) we ate dinner and now we have a bit of down time.  In a few minutes most of us are going out to a pub (an Irish-sounding joint a few blocks away).  Tomorrow we’re spending the day at the beach, including surfing.  Supposedly they won’t let you surf if you’re hung over, but how will they know, really?