Melbourne Welcome: Day 2

The pub last night was pretty fun.  It was a small, comfortable place.  I couldn’t tell if they’d gotten us (maybe 30 or 40 of us) a special room or if we were just the only ones there.  I was drinking Carlton Drought, but at $6 a pint I couldn’t have too many.  I might look for a part time job to offset my beer consumption, which could be really nice considering minimum wage here is so high (upwards of $16).  We chatted and played some snooker pool for a couple hours, but most of us went home by 11:30 because today was going to be an early (but incredible) day.

They woke us up at 7 for beach day.  They bussed us about an hour outside of Melbourne (west, I think) to a beach with decent beginner waves where were met by a surfing outfitter.  I was in the first group to go, so we got in our wet suits and carried boards down to the beach.  After a quick jog and a stretch (believe it or not, surfing is a strenuous workout) we learned the basics of how to paddle and get up on the board—just a five-minute lesson—and headed into the water.  Just so we’re clear on this, SURFING IS SO MUCH FUN!  I got up on just my second wave.  I’m not sure if snowboarding helped or if I just have decent balance, but I was able to ride a bunch of waves successfully, more than most of the other kids who hadn’t surfed before.  The water was comfortable, especially with a wet suit. I was smiling the whole time.  I can’t wait to surf again, and I can’t believe I had never tried it until now.  So fun.

Touch beach rugby

The boardwalk, ominous clouds, and white surf

Ocean grove beach

Unfortunately, I din't have a picture of me actually surfing, so I'll have to go again to prove it.  Tough life.

The rest of the day we spent hanging out on the beach while the other groups surfed.  We had fish and chips for lunch, which was deliciously greasy.  The ketchup (no tartar sauce) tasted more earthy/spicy and less sweet than American Heinz.  We just hung out, talked, and played beach games for a few hours.  We moved up to the pier when the tide came in.  To be honest, the weather wasn’t great.  It was overcast most of the time, and rained a little bit.  I still managed to get sunburned, though (this whole ozone depletion thing is pretty intense in Australia, and you burn really quickly).  I’ll have to have another beach day when the weather is nicer.

We’re back at Queen’s College for dinner now.  Tonight the hosts are taking us on a bar crawl to see some of the good places to go in the city, which I’m looking forward to.  (There’s also an option of a movie, but who would pass up a bar crawl for that?)

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?

Things I've noticed...

Some things I've noticed about Australia (or, at least Melbourne) so far:

1. You don't pronounce the 'r' in Melbourne; it's pronounced 'Melbin' (think of that with an Aussie accent)
2. There seem to be people here from all over the world.  A lot of Asians and Indians, which makes geographic sense.  There's a lot of Halal food, so there must be a significant Muslim population, too.  St. Kilda East is the Jewish district.  It's a melting pot.
3. They drive on the left.  This is really hard to get used to, especially when crossing streets because traffic is coming from the right (I look both ways multiple times).  When I went to sit in the front seat of the airport shuttle, I went to the wrong side at first, as the wheel is on the right.  If I ever drive here or in New Zealand, I'll have to take it slow at first so I don't screw up.
4. Everyone is friendly, and they like to call you "mate," "champ," and things like that.
5. Everything is expensive.  I'm talking $5 for a slush, at least $10 for a sandwich, etc.  It's kind of like paying for the snack food at a movie theatre.  The AUD is a bit stronger than the USD, too, which doesn't help.  I'll have to be frugal in some areas so I can really splurge on exciting things.
6. If you know me at all, you know the first thing I usually notice about a place is what cars people drive.  It's really fascinating.  Some cars are the same as we have in the US, but with a different name (i.e. Honda Fit is called Honda Jazz), while some have the same names as ours, but are different cars (Toyota Corolla, for example).  They have some brands we don't get stateside, like Alpha Romeo, Vauxhall, etc.  Audis are popular, and there's an Audi dealership two blocks from me with a mouthwatering display (including an R8).  A lot of motorcycles.  The toyota Hilux is pretty popular (think an Australian version of the Tacoma pickup), often with a snorkel intake.  One interesting car is the Ford Falcon.  Its a two-seater with a pickup bed, like a new-age El Camino, and I can't seem to decide whether it's a car or a pickup.  A lot of people seem to be getting away with bald tires (it never snows here).  People drive pretty loud and fast.
7. UMelb advertises as the best university in Australia.  I'm curious how it compares to Princeton, one of the best in the US.  Hopefully it will be challenging and interesting, but not as stressful and competitive.

Day 2

My internal clock is still not adjusted, so it was a weird night.  I thought I was going to take a quick nap, but when I woke up it was dark out.  I didn't know what time it was, since I still hand't hooked up the internet or gotten a phone, so I just watched a movie and fiddled on my computer until it was light out.

I walked around campus a bit this morning to try and find a public computer to check my email (I needed to get my WiFi access code so I could use the internet in my apartment).  It's really nice.  Plenty of trees and park-type areas.  A mixture of modern architecture and more traditional styles.  Very clean.  It almost reminds me of Florida, but that might also just be the weather.  I'm only a two-minute walk from campus.  In fact, the engineering buildings are closest to where I am.

Once got my internet set up, I was able to look up the location of a grocery store so I could make some breakfast.  The one I went to first was in Melbourne Central, a mall in the nearby central business district (CBD).  I couldn't buy everything I needed in one trip because it was too much to carry, so I got the basics and walked back to my apartment.  Food here is expensive.

After breakfast, I went back to Melbourne Central to buy a SIM card for my phone.  Considering how expensive everything here is, prepaid mobile phone rates actually seem quite reasonable.  After I bought the card, I walked around a bit in the mall and a few blocks around it.  This city is pretty bustling.  I'm really starting to like it.

I walked today, but the trams are a popular method of transportation.  Think Green Line C trolley, only the tracks are level with the street (you can walk across them, although I don't think you're supposed to).  There's also an underground subway in the CBD, I think.

Some New York-caliber buildings

This old lead pipe factory is actually inside Melbourne Central, under a huge glass canopy.  Pretty cool.

The library.  Plenty of people were hanging out on the lawn in front.

One of the tram lines uses these old-fashioned trolleys.

Some pretty swanky architecture here.

On my way home, I stopped at a different grocery store to pick up the rest of the things on my list.  Turns out, this one is a few blocks closer to me, and the prices seem lower.  Interestingly, there were only a few carts in the store, and no baskets.  Everyone had their own shopping bag that they used to hold things and carry them out, and they don't provide plastic bags like other supermarkets (very green, I'm impressed).  It's actually a pretty good solution for a store with limited floor space, since there are no carts clogging the isles.  A lot of things were in boxes, sort of mini-Costco style.  (I used an empty box as my "shopping bag.")

Now I have pretty much everything I need and I'm settled in.  The Melbourne Welcome program starts tomorrow morning at 10, and I'll be staying in a residential college (a.k.a. a dorm) for those few days.  I'm not exactly sure what the plan is, but I'm pretty sure it involves surfing and sleeping outdoors for a night.  Sounds fun, I'm excited!

My apartment

So there was a slight hiccup moving in, because I didn't realize I was supposed to check in at the main apartment office (UniLodge), not at my actual building.  I looked at my email and found the proper location.  Luckily, I had obsessed enough over Google maps to have a pretty good idea of where things are around here, so I made it to my check-in appointment with time to spare and filled out all the paperwork to get the key.  This is exciting...

So it turns out the apartment is even smaller than it seemed in the pictures.  But it's still very nice.  I have a great view of the downtown Melbourne skyline from my 6th floor window (well, actually, it's the 7th floor if you count the American way).  Everything is very modern and in good shape.  It's a very comfortable apartment, so I'm going to have to make a conscious effort to leave it as much as possible.

Anyway, here are some pics..

I'd need a fisheye to get the whole bathroom in one shot

Finally, my own kitchen!

Bachelor pad... well, sort of

For sleeping?

My view (1)

My view (2)

My view (3)

I landed!

I landed.  This is awesome.  By the way, the A380 was incredible: enormous (a flying hotel, really), comfortable, pretty good food, good service, and ahead of schedule.  The first thing I’ve noticed is that the airport customs people here are very friendly.  There seem to have been a bunch of UMelb study abroad students on my flight, so now I’m waiting with them for a ride to our apartments.  Oh, and the weather here is amazing.

This might give you an idea just how big the A380 is...

Expectations and Goals

So, here goes.  My first post…

I must admit, I was pretty nervous when my mom dropped me off at Logan this afternoon.  I haven’t been out of the country since high school except for Canada (which is really part of the US anyway), and this will be the longest I’ve ever lived away from home.  Until now, this all seemed kind of informal, but now that it’s really happening I’ve got some butterflies.  I actually met a kid on my flight from Ithaca College (he lives near Worcester) who’s going to be at UMelb also, and that calmed me down a bunch.  He’s pretty cool.  I’m pretty sure there will be no shortage of cool people in Melbourne.

Right now I’m sitting in the international terminal at LAX.  The flight from Boston was pretty uneventful, save for the rough landing (I think an air mask actually came down somewhere) and the fact that they don’t feed you on domestic flights.  The plane (B767) was not full, so I had room to spread out.  The movie they showed was pretty weak, so I queued up V for Vendetta instead (great decision). I stayed awake for the whole flight so I’ll be tired on the next leg and arrive in Melbourne tomorrow morning ready to start my first day in Australia.

Speaking of the next leg, this is the part I’m really excited for.  I chose to fly Qantas because they fly the new Airbus A380.  You know you’re a nerdy mechanical engineer when you chose a flight because you want to gawk at a huge airplane.  But seriously, this is pretty cool: two stories along the entire length; snack bars; staircases, lounges, the whole shebang.  My entire house would fit inside this plane.  Until now, the A380 seemed like a myth I only know through YouTube, but tomorrow morning I, along with 449 others, will arrive in Melbourne on the largest and most luxurious wide-body jet ever built.

So I guess it might be smart to hash out some of my goals and expectations so I can see in June if this was all worthwhile….

Expectations:

1.     I know Melbourne is a pretty substantial city.  It’s got a reputation of being a really cultural city, with lots of food, entertainment, bars, etc., but not as much of a hard-core party/club city as Sydney.  We’ll see if that image holds up.  I hear there’s a ton to do, and I’ve been instructed (Thanks, T) to try everything.

2.     Melbourne is supposed to have less Americans than Sydney, which is really good.  After all, I’m not flying halfway around the world to hand out with Americans.

3.     Australians have a reputation for being really outdoorsy.  I brought a sleeping bag, and I plan to use it.

4.     According to trusted sources, the women are beautiful.  Enough said.

5.     I have this picture in my head of what my apartment (flat) will be like.  I know it’s small, but that’s just a good reason not to spend a lot of time in it.

6.     UMelb (the “uni”) is supposed to be a great school.  I’m hoping my classes won’t be too hard, but I know the engineering classes aren’t a cakewalk.  But let’s be honest, I don’t really intend on studying all that much.

7.     I am so excited to be surrounded by the Australia accent.  It always makes me happy.

Goals:

1.     Get away from Princeton, both physically and mentally.  Check.  There are a lot of things at Princeton I need a break from.  I was starting to feel really burnt out last semester, and this trip should be exactly what I need to unwind and reset so I can come back senior year ready to finish strong.

2.     Meet lots of people.  Hopefully I’ll get better at remembering names along the way.

3.     Try a ton of new things:

a.     Surfing?

b.     Vegemite?

c.      Foster’s (although supposedly its hard to actually find in Australia)?

4.     See the Great Barrier Reef.  Scuba dive?

5.     Tour New Zealand.  It’s one of the four places I need to see before I die (Italy, Alaska, and Machu Pichu are the other three).  More on this later.

6.     Do well in school (without trying too hard).  I’ll have to get used to the Aussie system.  That being said, I don’t want school to get in the way.  Studying dominates Princeton culture in a way I don’t like, so this is an opportunity to really branch out as a student.

7.     Have fun.

8.     Have a blast.

9.     Enjoy every minute.

Things I’m looking forward to:

1.     Everything.

2.     Living independently (finally).  Cooking for myself (no more dining hall food).

3.     Good weather.

4.     Good (and beautiful) people

5.     New Zealand.

6.     Visiting Sydney.

7.     Barrier Reef, camping, hiking, etc.

8.     The Australian Grand Prix in March—the first race of the 2012 Formula1 season

9.     Everything

Well, that should be enough for now.  Congratulations if you made it to the bottom of this post.  Thanks for reading.  Keep checking in, hopefully I’ll be good about posting.