Some things first before I start with my Australian Blog: I will write a blog every Sunday because I have already so much to tell and I feel like Sunday will be a calm day to share my experiences. It might happen, that I will post something during a week, depending on how much I have to tell… Alright, so let’s start!
All students participating in this program had to be at the airport in Seattle on January 8th at noon. We got split up in small Travel groups consisting of 4 students so that nobody of us would get lost at the (all in all) 4 airports we have been to. We checked our luggage in, went through the security control and gathered together at the Gate, waiting for the first flight: SEA-SFO, which was about 2 hours long. Some students already “found” their place in a group, others were more flexible and would speak to everybody around.
At the airport in San Francisco, we brought our carry-on-bags to the Gate and went around a bit, stretching our legs and buying some food because the next flight was going to be the longest one on this journey: SFO-AKL. This one took 12 hours! 12 hours sitting in the Economy Class (I am not used to that because thanks to my mother, we always got Business Class). It was really exhausting. The food that we got on the Air New-Zealand plane was delicious and they offered a great entertainment program but after some hours I could not sit anymore (my butt hurt). So I tried to sleep a bit because I thought the time would pass faster- it somehow did. Suddenly, we got breakfast on the plane and it was only 3 more hours to go. Since the flight was during the night, one would think we landed on the 9th of January in Auckland, which we did not. We crossed the date line, so it was already January 10th. That means I am missing one day this year…we simply skipped January 9th (it is so funny and at the same time pretty strange). Anyway, we had to wait some hours to finally board the last flight: AKL-MEL, which was another 4 hours.
But the we FINALLY arrived in Melbourne (the Melbournians do not say the “r” in “Melbourne”). We got our luggage and waited for the bus that would take us to the Newman College, which is basically a building on the Campus of the University of Melbourne. Arrived there, we immediately had lunch, which was just so good. Afterwards, we got the keys to our rooms- each of us has her/his own room and there are 8 of us on one floor. Those eight have to share 2 showers and 3 restrooms, which can be a problem sometimes.
Everyone took a shower before we had a tour around the Campus and on the streets right in front of the Uni (with a hint for a bakery called “Brunetti”- more later).
After dinner, some went out to a bar but most people went to bed straight away because we were so tired. Here at Newman College, we get Lunch and dinner from Monday to Friday and on Sundays. There are also a lot of restaurants, cafes and supermarkets around so we definitely will not starve ;-).
On the next day, we had to do a Scavenger Hunt through the city (we called ourselves “Thunder Down Under”) to get to know it a little bit. It was hot but really fun. We saw a lot of buildings, went to a rooftop bar and also learned something about Melbourne (that most of the people do not know who the Governor of Victoria is for example- we know it now). Before the award ceremony, I ate a kangaroo burger (SO DELICIOUS) because the College had a BBQ. Unfortunately, I do not have a picture of it, since we should not take our cellphones to lunch and dinner- this is kind of a tradition here, which I totally support!
Yesterday, we met in the Academic Center to get the books necessary for the classes and then all of us took the tram to St. Kilda’s beach. It was windy that day. Too cold to go swimming in my opinion but some did. We were free to spread out and do whatever we wanted to do, so we walked along the beach, had lunch at the promenade and did some window-shopping on a cute little street, before heading back to the city to see the Latino’s festival. While one girl of our group went back to the college, we walked along the Yarra-River before also taking the tram back.
Today, all of us had a free day off, before the serious side of life begins (studying, homework, etc.). At first, I planned on going to the city because I wrote some things out that I want to see here but then a friend told me that they would go for a hike and I thought “some hiking would not hurt you especially because you ate a lot since you are here”- I can’t help it! The Australians have way too much good food and who knows when I will be back here again… So I joined them and we ride 3 busses and one train to get to the 1000 Steps- Walk, located in Dandenong Ranges National Park. I am not quite sure how many steps we made but it felt like more than 1000. It was really steep and a lot of stairs but I was so proud of myself, when I arrived at the top! And the nature around was just astounding. Since it is Sunday, we had dinner at the college, so we made sure to be back in time.
The meal-times are great opportunities to meet other people (old and young) who are here for summer school. Yes, do not forget that it is summer right now in Down Under and the local students have holidays.
I am really excited for the next days, when we start with the classes…will we have a lot to do or will we have enough spare time? Stay tuned to find it out!
Let the memories begin 