We all have been very busy the last week. I guess, now we only know how hard we have to work in order to play hard. Currently, I am writing on my Essay for the Intercultural Communication class and I am about to finish my Animal Paper for the biology class. And I am really looking forward to dinner!
But I want to write about my third week here:
Monday (01/21): We started into the week with a lecture about race, presented by Pete. After dinner, we had to the Parliament, where a tour guide awaited us. The building itself was quite interesting, but I personally, found it more impressive how much the tour guide knew…and not only about Melbourne or Australia! Afterwards, a friend of mine and me, we walked to the office of the travel agency to confirm our bookings for the Travel Week. This week will be mesmerizing!!!
In the evening, we watched the movie “Gallipoli”, since we also have to do a film presentation in small groups.
Tuesday (01/22): On that day, a bus took us to Phillip Island, where we did a hike through the amazing Australian nature. This hike was part of a biology class, so we had to pay attention to plants and animals. Surprisingly, we also saw a black Wallaby in free wilderness! We spent the Lunch break in a cute little vacation place called “Cowes” (no, there weren’t any cows). Close to that, we stopped at a Koala Conservation Center and took a closer look at those cute animals. I wish I was a Koala… Sleeping and eating all day long. On our last stop, we saw some (dead) penguins, because of the heat. Unfortunately, the famous penguin parade only takes place after dawn, for which we did not have time.
Wednesday (01/23): We spent the whole day at the Academic Center for classes and the next film “Red dog”. You can imagine, it was a packed day. But lucky us, the Queen Victoria Night Market is open every Wednesday. It is like a huge street fair with plenty of different food, drinks, hand-crafted things and good music. I got myself a Sangria and a Cotton-Candy in form of an animal (friends told me it is a character of a series, but I don’t know it; it reminded me of a Pokémon). But we went to bed pretty early because….
Thursday (01/24):…we had to leave the college at 6:15am!! It took us two hours on a bus to get to Bendigo, where we had another fieldtrip. This is also a small village, known for the Gold-Rush-era. Now, would you believe me, if I said that you can visit four different museums in a little bit more than four hours? Normally, it is not enough to spend four hours in one museum. We visited the Chinese Museum, the Art Museum, the War Museum and last but not least, the City Museum. It was a bit stressful but very interesting. And since it was so hot that day, I did not mind walking through the air-conditioned rooms.
Friday (01/25): First things first: This was the hottest day so far: 43°C (or 111°F). I could literally feel my skin burning. A wind, coming from the center of Australia, where there is nothing but desert, reached Melbourne, bringing all the heat to the city. Thank God, we had class all day and an air-condition in one lecture room! The highlight of this day was the dinner. On Fridays we don’t get dinner in the college, so we went to an Italian restaurant and ordered three 1m-long pizzas. The name of the restaurant is “Criniti’s”.
Saturday (01/26): AUSTRALIA DAY!!! I was really excited for that day. A lot of people celebrate that day because it marks the First Fleet’s arrival and therefore the Foundation of Australia. I have been to the Parade in the morning and also to the fireworks down by the Docklands but I was not sure what to think about that day. The reason: I also participated in the protest and saw a completely different point of view. A huge amount of people refer to this day as “Invasion Day” and every year there are some protest going on. With screams like “Always was, always will be: Aboriginal land” or “No pride in genocide”, they drew attention to them. Those people- indigenous as well as non-indigenous- want the other ones to recognize what terrible things they did in the past (Terra Nullius, Stolen Generation, Suppression,…). In the Treasury Gardens, there was also a festival, displaying the Aboriginals.
All in all, it was a great day and I learned a lot, because I met so many new people during the protest.
Sunday (01/27): I planned on going to the beach today, but the weather forecast showed me, it would be cloudy all day long, which makes it hard to get a tan. So I decided to stay at the college and work on my essays. I hope, I can get them done as soon as possible, so that I can enjoy the last week here in Melbourne 😦
Stay tuned for that!
Let the memories begin 