Melbourne Welcome

This post is going to be long schwoops! It’s definitely difficult to blog if you don’t keep up-to-date! As I write I have just successfully cooked my first meal in my apartment. I made tacos and guac but it took me about 20 minutes to figure out how to get the stove working (there’s a switch inside one of my cabinets at the very back that needs to be turned on first). My roommate still has not moved in, so I had no help finding the mysterious switch. Tomorrow I have registration and then Orientation (O-Week) begins on Monday. I had my exchange “Melbourne Welcome” program from the 11^th to the 14^th and it was really fun! The majority of exchange students are from the U.S., but Scandinavia is a close second. I’ve met a few Aussies here and there, but hopefully once classes start I will be one with the locals.

Queen's College (aka Gryffindor)

Chillin with the emu

So, Melbourne Welcome. We stayed at Queen’s College, one of the residences on campus, and were split into smaller groups of around 8 people with an Aussie host. My group consisted of 4 Americans, 2 Swedes, 1 Norwegian girl and 1 French guy. The first day we had a scavenger hunt around the city, but our group got a bit of a late start…we were kind of always the last to get anywhere haha. One of our group members hadn’t arrived yet and our host said we were missing a Swedish person. Carl (the French guy in my group) was determined that I was the missing Swede. So, our group came in dead last for the scavenger hunt, but later on we had trivia and we were great at that. Hey I’d rather be smart than good at a scavenger hunt! That night we went out to Pugg Mahone’s again and had a dance party.

St. Kilda by night

The second day we had to wake up super early and drive for an hour or so to Ocean Grove to have a surfing lesson! My group was once again last to leave so we ended up in some strange mini-bus haha. The surfing lesson was fun, but they did not teach us much! We stretched and they showed us how to get up on the board and then it was into the water. I still have bruises as evidence of my wipeouts, and I’m not sure that I ever actually stood up, but I think I did crouch once. I was much better when the instructor was helping me and telling me which wave to try to catch. I think I just need some more lessons. I would definitely try it again! That night we went to a pub in a hotel and hung out. The third day we went on a campus tour and stopped by the Queen Victoria Market. The campus reminds me a lot of SC, but I guess I have to actually explore it more before I can decide that. There are so many beautiful Victorian buildings, and then there’s the business building. So, yes, it is a lot like USC (go Hoffman!). I ended up getting coffee and chatting with people the whole time we were at the market because I have already been there several times. That afternoon we went to the zoo and saw all the usual animals in addition to koalas, kangaroos, emus, platypus, etc. Some wallabies were just roaming around inside the Australian animal area and would sometimes be close enough to touch! That night I went to St. Kilda with a few people from the program. It was the last night of the St. Kilda festival and I had wanted to go all week. It was crazy! We ended up getting there a little too late to witness the full action, but the streets were closed off, there were people everywhere and the bars were all full and popping. We saw the last end of the concerts and witnessed two people DJaying on a couch that had a scooter motor attached to it. We all decided that a full day of our welcome should have been spent at the festival. I wish I had gone before that. Guess I will just have to come back to Melbourne another summer! We tried to get into a bar but it was just too crazy and the cover charges were too expensive. We ended up tramming back to the city and getting gelato instead.

Couch DJ's

The last day was Valentine’s Day! Every single person’s favorite day. Carl (yes, there is a recurring theme with Carl because he asked lots of weird questions) asked everyone in the group if they “had someone waiting for them at home.” I told him no, but I don’t mind Valentine’s Day because I usually get presents from my family. His response was “that’s sad.”

Laneway graffiti 

The day started with an aboriginal tour. It was a little strange. The man was half aboriginal and very into telling his story as a modern aboriginal living in the city. We stared at a tree for about twenty minutes and were supposed to shout out what the aboriginals would have used the tree for back in the day. The convo went something like this: “What could this tree have been used for thousands of years ago?” “Building homes” “Yes, but what else?” “Making tools” “Yes, but WHAT ELSE?” Finally after about thirty guesses he said, “No one said FOOD! They would have used this tree to get eggs and honey!” Then we walked up to a hill and the exercise was repeated again. “Why would the aboriginals have lived on this hill thousands of years ago!?” The second half of the tour we were in a museum looking at artifacts and replicas of their tools. I was hoping to see more art, but hey, we can’t have it all! We then picnicked in one of the many gardens and went up to the 88^th floor of the Eureka Skydeck. It’s a bit disorienting being up that high, but the views of the city were great! You could also pay extra to go in this glass cube that popped out of the building, but you couldn’t bring in a camera. You had to buy their pictures at an extra charge of course. I opted out. If I can’t take pics it’s a no go! Then our host took us on a tour of all the “laneways” around the city. Melbourne’s famous for having little alleyways full of cool graffiti, cafes, coffee shops, and boutiques everywhere. There are also indoor “arcades” that branch off these laneways that have tons of shops. They’re hard to explain, but I love it! The culture here is so cool. I feel like even though I am here five months I won’t be able to see everything (and by “see” I mean drink at every cool coffee shop I see). Carl also once again asked me if I was Swedish. “Are you sure you don’t have any Scandinavian or Parisian in you?” Not sure where the Parisian came from, but considering he is from Paris, I will take that as a compliment and go try to blend in in Europe. That night we had a formal dinner in the dining hall and everyone dressed up. We even had waiters! That’s service. There was wine flowing so the dinner was definitely funny. After some craziness in the dorm involving goon (what they call all boxed wine here) we went to Tony Starr’s Kitten Club (fun name) where they had rented out the place for us! It was a fun bar! I had a drink with a sketchy name that I made Carl order me and then we had a big dance party! Of course I loved dancing, except I was in heels and my feet were hurting like mad. Mark, a fellow Trojan, and I ended up walking to this souvlaki place called Lambs on the way back because we wanted food. I started in the heels, then went barefoot, then by the end I had on Mark’s shoes and he just had on socks. Anything for the souvlaki! I don’t want to know what the workers thought we were up to. The Melbourne Welcome was definitely fun and I met lots of cool people!

Venice Beach?

Yesterday I went back to St. Kilda with a group of people to hit the beach. I ended up walking around more than laying on the beach though. Us pale folk have to avoid the sun! We ate lunch at a place called Lentil as Anything that was in my guide book. You decide how much you want to pay for the meal and it is considered a donation! It was strange, I had no idea how much was reasonable to pay. I got a curry dish and it was good, but the portion was really small. I gave seven dollars, which looking back might have been too much, but everything here is more expensive so it’s hard to tell. Maybe I paid for a bum’s meal. Then we walked down Acland Street that was full of fun cafes and shops. There are tons of cake stores on this little street that are famous, so we stopped in one and I split a slice of chocolate cake with another girl. We both agreed it was dry, but then again I’m not a huge cake fan. Last night I went to the night market at the Queen Vic Market (my favorite place even though the aboriginal tour guide said it used to be the funeral grounds and they only dug up the rich Christians’ bodies when they built the market there. Eh, the produce is great I’m going there every day). It was so much fun, but it only happens Wednesday nights in the summer. I will go every Wednesday until it stops! There were food vendors everywhere, and tons of other stalls selling clothing and other fun knick knacks. I got sangria (the woman stared at me for a while, then asked if I was under 18) and walked around. I was the only girl in my group, so next time I want to go with girls and shop the booths haha.

Night Market

   

Just like an AZ sunset!

Cake!

Today I was back at the market (big surprise) and was trying to buy my taco supplies. I bought one onion, and the woman made fun of me and told me I needed to call up people to cook for. Beezy. My one onion and I made wonderful guac. I ran into some people I knew at the market and ended up walking around with them all day. We went to an art gallery and bought things from a store called Reject Shop. So now I have my one loner onion and reject salt and pepper. The single chef strikes again!