I am here

So, let me just tell you, the flight from Newark, NJ to Melbourne is a tough one. So tough, you might contemplate is it worth it. So far I'm not sure.

I flew to LAX at 5am. Sat around for about an hour, then got on my flight to Sydney. 14 hours. I recommend Quantas, They fed us two full meals and huge snack bags and even hot chocolate every 2 hours or so, and they have tv/movies/games on every seat.

I, however was unfortunate to be in the middle seat with a baby kicking the back of my chair for a good 80% of time.

I arrived in Sydney and got through customs relatively quickly, only to sit for 6 hours waiting for my connecting flight.

I finally arrived in Melbourne at 7:30, only to have my baggage delayed, then soaking wet when I got it.

So, it can't get worse right? It does. I get picked up and dropped off to my dorm, only there is NO RECEPTION, No one waiting to give me my keys or anything. So here I am in a foreign country, with no working phone or means to contact my school, because the offices at the Caufield Campus are closed on weekends. Luckily, my driver brought me to the campus and we found someone waiting to get her keys and I managed to get mine. Let's just say that brochure that talks about International Mews is a bit off, and also, the Clayton Campus has a lot more services , even though the Caufield is almost entirely International Students.

It wasn't what I had expected, not at all like the reception at Northeastern when I first transferred.

I had to carry all of my bags by myself at 8am up 2 flights of stairs on 0 hours sleep. Welcome to Australia.

Then I had to find out how to get some basic stuff, like a comforter and pillows and what not, but there was no one to talk to. Luckily, my Canadian roomate, Kaylie, had gone through the same trouble a day before me, and knew where things were. So I went and did that, and I still don't know how I managed to walk 2 miles from a train station with everything I was trying to carry.


I didn't think I'd get culture shock or upset, but the first couple of days here I just was really questioning if I was ready for this.


But then we (me, Kaylie, and some of her guy friends from school) went to the St. Kilda Festival. St. Kilda is the closest beach near Melbourne. Not as lovely as the more eastern beaches, but still very pretty. It was quite exciting to see all of the Australian people celebrating in the street and on the beach. I'll upload some pictures when I get internet access in my dorm, as of right now I'm confined to the library.

I also had quite possibly the best seafood dinner ever. It was just fantastic, fresh, and great. Other than St. Kilda I haven't gotten the Australian experience yet, since I've been just shopping for the dorm and doing Abroad Orientation.

But I've already met so many people from all over the world, a boy from Sweden, two girls from I believe Norway?, my roomates from Canada, Maritius (an island off of South Africa), Hong Kong, and Malaysia, a few boys from Kenya , and a boy from South Korea who told me that it was an honor to meet me, since I was the first American he ever met. It caught me off guard a bit, for it to be an honor to meet me just because I'm American, I mean, here I am excited to meet people from all over the world, and I just never thought that my own nationality would evoke such a response from someone.

Today I met so many people from Malaysia because Monash has a campus there. They are some of the nicest people I have ever met.

I only met a couple Australians so far though! but that will change once class starts.

I find that where I am, the culture is much more Asian inspired. There are Asian restaurants everywhere, and we even have Asian food in the vending machines.

I also noticed that there are a lot of American chains, especially KFC and Target.

We have a lot of activities planned this week that will hopefully introduce us to Australian culture, though I find it interesting to learn about others as well.