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Published: August 5th 2007
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My closet
More of my room WHEW feels like an understatement right now. I left home almost 40 hours ago and that seems crazy to me right now; however, my body does feel kind of like a train wreck.
My 14 hour flight from LA to Sydney went okay...not very restful as there were a HUGE group of kids all traveling together, so they obviously were not interested in sleep. Then, had a short layover in Sydney which was almost too short as they check you (security wise) 3 times before you're ever allowed to board the plane; that was exhausting taking my shoes off, emptying my bags, etc. All in the name of safety. Then, we arrived in Melbourne at 9:30 am local time and I made it through Customs, etc. just fine and found my pick-up driver.
As we waited for the other Swinburne International students to meet up with us, I met a boy named Gioge from China who is also an exchange/international (still don't know exactly what I am) here at Swin. We exchanged e-mail addresses and he is living in the same building as me. He is here to study engineering....whiz kid compared to me and my joke electives.
My building
This is Swinburne Place South where I live. The bottom level is a bunch of coffee shops, places to eat, stop and go's, etc. He should be really cool to get to know.
Then, our driver George took us off to our individual locations. That's when the madness all began. First off, the whole driving on the left side of the road thing totally threw me off. Me being the "directional" girl that I am had my map out and trying to figure out where we were in the city at all times, but the whole left side of the road thing threw me for a loop. It was during this car ride that I realized that I was the odd one out for the first time in my college career. I was no longer just an American white girl among other white Americans. I realized that my english and the english of those around me is TOTALLY different. I felt bad for some of the others in the car, including Gwyne who was from Vietnam. George the driver could not understand her when she was trying to explain where she needed to be dropped off and he just had no patience with her. I admire her for being willing to go off to a university that does not speak her native language
Library entrance
This is the really cool entrance way between the building where all my classes are held and the library. and still go at it full throttle. It was in that moment that I realized that my American english had me a lot better off than some of the others and I just needed to stop my complaining of having to repeat myself and asking others to repeat.
Then, after a few hours driving around town and dropping others off at their homestays, Gioge, Jason and I got dropped at the Swinburne Place Apartments. This is where the lack of sleep and extreme levels of emotions got the best of me. I got the keys to my room and knew that I needed to give my parents a call to tell them I was safe (had now been on the ground 3 hours without being able to call- I knew they'd be worried). Well, I go through all 3 of my suitcases and am not able to find my phone cards. So, I run out to the street and try to find a phone card. I actually found a GREAT deal! 750 minutes to the US for $10. So, I go back up to my room to try and call and my phone will not let my dial out.
My room
This is my desk...yes, that is a planner you see- did you expect much less? So, I call down to the reception desk to find out what is wrong and find out that I have to put money on my account for my phone so that I can make calls...it's like having a payphone in your room but you have to pay ahead of time. The part that got me was when I got caught up in the way it is in the US and forgot that I'm not there, so I'm going to need to get over that. Once I got all that settled, I registered for classes in the library, went to the market where I realized how expensive American brands are over here. A small box of fruit loops cereal was $9 and a 6 pack of Diet Coke is $6. Oh Americans and wanting to make as much money as possible. I asked someone about it and they said it's because America charges so much for them to ship it over here that they have to raise the prices so much to cover the import/export costs.
I've already noticed some cool but different things over here than from the US...the one that has me most interested is the whole toilet
View
This is the view outside my windown...the Glenferrie Train Station. situation. Their toilet bowls have no water in the them. You use the toilet and do what you need to do, then you push one button to fill it up with some water and then finally press a second button to flush it. It's so weird but totally cool at the same time!
I've also met my roommates. One is from about 2 hours away and she seems really cool- is the most talkative of all of us so I know the most about her so far, her name is Dacil. Another roommate is from Turkey and is actually getting her 2 year visa so she can just stay and graduate from here. The third roommate I only met briefly as she had homework she needed to get done, but she seems really nice too. Dacil told me the girl that lived in my room first semester (this is their spring semester) was from China and was super quiet...just shut herself in her room all the time....I told her not to worry that I would not be that way.
It's kind of chilly here right now to them, but for me it feels great. Yesterday was around 52
Kitchen
This is my kitchen degrees with a light breeze. They all have jackets and hats on but I was walking around in jeans and a polo shirt! They said it should be warming up here soon....so that's nice to look forward to!
Today, I'm off to open up my Australian bank account, go to a welcome hour session with some other international students and then go back to the market to get some more things to eat.
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