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First Week in Melbourne

Lisa

9/2 - It’s strange to walk in here knowing that I will live here for the next 5 months. Nothing or nobody around here I know. Then, globalisation becomes strangely comforting. To see the same signs, symbols, brands, buildings styles, films; to hear the same noises at traffic lights, the same music. All familiarities that I want to escape when I am travelling, I am now looking for in some way.

10/2 – I live in Deakin Hall on the ground floor. My door opens directly to the outside and the other door in my room leads to the bathroom that I share with 3 other girls (1 from the USA, 1 from Canada, and 1 from Germany – they all arrived later this week). My room is semisplit in two by my closet which divides it in a part with a desk and two chairs, and my bed. Some resident before me put little glow-in-the-dark stars up the ceiling, but I am not able to see them without my glasses. I share the kitchen with 15 others and it is located in the room next to the common area. I have to step outside to go there. The common area consists of two rooms: one with a projector, couches and a piano in it; one with a small stage, pingpong tables, picnic tables and couches in it.

My computer crashed and my first impression of the Monash services isn’t great: despite the fact that there are multiple IT service desks, none of them is able to help. I am still looking for someone to fix it, so I am dependent on unicomputers/other people for internet access, which sucks.

Slowly campus is filling up with other international students. The official international orientation week only starts 15/2, and in the meantime mentor activities are organised. I did a small tour to the local shops during the day and in the evening a movienight was organised in one of the halls. Everyone is very friendly and about 90% of the people I meet are either Canadian or American. The activities and living on campus make it easy to get to know everyone quickly.

12/2 - It’s time to explore the city centre. Although I live in Melbourne, the time I spend travelling to the city centre is the same as for travelling from Den Haag to Amsterdam by train! Once I reached downtown Melbourne, I immediately loved it. The architecture is a mix of modern and old (Victioran old) buildings. There are some big (shopping ) streets, but if you turn left or right off those you’ll end up in some narrow streets. My favourite up till so far is Degraves street; it’s narrow and filled with nice bars/restaurants. It has a bit of a European feel to it, which I like. My travelguide highly recommended the Ian Potter Centre, a museum right in the centre of Melbourne. The exhibitons ranged from Aboriginal (inspired) art, to Australian landscapes to one about self portraits from different centuries. I bought a “hide and seek” travel guide which provides information about places that normally only locals would find. That night I ended up in a restaurant in a dodgy looking street, which didn’t look that great from the outside. Once inside, I landed in a cosy and small bar/restaurant with good and (relatively) cheap food.
That night I join all other students that have gathered in the common area for drinks and talking.

13/2 – A trip to St Kilda, a Melbourne popular neighbourhood located next to the beach is organised for the internationals. It was a surprisingly big event with tons (or “heaps”) of people enjoying the good weather, laying on the grass and listening to one of the many music acts performing here. I ended up spending the day with a group of 5, who all also live on campus.

14/2 – Went shopping in a massive mall with two others to buy pots, pans, mugs, glasses, cutlery, etc. It’s a shame that I will have to leave it all behind when I move out. Because we went with the three of us, we could split some stuff to lower the costs.
A games night was organised in my hall and the international population seemed to be ever increasing.

16/2
Orientation week for international students started yesterday, so finally the time has come to think about studying and deadlines again. Last night we went out to some cheap Chinese restaurant in the Melbourne China Town and for a pub crawl in the city.

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