First Week of Classes

Week 2 at Melbourne!
O-Week has come to an end, and we are all finally catching up on sleep. Over the weekend we had a nice end to O-Week, relaxing at "Camp Rumbug," a cute-sy little kids camp somewhere out in the country in Victoria. It was beautiful, but it was 100 degrees on Saturday! Guess I can't take the heat...

                                   Picture taken on the way to Rumbug- Countryside of Victoria

                                                              The view at Camp Rumbug

                                     A nice view of the city (on the way back from Rumbug)

So this week we started classes- finally!
I am taking:
 1) "Australian Wildlife Biology" (in this class we have a few field trips to the zoo!!! Today we had a lab for it and we looked at all kinds of Australian animals like snakes and dingos and spiny anteaters, which was really cool except for the fact that they were all stuffed- yuck)
2) "Methods in Agrifood Biotechnology" (this class sounds like a really awesome lab course about genetically modified plants and different lab techniques involving plants and animal tissues)
3)"Blue Planet- Intro to Marine Environments" (I'm actually not too excited about this one; I am trying to switch this at the moment to a class called "Food Chemistry, Biology, and Nutrition," instead)
4)"Famine in the Modern World." (this class sounds like it will be really interesting!


In this first week we've had barely any class since it is mostly introduction, so yesterday I took a walk around Melbourne (though it was a bit rainy so sorry these pictures look a little gloomy) and here are some picture I took in the surrounding area:

                The castle where I live... just kidding! This is Ormond College (one of our rivals!)

                                The castle where I actually live- for real this is Queen's College

                                    These are pictures of the Queen Victoria Markets- It's huge!

Some cool buildings in the Melbourne Central Business District- the first is part of the RMIT University down the road, and the second is the Melbourne public library.


 

Katie and I enjoying the crazy Melbourne rain



A Death Cab for Cutie Concert in Melbourne! This wasn't yesterday but still...

 

 

Anyhow, classes are going well so far and I'm excited to learn cool things in my new classes, although getting homework again is never something to jump for joy about I suppose. Hopefully I will be going on some trips soon enough and can put up some more exciting things about that! Miss everyone back home- hope all is well back in PA!

Reunited with Katie

Kstorm and I in Melbourne!

Traveling Gnome in my backyard!

O-week

       Sunday we started "o" week, the traditional orientation week for freshmen or freshers (pronounced freshas). It's been nuts! So weird to go back to freshman year all over again, and this freshman orientation is crazier than anything I could have expected. We wake up to loud music and banging on our doors every morning at 7am, we do silly ice breakers all day and hold hands running around the city. We do squats whenever the leaders decide the silence needs to be broken, and scream the "Queen's College" anthem to get pumped about where we live. It's been a lot of fun, but I am pooped, to say the least.
Not to mention I did not have shampoo for the first couple of days, and there was literally not even 5 minutes to go find a grocery store, so let's just say not everyone was eager to be best friends with the smelly American... (don't worry, someone graciously let me borrow some essentials).
    Here is a picture of our logo from O-week (their mascot is a goat! how funny!):

    Queen's College is a place of tradition, class, energy, and Queen's patriotism. I've met  a lot of people here from all around Australia, as well as many other countries, although I am still familiarizing myself with Australian geography. They say a lot of strange things here, like instead of "I'm down for that" you say you are "Keen for doing that." Words are shortened all the time like "mosquito" becomes "mozzie" and suspect is "sus." "Cheers" is used to say thanks, and I've also already had one person try to trick me into the drop-bear joke- thanks for the heads up on that Danielle.
    During "O-Week" we went to the beach in Torquay, about an hour and a half away from Melbourne. Apparently the water is safe to swim in, although at one point everyone came running out when they saw Blue Bottle jellyfish, which apparently sting like crazy. Here are some pictures!

   Oh yea, and Vegemite is disgusting. Steer clear.

Melbourne

            Made it! I've been having a great time visiting with relatives and getting to see the city. Life here is very easygoing and everyone that lives here is so in love with their city, which is a really great thing to hear. The city is very fun and exciting, it is very different on every corner, and on the outskirts there is a beautiful river and botanical gardens. I can't wait to start running again and join all the people that run and bike along the beautiful Yarra river, down to the sea!

           The jet-lag, travel cold, and 16 hour time difference have made these past few days a little bit of a blur, but I've finally settled in a normal sleep schedule I think; just in time for a crazy activity-filled orientation week starting tomorrow. 

          So far I haven't seen any kangaroos or dangerous snakes, but there are very interesting birds and bugs that I've never seen back in the states, as well as a strange looking animal that I think is in the opossum family. I'll try to snag a picture of some if I get a chance.

          The weather here is pretty crazy- one second it is 80 degrees and super hot, the next it is cold (by that I mean like 60s) and I wish I were wearing heavier layers. It also rains a lot very randomly, and the sun is so bright if you don't wear sunglasses you are completely blinded.

Well, here are a few pictures to start if you're interested. Hopefully more to come!

City of Melbourne!

City and The Yarra River

Yarra River

Ahhh am I leaving already???

Dear Followers (just Mom and Danielle maybe?),

Hello!

Packing for 4 months away from home has definitely landed fairly high on my list of top stressful experiences (that I probably made out to be harder than it actually should have been). But all that is (mostly) said and done now. Phew.

Got the essentials:
Toothbrush- Check.
Socks- Check.
Pair o Jeans- Check.
Bathing Suit- Also Check.
Epi Pens- Triple Check.
Antivenom in case of snake bite from one of Australia's many deadly animals- No. Unfortunately the Newtown CVS does not seem to carry this for some reason...

And... a whole lot of other unnecessary belongings that take up 2 suitcases and 2 carry-on...

Well, I am headed off in just a few hours for the 24 hour journey from Newark to Melbourne- quite the voyage, but I think it will definitely be worth the wait! Soon I will be getting my first glimpse of Melbourne, hearing some great Australian accents, and seeing my super nice Australian relatives!

So for now- Bye Newtown! Bye Haverford! Bye February 15th (the day lost in between travel and time zones)! Bye Family! Bye Cats? See ya soon Melbourne...