I am in Australia safe and sound. After many hours spent on a plane I landed and eventually got to Deakin University. I am at the Warun Ponds campus, which is right outside Geelong, which is outside of Melbourne (pronounced Mel-bin in Australia). So far only international students are on campus because classes do not start till March 7th. There are RAs here too. My RA, Danny stopped in and told me he is going home for the weekend, so I literally have the entire wing of my building to myself. It is kind of creepy, but kind of nice I don't have to share a toilet and shower...yet. There will be 5 other people in my wing once everyone is moved in, so the wait for the bathroom shouldn't be too bad. I am assuming I am the only American in my wing and majority of my building for that matter because only one other girl is moved into my building.
Yesterday, after throwing my bags in my room, I met up with my group which consists of 4 Marist people (Lauren, Emily, Cassie and myself), one girl from Loyola- Chicago (Abby), one girl from University of Nebraska (Kate) and one lone guy from Kansas State (Ryan). I am constantly suffering from New Jersey jokes because of tv shows like Jersey Shore, Jerseylicious etc... on the bus ride to campus (right off the plane) I got made fun of that I can't pump my own gas.
Yesterday, my group and I decided to walk to the Warun Ponds shopping center for dinner and supplies we couldn't pack, such as pillows, blankets, towels etc... We were told it was a 15 minute walk. It ended up we walked 30 minutes in the wrong direction and had to walk through the suburbs of Geelong to find it after asking multiple Aussies for directions. We went to a pizza place that was recommended to us. On the menu was the "American" Pizza consisting of tomato sauce, cheese, ham, salami. It is clear what is America is assumed to be. One girl in my group asked for plain and the waitress was totally thrown off. She asked if she wanted just cheese, no sauce, or just sauce.
We decided our best bet was to catch a bus back to campus. Once again we directed ourselves wrong. We waited at the wrong bus stop FOREVER. We considered calling a cab until we realized all of our phones don't work and all shops were closed. We reread the bus schedule and after much debate we switched to a different bus stop down the road and finally found our bus. This search consisted a lot of yelling and running from stop to stop. Not very fun when you are carrying about 6 ripping, plastic bags of random supplies. Ryan, Lauren and I just laughed at Abby and Kate fighting over which stop we had to be at. We eventually got back. I lugged my bags to my building and about 5 feet away from my door a very LARGE bird pooped on my head and arm. It was the icing on the cake. I spent the night showering and setting up my room then passing out.
This morning I woke up around 6:00am Australian time to these awful birds screeching. Luckily, I fell back asleep and woke up to my alarm at 11:00 to meet my group to go back to the Warun Ponds shopping center for brunch and buying more supplies. The high winds today were incredible. It was still shorts and t-shirt weather, but I had to ground myself. Because no one is on campus yet, all cafes and dining halls are closed till next week, meaning in order to eat we either have to eat out, or cook. We decided to buy food to last us a week or two. We got a ride back to Deakin and decided to all meet at 7 to watch a movie in a common room and just hang out. Ryan, Abby and I decided to explore campus. The gym is actually a YMCA, so you need to pay. I am going to go in and ask if I can use my Y card from home because I accidentally packed that (Go me!) The gym was closed when we went by, so we just walked around. We found academic buildings, the library, the pond (there was a wedding going on). We follows signs to different locations, including the driving range, and high ropes (these don't exist). The driving range is super far away, but the hike is really pretty surrounded by fields, trees and other bits of nature. It overlooks the city of Warun Ponds as well. As pretty as the surroundings are, they are invested with mosquitos aka my bffs. I bought bug spray today after getting attacked last night. Also, because rabbits were imported in the country a while back, they have no natural predators meaning they are HUGE. Australia also doesn't spray for bugs like America does, so to solve this problem their snails are also abnormally large. This is gross at night when they come out and you have to step around them.
I just got back from watching Fight Club with my group. While we were setting up all of the RAs came to talk to us (shout out to Rosa and Meg). Lauren's RA, Race?!? (could be a nickname) told us the ins and outs and was really helpful. He is 20 as well.
Some slang I have picked up: Tucker= food, Trackies= sweat pants, You're welcome= no worries, How are you?= How you going?.
Tomorrow we are waking up early to go into Geelong, figure out the epidemic of dysfunctional phones and explore. I still have to tell myself I am in Australia. I am not fully adjusted and I have not seen the touristy sights yet, but once orientation is happening (Monday- Wednesday) I am sure it will hit. For orientation we are getting a bus into Lorne, staying at a beach resort, learning to surf and play footy, along with hiking through the rain forest, mountain biking, beach yoga and more. NBD.
Is this real life?!?
No comments:
Post a Comment