welcome to melbourne

so after we got back from our insanely amazing orientation trip, we went out to find a place to celebrate alycia's birthday. after we all clearly looked American parousing the streets of melbourne we found an empty bar on lygon street (it was a tuesday night). it was fun because it was just us but then some of it was a little lame because it was just us. however, I do love my IES groupies so any time with them is amazing.

on monday morning, we departed for the melbourne welcome and the best part of the adventure is that the university is really only a 5 minute walk from the village. so when we got to janet clarke hall, which is a residential colleges (our version of a dorm) I ended up being very content with my decision to not live in a residential college. although it is nice experience for a couple of days, i would absolutely go crazy having to share a bathroom with however many people on that hall. also, i really like having a roomate which is something that ive recently found out. although, i do enjoy my personal space...i think that the set up in the village is perfect with the privacy of having your own space but also having a roomie right there too. i will post pictures of the room later (when im back in the village) on my own computer.

so, back to the melbourne welcome. melbourne welcome is the orientation to the city of melbourne for the international(american and non-australian) students that the school puts on. it is not the university orientation...more just an orientation to the campus, city and a way for us to know how to find our way around. however, the first day was pretty lame...lame enough that me, siobhan, monica, vijay and andy ended up bailing in the middle of the inappropiate 7th grade get to know you games. we definitely pulled a "do you have to go to the bathroom". so, we ended up crusing around erroll street for 45 minutes just looking into all the shops and cafes to see what was around. Erroll street and Lygon street seem two of the more busy streets in the north melbourne area around the university. lygon street goes all the way down into the city...so eventually we will get down there. when we got back after our little adventure, it was dinner time (each college has their own cafateria...another reason im happy im living in the village) so that was good and then they rented out the top floor of the local uni pub called Puggs so everyone went out there.

puggs was fun...of course it was really just a social scene for me (seeing that i dont drink) but I like that here, its fine if you dont drink. it was a really fun night because we finally got to meet up with the other half of our IES group who was in a different college for the Melbourne welcome (so they were doing different activities during the day and we didnt get to see them). im utterly surprised how the fact that we are already so close in just a matter of days. i genuinely missed all of them throughout the day...so it was definitely alwesome hanging out with them again. the melbourne welcome is nice, but not to be mean or anything...but im not really here to meet more americans. i love people...so i'll take it for what it is but besides my IESers i dont really care to meet more americans...i do that when i'm home. so, hopefully some more australians are going to be coming back to the uni soon(they're on break) and then i will be more content.

sofar today we went on a tour of the campus, which is HUGE but very doable and nice. its weird actually having a campus now coming from GW where we dont really have a campus persay in the city. but the uni is definitely a campus. yea, oh and they call their university "uni" so i will be using that as the slang. easier to type too. after lunch, we're going on a scavenger hunt through the city which i am very excited about. we FINALLY get to go downtown and explore which is definitely what ive been waiting for. however, one thing that im not thrilled about is the 27.50 i had to spend on a tram card. the tram is DC's equivalent of a metro except it is above ground and more of a electric card. but basically its so much easier to get around the city using the tram opposed to walking (just like DC or any other big city). but 27.50 for a week? thats a little insane so my tram riding will have to be limited to some degree or im going to have to find a cheaper way to ride because its a little ridiculous.

so, thats it for now...i'll probably update on saturday or sunday after melbourne welcome is over. tomorrow, we're going to the zoo and to an AFL game (aussie footie...theyre crazy version of american football) so that should be awesome. oh, and tonight we have formal dinner...i didnt even have that at hotchkiss! but, it should be nice so we'll see. i'll talk to ya soon. oh, and i still love it here...if you were wondering.

g'day mates!