Week 1- The Grampians

What's that you say? There's a kangaroo behind me?!

My program went to the Grampian National Park this weekend. It was amazing. Kangaroos every where. You turned the corner of a building and there was one three feet away. Apparently they’re about as dumb as deer. Aussies don’t really like them. We went on a night walk and saw a lot of night animals. We also got a short lesson in the constellations. There is the Southern Cross (depicted on the Australian and New Zeland flags) which when used in conjunction with the “Pair” you can tell where south is. There is also the Emu which is a black out of the stars. The stars were so bright and plentiful. The next day we did some team building exercises which were a lot of fun, surprisingly. Part of it was  a ropes course, which I had never done before. I ended up bruised all over but I did pretty well on it. I want to do another one! We also went abseiling (repelling) in the park. The next day we had Aussie Rules Footie Practice. We were rolling in kangaroo poo and it was absolutely hilarious. We created the term “waller” for when someone does something spectacular. Its a combination of baller and wallaby. I’ll see my first real footie game on Thursday. I’ve been told that I need to pick a team to cheer for and follow them. Its a hot topic. We learned how to play the digeriedoo. I learned how to do the kookaburra call and got one to answer me! I then was able to track where they were coming from and I got to see about five! They are so funny looking! The trip really got my group to get to know each other and surprisingly we get along really well. On the bus ride back we saw about 12 rainbows, at least three of which were double rainbows. The sky here is really amazing.

I’ve been slowly getting to know Melbourne. There is an open air market close to my apartment which is probably where I’ll end up shopping for food. Thats the Queen Victoria Market, shortened Queen Vic. When walking through there was a guy who was really loud. You could hear him half way across the market yelling, “Woah, what a banana!” It was a good sales tactic! Whenever someone in my group gets super excited someone else yells it at them. Confusingly there's also the Queen Victoria Center, abbreviated to the QV. It’s a good collection of stores. I’m looking forward to trying the chocolate store. 

I’m now at the Melbourne Welcome, a program for exchange students. We’re in the residential colleges. I’m living in Trinity College. It’s very Harry Potter esque. I have a single with such a high ceiling. I love it! I’m enjoying getting to know other international students. There is a huge collection of people here. I got a campus tour. I have no idea how I’m going to navigate my classes. I’ll need to do a practice run before classes start. The campus is ginormous. My guide is going on an exchange in a month to Penn and so I was trading advice with her. We then went to the QV before going to dinner. They feed us really well. Today we’re going to the zoo!

I met my roommate! Her name is Monica and she is from Mexico City. She’s going to RMIT which is another college. She is a third year food science and engineering major. She seems really nice although we only met briefly. I had just gotten home from the Grampians and she was about to go to bed because here classes started yesterday. I’m now living in the res halls and so I won’t see her again till Saturday. I did meet her father, Jesus (which obviously made me excited), in the early morning. He had a good sense of humor which made me hope that she will too.