Finally in Melbourne

Well... I’ve finally made it to Melbourne! It is a lot colder here than in Cairns. The temps are around 55-60 degrees, depending on the weather.... Which actually changes a lot. I thought Missouri weather changed quickly, but Melbourne weather is like Missouri weather on crack. Today’s forecast was literally this: Morning-sunny with high’s in the 60’s this afternoon cloudy with temps in the 50’s late afternoon rain with high winds and this evening cool and clear skies. You can basically plan on not being able to plan for what the weather will be like, so you just take everything you may need in a day.

Adjusting to life here was a bit rough especially after being in Cairns for a week. Our group leaders definitely took care of us with food and activities, but after we got off of our plane here we were basically on our own with no food or grasp of where anything was, we simply had a place to sleep. However, if I were choosing from a list of necessities, having a warm place to sleep would come before food, as I can sort that out later. Speaking of warm places to stay though, Australia is very environmentally friendly and very conscious of how much energy and water they use so buildings here don’t have heating or A/C so you are basically up to the mercy of the weather of the day. I have to sleep in a hoodie and sweat pants to keep warm at night but its all good. They also are very conservative on water here because it is expected that by 2050 water will be a scarce resource here. Therefore in the showers, they have hourglasses that are on a 4 minute timer so you don’t take too long of a shower. Toilets also have separate buttons for #1’s and #2’s so the same amount of water isn’t used for both. Also toilet water is just recycled grey water so it really isn’t clean. Their philosophy is that why would you use perfectly clean water just to flush the toilet? Which actually makes sense to me!

As for food here, I finally got that all settled. There is a HUGE open air market that is just a 5 minute walk away and you can buy anything you need there. There are all kinds of fresh meats, veggies, cheeses, and my favorite... breads. For all of your other needs like soap, crisps (potato chips) butter, milk and more, there is a store called Woolworth's or “The Big W” which is a Target/Wal-mart hybrid for all of your grocery needs. Those are the cheapest places to shop and saving money is very important here. The generic brand here is called “Home Brand” it is like Great Value in the states. Minimum wage here is $20 per hour so everything costs a lot more and it’s hard to find bargains. Luckily the US $ is stronger than the Australian dollar so that helps a bit.

All-in-all I am doing good. I just have to keep moving and stay active. That helps fight the homesickness. There are apparently four stages of culture shock/homesickness and stage two is the worst so we are all just trying to fight stage two and just by pass it to the recovery and acceptance stage, or stage three. I just know that this semester is going to go by insainly fast and I need to make the most of my trip so that helps. I have met tons of people and am making new friends. I am anxious to meet more Australians, as it will be nice to learn more about the culture in which I am living. I am also anxious for Jordan to get here... I am kinda ready for a friend from home! It will be nice to have someone I know here to visit! :) Anyway, that’s about all I have for now. Tomorrow I am going to explore the Uni (University) and check out the lay of the land. I have parts of the city down, now I just need to get the hang of school. Please feel free to leave comments here, I would love to hear from people at home! I’ll try to post my address as soon as I know what it is. Until then, no worries!