Day 11

Waiting around for orientation.

49,000 students. That’s the student population of Melbourne University. A little over 500 of those students are international (study abroad or exchange.) I knew the Uni was big coming in, but I think the number caught me off guard.

One of the buildings on campus.

The campus is beautiful. We actually got a break in the weather and it was a bit warmer than usual. It kind of reminds me of Carolina except for larger and the buildings just aren’t home. Just like the city, the buildings vary from newer architecture to old column designs. Though, it’s the older buildings that hold my attention.

I was very happy about my choice in residence. It only took two minutes this morning to cross the road and enter the building we needed to be in for orientation. I think getting to classes this semester will be a breeze. I feel bad for the students whose apartments are located a bit farther off because walking in this wind has been a nightmare. And a bit rough on the old feet as you can imagine. Melbourne is a city of walking. But I like it that way. It reminds me of Chapel Hill.

Swanston St. The red building is unilodge.

Unfortunately, I was able to make it over to Baillieu Library today to ask if they have any job openings. It was a nice library, but simply not Davis. Also, I asked about wifi usage. Not only do you have to configure your laptop, but they only give you 1GB to use per week. I guess you don’t realize how good you have it in the U.S. until you travel. Back to talking to the librarian, he sadly informed me that all positions were full but that there might be a small chance of calling me in if they got overloaded. I asked him when that would most likely be and he promptly responded, “The end of the year.”

Mission Library Job: Fail.

   I’ll keep looking. After all, it was only my first option.

Another building on campus.

We began orientation today confirming that we were, in fact, still attending the Uni and had somehow managed to make it here.  After sitting through the drab introductory info that is probably going to be useful later on, the Uni provided a complimentary lunch at the campus’s unionhouse (like Lenoir, but way bigger) and then split us up according to our majors. Or, as they call them here, courses. Well, actually that’s not true. Technically, my course would be Undergrad Exchange Student and the subjects would be the classes I plan on taking. So, there you have it.

I’ll save you the trouble of all of tedious details that were given to us in a limited amount of time and skip to my personal experience throughout it all, because we all know life is about me.

I was able to slip over to a pharmacist who was conveniently located in the same building as the restaurants and asked her about the symptoms I’ve been experiencing. The look on her face told me mine were reoccurring problems and she handed me Paracetamol, which is akin to IB profen I would posture, seeing as how it’s a pain reliever. She tried to hand me cough medicine as well, but I waved her off since I bought nearly the same thing in the Big W yesterday. (Note: If you can avoid it, don’t take a cold in Australia. Their cough syrup tastes like drinking vegemite. Trust me, it’s not an experience you’ll ever want to call your own.)

Despite not really being able to talk today, I did manage to make some close acquaintances, two of which live in the Unilodge with me, only a few floors down. It was also nice to recognize a lot of faces from the welcome program. Actually, I sat with a table of friends at lunch, all of which I knew from last week. It’s a good feeling . Knowing people, that is.

The sklyline just before sunset.

The two people I met from Unilodge— Flow, a girl from Scotland, and Tom, a guy from Ireland—are both amiable and invited me out for pizza.  Had I been feeling up to it and actually liked pizza I would have taken them up on it, but for now, instead of spending the night in a pub with the rest of the MUSEX students, I have sadly confined myself to the room, reassuring myself that sleep is best.

Curse this cold weather.