Australia has been so good to be over the last 9 months and the promise of some more traveling adventures beginning in just 5 days is the only thing getting me through this assignment catch up weekend.
And being able to relive some memories through my wonder wall every time I look up!
So the time has come to begin preparing for my second semester on exchange in Melbourne. Timetables have been created, viewings have gone on all week and we have almost finalised filling the house for the upcoming semester. Luckily we’ve managed to fit some fun in too!
We have 3 new people joining our mad house, two sharing the room downstairs and one sharing my room. It wasn’t an easy decision but the extra cash can fund a lot more travelling so I can’t complain! I bought a new bed off of gumtree and recruited Hannah, Grace and Faye to help me carry it back a couple of blocks to our house…. This was quite possibly the funniest exoerience of my Australian adventure to date!! Grace and Faye carried the fragile bed frame being very careful not to snap it whilst Hannah struggled with the very heavy bed slats and I harried the mattress above my head like the trooper I was!…. Lies. Of course it was actually just the only way to carry a large mattress on my own and my arms were barely strong enough to lift the mattress above my head so it balanced there most of the journey! Eventually we got it home and are now one step closer to being ready for the next semester.
With a constant 40 degree heat on some days I didn’t get to show Hannah much of Melbourne but we did enjoy some dinners and drinks out along with a few beach days – luckily only one ended in a sandstorm!!
Victoria night markets
Brighton beach huts
Brighton beach huts again
China town
Valentines day feast
Girls night!
Classes are going well, I’m taking a course on Business Finance as more of an easy pass as I’ve done the same content before so it will be very familiar but also because I’m a maths/numbers/finance nerd to the bone! I’m also doing a new course called NeuroMarketing which is an interesting mix between psychology and marketing. I have two non-management courses this semester too which are by far my favourite but also most difficult as I am less used to the content. One is called Development in the 21st century and the other is Africa: People, Development and Places – these are a lot more along the lines of interested career paths at present.
Although I am enjoying them I do still wish I could spend the year on the beach!
Next assignment due in a couple of weeks!!
Okay so we’re not millionaires, we’re students which means we don’t have the biggest house and our party was constrained to the kitchen and patio area…. Until the neighbours started appearing at the door with candles to complain…candles?!
So welcome week comes to an end with a fantastic finale dinner in a hall which looked like something right out of Harry Potter! Literally down to Dumbledore’s chair!!
The after party was Australian themed and personally I think Line and Mia did it best!
Now off to our lovely home for our first night sleeping there…. After the house warming party of course!!
Although pricy melbourne welcome week has to be one of the best investments so far! There are approximately 180 other international students here and literally every single person I’ve met so far has been lovely!
We’re split into groups for most activities and ours is clearly the best!
Yesterday consisted of a scavenger hunt…. We checked many things off our list:
– worst Australia souvenir: kangaroo balls on a keyring (yes you can actually buy this and yes I was horrified!!!)
– asking a stranger to marry one of us
– obligatory selfies at many locations
– pretending to be a waitress to seat a stranger in a cafe
And many many more! All in all it was a great day and we ended by learning a few salsa moves an laughing a lot at our own inadequacy!
Today we spent the day at Healesville Wildlife park and met many amazing Australian animals (for anyone that knows me it’s definitely my favourite thing ever!!) and tonight is a pub crawl around Melbourne’s laneways….
It’s officially 5 weeks until I’m moving literally to the other side of the world… And I’m not even nervous, am I supposed to be nervous?! Everyone keeps asking if I am, expecting me to say yes.
I’m far too excited to be nervous. I cannot put down the travel guides and tour trip brochures. I’m in the travel agents for hours every week!
I’m on countdown.
I’m just waiting for the final confirmation from Melbourne to process my visa and then I just need to worry about fitting my whole life into a 30kg suitcase! Now that I’m nervous about…
The University of Ibague is a private university (although still pay less than us in the UK for the added beauty- unfair) and you can definitely tell the difference.
For starters there is security on the entrance, then a long path up to the buildings – along the path is an outdoor gym(!!!), beautiful gardens full of flowers and trees and a fabulous waterfall!
Now the buildings itself aren’t state of the art but another thing that impressed me is that the outdoor seating areas all have power sockets for laptops! You certainly don’t get that at my university back home – although you also don’t get the weather long enough for it to be worthwhile!
Looks like a play area but I promise you it is actually an outdoor gym!
eyes abroad 