Better late than forever

Hello all
This is a blog I am making primarily for my family while I am away in Australia. Traveling is nothing new to me but for the sake of sharing pictures, experiences, and stories instantly rather than over the phone or some other expensive and time consuming medium of communication I've thrown caution to the wind and I'll open my experiences to anyone bored enough to read up on my travels.


I've got a lot to cover as I've been here since the 13th and I've only gotten around to setting up this blog (I blame the outrageously amazing nightlife of Melbourne and two O weeks for my latency).

Flying in from Auckland, NZ to Melbourne I sat next to a pretty young Australian girl whom had just finished visiting relatives in NZ. As we got to talking I learned she was my age, lived in Melbourne, and her name is Jayde. I think I am to meet Jayde Thursday to chat. Her name and phone number are displayed above my computer as she was my first Australian acquaintance. I'm a real sucker for novelties.

The most profound thing happened while on the flight, and for once it was completely unrelated to girls or really people at all. A man by the name of Derek Shearer, a phenomenal DWA professor I sought advice from before departing for Australia had given me a book The Best Australian Political Writing. In that book I read the most profound poem. The poem was written into an article on Global Warming, but it dealt with looking for the silver linings in clouds, a poetic perspective taken time and time again on life that has mystified me since the time I read it. The poem goes as follows:

Look for the silver lining.

Whene'er a cloud appears in the blue

Remember, somewhere the sun is shining.

And so the right thing to do is make it shine for you.


The article, entitled Sunny Side ended with another poem dealing with silver linings

A heart, full of joy and gladness

Will always banish sadness and strife

So always look for the silver lining

And try to find the sunny side of life

Moments later we began our descent and reality hit again. Time to cut the poetic bullshit, I was in Australia.

The first night I met up with some fellow American exchange students. We all arrived at the same time and all lived in the RMIT village so we figured we might as well stick together-safety in numbers sort of thing. We set out to explore Melbourne and I failed to buy a tram ticket but rode anyway-a really easy way to get a hundred something dollar fine apparently.


O week carried on and I learned everything I needed to in order to ensure my survival. The Melbourne Welcome Program took us all over the city and gave us the basics on how to use trams and trains, which was reassuring. As usual, I was hypersocial and met and forgot a surfeit amount of names. The details of the week blur together but every night involved some sort of drinking activity followed by new friends, which entails new phone numbers and new Facebook friend requests. I suppose this is what being social is.

We would go to the zoo and the footie game. Essendon Bombers v Bulldogs. Sadly Essendon (I cheered for them as they were Red and Black-Albuquerque Academy colors) was blown out of the water by the Bulldogs. My sorrow wouldn't last-following that we went to a bowling alley and drank the night away.

The weekend came and went (far too quickly thanks to drinking) and we were thrown into another orientation, the RMIT Village O week. Before that, though, I met a girl. I'll keep the details on the hush for now but if its an enduring thing (thus far it is) you'll hear more about her in the future. It was for residents of the RMIT Village Old Melbourne only and featured a week of themed parties, pub crawls, and general debauchery all too typical of Melbourne.

Following RMIT O week I went to St. Kilda's beach with my aforementioned female interest and had a phenomenal day. Even for Melbourne in the winter it wasn't terribly cold and flip flops and jeans were perfect for the sunny beach. I took a few snaps of some dead jellies I saw and sent them to Dan Pondella asking if he knew what species they were. In his untouchable fashion he replied "no idea. not a jelly expert. the only good jelly is a dead one. come see me spring semester upon your return." Dan Pondella is quickly becoming one of my heroes. Seriously though.

The day ended with some incredibly memorable kisses in a gazebo in a park just off of the beach of the park. Melbourne thus far has been a charm.

This week classes began. I've had two of my four and I missed my Monday class-not because I couldn't physically make it but because I switched into the class on Tuesday. Unfortunate but not the end of the world. Tomorrow I have my Terrorism class which I am indescribably excited for.

Whew what a mouthful. They won't all be that long. More to come soon.