Melbourne... and settled!

Hello for the past couple daysJ.  I have been slacking on my blog lately, but in my defense, I was moving.  I woke up at 4:30am Friday morning and caught the train to the airport.  4:30am is EARLY.  I made it to the airport fine and was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was.  Apparently Australia isn’t on threat level “orange” or whatever it is we do in the US, because they didn’t care about liquids, shoes off or seeing my ID.  I found my gate almost an hour early and then we were delayed for about 25 minutes.  I spent my time reading Harry Potter 2… it made home feel a little closerJ.  My flight was really quick (a little over an hour) and then I was in Melbourne.  I found my meeting area and a couple other students going to Deakin University.  One was from New York, and one from California.  They are going on my orientation trip Monday so hopefully I’ll get to know them better next week.  My shuttle took me to my house next to campus and I met my landlord and got settled in.  She took me to her office (her kitchenJ) to do paperwork and kept saying, “it’s so nice you’re not tired from the jetlag.”  I was all, “yeah, that is nice, but I’m SUPER exhausted from the 4:30am wake up call!”  Anyway, finished paperwork and realized I hadn’t eaten lunch so I went to find food before I passed out.  I wandered toward campus and found a subway, got a sandwich and proceeded to campus.  I walked around a little – it’s super hip and modern.  I really like it.  I feel trendy thereJ.  I made it to the gym and started my membership.  It’s much more intensive and involved than I’m used to, but I think it’ll be good.  Before I could even workout they made me meet with a trainer to take measurements (height, weight) and answer health questions.  It’s nice though, because they have a computer system that keeps track of all your information, measurements and workouts and a trainer creates a workout schedule for you.  It’s not really something I need help with, but I’m sure it won’t hurt either.  I also met a new friend at the gym (another exchange student), which was awesome.  I walked back up toward my house and then went grocery shopping so I could have dinner and breakfast.  I got all the essentials and came back home.  I had dinner, got unpacked, did a little laundry and went to bed before 10pm.  I slept in this morning until almost 10am, which felt insanely good!  I didn’t even realize how tired I truly was.  Also, my bed is REALLY comfortable.  After I woke up, I got ready, had breakfast (I LOVE Wheat-bix) and then began putting up pictures in my room.  It feels much homier now!  I walked a couple miles to K-mart and got a beach towel and another pillow and then came back, dropped it off and went to the gym.  I had my health assessment and then ran a little bit before taking off walking the opposite direction of my house.  I wanted to explore and see what I lived around.  It was a nice long walk and I was already wearing my running shoes so that was good.  I finished my walk and came back and made dinner.  A couple of my roommates from China made dinner a little later and offered me some.  I tried a little (chicken wings).  It was good, but mostly I just wanted to join them to get to know them.  It was fun having been to China because they wanted to know about my trip and we had a little more in common.  Two are from Beijing and one is from Chengdu.  I’ve met all my roommates over the course of the last couple days.  Stephanie is from Chicago, Amanda is from Chengdu in China, Kevin is from Beijing, Mark is from France, there is a girl coming from the UK next week and I am from Seattle (so much easier to explain than EllensburgJ).  Everyone speaks English reasonably well.  My living situation is awesome!  I have a single room and then we all share the kitchen, and living room.  There are separate bathrooms for the boys and girls.  I am about a ten-minute walk from campus one way and a ten-minute walk from the store the other way.  There is also a tram that runs down the middle of the street that goes all the way downtown… I haven’t explored that far yet.  Burwood (the suburb I’m in) reminds me of Monroe Street in Spokane.  There are lots of residences and then random strip malls thrown in.  Overall, I like it here.  I’m still excited to meet lots of new people, but also know that for the introvert in me, that’s going to be exhausting.  Caw caw RAWR… I can do it.  So, recap… I’m in Melbourne, I’m moved in, my roommates seem nice enough, my house should be great, I’m still excited about the semester and I am loving life.  I saw a billboard today that said, “Life is a huge canvas… throw all the paint you can.”  I thought, “done!”  Life is good.