Backpacker Student: Finding my feet

Life in Melbourne so far has been up and down, but luckily the downs have been small and easy to resolve and the ups have been substantial. I suppose it's always difficult settling into a new place, especially when you are on your own, but things have been getting better every day here as I meet more people and get my life more organised. I didn't particularly enjoy my first few days in Melbourne as I was gutted to have to be apart from Chris and the weather was a bit of a come-down after Queensland, to say the least. I was living in a share-house so far in the sticks that lots of Melbournians hadn't heard of the suburb, and I wasn't sure how I would fill the two weeks I had until classes start. Luckily, it has turned out that I had a million and one jobs to do to get myself settled in. Number one on this list was finding a place to live, which proved to be more challenging than I had initially expected. It was a huge relief a few days ago when I confirmed a room in a a lovely apartment close to my campus, and I will be moving in tomorrow. Here in Australia, the week before the start of the semester is called O-Week, or Orientation Week, which is similar to Fresher's Week back home. But us exchange students were required to arrive the week even before this, to have the obligatory welcome talks and enrolment sessions ("Hello possums!", etc.). In the evenings a lot of activities were arranged by the Host Scheme, which is responsible for helping new students settle in. On Thursday evening of my first week I went with them on a bar crawl of all the local drinking holes around Clayton campus (there's two of them). The hosts are all lively Aussies who met through the Host Scheme when they were first-years, and now take on the responsibility of showing the new 'froshies' around, as well as the exchange students. A few of them may have confused these distinct groups a little, and I had to endure a well-meaning local lad explaining drinking games to me.

The following weekend was brilliant and a great introduction to Melbourne. On Friday night I met up with my good friends Cathy, Juliana and Kanav, who are Monash students who did an exchange to Liverpool Uni last year and ended up in the same halls of residence as me. I'd missed them a lot when they left in the summer and I was really excited about catching up with them in Melbourne. The three of them are all in their fifth year of uni, while I am only in my second, and they are busy with part-time jobs, internships and placements, so I was a little worried they wouldn't have much time for catching up. However, we had a great reunion at Flinders Street station which made me feel they were as happy to see me as I was them. They took me to a really cool rooftop bar on Swanston Street where we enjoyed $12 pints, city views, and catching up on their travels in Europe after they left Liverpool. Saturday night was White Night, a big event in the city that drew crowds bigger than even New Year's Eve, according to my Aussie mates. Loads of buildings were lit up with light shows and there was a fireworks display over the Yarra; added to this were street performances and music, which all in all made for a great evening and a very exciting first weekend in Melbs. On Sunday I took part in an event organised by MOVE- the Monash Overseas and Exchange Club, which is a great society with really friendly members who are either international students, students like me who are on exchange from somewhere else, or are Australians who have done an exchange or plan to do one. This obviously makes for a fun and like-minded bunch. The event was a scavenger hunt called the Amazing Race, in which teams of five had to dash round the city following clues to earn stickers. There were ten clues to find in three hours, and prizes to be won for those who arrived before 4pm with the most clues completed. I signed up as an individual but when I arrived I joined a group with a few people I'd met over the week- we were to become 'Team VISA' when we managed to pick up matching blue promotional hats from VISA along the way. Despite an initial setback of arriving at our first clue point 50 minutes before the MOVE rep who was supposed to be meeting us there, we smashed it and came second, simply because we were so keen that we sprinted for the last half an hour and managed to get all ten with two minutes to spare. Our prize was a voucher for unlimited tacos and a free drink at a Mexican restaurant, which we're going to take up when we can arrange a date. Chuffed with our victory and also absolutely exhausted and sweaty, we went out for beer and pizza to round off an action-packed day.

In the evening I moved to a hostel in St. Kilda, Melbourne's stylish beach suburb. I wanted to have a chance to meet new people and to stay in one of the nicest parts of the city, and it proved to be a great idea as I've really enjoyed my time here and made new friends, including a group of Monash exchange students who have also been staying here while they look for accommodation for the semester. When I first arrived at the hostel, tired and worn out from my busy weekend and carrying all my belongings across the city on public transport, I was gutted to find that the 10-bed female-only dorm I had booked into (for six nights!) was an absolute tip. The only person in there at the time was a backpackahh/working-holiday-visahh girl from London who I talked to for a bit while I tried to find an empty space to put my bags on the ground amongst all the clothes, towels and empty goon boxes exploded across the room. After a slight 'moment' downstairs in the face of this less than appealing prospect, I asked if I could change rooms and without any hassle I was upgraded to a 6-bed girls' dorm with an ensuite bathroom, which was a million times better- and they didn't even charge me an extra to stay there for a week!

It's been a busy week, with O-week at uni every day and events at the hostel most evenings. Most days I went along to the orientation festival to have a look at the clubs on offer (I want to join the photography club) and get a free BBQ lunch, as there is invariably one somewhere to be found. On Wednesday evening I went on a MOVE evening out to Fitzroy, a trendy suburb north of the CBD, for a tapas dinner and expensive drinks on a rooftop bar followed by cheap drinks at a sticky-floored bar. I am starting to find some really nice places in Melbourne, and I am enjoying life here a lot. I feel very lucky to have this opportunity and I'm concious of how quickly the time will go. In the meantime I'm going to try to make the most of every day and try not to turn down any offers of things to do!