Another action-packed week! There seems to always be something to do, a place to see, or an event to attend around here. It’s really quite exciting, although I admit I’m looking forward to having an hour or two to myself to just sit back and enjoy my Stephen King novel!
I’ve settled in pretty well at the Unilodge and I know my way around the main city areas. I love walking along Swanston Street or strolling through the campus. Grocery shopping’s become a surprisingly fun experience in itself, especially when I try different shops and stores to find some cheap food. I usually go to Woolworth’s (a major chain here), although I plan to visit Aldis soon. My personal favourite is the Thresherman’s Bakery, a quaint bakery/café/resto about two minutes away with super cheap baked goods, bread, and sandwiches after 4PM. And people who know me know I love my baked goods.
Yesterday I visited the Queen Victoria Market, which is a HUGE fresh produce market as well as an enormous flea market-like area. I’d say it’s even bigger than the Mathers flea market in St Eustache! It’s become one of my favourite places in Melbourne so far, and I think of it as a cultural experience in itself. They’ve got rows and rows and vendors and shops selling everything you can think of, including delis, bakeries, butchershops, liquor shops, a huge area filled with stalls of vegetables and fruits, and then an entire separate section with stalls for clothing, electronics, souvenirs, you name it! You can spend hours walking through the stalls with vendors everywhere calling out their special prices and offering you to try some of their food. I’ve actually bought some food to make a beef stir-fry tonight, I’ll see how it turns out. I’ll have to go back again next Sunday.
I’ve also had the chance to explore a suburb of Melbourne called Moonee Ponds, about 20 minutes by train from downtown. I was invited by some new friends to a delicious BBQ at their share house. The area is probably more representative of a local neighbourhood, with shops and trams that run along the major streets. The houses themselves are designed differently than those in Montreal, I’ll be sure to post some pictures of them eventually.
Another highlight of the weekend was Brunswick Street. It’s a trendy main street away from the downtown core, loaded with boutiques, bars, clubs, and cafés. I had a great time at Perseverance, a club/bar with a dance floor. The 90’s music theme was neat, although the Spice Girls tracks were a little unnecessary! Bimbo’s is another one of my favourite hotspots, with an inviting atmosphere, couches on the main floor, an outdoors terrace with hanging lanterns, and delicious $4 pizzas (including the Belgian chocolate pizza!)
On a more serious note, last week was Week-O, or Orientation Week. We were given more opportunities to meet other international students, explore the campus, and enrol in our courses. Unfortunately the uni has started using a new system, and everyone has been having problems with the student ID card and fixing their timetables. Some people still can’t register in their classes, even though today was the first day of school. Luckily I’m not one of them, although I had to wait in a queue of about 100 people a couple of times…
A few other fast facts (this is getting long and I’m getting lazy :P ) :
- I’ve now met people from Finland, Germany, UK, Malaysia, France, China, Mexico, many different states in the US (the majority), Norway, Belgium, locals from all over Australia, and even a few Canadians from McGill
- I visited a restricted medical museum with a large collection of perfectly preserved human body parts (the ones in silicon were especially creepy, especially the hands and faces)
- I plan on joining the Mountaineering Club, Ultimate Frisbee Club, and the Engineering Music Society
- The cheapest 6 inch sub at Subway is $5. No $5 footlongs here.
- Starbucks is considered to have poor quality coffee. An average price for a coffee here is $3.
- There are no pennies or 1 cent coins in Australia.
- There’s an AC/DC Lane downtown. I am serious. If that’s not epic I don’t know what is.
- The courses I’m taking here are called Fluid Dynamics, Design and Processes 2, Dynamics of Machines, and Australia Now.
I’ll try to post more soon! In the meantime, you might be able to catch me online some days around 10-12PM (12-2PM local time)
Cheers,
Sean
Monday, July 26, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
The Melbourne Welcome
So I disappeared for a while last week to participate in the Melbourne Welcome. And you know what? Deciding to join this program was probably the best decision I had made in the entire planning process for my trip to Australia. Honestly, I think every international student should have grabbed at this opportunity to meet loads of great people and get an in-depth sneak peek into all things Melbournian. Not to mention it became a mini-frosh in itself! :P
Pics are now up online up on Facebook, spanning until the end of the program. Check it out!
I spent about 4 days at Janet Clarke Hall, which is a cozy residence college north of the Uni surrounding the sporting centre and fields. Students stayed either here or at Trinity College. Both are beautiful buildings inside and out, with Victorian-like (I’ll have to ask Katherine!) architecture and huge courtyards. I swear it’s like something out of Harry Potter, and I’m really not exaggerating. There’s even a head table in the mess hall for the Principal and Tutors (which I had the honour of sitting at during the formal banquet!). The food was exceptional, which was only one of the things I’ll miss from my stay there. There’s also a common room with a large screen TV, pool table, ping pong, and couches. I had taken over a resident’s room, which was cozy and nicely decorated single bedroom with antique furniture and an extremely comfortable bed.
I’ve always wanted to live in rez, and despite my short stay at JCH, I’ll admit that my time spent in the college was a very humbling experience in itself.
The entire program consisted of city and campus tours, visits to tourist attractions, ice-breaker activities, and an awesome introduction to the nightlife in and around downtown Melbourne. We got to visit major streets and malls including Swanston Street, Melbourne Central, and Lygon Street. Our stop at the Eureka SkyDeck Tower was definitely a highlight. With 92 floors, it’s the tallest residential tower in the southern hemisphere, and it gave an incredible view of the entire city. We also walked through some of Melbourne’s hidden alleys, filled with hidden restos, bars, clubs, cafés, and artwork decorating the walls. It’s interesting that even the hosts themselves discovered new and exciting venues they had never seen before, even if they have been living in the city for years.
On that note, I’d also like to mention that every single one of our hosts did an outstanding job of introducing us to the city. They are extremely friendly people that I’m very glad to have had the pleasure of meeting, and I hope to continue our friendships during my stay!
Some other highlights of the week included visits to the Botanical Gardens (with an inspiring and informational tour by a member of the Indigenous community), the Melbourne Zoo (pics to come soon, this had to be one of the best zoos I’ve ever been to, and not just because I got to see kangaroos and a cassowary!), the Ian Potter Art Museum, Brunswick St, bowling, and a football clinic at the training centre for the North Melbourne Kangaroos. I’ll talk about the sport, and my visit to the MCG, in my next post. I even got to participate in an exotic Australian food tasting, which included kangaroo sausage, emu, duck, and crocodile! Delicious.
And then there’s the nightlife. After four nights straight of parties, I can tell you that we were all exhausted. But it was completely worth it, and I had a great time. We toured some of the well-known (and not so known) bars and clubs such as Cookie, the Randy Dragon, Turfs, and my personal favourite for the final party, Puggs. The local beers are all pretty good here, albeit expensive. (A case of 24 can costs between $40 to $60! No wonder everyone was buying “goon”, which is pretty much cheap boxed wine) I particularly liked Snakebite, a mix of beer, cider, and raspberry.
More to come soon! Orientation for school starts tomorrow, it’s time to get serious.
...Well, maybe just a little!
Cheers!
-Sean
Pics are now up online up on Facebook, spanning until the end of the program. Check it out!
I spent about 4 days at Janet Clarke Hall, which is a cozy residence college north of the Uni surrounding the sporting centre and fields. Students stayed either here or at Trinity College. Both are beautiful buildings inside and out, with Victorian-like (I’ll have to ask Katherine!) architecture and huge courtyards. I swear it’s like something out of Harry Potter, and I’m really not exaggerating. There’s even a head table in the mess hall for the Principal and Tutors (which I had the honour of sitting at during the formal banquet!). The food was exceptional, which was only one of the things I’ll miss from my stay there. There’s also a common room with a large screen TV, pool table, ping pong, and couches. I had taken over a resident’s room, which was cozy and nicely decorated single bedroom with antique furniture and an extremely comfortable bed.
I’ve always wanted to live in rez, and despite my short stay at JCH, I’ll admit that my time spent in the college was a very humbling experience in itself.
The entire program consisted of city and campus tours, visits to tourist attractions, ice-breaker activities, and an awesome introduction to the nightlife in and around downtown Melbourne. We got to visit major streets and malls including Swanston Street, Melbourne Central, and Lygon Street. Our stop at the Eureka SkyDeck Tower was definitely a highlight. With 92 floors, it’s the tallest residential tower in the southern hemisphere, and it gave an incredible view of the entire city. We also walked through some of Melbourne’s hidden alleys, filled with hidden restos, bars, clubs, cafés, and artwork decorating the walls. It’s interesting that even the hosts themselves discovered new and exciting venues they had never seen before, even if they have been living in the city for years.
On that note, I’d also like to mention that every single one of our hosts did an outstanding job of introducing us to the city. They are extremely friendly people that I’m very glad to have had the pleasure of meeting, and I hope to continue our friendships during my stay!
Some other highlights of the week included visits to the Botanical Gardens (with an inspiring and informational tour by a member of the Indigenous community), the Melbourne Zoo (pics to come soon, this had to be one of the best zoos I’ve ever been to, and not just because I got to see kangaroos and a cassowary!), the Ian Potter Art Museum, Brunswick St, bowling, and a football clinic at the training centre for the North Melbourne Kangaroos. I’ll talk about the sport, and my visit to the MCG, in my next post. I even got to participate in an exotic Australian food tasting, which included kangaroo sausage, emu, duck, and crocodile! Delicious.
And then there’s the nightlife. After four nights straight of parties, I can tell you that we were all exhausted. But it was completely worth it, and I had a great time. We toured some of the well-known (and not so known) bars and clubs such as Cookie, the Randy Dragon, Turfs, and my personal favourite for the final party, Puggs. The local beers are all pretty good here, albeit expensive. (A case of 24 can costs between $40 to $60! No wonder everyone was buying “goon”, which is pretty much cheap boxed wine) I particularly liked Snakebite, a mix of beer, cider, and raspberry.
More to come soon! Orientation for school starts tomorrow, it’s time to get serious.
...Well, maybe just a little!
Cheers!
-Sean
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
The City
I’ve been exploring the city of Melbourne over the past few days on my free time. There’s a huge tram system that runs throughout the city, and it’s apparently one of the largest in the world. I haven’t really needed to use one yet, my building (Unilodge @ Melbourne) is across the street from uni, and a 20 minute walk from downtown. The campus is separate from the city, very much like McGill is. Actually, the universities here are pretty similar to the ones in Montreal. University of Melbourne has Victorian- like architecture, while RMIT is like Concordia since it is much more contemporary (strangest shapes I’ve ever seen in a building!) and spread out around the city.
The entire city is filled with shops, malls, restaurants, bars, and cafés everywhere. There’s a huge café culture here. You can’t just get a simple coffee like Tim Hortons here though. All they have are the quality kinds of espressos, cappuccinos, and lattés. They’re pretty expensive too. And yeah, the Aussies LOVE their beer.
The city is really easy to navigate, since it’s divided into equal square blocks. The State Library of Victoria is a gorgeous old building which I still want to explore. I’ve also taken the City Circle Tram, which is a free tram that gives a tour around the city, the business district, and the Docklands (running along the bay). I still haven’t seen the beaches yet, or the penguins (!) but I hope to do that very soon.
A few interesting things I’ve noticed so far downtown:
- They have a Walmart here, except it’s called Big W.
- They have Burger King too, but it’s called Hungry Jacks.
- There’s a Batman Street and Canada Lane.
- There’s hidden shops, bars, and restos in dogdy-looking alleys, but apparently they’re considered as streets and are safe.
- Melbourne just started using blue Bixis a few weeks ago apparently. They’re all over the place!
- The streets are SUPER clean compared to Montreal!
That’s all so far, I’ll be exploring more of Melbourne over the next few days during my Melbourne Welcome program. Highlights I’m looking forward to are the SkyDeck, the Melbourne Zoo, an Aboriginal walk and the Botanical gardens.
Oh, and the residence I’m staying in temporarily right now looks like something out of Harry Potter! It’s really spectacular, and I’ve always wanted to experience what it’s like to live in such a place. Sorry about the delay for pictures, I may only be able to post them next week when I have my own Internet connection.
Cheers, hope all is well back home!
-Sean
Monday, July 12, 2010
The Adventure Begins
I’m finally here.
The plane ride here was pretty intense. It took 6 hours to fly from Montreal to LA, 14 hours from LA to Sydney, and 1 hour from Sydney to Melbourne. Considering I’ve spent over 24 hours in planes and airports, I still feel GREAT. Jet lag is overrated. :P
I really can't sleep well on planes though. I'd sleep for an hour or two at a time, and then a baby would start wailing or the guy next to me wants to go to the washroom or some lady hits me in the head with her purse or she walks by.
Pics to come soon!
- Sean (July 10, 2010)
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