I Come from a Land Down Under
G'day all.
I managed to wrangle myself an email account. As far as I can tell, my email address is:
s9411649@yallara.cs.rmit.oz.au
So, when we last left our hero, he was bordering the last stage out of Mpls Int'l. The
flight was very long and uneventful. On the hop from LA to Sydney,there was a little girl
in the seat next to me. She kept thrashing around in her sleep, keeping me from dozing
off. So to make a long story short, after over 20 hours, four pack of Mentos, and three
in-flight movies later, I arrived in Melbourne.
Skyline of Melbourne, looking at the footbridge across the Yara river.
I had two expectations upon my arrival: a) my checked bag had been routed to Borra
Borra and b) my promised airport pickup person would be in Borra Borra. Luckily, only the
latter occurred. Of course 1am on a Sunday morning is not the best time to be stranded at
the airport (it is 20 miles from the city). I made friends with a nice fellow Chris who
was there to pick up another US student that never showed up. Chris brought me to the
Miami Hostel where I crashed until morning.
Artist drawing in the botanical gardens.
I spent part of Sunday wandering around the city on foot. For the first couple of hours
I had to mumble 'look right, look left' every time I crossed the street (they drive on the
left down here). I went out to lunch with Johan, another exchange student from Sweden, I
had to stop him twice today from trying to step out into traffic. You really got to watch
it. I also took a stroll through the botanical gardens. They have an incredible variety of
plant species, really amazing.
I eventually found my housing. I'm in a homestay, not in an apartment as they had told
me. I'm staying with a mother (Judy), her sister (Monkee, or something like that, you know
how I am with names), a son (Cameron), a German student(George), and this weekend their
daughter is coming back from working at a camp. You can't not like a place where they cook
your food and wash your clothes for you. After four weeks I can move out into an apartment
with other students if I want. I'm not sure what I'll do yet...
Keith waiting and waiting for the tram.
I spent Monday and most of today (Wednesday), filling out forms and waiting round for
the RMIT people to get there stuff figured out (they are really not very efficient or
organized). I did get registered today though. I'll be taking Melbourne on Foot, History
and Aesthetics of Photograph, Data Communications, and Graphical User Interfaces. I caught
a
bit of a bug and spent half of yesterday in bed. I'm feeling better now, though I still
have a headache.
Boat in the harbor at St. Kilda.
That's all I can think of for now, so take care and send me mail.
-Keith
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