Quick overview of Melbourne Welcome events:
1. I can officially say I stood on the highest platform of the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere—the Eureka tower here in Melbourne. The tower is not corporate; it is actually the tallest building and tallest residential building below the earth’s belt.
View from the top of the Tower!
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2. Learned how to surf at Ocean Grove in Geelong—about an hour and a half from the city. I stood up three times!
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3. Visited the Queen Victoria open-air markets.
4. Forced my overheated body to walk the entirety of the Melbourne Zoo—the largest in Australia. It was AMAZING!
5. Took a City Heritage Tour. Saw a lot of churches and learned quite a bit about Melbourne Architecture. Went into St. Patrick’s Cathedral and learned about Catholic symbolism in architecture—I now know what the pillars and faces represent.
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6. Went inside an office building with a sculpture that makes me think of Dante’s Purgatorio. Actually, it’s a representation of the corporate ladder by Victoria Nelson.
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6. Learned that American teenagers really do go crazy when they go to countries that have a drinking age of 18. NOT a good thing.
7. Learned that Australians love showing off their wines, beers and continually exceeding their drinking tolerances.
8. Met a bunch of nice people.
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With the Melbourne Welcome program concluded yesterday, there was only the first of many smaller steps to take in my journey to becoming a study abroad student in the University of Melbourne system. This step (and really, it was just a baby one) was to move into the International House, the residential college near campus that will be my home for the forthcoming months—and I succeeded admirably in settling into my wedge-shaped teal-painted room. The space is cozy, the bed is comfortable (although sleeping in this extraordinary heat is not), and I have internet access again (yay!). The most fantastic aspect of the setup here is the view. As I said in my last posting, the city was spreading away from me. But here, in this room, the entire skyline is engulfed in the panes of my wall-to-wall window. The building is a decagon and faces the city on this side. I’m snug in my new living situation; this R.C. is a little out of the way, but there is a tram a block away and the campus is only three blocks from here. The food is spectacular. And it’s nice to live in a place that already anticipates 50% occupancy of vegetarians. I’m eating healthier than I ever have and I love exploring my city.
View from my room!
Color I’d be,
Jordan
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Quote of the week:
I said: “What color do you think that is?”
One of my new friends, Meredith, looked out at the color of the water where we went surfing and replied, “Indigo. If I was indigo, that’s what color I’d be.”
