ok go go go

The past week has just been go go go. Exhausting but I’ve been having so much fun. I spent five days doing a Melbourne Welcome program, and it definitely proved to be action packed, as promised. I lived in Newman College, a residential college of Melbourne Uni. I met a bunch of fun people, mostly Americans, some Aussies, and even some English, Swedish, and Kenyan.

Highlights:

Top of Rialto Towers, 360 degree observation deck looking out on all of Melbourne. This made me realize how much there is to see in Melbourne alone.

Surfing at Ocean Grove beach. My first time wearing a wetsuit and the waves were great for a lazy surfer like me. The waves broke right near shore, so no need to paddle way out to catch a set. It was even shallow enough for people to walk their boards out to catch the waves! Of course, everyone assumed the Hawaii girl was a surfing pro, but I think I showed them otherwise. Haha. I did manage to catch a few good waves though, so I didn’t look like a complete tool.

Melbourne Zoo! I got up-close with the kangaroos, got a glimpse of a koala, learned about wombats, and met some warm weather penguins.

We also checked out the nightlife in Melbourne. They took us out to a bunch of different pubs and clubs. Melbourne is known for its secret clubs located down random alleyways that are only discovered through word of mouth. We rode an elevator at the end of a Chinatown alleyway to get to an awesome karaoke bar. I even busted out some Bon Jovi on stage.

But my favorite club we've been to so far is definitely The Croft Institute. Found at the end of a particularly long, smelly, graffitied alleyway, The Croft Institute is a medically themed bar. Test tubes, graduated cylinders, and separatory funnels lined the walls. God I'm such a dork. Anyways, it was more freaky than educational. There was even a hospital bed in the bathroom.

Valentine's day dinner. We walked a couple blocks down to Melbourne's Little Italy. Basically a street lined with Italian restaurants whose tables spill out onto the sidewalks. Outdoor meals are one of my favorite things to do, so this was the perfect V-day dinner. We headed over to a cool little hookah bar down the street afterwards.


St. Kilda's beach today. It's a popular beach that's about a 20 min tram ride from Uni, so I have a feeling I'll be spending a lot of time there this semester. I was told it's a "harbor beach" meaning it's part of a bay, so it's not the cleanest beach I've ever seen. It was also super hot...kinda reminded me of Ala Moana beach actually. But no complaining, seeing as I could be trudging around in a foot and a half of snow right now.

Official school orientation started yesterday. I've enrolled in classes and got my student id. yay! Orientation goes through next week and classes start the following Monday.