Keeping in Touch- 2011

I have officially been here for 3 weeks! The time has felt like forever in some ways, but I suppose that means that I'm settling in well. I know what my grocery budget is and how to survive off more than rice bubbles. I know the transit system and have yet to miss a bus or train. And finally I've started classes and met some Masters student friends to go a long with my international undergrad buddies. 


However, these new friends can only be compared to the gems I left at home. This brings me to my next topic about keeping in touch the entire way across the world. 
There is a 14 hour time change between my Melbourne home and my Canadian home. This means that when I get up in the morning around 10am (hey, it's a student life!) my canadian pals are winding down from the end if their day at about 8pm the day BEFORE. When I am getting sleepy and ready to go to bed at midnight, they are usually at work at 10am. 
If this is confusing, it means that MY monday morning is THEIR sunday evening. 


Through facebook, twitter, skype and this blog I've been able to keep up with my friends daily happenings, and in some cases see their adorable faces :) I was a Facebook addict before, but now when I wake up there are tons of photos and status' to read to see what all my friends have been up to back home. Then while I'm asleep, they are able to look at what I've been posting and doing all day. It's great!


Skype makes it really nice to have a live conversation that doesn't mean that I have to type a lot. I'm able to see the people I love and talk to them as close to how I normally would as possible. I'm a big fan of it, and it's a FREE service! I'm studying a lot about international media and globalisation as well as living it.


However, there are times when less modern messages have a nice touch. I was able to purchase a bunch of postcards downtown last week, fill them out and mail them off to Canada. They have Australian animals or photos of Melbourne's cityscape on them to remind everyone of where I am. It cost me $1.60 in postage per postcard, which means one Australian beaches stamp and two Platypus stamps to get them all the way across the world. I sent them last wednesday and had no idea when they would arrive in Canada.

This is a Platypus- Native to East Australia and Tasmania

Combinaton of Duck, Otter, Beaver all in one, and venomous!

It only took about a week for them to get there! Most of my friends reported back on facebook that they had received their cards yesterday (wednesday my time, tuesday theirs).  Although it cost me about $20.00 to send 10 postcards I believe that it was totally worth it! Getting mail is an exciting thing now, because so much information is sent via email. It's always nice to have something cute like a postcard tucked in with all the bills and junk mail you have to pull out of the box. 
Obviously this is not a good forum to send information about emergencies, or anything you want instantly answered, but I think people appreciated it just the same. 


Now I can just sit back and wait for all the Ottawa, or Canadian postcards to roll in for me!