On the Hunt

After recovering from my birthday I have decided that it's time to buckle down. This first month here has been busy and amazing. I've partied a lot, seen the city, booked a trip to New Zealand, attended a ball, seen the new Harry Potter movie, got on a guest list to a club, toga-ed up, had a friend from home visit and even attended classes. 


However, now it's time to try to get a job.. and finish the homework that has been piling up. Minimum wage here in Australia is A LOT higher than in Canada ($15.51 an hour and $18 if you are 21 and over), where as in Canada it's between $10-$11. With my visa I can work up to 20 hours per week, and full time during school holidays, such as reading week, or over the summer. 


Thus far I've applied to various amounts of places, everything from social media journalist of Australian Food News to retail jobs in the Candy Room,  but I haven't heard much yet. I'm thinking that I'll probably end up with a retail job, because everything from babysitting to being a security guard (which I was previously) requires extensive Australian training and licenses. 


Also, as it is the second semester here most of the student jobs on campus are already filled. And, as I am leaving to Canada for the "summer" vacation here (November til February), it's difficult to find a job that you have to quit in 4 months. I think next semester I'll be working in a co-op position through my school classes to get some media industry experience.


Hopefully next week I'll have something to report about employment. With only 2 classes a week entertaining myself with activities other than reading and cleaning is starting to get pricey!

Birthday Down Under

I turned 22 yesterday! It was a blast. A friend of mine also has a birthday this week so on Friday night me and my new friends headed downtown Melbourne to the Wah Wah Lounge to dance, drink and celebrate!

A nice surprise is that a good friend of mine from Carleton was in Australia visiting another friend and came down to celebrate with me. It was nice to have a more familiar face there to hang out with.

We started the night at residence where some of my good friends made us amazing birthday cakes. One was strawberry Jam and the other was peanut butter chocolate.

Then we took a long and crazy tram ride into the city to the bar. It was an amazing time. The clubs here play older music than we are used to in Ottawa, but when Jackson 5 came on, no one was complaining!

Then on my actual birthday it was the Menzie's Ball! This is the formal put on by one of the residences at school. I went with a few friends who live in that building for a 3 course dinner, all you can drink night with a band and a dj. It was a great time and nice to get dressed up :)

 I also recieved some really nice gifts from my new friends-my roommates bought me a popcorn maker, my menzies girls bought me a blue bracelt, my netherlands friend got me a pretty notebook and my canadian girls made me a huge card with all the great things about Canada written on the inside. 
Overall it was an amazing birthday down under. It is hard to have birthdays and big events away from home, but this day was a great success!

One Month Down!

My friend and I outside Flinders Station

Well I cannot believe I am typing this but I've been here for an ENTIRE month today! The time has actually flown by although at first it seemed so slow. 
This post is dedicated to all the things that I've learned or still haven't learned since moving here.


Learned:


The transit system- I can get basically anywhere downtown, to school and home :)
How to speak "Australian" 

• Howreyagoing? =Hey, What's up?
• Nakkered = tired
• Jumper= sweater
• Heaps= tons, a lot
• pot = half pint

Carry an umbrella or wear a hood even if it's sunny out, it will begin to rain no matter what!
Keep a sleeping bag at a friends house, because cabbing home every night from res is a good way to spend your entire budget
Going to the market is WAY cheaper than the grocery store (and more fun too)
Popcorn is not sold in more than 5 bags per box (and not sold at all at Costco)


Things I'll never get used to:


Looking the correct way when I cross the street (they drive on the left here)
That the blue bills are $10 not $5 (cab drivers thing I'm stupid- but I'm just Canadian!)
The purple bills are $5 not $10
Not having bulk popcorn!!!


All in all, I've met some amazing people (my roommates and international buddies)
Seen some amazing things (Australian Mountains, the city of Melbourne, cool animals at the aquarium, drank at a lot of different and interesting pubs)
And it's only getting started!

View of the city from Eureka Tower

 

Study Spot

I am desperately missing my Canadian library system. As classes are now in full swing during the second week of school I have a lot of reading to do. Usually I would camp out in the library to complete this, but in Australia, there are some obstacles.
The main one being that the library is a place of social hour, cell phones are allowed, food is allowed and no one has to be quiet. I swear that people met up to have lunch in the library right beside my table and were playing YouTube clips while eating pizza! Anyone reading this who has attended Carleton would know that SEVERE punishment for any of these fun activities would be the consequence in our library.
This meant that after re-reading the same sentence for an hour I had to find a new, more productive and quiet, study spot. 
Here is the place that I found. A lovely garden near the bus stop at the school, complete with ducks to watch when I want a study break, a bench and some sunshine. La Trobe's campus is truly beautiful and I began to wonder why I bothered to go to the library in the first place!

Being a good student

my view

essentials

My entertainment

August Arrival

Welcome August!
This month brings
- my brother's 20th birthday (which was on the 1st)
- One of my international friend's, katrina's, birthday (this friday)
- My 22nd birthday (Tuesday), and the Menzies (a residence at school) Ball (also tuesday)
- A visit from my good friend Maken who I worked with in Carleton back home in Ottawa. 
Oh, and I suppose some studying, you know, if there's time. And attempting to find a job all the while.
In other news I've booked my flights to and from New Zealand for Spring Break in September (7 weeks to go!)
Most larger posts to come after this completely booked weekend :)

Rain and Rainbows

"Everyone wants happiness, no one wants pain, but you can't have a rainbow without a little rain"


I've never seen the bottom of the rainbow before, it made me want to run for the pot of gold.

the lines are from street cars (trams) downtown

the bottom

This is a giant purse downtown, I just like the picture

An amazing view of houses and mountains from the train station

Somebody's Somebody

As I become better friends with the other international students I've met here I'm finding a common thing amongst us all; no matter what corner of the world someone comes from, everyone has a Somebody.

Your Somebody is a person that came into your life that you fell for, and either you're still with them, they broke your heart, or you broke theirs- no matter what the outcome, they are the person you always make reference to whenever relationships are discussed and the person that you think about whenever you have a new person you want to measure up and compare.

Now to explain the environment of a group of young adults moving the entire way across the world is one of a lot of loneliness. You're away from your friends, your family and your Somebody. This means that you make friends fast, and fall for people even faster. My group of friends haven't been here long and the Somebody talk is already starting! Hookups, rejections, crushes, friendships are daily activities in residence. 

Luckily for me, I'm still with my Somebody in a long distance thing and it's going quite well thanks to email, smart phones and skype. I'm the lucky one that gets to observe the drama (and blog about it!).

The thing I am observing the most is that whether people have been in several relationships, or none at all, there's a Somebody. Somebodies back home, crushes on Somebodies here.. "so and so was making out with Somebody last night!"

Obviously my BFF

My two best girls

Despite all this drama and confusion, it has made me realise that everyone has something in common, we all have a Somebody, and probably all are a Somebody. While this realisation is I'm sure a great annoyance to a few of my new friends at the moment, it makes me feel better to know that everyone loves and that's something we can all talk about (as I did for about 6 hours the other night).

With the recent events going on in Norway, I think it's important for everyone to realise the commonalities of people, instead of always focusing on what makes us different. So celebrate the Somebodies!!