Couple of quick notes I forgot...

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The verdict is still out on the toilets. They're like the European toilets. They have a push button flusher on the top and they just whooooosh out all at once (works great after a night of Bangladeshi food).




The urinals are pretty sweet though. They remind me of old Montana bars.

















The only complaint I have about the country so far is the cost of beer. It hurts my heart to see Miller Chill at $17 a six pack. What's worst is even the cheapest domestic costs $12 for a six pack. And no... noone here drinks Foster's. I haven't even seen a can of it.

Mark's turn!

Alright... so far so good. Nikki has been the big blogger on this but I plan to chime in from time to time. I've actually worried more about getting a job and finding a place to live than this blog. Good for Nikki though because this is important both for communication now for our memories later.

Melbourne is a great town. Everything we were looking to experience. Big buildings, 11 million people, cool restauraunts, everything at your doorstep. As a matter of fact we have had at least 10 different ethnicities of food (I think that is how you'd say it). Bangladeshi food is magnificent!!! Federation Square is a great hangout. We've spent a lot of time down there for the free internet. Here's a link: http://www.federationsquare.com.au/ Very cool place!

As Nikki said in another post, we have a 23rd/24th floor apartment (they call it the 23rd floor but it's actually the 24th). I am actually sitting in our hotel killing off some time right now because we can't get in until 4:30. Kind've nervous about the place. I saw so many apartments they all just kind've blended into one. All I remember about the place was that had a great view... beyond that I don't remember. Being the detail oriented person (sarcasm) that I am, I failed to remember whether it has laundry or a fridge when we were deciding on which places to stay... turns out it has neither. Oh well, screw it, it is a high rise in the middle of an 11 million person town.

Kangaroos finally...

Since we found a place to stay and have a little bit of time before school starts, we decided to spend the weekend as tourists. On Friday we went to the Game On exhibit, which focused on the gaming industry, at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. And on Saturday we headed out of town to the Healesville Sanctuary to see kangaroos, koalas, wallabies, wombats, dingoes, platypuses, and a lot of other strange native animals. (Can you guess which one of us picked Game On and which picked the Healesville Sanctuary?) I must say that while we were both excited to see kangaroos, most of the other animals were way cooler. My personal favorites were the baby platypuses swimming through the tank :)

From hotel to hostel to hotel to home...

While I was busy at orientation, Mark was traveling all around town dropping off rental applications to the various real estate offices. Of the apartments that we applied for, only two were available immediately, so we knew we'd probably be spending even more time at the hotel. Since we were paying $80/night, which isn't bad for Melbourne, but definitely adds up, we decided to try to find a more reasonable accommodation. While searching the internet, I came across a hostel with private rooms and a discounted weekly rate. We decided to give it a try because it would save us about $200/week.

Mark moved all of our luggage across town and got us settled in. I met up with him after orientation and we ate dinner at the little pub on the ground floor that offered $6 dinners to those staying there. After dinner we went up to the room, which was small, simple, and not nearly as nice as our hotel room, but the price was right (or so I thought). We pushed the two twin beds together and started getting ready for bed; it began with the jammed hot water faucet and went downhill from there. First I slammed my hand into the edge of the sink trying to turn the handle of the hot water faucet so I could wash my face. Then neither of us could turn it back enough to get the water to stop, so it dripped all night long. If the running water wasn't enough to keep me up all night, the opening and closing of the doors, which echoed in the hallways, was. By the time the alarm went off, I had slept maybe a total of 4-5 hours, which, those that know me well know, isn't enough. Needless to say, it wasn't worth the price we were paying, and I told Mark that I wouldn't spend another night there. So, while I was at day two of orientation, Mark moved our stuff back across town to the hotel that we had just left.

The good news is that in the midst of all of this, we received quite a few phone calls letting us know that our applications for apartments had been accepted. One of the apartments was a 1-bedroom in a new building with a great location and amenities, but didn't include a refrigerator and, at $350/week, was at the top of our price range. Although we could move in immediately, we decided to turn down the offer in hopes of being accepted for the large studio at a building nearby with a better view and a price of $220/week. Unfortunately we were turned down for the studio and another nearby 1-bedroom apartment at $280/week, but we were accepted for a 1-bedroom in the heart of the city for $320/week. We decided to take it, but we can't move in until next Wednesday, so we have to pay for another week at the hotel. Though from what Mark says, it'll be worth it. (See, the crazy thing is that I've never seen the place; it was on Mark's list of apartments to inspect, not mine. The pictures seem nice and it's in a great location with awesome views, so I'm sure I'll like it. The only thing I'm hesitant about is that I'm a little afraid of heights and it's on the 23rd floor, which is actually 24 floors up because Australians call the first floor the ground floor. Maybe I won't enjoy the awesome views after all!)

Orientation pt. 2...

One of the topics that came up during today's orientation session was the meaning of orientation. I don't know if any of you have seen this or not, but here is a link to a world map oriented with Australia at the top that shows the importance of perspective on orientation. http://flourish.org/upsidedownmap/

Orientation...

Today was my first day of orientation at the Uni. Within the first 5 minutes, it was clear that this is not a dry campus. Next Tuesday, all students are invited to attend the re-launch party of the campus bar. The president of the student association is also a member of the Brewing Society of Monash (as in beer brewing). And most, if not all, of the speakers mentioned something about bars or drinking. Aside from learning about partying, orientation offered the chance to sit in on a practice lecture and practice tutorial. The practice lecture focused on the history of terrorism, which I found to be quite interesting and even a bit embarrassing when the lecturer mentioned that terrorism has increased by 660% since Bush's War on Terrorism. The practice tutorial, or tut as they call it, presented a new way of learning outside of a lecture. It is set up as a small group discussion to supplement the lecture with additional information and exploration. As a graduate student, my courses are actually seminar style, which means they are a combination of lecture and tut in one.

Happy 4th of July...

Tonight we celebrated the 4th of July with a large group of American expats at TGIFriday. The restaurant had a couple large American flags hanging and offered free face painting to kids (do any Americans celebrate the 4th with face painting?). We had a great time talking to everybody about what brought them to Australia and the differences between Australia and America. We also got good advice on finding apartments here. The process is quite a bit different than in the States. For one, the apartment must be inspected, which is similar to an open house, before an application can be lodged (Australian for submitted). Different agencies publish the times and locations of the inspections, which last only 15 minutes. The application can be picked up at the inspection and then dropped off back at the agency. The sooner the application is dropped off, the better the chances of getting the apartment. Another way to improve the chances off getting the apartment is to offer more money or to offer to pay up to 6 months in advance. I can't imagine paying more than the advertised rent, but with such fierce competition, this is something we're definitely going to need to consider.

Keep to the left...

One of the things that we've noticed walking down the streets is that we move off to the right side of the sidewalk when people are approaching and they move to the left side, which means that we almost run into each other. We figured this is probably due to the fact that we drive on the right side of the road, while they drive on the left. It's small things like this that remind us that we are in a foreign country.

We finally made it...

After a couple of long days of travel, we finally arrived in Melbourne. Aside from the drivers sitting on the wrong side of the cars, and the cars being driven on the wrong side of the roads, it actually feels a lot like Canada. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise, because then we don't feel so far away from home. We checked into our hotel, took much needed showers, and then set out to find a place to live. The main downtown area of Melbourne is really well laid out and easy to navigate, which was helpful when trying to find the rentals that were open for inspection (similar to an open house). We looked at 5 apartments today, both studios and 1 bedrooms, that ranged from about $250-$350 per week. One of the largest (and most expensive) that we looked at was probably about the size of our living room at home, so it is definitely going to be an adjustment! Tomorrow we plan on learning the bus, tram, and train system to find my school and to look at apartments outside of the main downtown area, since they are a little cheaper, and hopefully a little larger.