Thursday, February 12th, 2015 at 2:53pm
Hey peoples! I have arrived safely in Australia. That 15 hour flight was definitely something. I got lucky though and the seat next to me was empty so I was able to stretch out and get some sleep.
I arrived in Melbourne at 9:30am on February 11th. After going through customs etc. I met up with all of the Arcadia program members. There are about 50 of us right now but we're not all going to the same cities/schools. We traveled to a town called Williamstown outside of Melbourne for lunch and had about 3 hours to wander around. Then we continued on to Queenscliff where I am currently writing from. We're staying in an old hotel called the Vue Grand. It's very very pretty. Lots of unique architecture and stained glass. I got very lucky in that I have a room to myself. I do so much better mentally when I have a space of my own to "hide" in at the end of the day. After dinner at the hotel we learned about Australian slang and gave ourselves a potential Australian name. One of the leaders insisted on calling me Tomo [toe-moe] (from my last name Toms) but I settled with Jensy. Basically Australians love to shorten things and then add -o, -y, -sy, or -s/z. Their language is very very colorful to say the least. Due to their convict foundations way back when (the English sent their convicts here from Great Britain), it's hard to tell when they're being affectionate or insulting you. For example, Americans are called yanks but because that rhymes with septic tanks which shortens to seppo, we're called seppos as well. Why is that the logic behind it? I have no idea. It's just how it works here. Ketchup is referred to as dead horse here because apparently that rhymes with tomato sauce. Again, very creative. We did some research on some other language patterns and their swear words, more like swear phrases, are kind of brilliant. For example: you're as useless as tits on a bull. Yes, that's a thing. It seems like I have a lot to learn yet and they said that the people of Townsville have even a more colorful vocabulary than that. Anyways, after our language lesson we were able to return to our rooms for the night. I tried watching a few YouTube videos and I think I lasted maybe 10mins. I fell asleep with the light on.
Today we had to get up at 7am, our "lessons" started at 8am. From 8am until noon we had different activities to learn about cultural differences, studying in Australia and how to budget/if-you-haven't-figured-out-how-expensive-it-is-here-yet-then-let-me-tell-you. I am currently on lunch break, I spent two hours wandering around the bay and grabbed some lunch at a cafe. Now I'm just taking a break in my room to recharge for the afternoon sessions, which start at 3pm. Tonight we are going on a dinner boat cruise so I'm looking forward to that. Overall I'm doing well. The jet lag isn't as bad as it could be and I'm thrilled to be back in the world and especially by the ocean after the past two months of staying home due to medical stuff. The sunshine is also quite a lovely sight.
That's enough for now, later peoples!
No comments:
Post a Comment