Week 1: Melbourne - The First Orientation

So it’s been an interesting week. The last time I saw you all, I was flying over the US. Since then, I’ve landed on a continent I’d never been to, visited two cities, and met a bunch of new people. I’m still a bit disoriented from all the travel, but I’ll give you the best recap I can, using pictures, of course.

We landed in Melbourne on Tuesday morning for my program’s orientation. The way this works is I signed up to study in Sydney through a program run by an American school. So over the next three days, they had a bunch of sessions where they told us about the rules, what resources are available to us, how to handle culture shock, blah blah blah. A lot of it was useful information, but it was 80 degrees in Melbourne and we all wanted to be out exploring. They did bring us to a few cool places though. On Wednesday night, we went to Eureka Skydeck 88, which is “the highest public vantage point from a building in the Southern Hemisphere” (thanks, Wikipedia!). From there, we got to watch the sun set over the entire city and the water. Here’s a picture:

I like this view #eurekaskydeck #melbourne #observationdeck #orientation #australia #brandeisabroad #emilygoesabroad

A post shared by Emily (@emilyhannahk) on Feb 22, 2017 at 12:53am PST

On Thursday morning, we went for a tour of an Indigenous Art exhibit at the National Gallery of Victoria. All of the pieces were made by Indigenous women, and they were so cool to look at. We learned a bit about the history of Indigenous Peoples in Australia, their art traditions, and also some of the history of the Australian government’s oppression of Indigenous People (it sounded really similar to the things I didn’t learn about the US in history class.)

On Friday, we flew to Sydney. The afternoon was spent moving into apartments. I’m sharing an apartment with 5 other students, complete with a kitchen and a TV (which I don’t expect to watch very often). I went grocery shopping yesterday and explored the neighborhood. It was a low-key day.

Today, I went to Circular Quay (a harbor in Sydney) with a few friends. We saw the sights. First was The Rocks, which is a tourist area that does an open-air market. We got some delicious street food and did some “window” shopping, which I think is a term I can still use in this case. I took lots of pictures of Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, which are actually cooler in real life than in pictures.

A view of the bridge #harbourbridge #sydneyharbour #sydney🇦🇺 #tourist #orientation #brandeisabroad #emilygoesabroad

A post shared by Emily (@emilyhannahk) on Feb 25, 2017 at 7:04pm PST

Tomorrow begins O-week, which is the university’s orientation. I’m not a fan of big events like this, but I’ll definitely be taking advantage of the free food and opportunity to meet some new people. I’ll let you know how it goes next week!

Emily

Week 0: Come Fly With Me

Hi everyone, and welcome back to my blog! It’s been quite the week for me. Packing is always a massive ordeal, but packing for 6 months is a whole other ballgame. I have to be prepared for summer, winter, another summer, school, travel… I think you get it by now.

I'm actually doing this. I still can't believe it's finally time. #airport #leg1 #emilygoesabroad

A post shared by Emily (@emilyhannahk) on Feb 19, 2017 at 10:29am PST

Right now (well, not right now when you’re reading this, or even when I post it), I’m at 34,000 feet flying over Kansas. I’m about 3 hours into my flight from JFK to Los Angeles. I’ve watched 3 episodes of Criminal Minds, charged my phone some using the conveniently located outlets on this lovely Airbus plane, tracked the flight’s progress on the little touchscreen and worried about my connecting flight.

Mostly, though, I’m sitting in an airplane seat, where I have a lot of time to think, which I’m trying very hard not to do. Thinking is one of my special skills and I’ve been known to think things into larger-than-life creatures. And this semester doesn’t need me to transform it into a formidable beast.

I don’t know what’s waiting for me in Australia. I mean, I know that first is my program’s orientation in Melbourne, then a morning flight to Sydney, and so on. But I don’t know anyone on my program and the one person I know at the university where I’ll be studying is a friend of a friend. This feels like a total leap, and I’m not one to take blind jumps like this.

Somehow, though, I’ve made it past the point where it’s easy to turn back. I’m already on my way to Australia, and to whatever is waiting there.

Thanks for joining me on this journey, even if you’re only coming with me via the internet. It’s going to be an awfully big adventure.

Emily

Week -1: Introductions

Hello, Internet, and welcome to my blog! My name is Emily.  I don't expect many strangers to find this, but if you are a stranger, it's nice to make your acquaintance.

In case the header didn't give it away, this is a travel blog. One week from today, I'll be leaving the US for a semester abroad in Sydney, Australia. And in classic 20-something fashion, I feel a deep and primal urge to document the experience in the most public way I can think of. Hence, this blog.

Fast facts about me for the strangers: I'm a junior at Brandeis University, where I am working on a double major in Psychology and Creative Writing and a minor in Linguistics. I like a cappella music, Snapchat, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and overflowing bookshelves. I write fiction and take a lot of pictures.

Here are the rules of the blog:

1) I will be posting every Sunday. Posts may include recaps of the week, pictures, videos, short stories, poems, and anything else that I need to shout into the void.

2) I might post some little things during the week, but maybe not.

3) There really aren't any rules. This is the internet, after all.

Now that that's all been squared away, I should really start packing. 
I hope you come back next week!