Even though I arrived in Australia over two months ago, I’m going to start this blog at the beginning of my adventures in Melbourne. As of right now, we have already finished nine (!!!) weeks of classes and are headed into mid-semester break.
So rewind to July 11, the first day I arrived… Two main things shocked me: the temperature/weather and the many different ethnicities and cultures in Melbourne. Obviously being in the Southern Hemisphere, Australia is experiencing winter during June, July and August. However, when I think of Australia, I usually picture warm beaches and sunshine. This, unfortunately, is not the case in the winter months (especially in Melbourne)! I did not pack a winter jacket or scarf and wound up freezing for a lot of the first month.
My body was definitely not used to the cold weather, coming from the hot summer in the States, and it took a couple weeks to adjust. While it’s not actually freezing weather here, the temperatures would dip below 40°F and the wind would blast in your face throughout July and early August. Melbourne also famously has all four seasons in one day, which meant I never knew what to wear in the morning. Some days it would be sunny and fairly warm in the morning, but it would transition to spitting rain and cold by 3 p.m.!
Luckily now, being at the end of September and starting into Australia’s spring, the weather has become much warmer and more pleasant. In contrast to G.W.’s campus, University of Melbourne has a decent amount of green space. The green areas are filled with students lounging or having lunch between classes, soaking up the Australian sun!
A lot of these students I see are international - a fair representation of Melbourne as a whole. There is a huge Asian population in Melbourne, along with many Americans, Europeans and Indians as well. This distribution is probably best reflected in all of the restaurants you see while walking through the city. There are a lot of Japanese, Chinese, Malaysian, Indian, and Italian places, to name a few. You could definitely find at least one restaurant for every country in Melbourne, and I have really enjoyed seeing all of the authentic cuisines from around the world.
Now that I am already two months into my study abroad experience, I feel very comfortable in Melbourne and at university. I can’t wait to share more about what’s to come, from traveling to studying and everything else!