Oh Melbourne..
All my love and gratitude to everyone who took time to reply to my last post. With many relating to the emotions I went through, the compliments for the engaging content, with ‘Looking forward to the next one’ being my favorite compliment of the lot. A few taken aback with my first online stint not being a YouTube singing video (You never know what the future holds). Well, today marks mine and Melbourne’s first anniversary, of me landing in this foreign country. Looking back at some of my best Aussie experiences, I’m hoping with this blog you’ll get to know more about this beautiful country which goes beyond kangaroos and cricket for some.
To start with I think I would’ve had the most eventful first day, I misplaced my passport the only thing I had to hold dear to me as an International traveler. I realized mid-way through the college shuttle, made few International calls (International roaming balance just flying, thanks Vodafone). Thanks to my cousin, got back to the airport and got hold of it. I could only sense the disappointment my parents would have had on the very first day and questioned their choice of allowing me to pursue my dreams. ( Glad that I did not get into any other situations that created this big of a havoc. Period. Fingers crossed.)
A major part of our transitional phase to this new city, wouldn’t have been possible without our stud friend Yash! Boy, really went all out to make us feel settled. From house hunting visits to carrying our shopping bags, poor guy did it all. An iPhone user, loves a good conversation about anything under the sun, apart from our differences on OnePlus vs iPhone, he really is a wholesome sweet fella. Hit him up ladies!
Now with the initial days of just juggling around with groceries, settling in, exploring the University campus and the disappointment of having all the Orientation week activities being cancelled, it was quite a start. If you’ve ever had a dream of studying abroad, I bet you would have imagined yourself having a busy schedule on campus juggling to find lecture halls, having breakfasts on campus and having club activities and events throughout. Now I had the exact opposite experience, being cooped up in the confines of 4 walls that I now call home. Home that has a beautiful backyard, I remember showing my backyard to my family and friends, because living the box life in Mumbai, and now having a backyard was a major upgrade.
Now Straya (Australia, it’s the slang) only has about 6 states and two territories, of which a state is also an island. Most of it still unexplored and barren. According to my thoroughly superficial research on Australia, I was mentally prepared to face the huge, scary spiders and insects I had no clue even existed. Only to realize now, that there was an unsung local villain, magpies. Disclaimer: God awful terrible birds to stay away from.
Conversing with the Aussies here has its own fun, coming to terms with the slangs and phrases. It’s been a year and I’m far off from using them in my conversations, except for “No worries”. I have an entirely new appreciation for this phrase. Arvo for afternoon, Straya for Australia, Thongs for Flip Flops, Maccas for Mc Donalds!! Now do not be alarmed if you were to be here and someone asks you to wear thongs to the beach or you happen to see thongs in your housemate’s bill and question his fantasies. (Sorry Aditya!) But then again Australian English isn’t so much of an accent as a dialect.
The only thing I miss the most about India is the delivery system. Having packages delivered within days (or perhaps even a day for that matter) is a luxury that can’t be afforded here. The only pros to this being a lot of savings as I no longer order online and with lockdown no shopping otherwise too for most of my time here. And let’s not get into free delivery, I might get teary-eyed.
Now it’s not all that bad when it comes to the people of the city. A humbling thing I’ve noticed is that you thank the bus driver for the ride at the end of the trip. It’s impolite if you don’t. Hop in, ping before your stop, get down, that simple. If you zone out and miss your stop, walk back as it is not expected of them to stop at every stop. The insanely beautiful street art otherwise known as graffiti on every other empty wall makes the city much more aesthetic and vibrant. The city by far has been my favorite place, mostly because it reminds me of back home, the hustle, the English architecture, the downtown CBD overlooking the Yarra River and of course, the chic fashion. It would be wrong of me to not boast about the largest tram network in the world. Yes, the Melbourne tram system, certainly a paradise for any tram fan.
Living on an island, the pristine beaches, the beach trials and the penguins at Kilda, are some sights that’ll never get old. I was awestruck when I watched the penguins at Kilda, it would easily pass as a perfect date night in my books. The city is all about the delish food, amazing cuisines and the small quaint cafes. However, dining-in is a major task, as folks here dine-in early, something that my mind, has still not come to terms with. So in consequence, it’s a task to find restaurants that stay open late. As someone who completely detests sweets, the desserts selection is outrageously indulgent. And it might have rubbed off on me. My spice tolerance level has gone down multifold.
Grocery shopping used to be the only visits I looked forward to during the lockdown period. There has never been a grocery trip, when the items in the cart stuck to that in the list. More so often, forgetting the one’s in the list and getting carried away with the amazing items on the aisles, each one having more fancy eatables than the last, while also dismissing the thought of the efforts taken to carry it back home. Looking around for yellow tags which mean discounted or half priced items, every International student’s glory to “savings”.
Now, Australia also takes credit for some of the best night sky countries around the world. Undoubtedly, this had to be my best night in Melbourne so far, I finally saw the milky way in the middle of absolutely nowhere. For somebody who figured pro mode settings under 5 minutes, I take pride in the pictures from my One Plus (Not the one seen above). Seeing something this spectacular and to realize that you are only a small speck in the universe. How humbling and overwhelming at the same time. Timon was right about the stars, you know.
Writing this post has been challenging, because every morning I’d be waking up to a photo memory of meeting some of my closest people back home around this time last year. It feels strange that it’s been this long but in the end a year is such a tiny thing.
Next time, I’d hopefully be sharing much about my university life and if everything goes as planned, I look forward to having an Aussie accent by the end of this semester. Tada-Ding! :D
Till then have a good one! But wait..
