Wow, what a whirlwind few weeks.
So on the 11th July I set off from Heathrow, saying goodbye to my family to start my semester abroad in Australia. After 24 hours of travelling, and what seemed like the longest flight EVER, I landed in Melbourne. I finally arrived into Adelaide on the 13th July and it was time to explore my new home for the next 6 months! To be honest, I was terrified to leave my hotel room, so I spent the majority of the day sat in my hotel room feeling sorry for myself and catching up with everyone from home! When I finally managed to leave the hotel (at 3pm!) I met a lovely American exchange student in town, we wondered round the shops and stocked up on living supplies (for Sabrina, not me. I was sadly living in a hotel room, out of a suitcase for the next 5 days!). I also met up with a friend who lives in Adelaide who moved when she was 7. The best way to get to know the city is a guided tour from someone who was once in your position and has lived there for 11 years!
Day 2 in Adelaide
Note to self: sleeping is overrated. You will feel exhausted beyond belief, and incredibly lazy for sleeping in so late, but let your body (and mind) do its thing! Believe it or not, 4am is also a great time to be awake to catch up with all the loved ones from home. Today I met up with Sabirna and two girls she had already met a few days before. Myself, Sabrina, Carolina, an exchange student from Spain and Louiza, an exchange student from Norway went for lunch at a local noodle and rice bar. The best way to get to know people is over food; in Carolina’s case, food so hot that you can’t even eat it! Later that day we all arranged to meet for drinks at a Belgian beer café, meeting two French girls also on exchange! This was our first introduction to AFL (Aussie Rules football)…note to self: pub crawls will take over the entire bar, especially when AFL is on the TV and they will randomly start counting down from 10 to 1 like you do on NYE?!
Day 3
Third day in the hotel and this sucks… I’m desperate to move into my student accommodation and unpack all my clothes and things from home! I explored the city on my own, getting a little (a lot) lost along my way, but where I did end up was beautiful! It’s actually very easy to find your way around the city when you’re lost because its set out in blocks, so as long as you’re moving in the right direction, chances are you’ll see something familiar (and google maps is a lifesaver!)
Day 4
Fourth dayof hotel life: Today I met Molly in town. Molly is also an exchange student from The University of Southampton, so it’s nice to have someone else who knows what I’m going through! We went shopping for Molly’s room supplies…yet again I can’t buy anything! We went for a tapas lunch at a Brazilian restaurant near our new student accommodation!
Moving Day!
FINALLY, after leaving my home a week ago I’m finally moving into my new room from now until December! Note to self: tipping is weird here. I assumed you tip after meals and your taxi driver…it turns out I was wrong (this is great for a poor student, but somehow feels incredibly awkward!). Unpacking my things was fun until I realised the wardrobe had a total of 0 hangers to hang up all my clothes with! This called for another trip to Rundle Mall and K-Mart for room supplies, finally my turn! Today I met Sam, another girl from the University of Southampton, and Phoebe. Both girls I had met once before a few months back when we found out we were all going to Adelaide on exchange. I also got to meet my new housemates: Kayla, an exchange student from Atlanta, and her friend from home, Lindsay (our honorary flatmate!). Yukki, a student from Japan who had already been living here for the past 6 months, halfway through his year exchange. Pauline arrived next, a French student studying at HEC Montreal. I also met Megan and Ella, who both study in Sheffield. We all went to a welcome BBQ supplied by Urbanest (halls). Note to self: BBQ’s although popular in Australia, are a little weird. Apparently a slice of bread replaces the bun when eating a sausage or a burger…strange!
20th July
Today we toured the university, sitting in talks about campus life and life in Australia. Lots of information was provided about staying safe in Adelaide, it was very reassuring to hear about how safe life in Adelaide is! In the evening, the girls and I went to a union quiz night on campus, we were ‘Team Chica’s’ and came 3rd place (joint second) which was pretty impressive considering there were 16 teams!
