First Day of Class

Arriving at University of Queensland

Finally, we got to start our first real class in Australia. Last week was about orientation and getting a hang of the public bus system, which I must say, most of us have conquered by now. Australia has quite an extensive and really dependable public transport system, I love that. But, the main point for this post is about classes. Imagine this:

7:00am-8:50am - wake up, get ready and set off to school
9:00am-11:00am - First lecture (The professor is early, so we turn up 4min before lecture, and it looks like we are late)
11:00am-11:15am - Morning Tea

At this point, I have to pause because Morning Tea is something worth noting about. Ever since we arrived in Aussie, there is this 15-20min break between classes to get our morning tea. Ins't that fancy? Its actually great. There is tea, coffee, cupcakes, fruits, juice, biscuits and what have you for the break. We get to hang out and chill with the professors and other travel mates. Its that awesome, and then we get to go back and continue with class. Think I might want to adopt this kind of life when I get back to college, Morning Tea....hmm :-).

Afterwards, we had class again, and the schedule continued as follows:

11:15am-1:00pm - lecture time
1:00pm - 3:00pm - lunch (btw its incredible long and fun, you can take a nap, or visit the international programs office for a coffee break or just chill and update friends and family about your travels)
3:00-5:00pm - lecture

And thus, we are done with our day of school before we head home, or off to some other non-school related activities. For the first day of class, I think that is pretty awesome, and I enjoyed the subject of the lecture today: Coastal Resource Management - Why do we do it? Well, if I were to evaluate the first day of any class I have ever had, I would say this one would be quite high on my list of awesome first days! Its been a great day today in The Land down Under!!!

Melbourne City

Melbourne!!!!!! Such a beautiful city. It has the tallest and most illustrative buildings a city could have. The architecture reminds me a lot of London and England, well it makes sense knowing Australia's beginnings. I enjoyed my strolls around the Yarra River with Brett and Angie and I just wanted to sit back and read a nice novel because it was that beautiful. It is also a bustling city with many different corner stores located in the city center that could make for fun shopping if you are into that kind of staff and have a fat bank balance. As for me, I was content with looking at the stores and admiring the voluptuous and beautiful outfits. Mabye one day, I also will be a returning customer to Gucci, Armani, Prada, Louis Vuitton stores etc!!

Melbourne from behind the Yarra River. Rivers are a big thing in Aussie

Aren't these buildings just pretty? Yes, the city is  beautiful

Such beautiful weather out in the city

Pedestrian Crossing. I found it interesting and different

Quite flashy stores

Labels and money...

Do you get my drift? Yah...its Prada

Beautiful day out in the city

When you fly into Australia...

You arrive at Brisbane airport, and are greeted from the skies by the beautiful view of the river, intertwining itself between the big city, the buildings, sky crappers, roads, and patches of land. I looked out the window to marvel at how blue and beautiful it all seemed from up above. And I must dare say, it is just as beautiful from below. After the hassle of immigration and checking into this new country, I could not believe that I was finally in Australia!! But, even after my 45hr+ journey, I was not there yet. I was yet to transfer to a domestic flight to go to Melbourne. For those who do not know, just like me when I first arrived, the domestic terminal is separate from the international airport, and you actually have to leave the airport by bus, to get to the domestic airline. Lagging my semi-big suitcase was no fun after my long flight, but I was closer to the end of my journey. I was flying Jetstar that day, and I needed Australian dollars to pay for the bus ($5). This very nice lady at the airport told me all these details and directed me to where I was to go. What a nice welcome to Australia :-) So, I did finally find my way to the domestic flights, and was able to finally transfer and be on my way to MELBOURNE --> 2:30hrs away!! I had arrived in Aussie - the land down under!!!
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