I cannot believe that 3 weeks from yesterday, Em and I were just arriving in Melbourne. These past few weeks have been full of ups and downs, unexpected turns and events that I don't think I will EVER forget. I apologize for the lack of updates. When I decided to pack a 50 pound suitcase and stuff my hiking backpack until the seems almost burst, I didn't think about the consequences of stuffing my computer cord last minute in the top of the bag....well it broke and left me with no laptop for a week. It's sad how much I realized we depend on technology, but this really was a blessing in disguise as I couldn't spend my all my time skyping back home and being homesick. Instead, I explored the city and spent has much time as possible outside of our smokey apartment! Emily and I came across this sign when we spent about 6 hours walking around the central city of Melbourne. Granted we didn't mean to spend that much time walking, but not quite knowing how to work the trams can make someone wander much longer than planned. At this point, Emily and I had been staying at our place called Jessica House for little over than a week. Each morning we woke up thinking "okay we NEED to get jobs, HOW do we get out of here, WHAT can we eat other than peanut butter and jelly's for less than 10 bucks?"...and it was beginning to become a little overwhelming. But here we were, walking through the beautiful Botanic Gardens of Melbourne and this sign was right in front of us! STOP WORRYING. Everything will eventually work itself out, and in the meantime...laugh about the situation and live in the moment.
On one of our last mornings at Jessica House, I woke up to descover that Emily and I got painted into our room. No literally, our neighbors decided to paint the entire patio and wouldn't let us step onto the wet pavement. We had looked into a good amount of apartments at this point, which was really an eye opener for us to see the various types of situations that people choose to live. At this point, I think the painted-in patio led us to make the rushed decision to move into our current duplex on Carlisle St. I'm beginning to think that Em and I rush into things, hahah but we're going to make the best of our new home! And at least we won't be trapped inside or have the dog, Tobey, leave us "presents" on our front door each morning.
Our new place, and hopefully more permanent, home is definitely a fixer-uper. We moved in to find out that Emily and I had to get our own furniture from a shed (think of "secret life of a hoarder")...it was a nightmare. We then had to PHYSICALLY put the pieces of our bunk beds together, find out that our room slants downward, and kill an innocent mouse. This day was sooo incredibly bizarre that I seriously, could.not.stop.laughing. The image of Emily with rubber gloves and a face mask scrubbing the bathroom tile will forever be burned in my memory. Hahah I think we were two modern day Cinderellas :) After the few days of cleaning and decorating, I now feel so much more at home!! I can't describe how happy I am to see my colorful clothes hung up nicely in our closet and know that I don't have to dig viciously through my suitcase for a pair of socks tonight.
We live on the top floor of the house with two other girls from Germay and Finland. We share the kitchen, common room and bathroom. Our walls our lime green, the kitchen is spacious and we have a girl's bathroom - what more could I ask for!! We've also hung out with the 4 guys who live in the first floor apartment...haha yes, more Irishmen, but they seem really laid back and nice as well. I'm currently a new member of St. Kilda Library and the owner of the cafe around the corner already knows my order (small cappuccino, skinny, extra chocolate shavings). I'm also in the middle of job searching and met a wonderful dietitian last week! More updates on dietetics soon to come :)
Emily and I are now getting ready to head to Portsea with our friend Ali Restko for the weekend! I'm so excited to travel outside the city for a few days and meet more people. Ali's boss offered her his cottage on the beach for the weekend, so a bunch of us are going to go 'bbq' ( or tailgate as we'd call it) for the Final AFL game - footy game, comparable to the Superbowl - and go surfing on Sunday! Summer is finally on it's way and things are looking up!
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