victoria

can't believe i have already been in australia for a week! this time last week i arrived in melbourne, which is in southern australia and in the state known as victoria. after sleeping for 13/15 hours and causing fellow passengers to worry if i was still alive, i managed to collect all of my bags and met the group of kids who also got into JCU through the arcadia program. side note-- i definitely packed too much. words of advice: if you are studying abroad for five months during the australian summer, do not bring four sweatshirts and multiple pairs of leggings. after the airport, we went off to search for kangaroos! we walked through a park where there were heaps (a very australian term) of kangas. 

next we were off to sorrento, a beautiful seaside suburb about an hour outside melbourne. we basically just had lots of orientation type talks, but got breaks to explore the town and of course go to the beach! the beach there was absolutely gorgeous- a great first time being in the pacific in the southern hemisphere. feeling jetlagged, we were also able to wake up to hike up by the beach and watch the sunrise. 

after two days in sorrento, we all went back into melbourne for an afternoon and night. melbourne is a really great city from what i got to see- i really enjoyed the street art and how many alleyways were actually bustling with small cafes and musicians. we mainly walked around the grid-like center of the city which is only about a mile long. but then outside the grid are more streets and gardens, and the ocean. for the evening i met up with my friend alex who i hadn't seen since high school graduation! it was awesome seeing her, we had some delicious $4 pizza and i got to see a different part of melbourne outside the more touristy center. i also think seeing alex made it feel way more real that i am actually in australia!