Another World

I awoke to find that I was still flying.  This was not a dream; I was actually still on a plane and still struggling to find a comfortable position for my head.  Nine hours into the flight, I'd woken up from my night's sleep to find that I was somewhere between Hawaii and Fiji.  Oddly enough, I was sitting by an El Salvadorian (I assume that's how you describe them), and he was glad I'd awakened because now I could return to my job as amateur translator.  Earlier on the flight, I made the fortunate mistake of asking him where he was from.  He didn't understand so I said, "Hablas espanol?"  From that moment on, Francisco and I were best friends.  It's funny when someone thinks you know what they're saying, and you haven't got a clue.  I mean, don't get me wrong, I speak a little Spanish.  I just can't have a political conversation about the new elections of a right wing leader standing up for the rights of the farmers in El Salvador in English, let alone Spanish.  Francisco seemed to think I understood most of what he was saying, and I pieced together what I could.  But I'm just as likely to have it completely wrong.

Flying to Australia is a task.  It's work.  You don't just hop a plane to get there.  Getting there (and it's quite an understatement to call it simply there) takes around 15 hours from Los Angeles.  If you are from Somerset, Kentucky, you've got quite a bit of traveling ahead of you.  I left around eight in the morning on Tuesday February 3rd, trekking up Highway 27 to the Lexington airport through falling snow and icy roads, and arrived in Melbourne, Australia on Thursday February 5th at around eleven in the morning to 90 degree heat and clear blue skies, with the temperature rising.  Just a hint of mint or menthol filled the air, which must have been from the eucalyptus trees.  Leaving a place that had just been covered in inches of snow and ice, enough to cause significant damage, I found myself around 8,ooo miles from home, mid summer in a land of blue sky and hot sun.  The reality set in: I was in another world.

Melbourne is such an energizing place.  For me, a small town guy who went to college in an equally small town, a big city is incredibly fascinating and overwhelming at the same time.  Multicultural Melbourne has quite an extensive tram system that can get you pretty close to where ever you want to go... if you know where you're going that is.  I've been here almost two weeks, and I'm just starting to know where I'm going.  My first trip to the heart of the city was on a beautiful, but hot day.  I arrived at Flinders station, exited under the large clocks nestled above the main gateway that indicate which train is leaving when and where, and took in all I could see.  Federation square, a public square that's appearance is simply too difficult to describe, stood before me with a visitor's center in plain view.  I grabbed a map at the desk, and decided to start walking.  Melbourne's Swanston street was crowded with a mix of different ethnicities, but many Asians and Indians.  This shouldn't have come as a surprise since I am in the Asian dominated part of the world, but it did.  I continued up Swanston Street and took a few pictures here and there.  Trams were rolling by, people were thronging the sidewalks, sushi and Asian cuisine aromas filled the air, and nice tall trees lined either side of the street reaching over towards the other's limbs.  My goal at this moment was to find the Victoria State Library where a much anticipated reunion with my friend Mark would take place.  Mark, who's been in Melbourne for a year is also on a Rotary scholarship.  It's nice to see an old face in a new place, and we spent the rest of the day touring Lygon Street, an Italian precinct with great cafes and restaurants, and the University of Melbourne, my future place of study.  

The heat in Australia is unlike anything I've experienced.  My third day in Australia, Melbourne recorded 48 degrees Celsius.  I'll clarify for the Americans reading: that's around 118 degrees Fahrenheit.  The paper's claimed it was the hottest day in Melbourne's recorded history.  To make matters even worse, a dry hot wind was blowing hard all day long.  To borrow some imagery from Mark, imagine walking around in a furnace with an enormous hair dryer blowing in your face.  It's shocking to the system to feel that sort of heat blowing all over your body as you struggle to navigate a city of 3.5 million people and endless suburbs sprawling in all directions.  Plus, I had a backpack and no clue where I was going.  So, as you may be able to conclude, choosing this day of all days to start my search for housing was quite ridiculous.

As challenging as finding housing has been, I found a place about a week and a half into my stay here.  From what I can gather, that's actually pretty fast, and I'm lucky to not still be looking.  My search consisted of scanning the postings on a local bookstore window on Lygon Street, and the online listings provided by the university.  The search had me going all over the surrounding areas of the university and I saw a fair variety of housing.  Most were, as the Aussie's put it, "quite ordinary" but I've finally found one that fits my budget and my taste.  It's not extravagant by any means, but it'll do just fine.  I'm staying with two other Melburnians near my age, and it looks like we'll be getting along pretty well.  On a side note, my first trip ever to Ikea was the other day to buy some necessary items such as a bed, a desk, and a chair.  This place is amazing.  It's like a grocery store for furniture.

As I get settled here in Melbourne, the prospects of the year ahead excite me.  Tomorrow, I will begin my orientation and enrollment process with the University of Melbourne, and I look forward to all the new friends and acquaintances I'll be making.  What lies before me is a year to explore, to grow, and maybe, just maybe, to transform.  Who knows what will result from a walkabout Melbourne?  I'll conclude with one of my favorite quotes about travel from Mark Twain:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do.  So throw off the bowlines.  Sail away from the safe harbour.  Catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore.  Dream.  Discover."