University Starts

This past Thursday marked a month since I first arrived in Melbourne, and how the place has changed.  Well, not exactly.  The weather has lightened up a bit and now starts out quite chilly in the mornings (this morning it was 9 degrees Celsius), and rises to about 23 degrees in the afternoon, then falls back to a chill at night.  Autumn is creeping in I guess but Melbourne has a way of fluctuating quite quickly so it's still quite summery for the most part.  The change has more to do with me really than Melbourne.  Now, I know the area somewhat and when someone talks about Carlton, Fitzroy, Parkville, or Brunswick, I have a good idea what they mean (those are all suburbs surrounding the University of Melbourne).  The tasks I found daunting and confusing a month ago, like getting around by tram, understanding Australian slang, or looking right, left, then right again when crossing the road are now coming more easily, and words like bloke, mate, brekky, and footy have found their way into my vocabulary.  In short, I'm beginning to think I'll get used to this place.

Last week was my first week of classes, and it felt like the first day of college all over again.  I hadn't really anticipated the change of attending a small college for four years and then switching to an enormous one like Uni Melb.  The largest and most palpable difference I find is simply the numbers of people that are everywhere.  Waiting for my first lecture, I was in a sea of students, many of them first-years.  Some (mostly girls) were all collecting together and chatting away and others were stoically awaiting the doors to open for the lecture hall.  When the doors opened, we flooded into the theatre, resembling a levee breaking, and as I entered I felt more like I was attending some large production with a keynote speaker rather than a lecture.  Of course, this is really all quite normal for most people, and it's me who's finding this all a bit unusual.  The second challenge is navigating my way around campus.  It's like a big maze with some pathways leading to a dead end and others that look like they'll take you where you need to go, but then end up hanging left suddenly and you're not where you wanted to be at all.  So as I get used to Melbourne and navigating the city, a new challenge of familiarization rears it's head in the form of university.  Getting settled takes time.  All in all, the first week showed me I still have some adjusting to do for life at a big university, but I know I'll land on my feet.