The Travels of Kate

All right, well. I shall try to recount the last month and a half of uni to the best of my ability, but it's quite likely that events will blur together in my memory and detail will be less than spectacular. For the most part, the only way I remember what I did on any given day is from pictures I might have taken. If I didn't take any pictures, then who knows what I did! Not me. And nor will you.

But anyway, we are up to 23 February. That was a Friday, and the last day of orientation at uni. So I got on a train and rode into the city! Here is a picture I took from outside Flinders Street Station, where I was waiting for my tram.

Then it was on to uni for Clubs and Societies Day! I thought I ought to go and join some of those. I signed up for the Amnesty International club (and got a free tote bag), the Save Darfur Coalition (and got some buttons and stickers), and put my name on the theatre mailing list (but got nothing). Though truth be told, I have not been particularly active as of yet. I get weekly emails from Amnesty and Darfur telling me about all the neato stuff they're doing, but they both meet in the middle of the day when I have class. As for theatre, I almost got involved in Fireraisers, but then I did not. It's at night, After that, I decided I should probably walk around campus and figure out where all my lectures and tutes and workshops were, so I did that. And took more pictures, of course:as theatre often is, and I wasn't sure I wanted to go home and then go back to uni at night and then go back home later at night...going home by myself in the big city could be scary, at least for a newcomer like me! So yeah. Oh well. Anyway! I did at least take pictures! So here they are:

Join the art club! Come and paint our random mural.

Lots of club and society booths set up!

After that, I decided I should probably walk around campus and figure out where all my lectures and tutes and workshops were, so I did that. And took more pictures, of course:

This is the closest thing UM (or most Aussie unis) have to a dorm. UM has a few of these. Not very many people live here. Mostly people from overseas, other states, or rural Victoria.

Look, it's the name of my school.

I passed this on the way to one of my classes. It's kind of a weird thing. A lot of rocks in a cage. Or something.

Then it started to rain on me, so I went home.

That weekend, I don't remember too much of what I did. I know I went to see a play Saturday night with Pippi and some of her friends. It was called Caravan. It was about people stuck in a Caravan on a camping trip in NSW. It was quite enjoyable.

And then came Monday and...my first day of uni!! So that should be another entry. So this one can end now.

Well, my essays are in, Easter holidays have begun, and I am now ready to tell you all about everything I've been doing for the past month and a half! Hooray!!

I guess we are ready to pick on with February 21. What on earth did I do that day? I have no idea. So, I will have to go back and look at the pictures I took and see if that refreshes my memory.

One moment.

Ah-ha!

The 21st was a Wednesday, and it was on that day that myself, my mother, and Pippi met up with the Haleys for dinner at some Lobster place. So here are some pictures of us all having a lovely time.

Here is James and my Aunt Sue.

From left to right, here's Mark, Astrid, myself, Stacey, and James. Stacey is James' wife, the rest are my cousins.

Here is Mark's picture of my mom taking a picture of us.

Then on the 22nd, we went to Acland Street. And I made a lot of friends.

Then we went to get Pippi's car washed. This was so exciting! I haven't been to a car wash in ages. And this was the coolest car wash ever. (Or so I thought at the time. Apparently there's going to be a carh was/spa in Franklin soon. But anyway.) This car wash had a cafe where you could sit and watch your car go by! And I was so very excited, so I took many photographs.

Here is Pippi's car once it was nice and clean!

Then we went back to Pippi's and hung out for a while. So I took pictures of her pets.

Then Pippi had to go to a rotary dinner, so it was just my mom and me. We walked to the beach, and then went to the Fish and Chippery to get some dinner. Then I got really sad as I said goodbye to my mom, who was leaving the next morning, but we'll skip over that part, as it is not pleasant.

No, I haven't fallen off the bottom of the earth. I'm still here. I've just been a bit busy, and also rather lazy, when it comes to my travel blog. I am, in fact, now exactly one month behind. But don't despair! I have every intention of catching you all up fully. But not just now. Now I am doing research for one of the many papers I need to write. I have three major papers (all worth 30% of my grade in their respective subjects) due in the next two weeks.

But in the meantime, if you are missing my smiling face, here is something to tide you over.

That's me with La Trobe. We're buddies, and we often like to hang out together outside the state library.

Well, I'm doing better since my last entry, which was not so happy. I still definitely have my downs, but I also have my ups. Overall, I'm on the up. So that's good. But anyway, it's time to get back to chronicling my life.

So the 18th was last Sunday and it was hot, so we decided to go somewhere where someone else would pay for our AC. So we went to the Southlands Shopping Centre. And we stopped by Myers and Pippi said I needed to buy another bathing suit so I would have one to keep at her house. So I did. After shopping a bit, we went by my Aunt Susan's house in Frankston. Mark, James, Stacey, and Phillip showed up, so it was a party. Though Phillip wasn't there for very long. But that's okay.

Here I am in my new suit in Sue's pool:

While there, we talked about how McDonald's is gross. Here, they have this new healthy happy meal for kids that's this Animal Zoo Pasta, and it's pretty much the worst thing ever. Or at least it looks like it would be.

So anyway, on the way home, we went to McDonald's! It was like 9pm and I hadn't had anything and I was hungry. So then I attempted to take some pictures to show how here, you go through the drive through the other way around! Since you drive on the left and all. But they were really bad pictures, so use your imagination.

And that was that day. Yes.

The 19th was my last day before O Week activities at uni. So we did exciting things like filing my Working With Children Card application, which I needed so I could do my student teaching at uni.

We also went to Coles. Now, for the week previous I had been on the search for coat hangers. We'd ended up buying about 50 in total, all in various locations, because there were just hard to track down. And I brought a lot of clothes and I like to hang most things, so I needed quite a few! But it was this day, after we had finally tracked down all that we needed, that we were greeted by this site:

Coat hangers as far as the eye can see! It was a bit sad.

Tuesday the 20th was my first day of uni orientation! It was also my first day of work at the local primary school. I left the house at about 7:15am and walked to the primary school (it's about a ten minute walk) to do before school care from 7:30am-9:00am. I ended up just playing Uno with a bunch of kids for almost the entire time. So that worked for me.

I then walked back home and met up with Eloise. She was going to take me to uni, since I had no idea how to get there on the train/tram. To go to uni, we have to walk ten minutes to the Balaclava train station, ride the train to Richmond, change trains and get on the city loop train, get off that train at Melbourne Central, and then catch a tram to uni. I feel like such a big city girl doing this now, hehe.

When we got there, I went to a general sort of "Intro to Your Degree, It's So Cool You Want to be a Teacher, Teachers Rule" sort of thing. After that, we split up into host groups, so I was with about ten girls who are doing my degree, and we were led by a second year girl, and she just basically showed us around campus and gave us tips and stuff like that. I ended up talking a bit to one girl. She told what her name was but said I would probably forget it. I did. Oh well.

Afterwards I met up with Eloise again and we went to lunch at some Italian place that her mom and dad went to a lot when they were in uni. After that, Eloise explained what I needed to do to get home (catch a tram to Flinder's Street and then the train to Balaclava) and I did it all by myself!

Later my mom came over for dinner at the Porters. Pippi joined us too after Rotary. And that sums it up.

Well, I won't lie; I'm not doing super great at the moment. The past two weeks have been like some wonderful vacation. I'd wake up, call my mom and Pippi, and they'd whisk me away for some fun daily activity. I'd stay with them for most of the day, and then they'd drop me off and I'd go to sleep. But I had to say goodbye to my mom last night, so the vacation's over. Now I have to figure out what my life here is actually going to be.

There are just so many uncertainties. I have no idea how I'm going to fill my time. I don't know what I'm going to eat. Who my friends will be. What my classes will be like. What sort of family life I'll have now. There are just so many unknowns. Too many. It's overwhelming. And a bit terrifying.

I, of course, have much from the last week to update you all on, but I'll save that for when I'm feeling better. I'm not sure when that will be. I keep thinking that I want my mommy, but I guess I have to try to be a big girl now. But it's really scary and I'm not always sure I know how.