I successfully made it from Boston to Detroit to LA with no mishaps, except for a slight delay in Detroit due to having to de-ice the plane. Once in LA, I had to walk out of the terminal, down the sidewalk about a half-mile, and into a different terminal (which I found out from asking the TSA guys because there were absolutely NO signs pointing clueless me where to go).
Once there, I had to wait in line to get my passport and visa checked, as well as get my boarding pass. The plane to Melbourne was HUGE. It had 3 seats on the left, 3 seats in the middle, and 3 seats on the right. And there were about 50 rows. And each seat was equipped with a personal tv, but it wasn't just a tv. It had music, movies, games, tv shows, you name it. Oh and a chat feature so you could chat seat to seat. And each seat was equipped with a blanket, a pillow, a headset, those eye cover things so you can sleep, and ear plugs. Did I mention all this was free?
We got an in-flight dinner soon after take-off, complete with a miniature glass of free wine. (No wonder the plane tickets are so expensive!) After dinner, I watched Eat, Pray, Love, after all, that is what I feel like I'm doing over here so I figured it was perfect, and then I promptly fell asleep. When I woke up, I used the cool map feature on the tv screen (it was touch screen too!) to find out that the plane ride was already half way over! Yay to my wonderful sleeping skills and the sleepy addition of wine! I continued to drift off in sleep and compliment that with watching some tv shows about surfing, and the flight, which was 14 hours and 10 minutes long, passed relatively quickly. The only downfall is that I sat in the window seat, which is awesome, but I couldn't get out without waking up the two people next to me. Which stunk, cause I think my feet blew up to twice the size that they normally are because of the lack of moving, them being lower than my heart for a ridiculous amount of time, or what, I don't know. But it was quite painful.
Anyway, once I got off the flight, went through customs, and got my luggage, we had to check out of the airport by way of a trained dog sniffing our luggage to make sure we weren't hiding any drugs or whatnot. Then I was greeted with a cheerful Australian from the "Student Welcome" committee, who handed me a nice "gift bag" full of maps and brochures and the like. Then I was directed to the "To Go To" sign, where the lady pointed me to a group of awkward and lost looking students such as myself, where we were to wait for everyone and then board the bus.
A driver took us to the RMIT village in Melbourne, where quite a few of us are staying. I believe my address is:
Rose Scavotto
RMIT Village Old Melbourne, Apt 405-2
5-17 Flemington Road,
North Melbourne VIC 3051
but I will double check on that. It took forever to check us all in because they insisted that we all get our ID pictures taken right then and there when we are all dead tired and sweaty and nasty. Perfect.
I made it to my apartment where I found out that my roommate has already moved in, though I have yet to meet her. I proceeded to unpack (applause, thank you thank you) and take a shower and then figure out the strange internet over here so my parents wouldn't worry that I was lost over the Pacific Ocean somewhere. (Though I was thinking about that, we could have done our own Lost tv show!)
Then I ventured out into the city and found a 7-Eleven, where I bought stuff for peanut butter and jelly (a classic) and spaghetti and tomato sauce. Then I ventured in the other direction, where I found "Queen Victoria's Market," which is a HUGE outside farmer's market with fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, clothes, jewelry, you name it. The market was closing by the time I found it though, so I'll have to explore it some more when I get the chance. It's literally so big, I could easily spend an entire day getting lost in the crazy merchandise (and yes, Mom, I did see some boomerangs, so I will get you one!)
That's all for now, I should go to my meeting now where we are told about our IES Abroad orientation that starts tomorrow. More after that!
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