Transportation the Second

Transportation part two goes a little something like this:

a) “Trams can’t swerve”.
b) Cars don’t stop for you.
c) Roundabouts in Melbourne are just about the scariest and most wild experiences ever.

a) One of the first things we learnt when we arrived in cairns for our orientation experience was that “trams can’t swerve”. The simple solution to this problem is: don’t jump out in front of them because they won’t stop, and the cant move around you. An aussy footy player was actually hit by one not to long ago.

b) I lied. The first thing we learned in cairns is that pedestrians do NOT have the right of way. Cars will not stop for you carelessly stepping out into the street, and you’ll have to wait your turn before its your turn to cross. The only exception to this rule is when there are zebra crossings, at which point I take my time laughing to myself that I finally have the right of way—and flinching when cars stop all of 2 inches from your knees. This all leads to:

c) Outside the Village, between the village and Uni, is one giant mother of all roundabouts. Amoung its amenities are pedestrians, cars and bikes (like any other roundabout), but then the city of Melbourne decided it would be fun to run 4 trams tracks right through the center. For all parties involved this has to be one of the scariest and most spontaneous intersections ever. For example, to get from village to Uni I have to run across three sets of road (one zebra-ed and two not) and two sets of tram tracks. If you’re not awake when you leave, you sure as hell will be once you’ve successfully navigated this Melbourne deathtrap. To Melbourne’s credit I’ve never seen any accidents there, though.

Transportation

A post I’ve been meaning to get to for a while now, but like the rest of this blog suffers from extreme lethargy.I’ve talked a number of times about either the transportation system of Melbourne in general or actually using it; in sum the system is made up of trams, trains and (to a lesser extent) busses. The trams run above ground, all over Melbourne—from the outer suburbs into the city centre. They are definitively not the fastest way to get around, as they follow the roads for the most part (even though they run on rails) and therefore have to obey the traffic lights and make lots of stops. They are however incredibly useful for hop-on-hop-off errands or getting to a specific place. The trains on the other hand run underground in the city and then over ground out into the suburbs. They’re much faster than the trams (not having traffic helps), fit more people and stop less often. They’re an incredibly efficient way to get into or out of the city to anywhere. It all runs on one ticket—met cards—which come in different amounts: 2 hours, daily’s, weeks, months etc. When you combine trains and trams in any combination, it is an easy way to get around all of Melbourne for a cheap price.

O-Week

O-Week arrived in a hurry, just a couple of days after arriving in Melbourne. (I’m still not exactly sure if it’s a ‘O’ like orientation week or a 0 like zero week—it’s been referred to as both). Most of the AustraLearn group met in the lobby to make our way onto the University of Melbourne campus for what would be the first time (for some of us). The campus is particularly hard to describe, because although it has some amazingly sculpted old-English-feel buildings (Old Arts), it also has some that aren’t so appealing to the eye (Redmond Barry). The much newer buildings are different again, are taking on a very modern look (Medical and Alan Gilbert). Without any kind of map to weave our way between the insane number of oddly-shaped and large buildings it was surprisingly lucky that we made it to our first orientation site. Though, even with the map we managed to walk the complete opposite direction to the second orientation site. Buildings are often named after what their faculty is, the zoology building is zoology, chemistry is chemistry, and old physics is physics. The universities buildings are nestled in between each other, leaving small alleys between them, which are often filled with bikes, people and the occasional car trying to squeeze through. For what space there is between buildings there are attempts at sitting areas and lawns. The south lawn in front of the Old Arts Building is the biggest, but there are also areas next to the student union and in front of the Asia Centre (coffee shops appear everywhere, but that’s typical for Melbourne). Construction runs rampart through the university, with one building readying for construction on campus, one almost finished slightly off campus and numerous places on campus where there is minor work being done (including the entirety of the chemistry building). I managed to register for Australia Indigenous Studies, Chemistry 1, Culture Media Life, and War State and Society. All of which would commence the following Monday.

Melbourne Shots Added to the Gallery

Due to the slow nature and pace at which i write this blog i've been holding back some of the updates to the Gallery. being as the intro to Melbourne is basically done i've finally added some photos i took of and around Melbourne to the Gallery.
Go Check Them Out!

A Quick Note of the Olympics

I haven’t really ever seen the Olympics in the States, which is strange considering I’ve lived there for 9 years now. I don’t remember anything about the Sydney Olympics back in 2000, the 2004 Olympics in Athens were watched mainly from England during summer holidays, and the 2008 Olympics most recently in Beijing I’ve seen completely from the Australian view. It was interesting to say the least, the Australians having a completely separate set of stars for the Olympics than the States; names like Libby Trickett and Stephanie Rice dominated the first week (of which I saw ms tricketts gold-medal swim about 5 times in one day—I can only imagine how many times Phelps was seen in the states). One thing that has been good is that a number, if not most of the sport have been live. Australia being 2 hours ahead of Beijing meant that the Olympic day started at 11am and went live pretty much till 11/12 or even 1 at night. In the first week I heard the Australian national anthem more times that I ever cared to hear it seemed like (this is after never hearing it before in my life). Then the second week began with a number of jabs at the British for overtaking them in the gold medal count (as one commentator said, mainly on their bottoms including biking, sailing and rowing). And the second week concluded with one Australian doing a funny walk for 50 km and getting praised for it, and one overhyped BMX athlete (Kamikaze) failing completely. And now, as I watch the final clip montage from the past two weeks I’m looking back on an Olympics that was covered fairly well for just two channels (on freeview)—although they did break to make sure they covered the aussy footy.
Now bring on 2012--London!

Melbourne, Victoria: Part 3—Under Construction: the American England

One well known fact about Melbourne is that it’s still growing. And one of the most visible signs of this is the sheer number of cranes in the skyline. From any position on any night you can generally count about ten—and there are still more obscured by already constructed buildings. The city is changing, evolving into taller city, the buildings that are being built are easily exceeding 5 stories, some beating 10 and a few higher still. On every street there is evidence of construct of reinvention and of a more to the modern. The buildings, new and old, take on what I would describe as American English as a walk through the city can evoke feelings of both American and England. From what I can deduce it’s more of a modified English, but at the new buildings rise it is slowly becoming even more Americanized. The street signs for example, in the city they take on an American vibe, while the motorways and signs are named and created in the same fashion as England (motorways, a roads, b roads and c roads). Mailboxes are both English in shape (rectangular openings) and American in placement (at the end of driveways). The transport system (to be described later) is a complete mix between something European and something American. The overall result is a city that is very easy to settle into (especially for me), and to get to know. A partly unfortunate result is that it can feel too familiar at times, and I’ve gotten caught out a number of times saying I was in the States.

Boonton makes news…in Australia

I found this in a local paper the other day (the Mx). Boonton is the town over from where I live in New Jersey. It’s not big, just like Kinnelon…so I was surprised to find it in the paper.

Rain, rain go away…

Who said Australia was in a drought? As I write this it is currently pouring outside, and has been all morning (fun for walking to classes!). This is probably the heaviest I’ve ever seen it rain here, but regardless it hasn’t been sunny everyday here. Melbourne is bizarre in that you can see sun in one corner of the sky and it can be raining on you. The random and unpredictable showers have the habit of catching you out…generally when you have two hands full of groceries. Back to the original thought of Australia drought, I can’t conceive that this country could be in a drought with the amount of rain we’ve experience just in the last 4 weeks. The water restrictions (they say 4 minute showers, no washing cars etc.) seem a little extreme. On the bright side though (excuse the pun), the sun-shower mix means that we’ve seen some pretty intense rainbows—in fact quite a few. Pictures!Also props to whoever said that I would get here and it would rain all the time…thanks!

Melbourne, Victoria: Part 2—Getting Settled

As the day dawned on the first complete day of living in Melbourne we ventured out to find that most of our notions from the previous evening were completely wrong, and it was unsurprising that it had taken us a good 30 minutes to walk home because we had headed in the complete opposite direction in the first(see end of post for explanation on why). We spent the first days doing the general walkabout thing, spending a considerable amount of time in Melbourne Central on one day. It would be unfair to call Melbourne Central a train station (which it is in essence) because it contains everything. A fully equipped (American style) mall, a supermarket, a fairly large food court, a bowling alley, nightclubs/bars, a movie theatre and even the old lead shot factory right in the very center of it all (pictured on right). The first day was also the first experience on one of the cities trams which is both like and unlike the nyc subway system (more on that later). The later days would lead to further exploration, some of the major streets (Elizabeth St, Swanston St and Bourke St[left and below]) as well as the QV centre. The QV centre is another one of these bizarre mall-like structures. What we had originally set out for was the Big W (essentially Wal*Mart except minus the food part) to find some basic necessities that weren’t included with the room. Turns out the Big W is hidden under the QV centre (a mix of fashion, food and entertainment [and even living space as I discovered after wandering in the back way thinking id found another QV centre--it was the same one] places). Along with it, hidden in the basement is a partner store and major supermarket Safeway (or as it’s known ANYWHERE else in Australia Woolworths). I should also mention at this exact moment that Australians seem to have a love of chocolate/candy/sweets; Big W alone has about 13 aisles of the stuff. In the first few days I only got down as far as Bourke St along mainly Elizabeth St and Swanston St (see map, outlined in blue). Maps, as a reminder from reference, became our best friend, because although Melbourne seems pretty square and linear the top part of the city bends. It just so happens that the bend is away the village and you can be determinately heading north from the city along Swanston St (the general direction you want to go in) and be getting further from where you want to be without knowing it. This is especially frustrating with two handfuls of shopping from Safeway. Once you’ve figured out that fact, it’s pretty hard to get lost in Melbourne, and you realize that it isn’t really that big of a city. Reassuring, yes?

Melbourne, Victoria

“The place to be” and “the garden state” (as the license plates so genuinely suggest), founded in 1835 and home of 3,806,092 people—(3,806,093) including me. As we took our first brisk step into Melbourne life (see end of Over So Quickly for emphasis on brisk) we were stepping into our home for the next 5 months, into this European influenced city dubbed the most livable city in the world according to The Economist (it shared this post with Vancouver, Canada—twice). We arrived by moonlight, under the city gates, and into the darkness of the city, and it was only 6 o’clock (Australian southern winter for you). packed into a small van the driver was surprisingly enthusiastic about having 18 20 year olds in the back of his van and pointed out some of the main landmarks and trivia as we oohd and ahhd. We arrived at our permanent accommodation (AGAIN: RMIT Village Old Melbourne, 5-17 Flemington road, North Melbourne VIC 3051) and were whisked off to our rooms in the 5 story hotel turned student accommodation. The rooms were as billed ‘modern student accommodation,’ that is, a large desk, a small flatscreen tv cum monitor, spacious closet and book-shelving, balcony, kitchen and space that you can really call your own. I would show a picture but my room has generally been a mess for the majority of my stay (save two days: move in and when I cleaned it once). The bathrooms left a lot to be desired (not quite as contemporary as the rest of the place) which leads to the most disappointing discovery ever. NO. OVEN. This would ultimately lead to some very creative cooking innovation over the coming weeks. After throwing my stuff around the room (realizing I didn’t have an Ethernet cable), we were out into the night to have a bit of an explore. Two of my mates and I went to a pizza place just down the road for dinner before returning to the village to meet with other people and go out again. During the entirety of the remainder of the night we wandered around the city centre of Melbourne, dodging cars and trams alike, walking in all directions up and down any street (some of which was in a search for a way back), all the while taking in everything that was new and not comprehending any of it. When we got back we had a start for a working knowledge of Melbourne, one that would both be further realized and proven wrong in the next day and the days to come.

A Humorous Post on Airports

While I wait for my dinner to cook I just wanted to share some thought about airports, specifically and generally the ones I’ve visited recently.

The first thought comes from LAX: after arriving at the airport from my luxurious night at the Hilton I had checked in and luckily gotten tickets on that nights flight, I decided to take a seat and (like most people waiting in an airport), decided to watch the planes. This would have been fine but the genius who designed the Tom Bradley airport thought it would be nice to have giant glass windows that overlook the run ways on either side. He also thought it would be a good idea to place structural bars strategically up and across the windows. Additionally he thought it’s a good idea and aesthetically pleasing to place a bar here:
That’s right, when sitting in the not so comfortable airport seats, trying to watch the planes take off and land you are instead greeted by a bar that completely blocks the view of anything at eye level. Genius.

The second thought also comes from LAX: now I was stuck in LAX for a good 9 hours, so I had a little while to just people watch (one of my favorite activities), and this thought comes from people watching. People have to pass time in airports, this is most true with little kids, during my approximate 3 hour sit in one place (before I couldn’t take it anymore) at least 5 kids were told to count the number of airplanes they could see. 2 of them skipped the number 13 (I should also mention that you could only see 7 planes—I should know, I counted). Innocently they went from 11 to 12 and then straight on 14 without thought of 13. I suppose I see reason behind this, after all if New York City sky scrapers can skip floor 13, why shouldn’t little kids. It wasn’t until about 2 weeks into my NYC internship that I realized that my building had mysteriously lost its 13th floor—I was on the 14th.

The third thought comes from Brisbane International: it was at this point that I encountered my first Australian Escalator. Having spent 6 weeks running up and down the escalators at the port authority in New York city I thought I had a pretty good grasp of how escalators operated. With my head in the clouds, tired and exhausted I tried to board the down escalator. When I was met by stairs rising towards me I took a step back, puzzled and bemused. It seems escalators, like their road counterparts travel on the opposite side. Luckily no one was around to see it—although that’s probably the reason I boarded the wrong one in the first place.

there were probably other things i needed to mention but my dinner is ready...and by ready i mean burnt.

In case you hadn’t realized:

Stories that have already posted in this blog are around 2 weeks old—from the time they were written. Many of the coming posts will mostly likely also be around 2 weeks old until I find the motivation to get current.

Over So Quickly

4am, Friday Morning. Yes, 4am. 2 of the people in our room not-so-secretary snuck out to catch their plane to their final destination. I should take a step back and describe where we were staying. Now I don’t know if you’ve seen hostel the movie, but that’s generally what I was expecting it to look like on the inside. Needless to say it was not. After all this was Australia and not Amsterdam (close but no cigar). So instead of being a small and shady hostel tucked away behind in a small allay I was greeted by a glowing neon sign in the middle of a pretty loud and alive city street--Gilligans.In fact it was described by lonely planet as “the Ritz of all hostels.” I wouldn’t have called in the Ritz, but it wasn’t shabby either. With about 4 floors and countless rooms, a kitchen for each floor and balconies all round it was easy to see why AustraLearn would prefer this place. The rooms were of 8; mine filled with the 5 guys for Melbourne Uni (including myself), 1 from somewhere else and the 2 that left at 4am for their flight to Brisbane/Gold Coast. it was good to have all the guys for Melbourne in one place as it allowed us to get to know each other better before being thrust into the City of Melbourne. Each room had a toilet and shower room and plety of space for backpacks and luggage, and entry onto on of the many shared balconies. I should also mention that the shower was SO nice after 56-odd hours of traveling. So yea, back to 4am…after falling back asleep, 4 hours later it was our turn to leave. The Backpacker (and I know this whole post seems like an advertisement for Gilligans) has a nice breakfast situation too with lots of selection to eat. Surprisingly (especially for myself) we had no problems with this flight, it left 5 minuites late and there was minor panic when all of austral earns luggage came of DEAD last (pretty much everyone’s luggage who arrived normally (aka not me) was lost on the trip from LA to Cairns). We left the warm costal city in the north and flew down to Melbourne where it was…well, FREEZING. We dug through our luggage to retrieve the warmest clothes we had before bracing the cold night on our way to our accommodation, RMIT Village Old Melbourne, 5 -17 Flemington Road, North Melbourne VIC 3051.