OMG I'M FINALLY HERE!!11!!one!!

SFO to LAX. Delay for 3 hours. Take-off. Emergency landing in Hawaii. Exploration. Back to the Honolulu airport. Take-off. Arrival in Sydney. Arrival in Melbourne. Getting to my Melbourne Welcome an hour late and 25 hours after I had originally planned.

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Getting to Melbourne…

Apparently way easier said than done. Everything was going smoothly until I hit LAX, at which point everyone boarded the flight in a timely manner and were all set and ready to go. Until the captain said that we were having a few mechanical errors. Little by little, the 30 min delay became a 3 hour one. Their many excuses included having too many passengers on the plane (which they apparently had to remove???) and overfilling the fuel tank. We had to stay on the runway for another 30 min just to burn off the excess gas (POLLUTION MUCH!? MAJOR WASTE OF MONEY!??!). Anyway, after finally taking off, I wake up to the sound of the speakers saying that we have to make an EMERGENCY LANDING in Hawaii; I still don't even know what was really wrong with the plane... Since we landed at around 430 AM, we pretty much woke up the rest of Honolulu. We disembark, grab all of our luggage, and wait for the buses to take all 300+ of us passengers to the hotel…

Here’s where my story gets a little better!! For the majority of our short-lived flight, I sat next to and talked to a guy (Hi George!) traveling to Sydney to go to a conference. And wow THANK GOD FOR THAT. He and his colleagues took care of me for the entire trip. They ended up paying for a taxi to take us to the hotel to bypass all the other passengers and to avoid the inevitably huge line at the hotel check-in counter. Because of them/him, I got taken on a small tour around the city (as they had been their numerous times for business) and ate at some yummy restaurants. It was really a lot of fun because even though we were in much different age groups, I had some great conversations. It was really interesting because I don’t usually talk so candidly with adults. We exchanged a lot of ideas and he was pretty insightful; it’s strange how open you can be with strangers about your life and opinions. If I had to get delayed/diverted anywhere, Hawaii wasn’t the worst that could have happened haha. So after spending the entire day in Hawaii, we finally boarded our flight at midnight…and arrived in Melbourne 25 hours after we had originally intended to.

THIS is what makes me really sad. I had planned to get to Melbourne a day before my “orientation”-ish week started with all of the international students. I could’ve had time to open up a bank account, get an international cell phone, and basically settle in/absorb my surroundings. Instead, I and some fellow passengers were late to the Welcome and completely exhausted/jetlagged from our 13+ hour flight. It was unbelievable how fast cliques were forming already. I learned that everyone had already been in Melbourne for at least a few days and had already familiarized themselves with the city and gotten all their errands done. I didn’t have much time to feel jealous because as soon as we got there, everyone was separated into smaller groups as our hosts took us around the city.

I’m really worried about figuring out the tram system that we took to get around. The metro cards are interesting because you can buy them for certain time periods. For example, you insert the card into a machine and “validate” it when you get on the tram. If you bought a 2-hr card, then you can only use the tram for the 2-hours after you first validate. So essentially, you can use it as many times as you want as long as it falls within your time window. – I found this kind of interesting as it gives a new meaning to planning and time management haha. I don’t know how on earth I’m going to figure out all the stops though; I just might have to sit down and just memorize hahaha. Melbourne streets really remind me of New York City. There are so many shops and cafes just lining the street (which made me decide that I have to eat at every single little quirky place I see). Buildings aren’t as overwhelming in terms of blinking lights and signs, but the city is absolutely BUSTLING. and wow really really hot. We saw the Eureka tower where the view was insannneeee. 88 floors high (the elevator went to fast my ears plugged/popped!). You can see the entire city and d-d-d-damn, I have a lot of exploring to do.

I was feeling pretty good until we had a wine-and-cheese party after dinner. THAT was when I crashed. I could barely keep my eyes open let alone try to mingle and make friends. I tried, I really did, but it was kind of awkward. A lot of people were on school programs with each other and didn’t branch out. Some kids were already forming their little cliques and didn’t really invite conversation. I think the most disappointing thing is how drunk some people got. Yes everyone, it is legal for you to drink, but that doesn’t mean you should be having a freak train in the middle of the room (especially when the Australian hosts distinctly told everyone that grinding is a definite prelude to sex here)! I sort of felt like I do at Cornell frat parties nowadays: a little bewildered and half-wishing that I had no shame either…. I realize that a lot of people go to Melbourne to party, but I dunno, I guess I was hoping for more than that. It's kind of like summer camp but with booze haha. We'll see what happens!