The Journey, Part 2: Arrival!

So I am putting these up, not postdated, but with the date at the top, because I wrote them on the day but did not have internet to put them up.

This one is of my first day! It was INSANE. I kind of never ever want to relive it ever. But it is what it is.

July 12, 2010


Okay so, I am going to type this into a word document, pretending that it is into my blog, because I am still super out of touch with the rest of the world a.k.a. with the people I love. Today was a like a horrific sociopath of a day. Like the murderer on tv who knows how to make people think that he is a good person and would never hurt a fly but really secretly likes to lure strippers to his basement to cut off their body parts one by one but still keep them alive until they get their head cut off. … :/ uhhh sorry, that was a little messed-up of me.

Today…. Hmmm. Today was certainly a day. I guess I will just go through it.

So, my plane flew out of LAX at 11:20 pm local time on Saturday, July 10, locally. I got on, sat in the very back row on an aisle seat, which was assigned to me, I had no choice of seating. I didn’t talk to the guy sitting next to me. I felt creepy when I was just standing at the back of the plane watching people, because I didn’t want to sit down yet, but then I saw this guy come sit in the seat next to mine, so I figured I should sit down. But then, once I sat down, he was on his cell phone, talking to some guy. And then he got off his cell phone and proceeded to shoot some nasal spray up his nose. Okay, I thought. He is definitely not shy about having a cold. And he really sucked it up there, like the nasal spray didn’t work at all and it wouldn’t work it’s way up his nose on it’s own. I have never used a nasal spray that didn’t immediately unclog my nose like magic, so I didn’t really know what he might have been using. And then he fell asleep. Like, while we were taking off. It was amazing. I’ve never fallen asleep that quickly on a plane. But I hurriedly took some Dramamine after watching the plane leave the ground, put my sleepy music on my iPod, and fell asleep.

I think I slept for maybe ten hours of the flight. Not all at once, I woke up a couple times to get up and stretch my legs or go to the bathroom, but I kept falling back asleep until there were about 4 hours left of the flight. It was pretty amazing. I slept through “dinner”. So did the guy next to me. I had no chances to talk to him until the end. And then he started watching movies and stuff, and so did I, so I didn’t actually talk to him until the plane was coming into the airport. And I only talked to him and the girl next to him with the help of the super adorable Aussie flight attendant guy stationed at the back of the plane. Turns out, he and the girl next to him were both going to Melbourne University and going on the Welcome Program. His name is Greg. I didn’t catch the other girl’s name, but I couldn’t tell if she was American. I didn’t really talk to them at all after that. We all headed to each of our destinations. So that Australian flight attendant was really nice and funny and friendly, so it was nice to meet him. I also talked to some Australians at the check-in desk who were also really friendly and enthusiastic about Melbourne Uni. (I think I’ll shorten it to “uni,” everybody calls it that here). So overall my experience with Australians was pretty good.

We got off the plane, I was one of the last people of course, being at the back, and a nice Australian customs man stamped my passport (my first stamp, yay!) and a different nice Australian man directed me to my baggage carousel and I got my bags. I went through and found my arrival services people without a hitch. A lot of other people were using the same bus. I think almost all if not all of them were American, and we were all going to go on the Melbourne Welcome. Our bus driver was a real hoot, too. He played like a tour guide and told us historical facts and jokes and stuff about their politics.

And then I got off the bus with Avery, a girl from Maine. We’re both living in the same apartment building. So we both go into the building carrying our huge bags and wrestle them up a short set of stairs and into the reception area. Then we go up to the counter and the lady asks for our names so she can get out our files. She gets mine out, and well guess what! I get to pay a $1062 security bond on my room! Ooh, and the first month’s rent, which is $724! And she needs it now as a bank check or money order, or else I cannot go into my room. Same with Avery, but somehow she already paid her first month’s rent. So we leave our giant luggage there and go looking for an international phone so I can call my dad and try to figure out what to do, because I definitely don’t have that kind of money in my checking account. So Avery and I go to about six different buildings looking for what the desk lady said was a “student centre”. And I guess there are multiple student centres on campus, because I had to tell the nice information guy what my major was so he could direct me to the correct student centre. What? That’s not right. I need a student centre that will help me figure out how to pay almost 2 grand that I don’t have, that can get me a phone that makes international calls. Whoops! There isn’t one! But we do make it to an international student centre, which was totally not where the desk lady told us. And they politely informed us that they have no such phone, but if it’s a money-related problem, that we should go to the bank. So we trek over to the commonwealth bank.

At this point, I am still optimistic, thinking maybe I can use my dad’s credit card to take out enough money to pay these loonies that don’t tell me I need this money before I actually arrive. But I go to the bank, and I cannot use my dad’s credit card, and I cannot use my debit card, because I do not have that kind of money in my account. They can’t take out money I don’t have. So. I have no way of paying anyone anything. So onto the next try: call dad as soon as possible and in any way possible. Because I have no idea what to do.

Now, this is pretty hard to do. I do have my cell phone with me, but that is from America, it has absolutely no way of getting service. Oh I could email. No, I have no internet. I would have internet on campus, but I have to register as a student first, and I can’t do that until tomorrow. So I try to find a phone card. The extremely nice, understanding bank manager directs me to the building with a place that sells them. I cannot emphasize to you how amazingly nice he was. I don’t think I can put it into words. He asked me how I was doing, like really asked, because I was telling him that we had just flown in that morning. I almost broke down right there. I couldn’t talk for a second, because if I had I would have cried. I think he was someone who really realized that I had no one there that I knew or who knew me that would be able to help me. He gave Avery and me his card.

So I bought a phone card, and Avery and I headed back to the apartment building, her with the payment she needed in the form of a bank check and me empty handed, with just an $8 phone card. We get back to the reception desk, and there is a different woman there who I approach, because I didn’t think the first one was very sympathetic and she had a heavy Australian/Chinese accent that I was extremely distracted by. I walk up to the counter with my slip that says how much I need and my bank card, and I can’t get through the first sentence. I just crack, and I cry and can’t talk and have to look at the floor. So I sort of explain my situation, that my college is supposed to take of absolutely all of my payments, which they are, and I had no idea I needed to pay the rent at all, I thought it went through Oxy, and that all I had was this phone card, and I couldn’t even reach Oxy because it was still Sunday there and no one was in the office. And I cry and cry. So the kind woman, Lauren, who I still can’t tell if she really feels for me and wants to help or just doesn’t know what to do with me so she just gives me what I want, ushers me back to her desk behind a wall to use her phone to call my dad. Just my luck, the phone card doesn’t work because it doesn’t even tell what the “access code” is. So she tells me to just dial my dad’s international number. When it rings I thank God for being so wonderful to let it ring and when dad picks up I just cry. And I try to talk, but I really can’t, so I relay messages to Lauren and then finally just give the phone to her so they can figure it out and I can just cry. So they figure out that my dad can pay the rent with his credit card info, and he will transfer the funds to my account or something for the bond but we will have to figure it out tomorrow because they banks aren’t open and nothing can be done, and Lauren lets me stay in my room tonight. HALLELUJAH!!!!!!! THANK YOU BUDDHA!!!!!

And so I go through the rest of the paperwork, etc, something about no damages or I pay or something, and I go to my room. And then I can let loose and just let myself cry full-on and let it out and be sad for myself and stop trying to think, oh this is great, I’m in Australia, remember how great this is? Remember that this is wonderful. I just let myself cry. Which is good, it’s what I needed to do. And I open up my bags so I can finally change, and something has spilled and pretty much completely run out. Yay hooray, more things that make me really uncomfortable my first day out of the country. But really it’s okay, because I am in a room, my room, and I am not stranded somewhere, not knowing where I am or what I should do. And so I change, wash my face, put on some makeup, hope to God that I don’t cry again so my makeup doesn’t get all over the place, and unpack some things so my room feels somewhat homey.

Then I get my priorities straight and realize I need sheets and a pillow and a blanket. And oh $#%*. An adaptor. Mine does not work. Why and how that is, I do not know. But I am pissed, because that was the only way I was going to get on my computer and order internet, and charge my now dead cell phone so they can text me my passcode to the internet. I guess I didn’t realize, though, that cell phones just don’t work in other countries at all. I thought they would, but I guess not. I went on a search for an adaptor and free wireless, which Avery told me was at a McDonald’s on Victoria. I found the MickeyD’s and quickly sent an email to my dad and an email to my mom, because my battery was dying. I really hope that the email is good for them to hear, I don’t want them to get all worried and freaked out about me being over here, but I did want to let them know what was happening to me. My dad already got a taste a guess, what with me calling him from a random number, bawling and freaked out. So I sent those off and found an amazing electronics place called Jaycar (..huh? what’s with the store names around here?) where I got an adaptor that was guaranteed to work from this very, very kind salesman who explained everything very simply for me and answered all my questions.

Finally I was feeling good about being in Melbourne. I felt like I had a chance of connecting with my family and friends and at least I had a bed to sleep in tonight. And I had eaten a brownie and some vitamin water, which revived me. Seems like my debit card doesn’t really work anywhere, but I can take money out at the bank with the awesome manager. I don’t have sheets or a blanket or a pillow, but I will get them soon, I just have to find a place that sells them. And I will hopefully have internet tomorrow, if not at my apartment, on the university’s campus. And now it is 8:45 pm, and I am very tired and in my jam jams, so I am going to sleep for 12 hours and try to be functional tomorrow. Goodnight, terrible day. Please let tomorrow be easier.