Day 254! Well, here we go, my first full day in Australia. It was a fairly chill day, with a bunch of todos crossed off. But there’s still plenty more todo before I’m able to fully just relax in the city!

After I finished my blog post last night, I fell asleep like a rock. This bed is the comfiest one I’ve slept on in quite some time and the nice and cool temperature in the house had me sleeping like a baby.

(Which honestly I don’t get that expression since a lot of babies sleep terribly…)

I woke up around 9 and went to take a shower. Afterwards Sam said it was a gorgeous day out, so we went on a walk through his suburb, Brighton.

We went on a nice 20 minute walk to a nearby cafe called Mylk, so Sam could get a coffee. Brighton is a very upscale suburb, full of modern houses and fancy cars. Also a ton of people out walking dogs.

It was a bit chilly out this morning, but nothing terribly cold! The sun was shining too which made the walk very nice.

We made our way back to his house and started playing some more guitar and making some breakfast.

While we were making breakfast, one of the workers on the house started chatting with us. And when he found out I was American, he immediately asked me if I was a trump supporter… I think this is something I’m going to have to start getting used to.

This guy was an avid supporter and had a bunch of interesting and whacky things to say. We let him ramble on a bit before he went back to work… but it was an interesting way to start the day and kind of eye opening to some of the people I could meet while being in this country.

Sam made us one of my favorite breakfasts from back home, fried eggs on avocado toast.

After we ate and cleaned up, it was time for some more jamming on the guitar. I’m so happy Sam has one and is down to play! It’s been fun passing the guitar back and forth and I’m sure we’ll be doing this plenty more while I’m in Melbourne.

Part of moving houses, Sam’s been going through old things. He found a piggybank full of coins, so we took it to a nearby bank for him to cash it in. We also used this as an opportunity for me to try and open up a bank account!

Now… things were going smoothly. But I guess I didn’t put my middle name on my work and holiday visa… so, it complicated the opening up a bank account. Instead of it being basically instant, they had to send my documents to whatever people verify the accounts. So it’ll be a few days till it’s open.

Oh well!

The bank worker was very interested in me being American as well. She was fascinated by my drivers license for some reason. So I told her about how it changed orientation when you turn 21. Which she reminded me the drinking age in Australia is 18… I’m curious to see if people’s interest in me being American lasts long.

While I was going through that process, Sam bought us a couple sushi rolls from a nearby place. We took them to one of his favorite overlooks of the city (and apparently a good sunset spot) and snacked on them.

They’re a little small, but you can see there are small colorful huts on the beach… well scantly they’re each worth $1 million dollars and were supposed to be a cool tourist attraction to bring life to the beach. But this beach is also where some sewage from the city gets pumped out… so I think it flopped a little bit.

We made our way back to his house and Sam quickly got ready for work. He is a tennis coach and actually played on a NAIA college team in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for a year.

While he was working, I got some work done too! I was texting with Immy, who actually arrived in Melbourne around 3pm today! We were trying to schedule tours of houses/townhomes for the next day or two. We have 4 scheduled, 3 of which on Saturday!

It’s very exciting to get the ball rolling on that!

4:30pm rolled around and no one was home besides me. So I offered to take their dog BJ out on a walk. He was super excited to go out and we went on a nice stroll around the block.

I then had some sections to finish up with my RSA. I had an English proficiency quiz and a video response segment to do. This part was a little awkward, it’d say a scenario, and I’d have to record myself responding to the scenario as if I was the bartender at the scene.

I got about halfway done when Sam’s mother got home and I’m not sure if she heard me doing it or not, but it probably sounded a bit silly.

I finished up and then applied to a couple jobs! I applied to a job at the aquarium and one at a deli! Pretty much just throwing random seeds out there and seeing which one grows. So not really expecting much, but we’ll see!

I was about to take a nap, when Sam came back home. We then made some dinner for us two, pasta with tomato sauce. This was actually a meal I’ve really missed! Italian pasta is much much different than SE Asian pasta.

I then called it a night as tomorrow I was going to be up nice and early to figure out my way into the city! I want to go hang out with Immy, explore the city, and test out the public transportation. So I’m planning on meeting up with her for an early brunch at her hostel and then meeting up with Sam once he’s out of class!

Let the Melbourne adventures begin!

– Elie