A new journey down under

At the airport

I used to think I would be ecstatic when the day I could fly away from the bustle and hustle finally dawned on me. I thought I would be full of plans and expectations as I was going to pursue what I had been dreaming for a long time. And I thought maybe I would shed some tears as well.

Actually, I wasn’t and I didn’t.

It seems that it’s always more exciting to expect than to experience. The enthusiasm has somehow sneaked away bit by bit, day after day while you’re waiting for it. When it finally comes, the excitement has already been drained.

By the time I arrived at the airport, I felt consumed both physically and spiritually. My sensations were numbed by the unfinished work at school and deprivation of sleep. The previous month has been so hectic that I felt like having seen all the people I would see and done all the work I would do in a year.

Everything looked so surreal to me that at one point I asked myself what I had done.

Despite the eerie and perhaps indifferent feeling, I did feel blessed and touched by the support of my family, friends, colleagues and even students. My gratitude to them always goes beyond words. I’m sure their love will cushion me wherever I go, whatever happens to me.

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My first week

The first week has been nerve-fraying to me. I arrived in Melbourne on Sunday afternoon but I had lectures on Mondays and Tuesdays. I felt a bit out of place in the lectures as not only was I still overwhelmed by my journey and haunted by the unfinished work back in Hong Kong but I was one of the only two international students in class (the other one did her first degree there so she knows the people and the place; and, she has an idea for her research project and knows which professor she's going to).

While all others have some sort of professional experience in the field (be it a practicing counselor or a research fellow at a clinic), I was rather professionally clean in this aspect. And while the others somehow know each other (I missed the orientation week) and were so ready to contribute, I was still in a mist of confusion. Yet, we had to pair ourselves up and come up with a topic for the class presentation in the first lecture.

What annoyed me most was I have to deal with a bunch of applications—working with children check, provision psychologist registration, tax file number, bank account, etc. while I was still looking for a place to stay (I needed to supply some sort of address proof with all these applications).

I was busy with house hunting on the first couple of days. Heaps of students were looking for accommodation at the beginning of the term at the same time, so I had to keep an eye on the rental page as if keeping track of the shares prices on the stock market. Accommodation was gone unbelievably fast.

Thanks to Tracy’s help (I was really lucky to have her with me during my first few weeks at Monash. She is having the immersion program at Monash at the moment and will be back to Hong Kong at the end of March), I finally got a place to stay. I’m now sharing the house with a 3-member Chinese family from Beijing and the place was about 10- to 15-minute bus ride from the campus. As long as I can settle in a decent home, things will gradually fall into places.

I ended my first week with an excursion to Puffing Billy with Tracy and her friends.

As there's still no Internet connection at my place, I'd better not upload my photos using the campus network.

I will have my fingers crossed for the next week.