On my way over to Melbourne, I had a very long time to think about what lay ahead. A new family, a new school, and, essentially, a new life would be just a few of the challenges awaiting me. As daunting as it seemed, I was very excited by this new opportunity. Since then, I have done all sorts of stereotypical Aussie things: surfing, feeding kangaroos, watching the Grand Prix and going to the footy.

Barely a week into this experience, I went surfing at Ocean Grove. Our Canadian instructor was good enough to get me up a bunch of times, although I did fall quickly. The important thing is that I was up long enough for a bunch of pictures. Nathan was, of course, better than me, even though they have only been surfing a couple of times.

Australia has an abundance of unique animals. From the kangaroo to the koala, Australia is typically characterized by its strange marsupials. Last weekend, we went to a wildlife park at Ballarat, an hour and a half from Melbourne. I had the experience of patting a koala and feeding kangaroos and emus. We also saw all kinds of Australian animals, from crocodiles to Tasmanian devils to wombats.

While here in Melbourne, I had the experience of going to the Melbourne Grand Prix. I “barrack for,” or support, Lewis Hamilton, for obvious reasons. The hometown hero, Mark Webber, finished just behind Hamilton in qualifying, which is the part of the race that we went to.

Another unique part of Australia is its sports, owing to the mix of British and Aboriginal heritage. The most typical Aussie sport is probably Aussie rules football, or footy. I had the experience of going to a footy game last Sunday. The Hawks, the club we like, was up against another Melbourne-based team, the Demons. Although the Hawks were down by 30 points, they came back and ended up winning by 45. Another Australian experience associated with footy is a meat pie. They have a different style to Canadian tourtière, which tasted more like a Cornish pasty.

I’m having a great time here in Australia and I don’t want this experience to end. Unfortunately, it has to end at some point, and my time here is already half done. —Andrew Hamilton ’13