Monika Simeonova's Blog

Getting adjusted – Animals, Abbreviations and other Aussie stuff

In between my exploration of my new home, registering for classes and getting adjusted to my new lifestyle, I have the moments where I just stop … and say to myself: “Wow! I’m in Australia! On my own”. It has been a week since I am here and I guess it is still normal to get those thoughts… but yay! Australia is far! It’s far from New York City (where I study) and it’s far from Bulgaria (my home). It is far from eeeverything familiar.

Going to the Melbourne zoo was a reminder of that. It was my first encounter with a kangaroo and a koala. I thought I knew how they look but it is a totally different experience when you see them live.

The koala was much smaller than I thought it will be (I imagined a panda?!?). And I was surprised I caught it awake and eating!! The only different state in can be in after its 20-hour-a-day sleep mode. Lucky me! I pretended I’m pushing it off the tree (evil) :P

The kangaroo I got to know was very lazy and probably too hot to care. But it was a friendly animal. It came to us to see what we have to offer (which was nothing but cameras and desire to get a snapshot with it). The zoo was interesting since our access to the kangaroos (and its access to us) was freely open and there wasn’t even anyone guarding us.

There were also ostriches and peacocks chilling freely all over.

See, I am also a great fan of penguins so I also had to find these little cuties. It took forever but I did – they were tiny and adorable. Who knew that the smallest penguins in the world are hiding in Australia?

After those emotions I decided that I need some more so the next trip was booked – Sydney. I had to visit a place before starting classes and that was going to be it. Sydney is big and rich enough to explore for a long weekend time. Bali, Fiji, Tasmania and the Great Barrier Reef can wait. First thing’s first.

Thankfully, Mr. Groupon exists in the “land down under” as well so I will refer to it’s help often enough. Here is the time to mention that I love Groupon and people-explorers like myself should definitely familiarize themselves with its existence.

So… Until I leave for Sydney I will be enjoying free food, free drinks, free shirts with my free sunnies during the so called O’Week (Orientation week). Oh, yes, Aussies (Australians) love abbreviating literally everything. They call university – uni, avocado – avo, residents – resis… And probably much more that I will learn soon. Which is awesome! I think it sounds cute (according to my Bulgarian-New-York-ish-English understandings) :)

Adventure for me continues tomorrow since there is something new to learn every! single! day! And it should be an adventure for everybody, no matter where we are, because there’s always something more to be seen, discovered and enjoyed :)