July 15-18th Sorrento

July 15-18^th Sorrento

Upon arriving in Melbourne we met with a few of the Arcadia staff members that would be running our Orientation. They piled the roughly 30 US students present onto a bus with a small bag that we could live out of for the Orientation and set off for the actual city of Melbourne.  The bus let us of in a cute little area where we were given a couple of hours to find something to eat, explore, and call our parents if we so desired(sorry guys, I got to it the next day at least!). After breaking off with a few friends to walk the area we decided grab lunch at a local coffee-shop-looking café. Upon the request of the Arcadia staff we resisted the urge to grab a pint and simply tried the local food. Being as culturally diverse as my home on the west coast, most of Australia boasts foods of all cultures. We each enjoyed a wrap and some ‘hot chips’(fries). Afterwards we were all loaded back onto the bus for a short drive to a national wildlife reserve on the way to our Orientation accommodations in Sorrento. When we disembarked at the park our leader Kendal told us to keep our fingers crossed in hopes of seeing one of the smaller breeds of kangaroo that lived there. No more then 50 yards into the park we heard a rustling from ten feet away followed by two roo heads peaking up over the brush. We all jumped at the opportunity to snap pictures from such a phenomenal distance before continuing along the trail.  Thinking ourselves lucky for seeing the famed creatures we were entirely caught off guard by the mob of roos that we encountered next, complete with a mother roo, joey in pouch. They were some of the strangest acting animals I have ever seen as they scratched at themselves with their little forearms and contemplated us with bewildered gazes. Needless to say, the natural beauty of this gorgeous country already shocked me. After the park we loaded back onto the bus for the last half hour of the drive into Sorrento.

Sorrento is a small ocean town located on a peninsula of the Port Philip Bay. It boasts wonderful food and astounding views of the ocean from its towering bluffs. After a short walk around the bluffs and beaches we all were ready to crash and cure our jetlag.

The next two days were filled with orientation programs and interesting presentations on local vocabulary and culture, supplemented with some free time to discover the town and surrounding sights. We were even given a taste of bush-music Tuesday night when Bushwazee came to put on a middle school level show of traditional music and dances.  It wasn’t until Wednesday morning that we took off for another day in Melbourne (pronounced Melbin) and were allowed a night on the town, before flying out to Sydney the next morning.