Astrid Kitchen – Social Anthropology – University of Melbourne – Australia My first ending was my last haircut which was followed by ‘have a safe flight back and do come visit!’ a bit absurdly premature at that point since I still had another 2 monthes to go till D-day but it felt poignant nonetheless. From them on I tried to experience everything with the consciousness that time was running out and everything was a special moment worth savouring; an exhausting ambition. Also very hard to do, when you spend the large part of a year investing a lot of time, emotion and energy into carefully crafting a little belonging in…

Astrid Kitchen – Social Anthropology – University of Melbourne – Australia It has taken longer than I thought to feel I have grasped something of what it feels like to live in Melbourne. The city feels pretty vast; the CBD itself is rather compact but the extensive suburbs make Melbourne feel much bigger. As is often the case with Uni life, it is equally as easy to busy yourself with your neighbourhood and the campus and look no further. But do!!

Astrid Kitchen – Social Anthropology – University of Melbourne – Australia The participation expected of students at Melbourne is very different from my experience at Manchester. It’s hard to pin this down to cultural differences or differences in the standards of the universities themselves, since Melbourne is regarded the best in the country. It may also be the result of differences in degree programs as I have chosen modules from different disciplines outside of Anthropology, such as Politics. Either way, my experience is students are far more self-assured and articulate and so engage in debate constantly in tutorials and lectures of their own accord.

Astrid Kitchen – Social Anthropology – University of Melbourne – Australia The rumors are true! I arrived just over a week before orientation week begun. This decision was a source of a lot of stress and brain worms. Shifting the date earlier was at the expense of my summer holiday at home but in the end, a week did feel like plenty of time particularly since there is not a lot going on in orientation week despite attendance being compulsory. The downside of forsaking pre-arranged accommodation meant rocking up on the early morning of July 11th jet lagged, vitamin d deficient and bereft into an atmosphere where everyone is competitively…

Astrid Kitchen – Social Anthropology – University of Melbourne – Australia  The genius of Kafkaesque bureaucracy lies in its ability to make you forget the reality of its true purpose. These past few weeks have been a frenzied mayhem of appointments, to do lists, amazon orders, online applications and visas (which, by the way, were so late to be cleared I really advise against waiting for your CofE before booking your flights, mine only came in a week ago and I am leaving next Friday; booking a flight to Australia 2 weeks in advance is bonkers). Do not underestimate the time investment that a year abroad begs-it does not end…