After a 22 hour flight and a stopover in Singapore (Schiphol, where’s your butterfly garden?) I finally arrived in Melbourne. If you think of Australia, you think of warm beaches and bbqs, but instead I arrived in a cold and rainy city. It’s winter over here, 15 degrees Celsius and getting dark at six. It takes a while to get used to after the heat wave in the Netherlands!

Meanwhile, the weather’s fine, and I’m getting used to the Australian life. Melbourne has a Western feel, but there are still a lot of differences from a European country. For example, there is a hugely diverse demographic. Only 68% of the population are native English speakers because it’s such a melting pot of cultures. It’s hard to identify an ‘Australian’ culture, which makes it a very interesting city.

Another pretty big difference here is the nature. Everybody is familiar with Border Security scenes where people get sent away because they try to smuggle a kilo of dried mushrooms into the country, but the main reason for that is to protect its unique biodiversity. The birds here make a very special noise and the flowers seem to come out of a fairy tale. In addition, I have already befriended a few possums, which are extremely cute marsupials.

Altogether, Melbourne is a really a super cool and interesting city. I can definitely recommend it to anyone who is considering doing their internship over here.