I had fabulous 3 weeks in Melbourne and all the people there were very helpful and kind to me. All my classmates, who were not only from Macao, but also from Shanghai and Japan, were very lovely and nice. And my host family took great care of me. They always cooked delicious meals for me. They talked to me so I could practice my English skills. Sometimes they gave great suggestions to me so I wouldn’t make mistakes. When my last day in Melbourne came, I cried and hugged them because I felt beloved by them. Actually I missed my host family even though I had been home for several weeks.

I had also had such great experiences there. I went skiing and skydiving in the first weekend and I had a lot of fun. Skiing is one of my favourites but there are no skiing places in Macao. Therefore, I was so excited to go skiing. Next I went to skydive and I had never done that before. Although I was very afraid of skydiving, I just did it. Also I had been to the Queen Victoria Market with some of the classmates and the oysters are so fresh and tasty. I had walked to the bridges of Yarra River too. There was a wonderful view and we took a lot of photos. Besides, I had seen those colourful boxes on the Brighton Beach and I took pictures with each of them. Also, I had been to the Melbourne Zoo. Some kinds of animals I had never seen before, such as koalas and kangaroos, they were so cute and I didn’t even want to leave from there.

In the second weekend, I went to the Great Ocean Road (GOR), Puffing Billy and Eureka Tower with some classmates, mostly the Japanese classmates. We had joined a one-day tour and the tour guide drove us to the GOR. Once we got to the Twelve Apostles, we could not say anything because of the fascinating coastal view. It was fabulous! The ocean was as blue as the sky and limestone stacks were just beautiful. Next we went to the Load Arch. Comfortable wind came with the waves in the sea. Walking on the soft sand, we took a lot of photos there. However, when I had arrived the Load Arch, I asked the tour guide what the name of the place was and why it is so famous, she just replied to my first question and told me to read the information on the board. I felt so confused because the price we had paid for the tour was much more than the other’s tour agencies. It seemed that we just paid for renting a car with a driver.

Anyway, I went to Puffing Billy on Sunday morning. We took the ancient train to the Lakeside and saw the view outside the train. There were only a few green places in Macao as it is a busy city; therefore, the green grassland and the cows made us feel so relaxed.

That night, we went to the Eureka Tower. We took the elevator to 88th floor for the night view. Once we got out of the elevator, we were surprised with the gorgeous night view. I told my friends from Macao that if there was something that was on your mind, just go to the Eureka and sit for few hours, then all the things would be solved by the beautiful night view. We also took funny photos on the Edge and we could see the view from that glass room.

Next, we had 2 company visits. One of the speakers at CPA really inspired me. She told us that we couldn’t just stay and wait for opportunities, but we need to prepare for ourselves until the opportunities come. Sometimes we just talk about what our goal is and how we want to achieve it but never take action.

However, I had learned that there are a lot of different accents in Australian English. It is quite difficult for me to understand. Also I had never heard about AFL until I came to Melbourne. Furthermore, Australians usually do not drink hot water but Macau people always do that. My host family was quite shocked when they first heard that I want to drink hot water.

For the first week, there were just Shanghai students and we could talk in Chinese after class. But the Japanese students came in the second week and we always needed to speak in English. Sometimes it was a bit difficult for me because when I wanted to say something that can’t explain in English, I have to use other words to explain instead of talking in Chinese. But this was a great time to practice my English skills.

However, something happened to me and it was terrible. After having a meal with my classmates, they went to the Eureka Tower. I did not want to go again so I walked alone in the city. Suddenly a Chinese speaking man came towards me and I could not understand all the things that he said to me. I only knew that he wanted to borrow my $300 au. I told him to go to the police station but he did not go, and promised me he would return the money with his phone. Although his face looked quite serious, I did not lend the money to him. I did not know whether it was a fraud or not and $300 is quite a large amount of money to me, so I refused and walked away.

Although that was a terrible thing that happened to me, Melbourne’s impression will not be changed in my mind and I love that place as much as I can!