Paperwork, Paperwork, Paperwork

With great possibility comes... a great deal of paperwork.

There is nothing quite like moving overseas to fill your desk with reams of paperwork needed to be filled out (immediately in my case, given my late acceptance). Luckily for me I've always been one of those people who loves paperwork and organising (yet still proudly sports a floordrobe!)

For the next few weeks my days would be filled with chasing forms, remembering to put the date backwards, staying up late in order to receive advice from Duke, being stabbed by numerous needles, creating and remembering my Duke ID, Student ID, NetID, Visa Application and form numbers, sending and receiving express mail, figuring out what courses I wanted to do this semester, working to save as much as I could, visualising my life possessions fitting into my suitcase and of course buying a toy Koala to be my dorm mascot.

Phew!

Finally, finally after many hours and lots of help from numerous people at Duke things started coming together. I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to meet the two other Australian scholars, Jacob and Nick as well as their families. Over an Australian BBQ (but of course!) we got to find out a little about each other and share information and questions about the big move. Nick’s parents had already been exceedingly helpful, assisting me with Visa applications etc through email before this meeting. Nick, Jacob and I pondered the possibility of Australian-Themed dorm rooms, debated whether our accents were distinctive enough and discussed how we’d fare so far away from home. It will be really nice to share this experience with two other Aussies.

As for now, I’m down to my final few weeks in Sydney (provided that there is no problem with my visa!)
This gives me: time with friends and family, time to pack and time to re-organise my entire life... so that I can start my new one!