12 Apostles

Alongside the Great Ocean Road, we stopped by this place called the 12 Apostles (named after 12 stand-alone cliffs) . This is one of Victoria's most famous sight. The rocks are millions years old and are remainings of the previous coast line.

Thirsty Camel !

Thirsty? The Camel is there to rescue you anytime.
Yes people, we discovered the booze drive thru. This novelty concept ( to us) consists of 3 elements: bottles, cars, and a till. You drive there, open the trunk, and load your chosen beverage. You have got to love it !

Studying hard !

Allright, this is not quite what I expected from my MBA classes ... what can I say, it is 30 degrees outside and I could not resist stuyding one of those HBS case studies on the balcony, a few ms away from the pool. What happened is I fell asleep and Anne-Sophie took a picture of me. I showed up in my evening class with a bit of a sunburn. Tough life really !

Trip to the Yarra Valley wineries

On Saturday, we filled up 2 vans with international students and headed to the infamous Yarra Valley, a place where wine is the king.

We managed to hit 5 wineries and one dairy farm in one afternoon and probably sampled about 30 different wines. This place is like the cheapest bar on earth, they keep serving you (OK, in very small volumes) and are not at all offended if you don’t buy anything.

The people on the picture are other MBAs students in exchange with the University of Melbourne (just like Ben) and they are a really cool bunch. Everyone is true to the stereotypes of their own countries while at the same time being very aware of it.

First day of class

I can't really say that was a stressful day ... All 22 exchange students were invited for an orientation day. The vast majority of exchange students are from North America's universities, such as Cornell, Duke, NYU, Schulich and Rotman. Thanks god, we also had a bunch of Korean and one Swiss students that made the student body a bit more diverse. Our orientation day was pretty relaxed, it started with a welcome speech by the Dean followed by an afternoon at ... the Melbourne ZOO !!! Yes, we spent 4 hours bonding with each other at the Zoo. I can't say I remember many of the animals I saw but for sure, I had a fantastic time getting to know the other students in such an awkward environment. By the way, here are a few quotes from the Dean's speech in the morning ... ''Mots of you are here on a Pass or Fail basis, please take advantage of that'', ''There is more of the exchange than studying in the library''. Did I already say my first day here was relaxed ?



This is the entrance of Melbourne Business School, a few minutes away from Melbourne University. MBS ranks in the 50s in the FT 2007 ranking, it is the second largest MBA in Australia and has a great reputation for its marketing program (this is great news, I had no idea really when I applied for the school!). Classes are pretty small (100 students) but students are very much looked after. There is a bunch of acclaimed profs (yes, those HBS MBA/PHD grad who write books and teach at Kellogg or Stanford), lots of career resources and administrative staff. For instance, as exchange student, we have a full time person that only looks after us. All of this is pretty impressive even though it comes at a cost. To join the MBA program, students pay AUS $ 50,000 a year.

Surf trip in Torquay

Here we are, the time has come to explore the surfing scene in Victoria. We headed off to Torquay, home of Australian surfing. Rip Curl, Quiksilver and a few other companies have their roots there. Torquay is a small village, 1 hour away from Melbourne. It is mostly known for Bell's beach that hosts the Rip Curl Pro every year in Easter. The first picture shows Torquay's Back Beach on a windy day: powerful waves were about 5-6 feet, not as clean as the day before. Too much current (hey, I am just a beginner !) forced me to go to the left hand side, where waves are much smaller. The second picture shows me trying to surf after a one year break. I do need more practice and that's where we came here ! One the third picture is Anne-so, taking it easy on the wind and wave free Front Beach.

View from Southbank

Two picture from Southbank. The first one is a beautifull view on the Rialto towers, the highest towers in Asia/Pacific. The second picture shows the Yarra River, with federation square on the right hand side and the yellow Flinders train station. This is a good illustration of Melbourne where Victorian buildings are mixed up with brand new American type towers.

I don't know if it is the food, the weather or the different time zone but I have been feeling a bit weird lately