Assignment 2

After doing the skype call with our mates from RMIT we realized that the perception we have about Melbourne is a bit wrong due to the internet and the perception we built through the tv and the media.

For example, we imagined Melbourne as a modern city, and in fact that’s true, but also still retains old buildings from the British colony which we thought wasn’t the case. This is a little different than Girona. Here we have the old town apart from the rest of the city and its a tourist attraction meanwhile there the old buildings are in the middle of the new constructions.

Talking about the city we also thought it was a good city to emigrate but as we discuss with our mates we realized that’s not the case. For international people, it is a bit expensive city for the fees and taxes but a cheap city for the locals. This fact also affects international students, who thank to fees it’s very expensive to study there even though they have agreements for public transportation and other facilities. So, in this aspect, it’s the same as Girona.

Another aspect of the city, in general, is its public transportation. The most popular public transport is the tram instead of the subway, so for this, we think that Melbourne is a big city but not as big as we thought. Also, one characteristic that Melbourne share with Girona is the proximity between the campus and the students’ apartments, where you can go walking from your apartment to the campus. For that and for the footage we exchanged the distribution and the way of living between Girona and Melbourne are similar, saving the distances. One difference between these two cities is the tourism. Meanwhile in Girona tourism is a big source of income it is not the case in Melbourne since the most tourist city is Sidney.

The last but not least, when we thought about Melbourne we thought about big insects, crabs, and strange animals, that’s what we saw through the internet, but it’s not the case. In Melbourne, the most you can find is some little snake. You have to go to the countryside if you want to see those insects and animals. So in resume, as we thought, our perception of Melbourne was far away from reality.

Eric Rovira, Gerard Casademont, Barbara Amico and Maria Estiu