Meld Magazine

Meld Magazine: Melbourne's International Students News Website.
I truly forgot how I stumbled upon this website... wait, now I remember: Metcards! Again, I was browsing facts about Metcards, and Google led me to a post by Marcella Purnama on Meld Magazine, once again about the conversion of metcards to myki.

So, Meld Magazine is an online magazine run by students in Melbourne. How fascinating! You know I've once been an international student  :P (oops, my dad was, I think I didn't count lol) 
The writers, editors, photographers, web designers, videographers and every other staff are international as well as local students of Melbourne. Starting out in 2008, this magazine aimed to give international students a true insight on how life in Melbourne is really like.This way, international student candidates won't only obtain information from university promotions.

I think the articles in Meld Mag are extremely interesting, well-written, and actually a lot of fun, and it seems really helpful and informative. They cover up almost everything about Melbourne: lifestyle, cuisine, news, issues, reviews on films, music and festivals, education, youth programs, or anything else related to international students, regulations, fees and stuff. They tell you everything you need to know, every information, every hot issue, and also every fun facts about Melbourne. All in a youthful writing style, not too formal, yet mature indeed. Reading Meld Mag is so much fun, I learned a lot of new vocabularies and recognize different writing styles :)  And of course, my all time longing of seeing Melbourne is a little bit relieved.

To be honest, the fact that these students could produce excellent pieces of writings -which is in fact not in their own mother language- and manage it in an online magazine pretty much amuses me! I feel really inspired to learn from them and become a writer myself. They're actually opening up chances to join their team. I really wish I could join Meld one day [Of course I have to find a way to study in Melbourne first (y)]. But lets start with improving my English proficiency and writing skills. Oh and I know a good way to begin: visit Meld Mag and read!

Metcards!

So metcards are these.. cards you use when you travel around using Melbourne's mass transport: Trams, Buses, and Trains. I've got some twenties of them. My family travelled more than that for sure when we were in Melbourne, but ayy.. Dad's probably thrown away his. These metcards are 2000-2002 issues. Note the Australian Open Metcard, it was issued during the 90th Australian Open Tournament, 14-27 January 2002. The regular front design is the blue one, the others are 'special' ones issued during particular events in Melbourne.

They're retired now, replaced by a newer system called myki since a couple of years ago I guess. I couldn't believe that the controversy leading to the transition into myki started in 2001. So um, Wikipedia said that the machines weren't functioning and et cetera. Well in 2001 I was in Melbourne! I was so happy with all the trams, and buses, and trains they have, I thought Melbourne's transportation was perfectly flawless! Okay, we have to consider that I lived in Indonesia before, and transportation here is indescribably chaotic (thus I won't describe more). So, yeah,  I couldn't imagine any other transportation system better than what Melbourne had by that time!

I'm pretty glad that I actually kept some Metcards and brought them home, knowing that they've turned into antiques now. An article on theage.com.au even called them "a piece of Melbourne history"!
So yeah, metcards are no longer wandering around the roads and streets of Melbourne, but we all have a place for them in our heart, our memories, and surely a cozy drawer in our house.

I <3 metcards

And, I'm looking forward to actually visit Melbourne again (in whatever ways) and check out that myki!
A Melbournian I once encountered on omegle stated that he preferred metcards better than myki ._. We shall see...

By the way, I'd probably consider writing more about Melbourne, what she has, what she's like, and how I felt when I was there. I really hope one day we can turn Surabaya and other cities in Indonesia into a wonderful place like Melbourne! Fyi, Melbourne is named World's Most Livable City 2012 by The Economist Intelligence Unit! And this was her second achievement after last year! The judgements are based on 30 factors across six categories: stability, culture, environment, infrastructure, healthcare, and education. I will surely give you a picture of how incredible Melbourne was 10 years ago! I just can't imagine how the city has grown in a decade, so I'd probably do a little research before making a comparison. We'll catch up soon :)