Mayhem in Melbourne!

Two weekends ago, I took a trip with some of my friends to Melbourne, which is Australia’s second largest city after Sydney.  Despite their similarities in size, Sydney and Melbourne are actually quite different culturally.  While Sydney prides itself on its ‘beach culture’ and quintessential ‘Australia-ness,’ Melbourne has a much more artsy and European feel.  I loved Melbourne for its many museums, its Victorian architecture, its quaint alleyways, its street performers, and its vast collection of colorful graffiti.  You may be surprised by my inclusion of the last item on the list:  graffiti.  I’ve never taken a liking to graffiti before, but I was absolutely blown away by the street art that I saw in Melbourne.  A local business owner told me that graffiti is completely legal in Melbourne as long as artists obtain permits beforehand.  Thus, the local population embraces public art and views graffiti as a welcome form of artistic expression rather than as an eyesore.  (Make sure to check out my pictures of the really creative graffiti I saw!)  

Two highlights from my weekend were visiting Queen Victoria Market and going to an Aussie rules football game.  Queen Victoria Market, known as Queen Vic by Melbourne locals, is absolutely SPRAWLING and houses hundreds of local vendors.  I visited a huge variety of food stands and literally sampled everything from kangaroo to chili chocolate, but my absolute favorite thing I tried was a WARM JELLY DONUT.  The hot donut stand I visited has apparently been a mainstay at Queen Vic for years and years, so trying a delicious jelly donut was high on my list of tasks for the day.  Also, one really fascinating thing I learned about the market’s history is that as it expanded over the years, it eventually overtook the closed and abandoned Old Melbourne Cemetery to its west.  As a result, there are approximately 9,ooo individuals still buried under the land the market rests on today.  Apparently bones are frequently unearthed when major construction takes place.  CRIKEY!!!!  My trip to an Aussie rules football game was equally as exciting.  Aussie rules football, referred to by Australians as ‘footie,’ is the most hectic sport I have ever witnessed.  During a game, players are allowed to position themselves anywhere on the field and use any part of their body to move the ball (aka this game is MAYHEM).  I felt as if I had been transported into a Harry Potter book and was witnessing a game of quidditch.  Another highlight of my trip was visiting St. Kilda’s beach to watch penguins retreat for the evening from the water onto the rocks.   

All in all, my weekend in Melbourne was a smashing success.  I’ve decided to return in November for the Melbourne Cup, which is basically Australia’s version of the Kentucky derby.  Stay tuned for more updates!!!

Flinders Street Station (Melbourne's major transportation hub) 

Outside of Queen Victoria Market 

WARM JELLY DOUGHNUTS OH YES!!!

Ran out of underwear at the market...thank GOD they had my size 

The quaint alleyways I mentioned earlier...

Footie game!!!

St. Kilda's Beach  

baby penguin! 

being a supermodel, per usual....

Bought this feathery mess for my upcoming trip to the Melbourne Cup!

SKI TRIP TO THE SNOWY VALLEY

HELLO ALL!!!  First off, I need to begin this post by apologizing to my dear ol' family.  I've been SERIOUSLY slacking lately when it comes to updating this blog, so I have a lot of ground to cover in the next few days. (Aka get ready to be bombarded with an obnoxious amount posts!)  I’ll start off by talking about the FABULOUS SKI TRIP that I took a few weeks ago.  On a whim, I convinced my new friends Melissa and Sophie to sign up for a ski trip on our “long weekend.”  (Note – every weekend in Australia is a long weekend because we don’t have classes on Mondays or Fridays…woohoo life is good!!!)  Anyways, this trip was really cheap and super convenient, but there was a slight catch: it was organized by a local Asian tour agency frequented almost exclusively by male Japanese tourists.  Rather than being bothered by this fact, we found it hilarious and signed up immediately.  The next morning, we boarded a coach bus filled to the brim with eighty Japanese men and began our eight-hour journey to the snowy mountains of Australia.  Everyone on the bus was really friendly, and my friends and I ended up doing Saki bombs with them and singing along to their masculine chants.  I had no idea what was going on or being sung most of the time, but it was undoubtedly an amusing bus ride.  We spent the next three days enjoying the slopes and the beautiful mountain weather.  It rained in the morning on our second day, but we were treated the rest of the afternoon to incredible views of a rainbow that stretched across the mountaintops.  Food on the mountain was expensive, so we survived on a diet of doughnuts and gummy worms. J  After a long weekend away in the cold mountain weather, we were happy to return safely to Sydney and its sandy beaches.  

Taking a casual mid-morning nap on the side of the mountain

Melissa and Sophie on the chairlift!

scenic views of Mt. Thredbo

lunch break! 

sharing a gummy worm  

ladiez out on the town with our Japanese suitors 

posing with a freakishly small deer head 

THE RAINBOW!!!

what a successful trip!

  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!  Let me start off by saying that I had a really hard time deciding what to post on my blog in honor of your big day.  My first thought was to re-write “Twas the Night Before Christmas” as “Twas the Night Before Mom’s Birthday,” but the fact that I’m terrible at rhyming proved to be a formidable obstacle.  Plus, this poem happens to be about fifty lines long…by the time I finished my own rendition, you would have already been celebrating your next birthday (aka your 34^th birthday rather than your 33^rd).  So, after realizing that long poems aren’t quite my thing, the perfect thought came to my mind – write haikus!!  OF COURSE!  Below are some short but sweet haikus that I wrote for you.  MOST of them are based on inside jokes and ALL of them are undoubtedly weird, but I thought they might give you a good laugh.  Have a great birthday….LOVE YOU!!!

Like an acrobat

You dangle feet over head

Christmas time is here

For your birthday treat

Go with Dad to the ballet

He'll pay for his lies 

I may be pretty 

But you chose the wiener dog

Can I forgive this?

I know you miss me

Testosterone all around

How do you do it?

Beautiful lady

You may have an ugly name

Don't worry, you rock!

Pretty nice and blonde

Likes to shop...pre-school poem

You are so much more!

You minxy minxer

Just minxing around all day

Up to no good girl 

the minx herself!

Trip to the Sydney Opera House!

Something exciting that I did recently was attend a talk given by Thomas Friedman at the SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE (talalaLAAAAA!!!)  Thomas Friedman is my absolute FAVORITE New York Times editorialist, so I was thrilled when I discovered that he’d be visiting Sydney.  Friedman’s specialty is taking complex issues and breaking them down to their bare bones to the point where solutions seem simple.  During his Sydney Opera house lecture, he spoke about his new book called That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World We Invented and How We Can Come Back, which explores the controversial topic of American decline.  One point he made that really stuck with me was that Americans these days are too fixated on looking at other countries like China and Japan to solve our current issues.  He proposes that, instead, we should be looking at the past version of ourselves, the version that once inspired other nations.  It was a refreshingly optimistic view.  I can’t wait to read his new book and discuss it with my dear ol’ dad, who is also a fan of his writing.  Miss you, daddio!!!

Strikin' a pose in front of the opera house!

Off to the Races!

So far in Sydney, I’ve found that there’s no better way to get to know a city’s people than through visiting its bars.  That being said, I’ve made it a goal of mine this semester to wander off the beaten path from the typical study abroad bars and visit authentic Aussie pubs.  I’ve done a bit of this so far, but there are still countless places that I’ve yet to explore.  My one exception to this rule is a bar called SCUBAR, located right in the heart of Sydney and open almost exclusively to study abroad students and backpackers.  Let’s just say that when you go there, you’re more likely to encounter a Scandinavian, an Asian, an American, and Canadian and countless others before you lay your eyes on someone who’s actually from Sydney.  This would normally bother me, but it doesn’t at scubar for one reason and one reason only: HERMIT CRAB RACING!  You heard me right.  Every Monday night (so obviously the only night worth going), scubar organizes a hermit crab racing league.  For a mere dollar, you can buy your way into the night’s hermit crab races and a chance at winning a weekend getaway.  My hermit crab (“Kylie Minogue”) had a really poor showing last Monday (I have a suspicion that she was in fact dead :/), but I have high hopes for my crab that I’ve chosen for tonight’s race, whom I’ve yet to name.  Even though these races may seem like a PG version of a cock-fighting ring, they’re actually so hysterical and too fun to pass up.

With my new friend Beryl at the races 

Fruitlessly cheering on my dead hermit crab

Hunter Valley Day Trip

HELLO MY DEAREST FAMILY!  Boy do I have some wonderful adventures to tell you guys about.  I’ll start by filling you in on the ‘Hunter Valley Wine Tour’ that I took last weekend. 

Here’s the abridged version of this blog entry:  BEST DAY EVER!

Here’s the unabridged version:

It was rainy all last week in Sydney, so I decided to spearhead a trip to Hunter Valley (Australia’s wine country 2 hours north of Sydney) for the weekend to escape the dreary weather.  I found a great tour guide through my local student travel agency, and he helped me plan a fully loaded day trip for myself and thirteen friends.  This trip was no simple one-and-done wine tasting.  Here was the itinerary:

Wildlife Refuge
Belgian-Australian Chocolate Factory for a chocolate tasting
Molly’s Cradle Vineyard
Molly’s Cradle outdoor ‘barbie’ for lunch
Smelly Cheese Factory for a cheese tasting
Ernest Hill Vineyard
Hunter Valley Beer Brewery 

I’d have to say that the highlight of the day for me was our visit to the wildlife refuge.  Not only were there the expected koalas and kangaroos, but there were also emus, echidnas, flying foxes, pythons, exotic birds, and wallabies.  Despite my fear of snakes, I took a leap of faith and let the animal trainer drape a python around my neck! 

A kangaroo just chillin' out on the grass (all that's missing from this picture is a Coors Light..)

Mama kangaroo with her baby joey sticking out of its pouch!

close-up of the joey 

Map of the wildlife reserve

Emu!  This was the only one who wasn't afraid of humans...

Kangaroo brawl! Reminds me of fights I used to have with Aaron and Nafer...

the gang's all here!

Beer tasting at the brewery 

Our van got stuck in the mud, but luckily we had three intoxicated studs in the group to push us out!