A trip to Melbourne!!

HEY EVERYONE!!

Sorry I have been slacking on the posts. I know yall have been checking for updates religiously…

Anyway, so I just got back from Melbourne on Wednesday night. Melbourne is a more artsy and cultural than Sydney, which I really liked! It was so much more different than I thought it would be. We left early on Sunday morning and flew down there…it was only an hour and half flight. It was super easy. We stay at “Mantra on the park” in downtown Melbourne. It was SO nice. We (4 to a room) all got our own beds and kitchens and balconies. There was a pool and a sauna and the view was super pretty! The picture below is a view from our balcony at night. Some of the other rooms had WAY better veiws though…but I didn’t get a picture. 

The view from our balcony at night..

Our beautiful room..

View during the day..

So after we got there around 2pm on Sunday, my Mass Media class had a tour of the ACMI, the Australian Center for the Moving Image. It’s this (controversial) hideously-designed but amazing museum in Federation Square which is the center of downtown Melbourne. They had costumes and props from a bunch of famous movies, they had some Oscars there (like Cate Blanchets) from Australians who had donated them..They had all this awesome interactive stuff too..You could create your own animation, play all these games, and play with the green screen. It was super high-tech and really really fun! So after that tour (if you want to call it that?).

ACMI museum 

That night basically everyone went out and I thought I was hallucinating I was so tired so I stayed in, like “the 90-year-old woman” I am (according to Peter). However, my two friends, Maggie and Becca stayed in too and we basically exchanged life stories and stayed up talking for a few hours! They are in the “education” part of this program…so instead of classes and internships like the rest of us, they teach at a school in Sydney 5 days a week. They are the first people I met when I got here and I forced them to be friends with me : ) They are super great!

The ‘rule’ was that you were there for 3 full days and you had to do 2 academic tours…we got to pick out of a big list. They only last a few hours so they would only take up your morning or afternoon so it wasn’t bad at all.

On Monday, Pascal took like 8 of us on our first tour. It was basically a casual stroll through Melbourne…we stopped at some cool/famous alleys, restaurants, bars, etc. Bascially wherever Pascal felt like stopping, we stopped. 

Alexa : )

Pascal and Nick. 

This bar is called the "Horse Bazaar"...and while you are there there are different images that are projected onto the walls..its like moving artwork. It so awesome!

We ended in “Fitzroy”, a suburb of Melbourne…its kind of like a much cooler Carborro (that’s the hippie area next to Chapel Hill for people that don’t know). We took a short tram there and ate $4 pizza at this really awesome/weird/creepy bar called “Bimbo Delux.” It had baby doll heads hanging from the wall and all these awesome lanterns everywhere and it was basically a big living room with couches and tables and you ate cheap food. It was great! After the tour ended, Ishtar and I walked around for a bit and looked in all the vintage/thrift shops. They had endless amounts of skull things that I loved! Oh and mom/Nancy, they also had a shop with tons of random creatures/gadgets and stationary that you would LOVE!! 

That night we went out with my friend Kelly’s friend from home (also named Kelly) who is studying abroad in Melbourne. She was on Spring Break so all of her friends were out of town..also, since we were there Sun-Tues, the nights were pretty quiet. We ended up going to this fun bar called “Turfs” and dancing and drinking there for awhile…until Peter and I decided we would rather be eating McDonalds ice cream and got a cab home. We had to settle for “Hungry Jacks” (exact same as Burger King)…thats when I discovered the most mouth-watering  (American fast food) dish in Australia…the Hungry Jacks chicken wrap (just $3.45). There is no point in going into detail because you wont even understand…but for everyone from Pawleys…it reminds me of those delicious Pita Rollz subs they used to have. UN-BE-LEVABLE.

Tuesday was my day of no tours. So I went shopping downtown. I also walked through the market and picked up some gifts for you people at home : )

I got some great things and finally got this bag I have been staring at for the past month!! So WOO.

That night Ishtar and I didn’t feel like going out so we went to this Italian place that we were forced to go to. This man on the side of the road, Bobby, basically harassed us until we went there. Sophie, I am very unsure of how you would have handled yourself in this scenario…it was a very strange publicity move…however, it ended up being amazing! I had the best spicy pasta with chicken..we also ended up getting some of the best ice cream on the way home that I have had since I have been here! Then Kelly, Ishtar and I ordered a movie at the hotel and passed out….

Wednesday was my 2^nd/last tour…it was a tour through all the “laneways” (or alleys) of Melbourne that were decked out in graffiti. It was SO entertaining. I am 100% sure that if/when my career falls apart I want to become a street artist (by the way that is different that a graffiti artist). We learned all about the underground graffiti culture and how it is SUPER famous in Melbourne. Even though it is illegal, like everywhere else, it has become one of the biggest tourist attractions in Australia. Its so cool!! I couldn’t stop taking pictures….as you can tell..(the rest of them are in my facebook album)

After the tour I decided to wander around by myself and have lunch down by Federation square/by the river and take some pics. I walked down the river and through the market and went to a cool contemporary art museum...

..Then, sadly, we headed to the airport that evening and got back to Sydney around 10pm...

And now, 48 hours later, I am about to leave (in a few hours) to go to Port Stephens for the weekend! We have so much planned (camel riding, swimming with sharks, dune bigging, etc.) that I will fill you in on next week!!  I am SOO excited!

Next week we have class everyday and exams…so it will suck..but once Friday is over, I AM DONE and it is SPRING BREAK!!!!!!!! So tune in for that soon!! : ) 

I miss you ALL ... 

xo, Bess.