M E L B O U R N E !

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Ahhh, Melbourne!!! First off, let me say it was freezing!!! Obviously I have been acclimatized because it was probably 60 degrees during the day and 40s at night... but I was dying!! And I definitely did not bring enough warm clothes, so I wore the same sweater basically every day, hahaha. Overall, it was a really nice, fun, relaxing trip and I didn't spend much money, thank God.

So my trip started at 9am on a Wednesday morning (April 15th) and began with a 13 hours greyhound bus ride! It was the cheapest way so I figured what the heck, why not!? So, as I'm waiting for the bus, I see all these hot, European men with guitars and I was like "OMGGG, I'm finally gonna get lucky on public transportation and sit next to someone great!" Yeah, no. Lucky me got sat at the front of the bus with the oldest woman on the planet and all the hot European musicians were in the back. Damn! Otherwise, the trip went by really fast, especially since they played an awesome Lindsay Lohan movie for part of the time (ugh). I eventually made it to Melb around 10:30pm and my friend Dave picked me up from the bus station! After that we headed to his local bar called The Birdcage and I got to meet a bunch of his friends for an hour or two. Good times. Then we went back to Dave's house - he lives with his mom, which is very typical of Australians. His sister lives in London, so I got her room and her big bed, which was AMAZING since I share a 1 bedroom apartment here with 2 other girls! It was heaven.

Thursday I ended up sleeping til noon since I didn't really sleep much on the bus (kind of hard to when an ancient woman is snoring next to you!). I had lunch with Dave on his work break, then headed into the city and walked around for hours. The city isn't as big as I expected, but I really liked it, and the suburbs totally reminded me of England! Very, very English. By the time I got back to Dave's house it was past dinnertime and his mom had made us this amazing chicken/pasta stuff! It was my first homecooked meal in FOREVER! Loved it! After that, Dave and I claimed the couches with a bottle of wine and watched Lord of the Rings.

Friday I discovered Chapel Street, which is a really well-known street for SHOPPING! Not that I really had any money to spend, but I spent close to 5 hours walking up and down the street and window shopping.. and also found this amazing, cheap bakery that had DELICIOUS donuts, 3 for 2 bucks! Nice! Also, while walking around I spotted the most amazing thing ever: A TGI FRIDAYS!!!! OMG! I was so tempted to go have some Jack Daniel's chicken... but was sad when I realized that they didn't serve Blue Moon (duh), so I just wandered on by. After the sun went down it got a bit chilly, so I went to Borders and sat in a chair for a few hours and read books. Then it was dinnertime, and I successfully completed my first solo dinner... which actually wasn't bad at all! I found a quaint tapas place and sat outside with a magazine and drank the most delicious glass of sangria and had the biggest plate of paella with chicken and chorizo. It was delicious, and made me even more excited to get home so I can satisfy my craving for delicious mexican food!! I eventually got back to Dave's, got ready, then we went to a part of the city called Prahan and met up with his friends at a bar and hung out in the city til 2am or so. All his friends are really cool, and most of them he has had since high school (he's 26).

Saturday was SOO much fun! Dave plays soccer for a local club, so I got up with him to head to his game at 11am. I ended up hanging out with some of his injured teammates on the sidelines and polished off 2 sausages (Aussie version of a hot dog), 1/2 a steak sandwich, and a few pure blondes (Aussie beer). I had a blast and it reminded me of going to soccer games in high school, where everyone yells funny things at the opposing team and stuff, haha, it was great. After that we went home and napped for awhile, then got up to head back into the city for Dave's soccer friends birthday party. It was really fun and we went to this nice bar that had a beer garden on the roof, really pretty. It was a great day, and I even got a little sun on my cheeks! Or maybe it was windburn... haha 😊

On Sunday I went to my first AFL (Aussie rules football) game!! I had a blast and it really got me excited for football season! I don't even know how to explain AFL.. kind of like a mix of rugby, soccer, and football? It's really strange, but pretty easy to understand... AND it's rough, like, there was a fight before the game even started... and then in the first 40 minutes or so, some guy literally got his face broken. INTENSE! Dave's friends were able to hook me up with a free ticket, which was awesome, but they are also members of the MCG (Melb Cricket Ground, where they have AFL games too), so I got a member pass and got to have great seats!! It was a ton of fun and I wish I had the money to go to more games! After the game, Dave and I went to the store then made delicious kebabs and I made him and his mom their first pineapple upside-down cake. It wasn't perfect, but it got the job done... and it cured my sweet tooth 😊

Monday was a VERY lazy day... I slept and then laid in bed listening to my ipod til about 2pm, haha. I was just loving having my own room and big bed that I couldn't get myself to actually wake up and do something. I eventually got out and walked around the city for a few hours, chilled in Borders a bit more, then came back to Dave's for dinner... a delicious roast with tons of veggies... and then finished off the night by watching the 2nd Lord of the Rings movie!

Tuesday was my last day, and the day I wanted to go see the Great Ocean Road, but didn't have the cash money to do that, so instead I spent the day in the city. The weather was PERFECT and I sat by the river for a few hours reading a book, then walked a bit north of the city around the RMIT campus and saw a bunch of students. Melbourne has a big Indian population, which I loved 😊 Haha.

Wednesday was an early flight back to Sydney and it was super sad saying goodbye to that nice, big bed. Dave and his mom were the best host's ever and they fed me so well, I am forever in their debt! Haha. And unfortunately I wasn't feeling too touristy on this trip and didn't take too many pictures! Sorry 😊

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