My May in Melbourne

Hi all!

It's been awhile - here's what I've been up to in the month of May...

Well I have my two finals next week and have been busy writing papers. However, my roommate Caitlin has had endless papers and assignments for weeks, so next to her and after the ridiculously busy fall semester I had, I feel incredibly lazy at all times when it comes to schoolwork. I found out my grade for Intro to Cdn Politics - got an A! Here's hoping my Aussie grades are that lovely. Although I don't think I've mentioned that they mark on a different scheme - Fail, Pass, Credit, Distinction, High Distinction. So I'm aiming for two D's and an HD over here.

Mostly though I've just been busy with trips to the city as fall comes to Melbourne. I went to go see Billy Elliot the musical with my friend Ashlyn, it's one of my favorite movies and the show was great. Tiffany and I took a trip 88 stories up to Eureka tower on Mothers day and enjoyed a clear view of the city before heading to St. Kilda, where we wandered Luna Park and I was the subject of another of her photography projects.

A couple weeks ago I went to see Cirque du Soleil's show Dralion at the Docklands. It was AMAZING. I've never seen anything like it! Apperantly Dralion is "the fusion of ancient Chinese circus tradition and the avant-garde approach of Cirque du Soleil." I watched a 13 year old Chinese girl bend in ways I didn't know were possible, a riveting trampoline act, a dozen girls create human pyramids while balancing on lightbulbs in ballet slippers... it was a great night, I can't wait to see another one of their shows.

Last weekend Tiffany, Caitlin and I went on a huge ferris wheel downtown that we'd passed a hundred times but never actually ridden. I got to see the National Gallery of Victoria for the first time and already I have plans with myself to go spend a whole day there. I've never had the chance to see paintings and sculptures and figurines that are hundreds and hundreds of years old, and in such an interesting building. My favorites were the illuminations done by monks, I spent a long time just staring at this one beautifully detailed book, can't wait to go back. We then spent time at Federation Square before heading to the MCG for a nighttime footy game, Essendon vs. Richmond with an incredible attendance of 73,625 people. It was a great game, especially because in the end the Bombers won!

On Friday Tiffany, Caitlin, Maxine and I went for Thai in an area known as Fitzroy, then Tiffany and I went to go see the musical Wicked which was was absolutely amazing! The other night Katja, Caitlin, Tiffany and I watched Grey's - which is 6 months behind here so don't ruin anything for me! - before I went over to my lovely friend Amanda's house to watch movies with her and my old roomie Lona. Caitlin and I cooked up a dinner of East Indian food before watching Will Ferrel on the television show Rove last week. I've applied for tickets for Caitlin, Tiffany and I to be in the audience for Rove on my last night in Melbourne so hopefully I get to go.

This week all 5 of us roommates made sure to be home to share one last Kingfisher dinner. It was delicious, lovely and relaxed, I just wish we had more time together.

So all in all I spent May trying to get as much out of Melbourne as I could. I still feel like I need more time, that the end has come up too quickly, but I can leave Australia knowing that I really LIVED in Melbourne for the short time I had. I uploaded some videos to youtube from the last few months; Luriki Island in Fiji, a Maori haka performance, around Melbourne... to watch them go to

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4bSSrFr67k

From that one video you should be able to find the 3 or 4 that I've uploaded.

I fly home in exactly 3 weeks and I know it's going to go by unbelievably quickly by so I'm just going to continue to enjoy every last minute I have down under.

See you all very soon,
Love Ayla

---

---

---