:::Market, Mice, Road Trip::: Melbourne dos!

The day after the footy game me and Court woke up semi early and went out to explore some more, by this point our trip was coming to an end and we hadn't seen much of the city, we have been having an awesome time, we just hadn't seen much. The boys had told us that we needed to go to the market and check it out. This is where they did most of their grocery shopping, for the fresh foods at least. It was crazy they were auctioning off meats and vegetables, it was very hectic. There were some stands further in that reminded me of good old Italian delis and home with the meat hanging and the cheese display. It was cool to see and funny to hear the Italian Aussie accent! Also in the market there were cheap vendors selling clothes and other junk, it always fun to look at. I actually bought a purse I bargained in down $50! I probably was still getting ripped off but I like it and its still holding together! There was a small doughnut stand that brought back some childhood memories of the Oak Park Farmers Market, the cinnamon sugar doughnuts...yum! they smelled just the same but they were sold out and my hopes and dreams were crushed. We settled for Krispy Kremes later, eh, close enough.


We wondered the city and took in the cool architecture. There was an interesting mix of classic old building and incredibly modern and artistic buildings right next to each other. I really felt like a tourist because I walked around looking up all day, I couldn't get over how cool some of the buildings were. I really enjoyed the feel of Melbourne, it felt very European and small, much more cultured than Sydney. I love them both, they just have very different feels. Me and Court did a bit of souvenir shopping, walked around and rode the tram. Public transit here with the trams is so much easier than Sydney! Also is was so much cheaper, aka it was free! Actually I don't think it really was, but we never figured out how to pay and we weren't mad about it!

That night all of us ladies met up for a dinner together in St. Kilga. Along our travels there were came across a very interesting character, this 70 something man was telling us a story that he had written, cant really remember the story expect that were was lots of killings and "boos!" in it, interesting guy. We ate at this really cute pizza restaurant. It was small gourmet pizzas and the menus was written on a chalkboard on the wall. The pizza was phenomenal as well as the hot chocolate and wine! We had a nice dinner and we all enjoyed our selves and felt very satisfied. This was all until at the end of our meal we spotted the cutest little thing....a baby mouse! Cute but freaked us all out, it was running around the fire place which we were sitting pretty close to. We all sat with a feet picked up off the ground in fear it might run up our leg or something!Yuck! That night we stayed in, which was a good choice because we had a big day ahead of us. Although we didn't go out, I still only got one hour of sleep...bad moves

It was bad moves because we were up at 6:30 to go pick up our MINI VAN! yup! Monday we rented a car to go drive the Great Ocean Road. Guess who was elected to drive, me. I was so nervous, not only was I driving on the wrong side of the road, I was driving this big old minivan! I got the hang of the other side of the road thing pretty quickly, just a little difficult with turns, but most of the driving was on a highway. phew! It took us about two hours to get to the Great Ocean Road, which was basically a road that drove right along the coastline on cliffs that twisted and turned everywhere with steep drops and hill with amazing views. It also took you through the rain forest too. The drive was beautiful, and I love to drive so I thoroughly enjoyed it. It only took me 2 coffees and a can of coke to get me going! We drove the the 12 Apostle which is the main tourist attraction. The were pretty cool, you wouldn't think so because they are just big rocks in the water, but they were pretty cool! It reminded me of the Cliffs of Moore in Ireland! We basically saw the apostles took some pictures had some laughs and hopped in the car to race back to the airport to make our flights. We made it with 25 minutes to spare! yessss! It was a full day of driving though and I was exhausted!

It was great seeing the boys and seeing the city! We came back to Sydney and back to reality and heaps of home work! That's why these posts have been few and far between. Too much work to do :(

:::Travel Mishaps, Adrian, Footy::: Melbourne

Our trip to Melbourne start a bit turbulent, our flight was scheduled for 6:30, we had to be at the airport at 5:30, we had to catch two trains to get the airport at 4:20, and I got out of class at 3:00. To top it all off, I hadn't packed or showered. I ran in the door after class around 3:25 to jump in the shower and I find that my lovely roommate Courtney has laid out clothes for me and a packing list as well. We make our train, mostly because of Courtney's help with the packing and make it to the airport where we can finally relax, I was so rushed that I had to blow dry and straighten my hair in the airport bathroom. Security in the airport is incredibly lax, I didn't have to show my ID once! Going through the security I didn't have to take off my shoes or show them my boarding pass! crazy! We arrive in Melbourne and of course things cant go too smoothly, we were scheduled to take a bus 1 hour to Melbourne and we thought we had 20minutes before the bus left. So we went to the bathroom to freshen up and guess what, we missed the bus! We had to take a $100 cab ride....ugh! Oh well we made it and it was nice to see the boys from spring break waiting with bottles of wine for us!

First night there we hung out in their closet of an apartment, literally a closet. The room only contained a bed and a desk built against the wall and a narrow walkway to get around. It felt like solitary confinement!But it didnt matter, it was nice of them to squeeze us in there and it was good to see them! After draining a few bottles of wine we went out to find a place to party. No such luck, we ended up at a super swanky place where we had a few cocktails and stood out horribly. We decided to go back to the rooms and make it an early night (you know around 1 or so) We were met with a surprise when we got back. Apparently the boys were supposed to sign us in as guests and they didn't. So when we got home we were met by Adrian the bodyguard who wouldn't let us in because we weren't on the list. This begins a most interesting night of being chased around the building by Adrian trying to get in and hide from him. We were hiding in alleyways, attempting to climb in windows and scale walls, and borrow other peoples IDs. Finally around 3am we finally got in the rooms. Needless to say we were signed in for the rest of the weekend.

Our first full day there was kind of a waste. Me and Courtney tried to find Sasha and Brittany but were unsuccessful. We walked around Brunskwick and ate at the most cutest and bestest breakfast place! We rode the tram and explored a bit, but we were exhausted so we meet up with some of the other girls who had gotten a hotel room and took a nap while they finished their last minute papers. That night we went to Transport Bar and stopped for a late night snack at Lord of the Fries, the best fries place ever (apparently, I didn't eat em)

The next day we got up early and started to grill out in their courtyard and drink beers around 11. Benny cooked and we tried to pitch in here and there, but mainly just watched. We all hung out and got ready for the AFL game, which we were really excited about! The Tigers and Lions were playing and we got tickets as high up as you could go. This is a totally different type of rugby than what the Waratahs play, this field is round and you score and pass by kicking the ball. It is still incredibly rough, 2 players got seriously injured during this game. It was really cold this day and no matter how many layers I put on I was still freezing! Our friend Tyler's parents were in town and they came with us to the game, Tyler's mom gave me a Bentley Football sweatshirt to wear since I was turning blue. I was really embarrassed and tried to not to wear it, but eventually I couldn't feel my fingers and put it on. That night we went to Billboards which was a wild dance club. I enjoy going to these because its soo much fun to watch the Australian boys dance to techno, its a style of dance unlike anything I have seen before, its very entertaining! And of course the night isn't complete without a late night Kebabs. Again I have yet to try one.

Oh I almost forgot! Speaking of me and being to big of a wuss about food, on the way home from the AFL game we stopped at the boys favorite place to eat, a Indian food place! Me and Courtney were really wary about trying this since neither of us have before but the boys encouraged us to try it. We split Buttered Chicken because that's what they ordered for us. Surprisingly it was really good! We both enjoyed it and were proud of ourselves for trying it. But when we got back to the apartment someone told us a little secret about that place....that it was recently written up for being the dirtiest place in Melbourne! The boys new this but took us there anyway they don't seem to care, to them its a cheap good meal! Yuck!

Sorry I'm going to split this into 2 post, for some reason these days my posts are getting to be longer and longer. And i know that you wont read 5 pages worth of my chattiness in one sitting! Tomorrow will be the second half!

ANZAC Day

ANZAC Day is an important day in Australian history. ANZAC stands for Australia New Zealand Army Corps. It is celebrated on April 25 in order to commemorate those soldiers who fought in Gallipoli, Turkey during World War I. Gallipoli could be compared to D-day in the US because there was a massive loss of Australian lives during that battel. The ANZAC legend is born from this, it created a sense of national pride for the Aussies and a sense of national identity away from Great Britain. Now ANZAC day is a national holiday much like Memorial Day back home, but of course with different traditions.

We got to experience of the biggest ANZAC Day tradition, gambling and the horse races! We decided to go to the Royal Randwick Races and it felt like the Kentucky Derby. We woke up early and started drinking wine. Courtney also had a friend from Indiana staying with us for the weekend. So we all got dressed and head off to the race tracks. We got their and even though we were in nice summer dresses we were pretty under dressed. The girls were wearing fancy cocktail dresses and extravagant hats. All the guys were in 3 piece suits or in their fancy uniforms all decorated with medals. We made our way down to the race track to watch some of the races. the race track was a cross country type of course (I dont know the proper name for it) not the typical circular race track. Some of us made bets on the horses, I didn't. I learned my lesson in Ireland betting on Yankee Pride who came in dead last! No more betting on the ponies for me! But it was still fun to root for the horse that was the prettiest or the coolest jokey colors and people watch.

After the races we were all really tired and hungry. Everyone passed out on the couches and I stayed up and watched Miss World and ate McDonald's haha!

To Mom and Grammy

Happy Mother's Day from Melbourne Australia! I'm spending a long weekend in Melbourne with all my girl friends and were staying with some friends we made on spring break. Its funny because all of us girls were prepared for mother's day and all the boys had forgotten and had to scramble to do something nice. The funny thing is that they would say, "I should send my mom some flowers, so she will send me more money!" Silly boys, Melbourne is amazing but I'll post about that when I get home.I'm a bit behind on my posting and this is going to be out of order, but I wanted to make sure Mom and Grammy got a shout out!

Today makes me a bit home sick, I wish I could be home with my Mom and Grammy, especially since this is the first year that I would get to spend Mother's Day with my Grammy. This bums me out because my mom and Grammy are like my best friends in the whole world and I know it would be a fun day. Also why I'm homesick is that my whole family (Mom Dad Grammy & Maggie) are in Florida for my cousins wedding and they are meeting her brand new baby Abbie! I'm soo jealous!

My favorite memory from Mother's Day is last year when Dad Maggie Erin and I went to a nursery and picked out a tree for mom, she really wanted this tree and orchard blossom or something! We picked out a good one and got it loaded into the car by the people that worked there. We get it home and get Mom out of the house so we can store it for the big day. Well when we tried to get it out we were unpleasantly surprised about how heavy it was! We also couldn't get to the wheelbarrow because it was in the back shed which is spider land, so we found a rolling lounge chair and dragged it on to that. Then came the dilemma of how to wrap it or present it. So Maggie came up with the idea of putting it in the back yard right in front of the kitchen window. Every morning Mom comes down to the kitchen to have her cup of coffee and looks out that window. So we put a sign on the window says "Good morning Mom, Look out side!" and right out side the window was her tree. To top it all off we decorated it with tags that the three of us daughters made. Each tag had a childhood memory of her or a funny story. One of the favorites were Maggie's which said " I remember when you threw away my dead hamster before I got home from school and told me it ran away" and Erin's, "I remember when we used to rock out to Shade in the car"...The day was a success! --Heres a link to my Mom's blog about it
http://housewrenstudio.typepad.com/charlotte/2008/05/my-darling-girl.html

To the whole family- I miss you tons and I know this Mother's Day will be just as special as the last one! Spending my love across the world!
P.S Mom and Grammy a little something will be arriving soon, just want you to know I'm thinking of you! Love Love Love!