well hello there. so quite a bit has happened since i last posted. back to melbourne welcome-> we had formal dinner that night and it was nice...the very important people at the head table had to wear robes so that was interesting. dinner was very good, they served us and wine was also included in the meal so pretty much everyone was excited about that. however, i heard that the wine was pretty awful...so i guess take it for what it is. that night, we went to puggs again and the previous night it was a lot of fun but the second night far surpassed the first. the second night there was a live band and american music (when the band wasn't on) so i was happy to just go crazy dancing with my amazing IESers. it was an awesome time...i really love that guys dont dance up on you here. they just go crazy with you. so much better then DC.
the following day, we went to the melbourne zoo and then to the footy game. the zoo was a lot of fun until it started raining which was completely lame...and even then it was still is a lot of fun. we spent a lot of time looking at the elephants and the orang-u-tans which was awesome. we saw a koala but he was sleeping so that was cool but kinda lame all at the same time. there were a lot of cool animals at the zoo so despite the rain that was a lot of fun.
later that night it was off to the footy game. it was AWESOME. its by far my new favorite sport. its basically a mix of rugby, soccer and football with no pads. although we went to see two teams that are basically at the bottom half of the league...it was such a close game that it was awesome. i think its awesome that this whole country is so into this sport. there is nothing quite like it in the US, so im basically in love with this game and will be going to many more in the near future. oh, and the game was at the telestra dome which is an awesome arena that sits about 80,000 people...compared to most US arenas that sit 40,000. the telestra dome is sooo cool but im really excited to see a game at the MCG which seats 100,000 and that is where playoffs and finals are held, so hopefully we'll be able to get tickets to that.
a lot of the other stuff we did is all confused in my head...but we went to the beach just to see where it is and how to get there one morning. the beach is in st. kilda which is a suburb of melbourne and it was really pretty. we were a little unprepared for the 40 minute tram ride that it took to get there but when we got there it was definitely worth it to see the ocean again. a bitter cold but morning spent well.
i think it was that night...or some night we had trivia night. it sounds lame...but it actually it was a lot of fun! who knew that random facts about australia and its culture and all that could be fun...i sure didnt. i mean, i think it was a lot more fun for most people because they provided alcoholic beverages but for me...we just answered questions bizarrely and had a good time. oh, it was actually that night (the second time) that we went to puggs...but thats irrevelant.
fast forward i guess a couple of days...our last night of melbourne welcome, they took us out to dinner at an italian restaurant on lygon street (which is basically little italy in melbourne) and it was a lot of fun...then we went on a pub crawl which was cool. it ended up being a pretty early night which we were all fine with because we were pretty exhausted after the past couple of days. oh, we also slept back at the village for the last two nights of melbourne welcome because we all decided that our beds in the village were not only OUR beds but also much more comfortable.
sunday we officially checked out of melbourne welcome and then headed back to the village before going to Queen Victoria Market to pick up many groceries. queen victoria market is a world renown part of melbourne because its basically eastern market (in DC) x 100,000. its awesome. produce, meat, fish, souvenirs for SOOO CHEAP. its fantastic. i cant even explain how amazing this place is. sunday night we went to this MUSEX! dinner, which is the uni's study abroad/exchange group. so it was good chance to meet other study abroad/exchange students that i hadn't met before. there are alot of international students so its actually really great meeting all of these people from ALL-OVER the world. after dinner, we went to the Night Cat which is a really sweet lounge/bar place. when we got there, they were giving rumba lessons, so that was interesting but its definitely an awesome place (a little far from the village) but definitely a place that i would go back to. we also saw all of these awesome looking lounges and places with live entertainment, so those places will definitely be revisited in the future.
today, we had our first official university briefing. it was the normal stuff but it was awesome because we found out about a bunch of field trips around the country. pretty much, our entire group signed up for two trips...one to phillip island (which has koalas, penguins and all that amazing stuff) and the great ocean road which is a must see of the state of victoria. so i'm sooo pumped for those. i love that our entire group is so close and is going on all of these adventures together because despite all the awesome people i've met over the last few days, i definitely want to travel with my IES group because our bond is so special! haha, i'm so cheesy. this afternoon, we went into the city and got some stuff from safeway(yes, they have safeway here) and Big W(there equivalent of walmart). tonight begins re-o week in the village...so there are activities and things going on every night, so that should be a lot of fun. they have a live band tonight...so we'll see how that goes!
so, the next week is pretty much all university orientation things. a lot of optional sessions but also a lot of important stuff like registering for classes, and getting our uni ID's. i'm pretty in love with this place and everything. i'm so happy! ahh! uni is pretty laid back here so that is also nice...and i'm also happy because you dont have a lot of classes here, so there are chanced that i'll have close to a 4 day weekend...
so, thats all for now. i'm going to try and be more regular with this thing so i dont have to write about 5 days in one entry. g'day mate!
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