Botanical Gardens

I know, I know. I haven't posted in forever. I'll try and sum everything up but still keep some of the detail.

Botanical Gardens: There are pictures, way more than i have posted. I had been told for weeks that i had to go visit there, and i would love it. I forced Kate, my lazy roomate, to come with me- underestimating the distance and the heat. Searching for the entrance, i felt like the child in The Secret Garden. Big bushy fence with overlapping flowers and old trees gaurding the inside. It was gigantic and i didn't know where to start, where to go, or what i wanted to see the most. We pretty much just wandered around taking in the natural beauty. We stopped on this patch of grass and read our books, meditated (half joking and half serious ), and wrote in our journals, trying to remember what we did 3 days ago. It all gets so foggy. We spent a good few hours there, and I'm sure we walked 10km that day. We got lost a bunch too.

Cinema: Went to the theatre with a few people. kristin and i saw dan in real life. The theatre was so beautiful; big red velvet chairs with REAL armrests and you didn't get uncomfortable. Oh, and you're actually assigned your seat? It's strange, but i'm sure thats a much better way of doing it. and, a real red curtain drawn across the screen - fancy.

Thursday Pub Crawl: We played card games on the roof, and i got screwed over and drank a lot really fast. Kristin wasnt feeling well so we decided to go to the second pub, and we got there early before everyone else came. Got some drinks and played ' would you rather' - which was really fun. Then when the others came, we kept up the game mood and played ' never have i ever'. Yhu learn a lot about people in those types of games. The next bar was in the mall ( weird i know ), Melbourne Central, and it was pretty fun - i danced a lot more than i should have and when i stopped i felt really exausted.

Aussie Rules: google aussie rules game. Kristin and I went for indian and i'm really becoming a fan of it, i crave it almost everytime i think of it. It's so filling and nummy. Anyways. We ate quickly and then me, michelle ( irish), kristin, andrew, Nick, and charlie trekked to the Telstra dome. It only costed like 15 dollars because its a pre season game. It was really fun and interesting to see such a strange sport, and it was really fast and pretty intense. So were the fans. I had this angry 8 year old boy ahead of me SWEARING at his team, the team being raped. Then to my left I had two older gentlemen red faced and yelling at eachother, over god knows what. Oh testosterone.
When we got back from the game we had a few drinks and then hit the town on Saturday night. We went to nectar, which was pretty boring but a neat atmosphere. Then we went to St.Jeromes which I really liked despite the fact it was effing packed and the bathrooms were disgusting. It was outside, kind of in an ally. We only stayed there for a bit and then went to this place called The Loft, that Luke got us in for free because he knew a dancer inside ( it wasnt a strip place ). It wasn't really my kind of place...cause it was a club. I still had a good time though, danced a lot to typical dance music that you hear at every bar you go to. Brenden had trouble getting in because he was american and the place was run by serbs and they were upset over the US recognizing kosovo's independance. Then a few hours later, Chris got in a full out brawl with some guy who attacked him for bumping into him...crazy night. He came back with 3 bandages over his eyebrow and a huge gooseegg on his forehead.

Kristins 2 day birthday celebration: in the afternoon i went with Nick and Sarah from perth to Brunswick for lunch and lingering. I came back and met up with the birthday crew and we all went out for mexican food. Initially we had a bit of a problem seating ourselves because we didnt actually have a reservation and it was pretty busy and cramped in there, but Brenden made it happen. I ate so much food. So much cheese. And a good portion of white wine. When we got back we had all planned on going out but i felt very sick and retired to the VERY COMFORTABLE (sarcasm) bed. Apparently i missed out on a lot of gossip, sigh.
The next day, me kristin and brenden went ot the bagel place again and had breakfast. Then we went back to the hostel and ditched brenden cause he went to st.kilda, and picked up charlie. We pretty much just walked across the street for cake, amazing delcisious five star cake that cost a lot. and chai tea latte. We sat outside at the patio right outside the cafe and talked for hours, it was nice having 'girl time' and talking about stereotypical girl things... refer to sex and the city breakfast conversations.

Night Market: Sooo many different shops. It was like farmers market but with tons of different shops carrying handmade clothing and gifts. There was food from literally all over the world that smelt amazing. But i didnt enjoy it as much as i should, infact... I had to leave early. It was so cramped, and when you walked anywhere you were going so slow you felt like caddle. I felt clausterphobic and irritated and left early.

Pulp Fiction: I spent the day with Charlie and Cara laying in the park and drinking coffee at different cafe's on the Yarra, it was beautiful but pretty chilly. I met up with Kristin for our romantic date. You seeee... I applied a few weeks ago to win tickets and just a few days ago i was called and told that i won them. And since it was just kristins birthday, and she has never seen the flick - i took her. Stapped some blankets to myself, and then hit the grocery store for some goods; cheese lots of it, crackers, pita bread, dips, and chocolate bars. Then we went to the bottle shop and grabbed some white wine. It was pretty hard to actually find the Moonlight Cinema, since it is almost in the heart of Botanical Gardens ( or so it seemed). We were right on time. It was sooo romantic. It was an open feild/hill surrounded by the silouettes of australian trees and palms. You could see the city skyline and its skyscrapers in the distance. Stars above. And big bats dipping and zipping across the air. We both ate so much food. So much cheese, again. And without notice, drank more than half a bottle each...we did however feel it when we stood up at the end. Kristin really enjoyed the movie too, so that was a big plus.

Right now i am in Magnation, a store with hundreds of magazines, any that you can imagine. You are encouraged just to sit down and read them - no purchase. You can pick up a decent coffee here too. Or steal in the internet ( which i am doign right now and trying to download lost and failing)



Seating at the midnight market
Midnight market, how crowded it was.

This picture isnt the best quality, but it reminds me of Lost and the scene where kate runs inbetween roots like this and counts to ten. 1....2....3....
The cactus cacti, whatever, garden. Reminds me of Joshs fondness of them
pond at botanical gardens
kate, my roomate, shes so strong...
war memorial in the gardens

me...being so vogue
meditation, we spent the time here reading and just laying around
strange birds, chirping, running
another location where we just lounged about
im so deep....

Cinema - not theatre.

Unfortunately we were unable to find the twister game on Saturday, but the good news is that we went to St.Kilda. It was very sunny, and very hot ouside. It was me kristin adrian lance ( his friend from the UK too ) luke and Ben and his friend too. Mostly everyone just sat and relaxed on the beach, but since i put on a bathing suit - i might as well go in the water. The salt stung my legs, but it was pretty warm if you could get past the wind.
Luke and I almost passed out on the beach sun bathing( with lots of sun tan lotion) while the others went for a pint. He left me at some point to go get something to eat, and when he came back his hand was covered in mint chocolate chip icecream, it was hilarious because he is SUCH a clean freak. But i enjoyed it, even though there was a bit of sand in it...
We had to catch a special bus to get to our Tram, and it was litearlly packed...we were falling out of the doors! It was quite the adventure, i must say.
We were all sooo drained from the sun, I forgot how much it takes out of you. I felt like collapsing. Instead we showered real quick and went out with about half the group to get Indian food, which was much better than i had anticipated.
Since we didn't go out the night before, we all decided to go out after I finished cleaning the kitchen. Originally we were going to go St.Jeromes ( apparently its a really cool bar that i would like ) but we left the hostel too late, so instead we went to PJ's which is pretty close to the Yarra ( beautiful at night. There was a band there playing typical rock covers, even footloose. Almost half the hostel was at this bar, so it was pretty fun. We left quite late, and i was pretty drunk.

I woke up the next morning late, at like 11 with a headache and that overall sick feeling. Showered, ate breakfast and drank Litres of water.
It was Sunday now, and me and Kristin wandered around town, grabbed dinner, and watched a little bit of a Football( soccer ) game. Later that night we went to the Australian Short Film Festival ( the largest outdoor film festival in the world ). It was really cool, so many people sat with picnics and blankets on these roley hills watching 16 four-minute movies. Naomi Watts was there, one of the judges, and so was the other Pirate in pirates of the carribean ( cant remember). It was a really neat event, and im glad i was there for it.

Monday- I had my interview/testing in the early morning with my recruitment agency. I had to do an MS word, MS excel, and a tying test - i did alright. Nothing spectactular.
The rest of the day I was moping around.
That night me Brenden and Kristin went to this bar, where upstairs you get a huge meal for the price of whatever hour it was ( 6:00 you pay 6:00...) and i got a HUGE veggie wrap on fries, it was deliscious. Mmm...
I quit cleaning the kitchen last night, I decided that i couldn't take it anymore.

Tuesday- I woke up quite late and out of it, I'm not all that sure why really. I forgot my freaking shower gel, conditioner, and razor ( recently purchased ) in the stall after and now i'm kicking myself in the freaking ass. There goes 30 bucks. Eugh.
Walked down to the park, in 34 degree weather, and sat uncomfortably under a tree and wrote in my journal which i have been very,very behind in. Picked up some groceries and came back to the hostel to watch some television.
We had the free BBQ on the roof and I looaadeeedd up on food, it was delicious but i should not have eaten so much.
Later that night a small group of us went to the cinema. Kristin and I saw a different movie than the others, we saw Dan In Real Life, it was quite cute. The theatres here are AMAZING. They're like real, REAL, theatres. Red comfortable velvet seats, red curtain across the screen. And massive!



Me- because im adorable! My hair is getting a lot lighter ( you cant tell that well here though)

Luke, he's such a poser. He's from London.
Kristin! She's becoming a really great friend to me here, she looks bad in this pic....She's freaking smart.
Us!
Lance's friend from London ( theyve been life long friends )
Lance. This was probably the 15th picture i took, beacuse in every single one he kept doing this ugly strange face only people from the UK can do, I'm sure.

under the sea

I'm listening to streetlight, and it feels so nice. It's beautiful outside, again. But the internet is down, although temperatily up yesterday. I should have loaded my aquarium pictures then! Oh well.Wednesday, I walked around town with Michael ( he's from Vancouver ) and UK ( Lance ). We went into this super cool shop that had dinosaur eggs, human skeletons ( real ones ), and a lot of stuffed animals ( real ), but neat stuff. Science stuff. And you could buy all these things - for a price. I discovered a new favorite bar of mine, called e;fifty five. It's this underground bar, with a whole bunch of vintage couches and tables. Red walls. Local, beautiful and modern art. Bartender with a sweet afro supplying a variety of beer. And, free internet!Thursday. Valentines day, THE DAY OF LOVE. No I'm kidding with you, I'm actually quite anti-valentines day. Mostly everyone here knows that but i was being sarcastic/mockingly happy about the day saying things like 'but its the big looovee day' - and of course trying to get free shit. Also, there was the 'Valentines Pub Love Crawl' going on at night. Usually there is only about 20 people that sign up, this time there was probably 50. I've made lots of friends here. But not someone that i could actually tolerate for very long, but I've made friends with this girl Kristin from Misouri ( yes...im spelling it like that ). And we've been hanging out a lot, she's real and cool to hang with. There are sooo many Canadians here though, it's almost like I'm still at home. I'm going to come back with such a strange accent ( also, a lot of my friends are from he UK ).Anyways - at the first bar the guys were suppose to draw names out of a hat,find her, and date her. No one came up to both me and Kristin. So sad. Apparently all the names were drawn too. Second bar was much better. I drank two glasses of wine quite quickly determined to make the second one better. I got a guy named Damien, and went and chatted with him and his friends who were here on a vacation from being Accountants in Sydney ( they were real party animals, haha- that was the joke we had...apparently everyone gets this look of boredom on their face when they tell them their jobs). I hung out with them for a bit, met some of their lady friends from NZ. We parted and I went to hang out with my usual group of people these days; Kristin, Ben, Lance, Adrian, Chris,Luke and usually Brenden( but not this time).The last pub was alright, I was sober and dancing exausted me. I talked to one of the guys from Reception for a bit, he was really cool and we talked about music ( he really likes the slackers). Went home and talked to my mom on the computer, who was just getting to work ...yesterday - that's so weird. haha.So yesterday! Kristin Me and Brenden made plans to go to the Melbourne Aquarium. We wandered cafe's to decide where to eat lunch, finally picking a cute place. [This city is amazing, they use their space so effectively. During mid day the alley ways open up to crowded cafe's and tiny stores, and pack up at 3 like they never existed]. We walked over to the aquarium and got 10 dollars off because we're ' students'. It was really awesome, but it made me think of Mat the entire time. Like ' ou i have to get this picture for mat', haha. We watched the shark feeding, but they didnt eat all that much - the turtles were eating like crazy - - - they were sooo adorable. There were so many cute kids in the audience, and the scuba divers feeding the sharks were exchanging waves with the kids. It was sweet.I held a live ( key word ) sea star and had it slooowlllyy wiggle off my hand.Afterwards, we met up with their friend Charlie ( girl ) from England ( another one, i know ) for coffee. Then I came here and counted down the time until I had to clean the kitchen, and finished it in 1 hour! Went up on the roof and had a few beers, met Lance's life long friend Danny ( girl, too ) who is obsessed with Lost too..and i immediantly felt a strong connection to her. But, she has seen the second episode of season 4...we started talking lost talk and everyone around us was looking at us like some nerdy star wars geeks. They're the losers.I went to bed fairly early out of boredom. I have this couple in my room from Guelph...so weird. They left this morning and took like 2 hours to pack up all their shit at SIX THIRTY in the morning...making sooo much noise I wanted to rip out my hair.Today I'm not totally sure what I'm doing. I think I'm going to St. Kilda ( with that group i said before), apparently theres this 'world's biggest twister' game going on... and some volleyball championship. I just want to go to the beach! And yes... I'm going to wear sun screen.

Weird sea dragon things...
This fish was fascinated by me. It also eats ducks...
cute,cute lizard thiing
yeah... i was on the set of Lost.
leapard shark
Jelly fish!
more!
my favorite picture right now
happy aquarium

cute me
little boy and scuba diver
Kristin and Brenden
me...being 7
Intense Octopus. I made a fast sudden movement at it, and it changed colours and pattern-CRAZY

Uh oohh

going right for her!
toiitllee
dun dun....dun dun

looking for woorrkkk

Usually it sounds as if a sun burn fading is a good thing. Not when everything is fading, except for your nose. It is still red, blistery, and shiny.
I bet you can't guess my nickname...

Monday was a relaxing day, to recoup from sunday. I read on the roof ( with sunscreen ), and mostly hung out with UK. Went grocery shopping and still managed to forget to buy real soap and actual conditoner. I had a lot of help with cleaning the kitchen, so it was done in a jiff! Everyday i clean it i find something new and disgusting, that day i found a clear container of organs...i was pissed.
Crawled up to the roof and met some new people. When we finally got kicked off ( it's nice that the noise law here is midnight) and i talked with this guy from DC for a while then snuck off to bed.

Tuesday was the dreaded, find-a-job day. Initially i had planned on getting a pub job, but found out that i can easily get an administration or reception or just data entry job and get paid like...22-26 dollars an hour. So i've been applying a lot online and getting in contact with an agent.
I went to my SWAP/IEP orientation yesterday, it was a bit of a let down because a lot of the information i had already taken just from talking ot people around here. I did however learn that we need a tax number ( like a SIN number ) to usually get a job. And i purchased a cell phone there, which i thought was a good deal until i compared it to other people at the hostel and realized i was kinda ripped off... eugh. Whatever, it is one of those boxy Nokia phones, and they last forever - so.
I was walking home ( after finally buying shampoo SUN TAN LOTION and conditioner ) and met up with Kirsty( UK girl) and Daniel ( Montreal - soooo many canadians here.) And we went shopping at Melbourne central, it's so secretive and i would have to describe it in person OR take pictures. But when you get inside it is gigantic and overwhelming.

Last night was the BBQ,and i was soo excited, and soo hungry. I was far up in the line, and then found out that vegetarians get to be served first. So I got to grab my shit first...mmm. They had veggie burgers, green salad, potato salad ( freaking amazing ), cold pasta salad, toast aaanndd a delicious fruit salad. For free! You should've seen how many people were there, if i were homeless i would come every tuesday.

I read a bit and then started to clean the kitchen again. I was not in the mood last night, and it just sucked because a group of people were going to the movies... another were playing cards... drinkign, and i'd love just to be able to sit down and do that- but i cant! I didn't get help with the garbage and this there there were 8, heavy bags. One ripped open in the elevator and i got a concoction of sour milk and watermellon on my feet ( damn beautiful sandals ). Then when i was heaving a garbage bag over my shoulder into the 5 ft tall garbage bin... i slammed my hip into the side of the bin and buckled. It just went down hill from there. Idiots walking in on the kitchen when the GATE IS UP, finding lettuce that looked like moldy saggy bread.
Gah.
I wasn't planning on drinking but i was so cranky after the kitchen... and luckily i found 12 bottles of beer in the fridge ( leftover from someone else ) so i shared them with the table. We played this game 21 ( its like dix, played in french, and you like '10' in day camp games ). But this one you added a signal to replace a number, and i swear no one could get past 12...especially me. I kept doing the wrong signal. And because i screwed up so much i drank a loottt.

The intenet has been down for a day now, and it's driving me insane! I need to do Job stuff!

St. Kilda!!!

I went to St. Kilda yesterday, south of Melbourne on the bay ( attached to the ocean), for the festival...it is the largest outdoor free music festival. 300,000 people were there yesterday.
Got there early, around 12:00. Wandered the streets and the little shops, and i finally purchased some sandals that have given me really bad blisters...but i love them. Theyre the new roman looking things.
We had lunch at this restaurant called SoulMAMMA, it was amazing. Vegetarian buffet style, and the view was sensational ( aussies love that word.)
Stupid me, didnt wear sun screen all day and it was bloody hot out, now i have a ridiculous burn on my back and chest... i put on my jumper(sweater) and took the bullet.
Got lots of pictures.
Met up with MJ's childhood friend and her freinds. We went to the main tent and watched the bands, it was so packed. You werent supposed to drink outside, but we did anyway. Carlton beer, it's good, even in the can ( surpriseeee).
I loved this melbourne band called Operation Please, and just danced and drank in the park...it was so fun. But when i went to the bathroom and took off my glasses i remembered how bad drinking and sun is. i have a huge, ugly, very sore burn on my nose cheeks LIPs and chin. Eugh.
We got back at the hostel as sun was setting. It was a lovely day.

st.kilda

wonderful bridge i took pictures on.
i look uncomfortable?
yes....that is my glamourous sun burn! Look at that glass tan...oh and where my pendant goes.
300,000 people were in st.kilda all together, this was ONE stage.
rocker karina
my roomate MJ to the right, and her friend Mary
Boardwalk...
bridge again

vegetarian restaurant, SoulMAMA. So amazing, Buffet style...mmm
me at the rest
infront of luna park...this must be scary at night!
crowded, crowded streets.
Bob dylan glasses, LA streets, im so hxc.

The night before, JD <3
the morning i went to st kilda. i love reading on the roof. its beautiful
view from our roof
chuch bells that annoy the crap out of you.




Sunday Feb 10. Written in the morning.

Friday morning was like the four season. Sunny, windy, still, and then out of nowhere, while i was sitting in starbucks forcing quiche down my throat, it just pooouuurred down. I had to go to my IEP/SWAP station to set up my orientation, luckily they had a printer and photocopier there so i did some more of the errands i had.I came back to the hostel for a bit to talk to josh, but when it got past his bed time i decided to go to the park ( wherever that was, i didn’t know) and get some groceries. The Yarra is like 2 blocks from my hostel and has a beautiful park, as you can see earlier in this blog. It was so peaceful, I just sat on the bank and relaxed. I felt so touristy taking all the pictures that i did, but it was well worth it. Wandering back I found a cool alley with graffiti, later found out that Melbourne dedicates some alleys for this and actually places them in maps calling them walkways. They’re so hip.I came back here and took a long nap because I felt so drained, and half-asleep i cleaned the kitchen. This guy, Noah, from BC offered me some gurn but I went to bed at 11:30, i’m still jet lagged okay!Yesterday morning I spent reading on the roof for 2-3 hours, i think its euphoric up there, when people aren’t abusing the space with smoke. I actually had an appetite and made a real lunch. Caught up with my roommate, kate, in the tv room and asked her out for a pint. We met up with her friend Steph ( guy ), super funny. And just as we were getting to the pub we met up with our other roommate, Mary Jane ( real name, i love it), and all went to Transit. We had a really great time, lots and lots of laughs. It was something I expected, and hoped would happen when i arrived. We stopped at a Bottle Shop ( liquor store) and headed back to the hostel because i had to clean the kitchen...unfortunately.We had a few drinks in the common area, and then i unwillingly started to clean. I had help out with the garbage from steph, which cut me down 2 trips. And Mary Jane was cold from being on the roof ( night time party place) so helped me clean the big, frozen, rotten mess at the bottom of the fridge – it was truly kind of her- which she is.The roof was so fun, and so stereotypical. It’s just a looongg bench under a canopy with alcohol ( mostly cheap beer and gurn, crappy cheap wine that tastes like bad juice). I just popped in somewhere, and shared a bottle of wine with MJ and some special JD with Steph, bad influence. I met a lot of cool people up there. I hung out mostly with the guys that helped me out on my first day, they day when i was crying and couldn’t get the phone to work and wanted to just give up. We got kicked off the roof, and instead of going to bed ( like i planned and promised, god i have no self control). The two guys ( t.dot and UK), another guy i just met from California ( who was a hoot ), a sweet girl from Vancouver, and another guy persuaded me to go out to some bars/clubs. It’s kind of ironic that I’m in Australia hanging out with 2 canadians and an American, but we bonded over being dumbfounded at the new words and drinks and food. Tomahtow- tomaytoe.This was my first bar/club experience! I laughed when I got downstairs. There were green lazer lights and all. T.Dot guy bought me a pint, because i am dirt poor. They got shots called Fresh Pussy...mmmm? No one wanted to order them and say it. It was fun, but a little irritating i had to yell just to talk. They played soo many 90’s dance music, RETROOO. Went back to the hostel to get my ID, when i came back out only California and Uk were there, so we went and got greasy springrolls...it’s was nummy. T.Dot and Vancouver had gotten ‘lost’ somewhere. I persuaded them to just go back to the hostel because it was past 2 and i had planned to get up the next morning by a decent time.Snuck in my bed, slept.This morning I woke to Steph, knocking on our door at 8 whispering kate! Kate! He comes in, still drunk off of his ass making all of us laugh. Well, except for the guy under my bunk who made it clear he was awake, so did our neighbours banging on the wall. He hadn’t slept, was still drunk, was km’s away from his hostel and has a plane to catch in a few hours. Oh steph.So today I’m going to St.Kilda! It’s this beautiful town south of Melbourne on the bay/ocean with tons of cute shops, markets, pubs, and beaches! There are even penguins there ( sometimes ) so i hope to get some good shots. I’m going with MJ, but might go with California and UK because they have a car rental for today. Who knows?