AAAHHH in a good way :)

I wish I updated this thing more often. I always think in my head, oh I want to remember this moment, but I never remember when I actually have the chance to write it down. Blogging is about the only thing I can do online (besides checking my email) that doesn't feel like a waste of time. Sooo here's what's happened the past few days in non-chronological order because that's just too much to expect from my brain:

St. Kilda's
St. Kilda's kind of reminds me of Boardwalk but not really? There's a huge beach there that you can sprawl on and an amusement park right near by. Rollercoasters not really being my thing, I like the shopping part of St. Kilda's better haha. The streets are a mish-mash of cafes, dessert shops (for which St. Kilda's is famous), and little clothing stores. It was fun just wandering around window shopping and peeking at the various wares offered. This one guy just had a bunch of old, rusty looking stuff for sale. He had old cigarette tins, pins, coins, other metally things--pretty much taking vintage to the extreme. I wonder where he found all of it... Anyway we later watched the Oscars in a big ol group with people shouting for their favorites (ahaha like YAY WALL-E!!!). I've never actually watched an awards show the entire way through. I only remember being ecstatic that Slumdog Millionaire won quite a few awards, and then being very sad whenever Heath Ledger was mentioned. I am usually not too affected by celebrity gossip but it truly upset me when I realized that there would be no more Heath Ledger movies. No more roles like Enis in Brokeback Mountain or the Joker in Dark Knight. :(

Victoria Night Market
So much fun! Unfortunately it was the last one of the summer/time I am here in Melbourne. It was like another big fair but with live bands and loads of yummy food for cheap. Melbourne is pretty awesome in the food department. Unlike Ithaca where there is like one really good Indian/Greek/etc place to eat, Melbourne is all about international cuisine, so much so that Australia doesn't really have its own special dishes. I'm in heaven because there's Thai, Indonesian, Greek, Italian, Chinese, Japanese all for fairly decent prices...holy hell I'm going to be such a fatass by the time I go back! Anyway, I had these epicly amazing fried dough dumplings with ice cream and hot chocolate sauce. Tastegasm. D-d-d-damn Tallie and I just DEVOURED it in less than 5 minutes. I am the fat kid that loves cake. or just fried dough + sugar. Anyway, it was just a great atmosphere because there were a bunch of tables outside and hundreds of people were just sitting in the night relaxing with their friends and sharing a few jugs. And then there were people dancing salsa to the band, hee that was cute.

Pugz and Perseverance
Fun fun night again. I heart going with my building mates :). Everyone's always into dancing no matter how sober they are haha. No pressure to dance a certain way and no shame! A lot of people in the US have to dance WITH someone, meaning single guys often just lurk around in the shadows. Here, all the boys are the best dancers ahahahaha. They just go crazy and do whatever moves they like. Amazingly, boys are quite charming when they're not always trying to sneak up behind you and start grinding, GO FIGURE! Best part is that clubs play old school artists like Whitney Houston and James Brown (remixes, too); ahaha best dance moves EVAR. OH ALSO, I met these Mauritian guys and am totally smitten with the way they dance. I saw one of them do this hip swivel move or whatever and when I commented on it, I was told that it's a move common in traditional Mauritian dance. Which um, made it that much sexier. It reminds me of an abroad student from Mexico who, upon receiving my complements about his hip-moving skills, replied, "The dancing...it comes with the passport." HEE hahahaa SO TRUE; yes, Fabian, I am looking at you! Melbourne is so awesomely diverse, even with the insanely large number of American exchange students here. IIII don't know if I want to leave.

Tallie's Half Birthday!
Bought pastries from Thresherman's, which is AWESOME. It's this restaurant + bakery that prices all of its leftover pastries and bread at discount after 3 pm. So basically, yummy pastries for like...$1.50. As I'm spending way more money than I want to here, I am so on Thresherman's like white on rice. New favorite place to go. Anyway, the dozen of pastries were for Tallie's little impromptu bday gathering. We celebrated with some vodka and sprite, hooray, before going out to Club Chase. Chase wasn't bad, played a bit too much techno for my taste. But they had this swanky room that you could just sit and converse in. Best part had to be the fans though. Frats take a lesson here--fans and ventilation are AWESOME for dance floors where people inevitably become very very sweaty. and AHAHAH also awkward moments that I'll leave alone. Came home, talked with Tallie and Maya till 4 in the morning. Wooh wooh slightly drunken conversations :). I love that I'm getting to know people better here. In some ways, I missed out on this freshman year since I kind of abandoned my Donlon floor. I don't really regret it at all considering I ended with you guys as friends :), but it's just buttloads of fun coming back to my room and always having someone to talk to/do something.

First Day of Classes
Went to my first Sex and the Screen lecture. I am SO excited. It's about how relationships, gender roles, sex, love, and suggestiveness on screen affect our real-life perceptions of each. I love that additional viewing materials include L Word, Queer as Folk, and Gossip Girl. AHAHA already half done. I am actually excited to research and compile now. Dear god though there's a lot of essay writing to do... Also went to Australia Now. Conclusion is that I still hate history but am willing to take this class b/c hey, I AM IN AUSTRALIA! In addition, I would like to mention that I only have class 3 days a week. Australia's very geared toward independent study, meaning only one lecture and one tutorial a week. I need to keep on top of my shit!

Cooked dinner with Rohit and Kent. MM butter chicken! Also, I am officially sick for the first time in Melbourne. Trying to sleep last night was miserable. I managed about an hour of sleep despite my congested nose, wooh! I've noticed that around here, no matter how early I plan to go to sleep, I was always end up talking to someone until 3 am or something. I'm not too disappointed :)