She doesn't call, she doesn't write

But she does update this abomination every once in a while. Due to popular demand (re: the mother's excellent nagging skills), I have gotten my act together and loaded more pictures onto my computer, which means that its time for another round of Amateur Photographer: Melbourne! These are sort of a mish-mash of stuff—places I've explored recently, plus some older photos that I'm throwing in because they prove that I am both actually in this country and that I have friends.

Rewinding a bit back to orientation, I give you the red cliffs of Noosa. If the Sunshine Coast is the bastard child of Santa Barbara and Sedona AZ, then this part definitely takes after the latter. I kept getting flashbacks to Tehiyah's 8th grade trip to Arizona, which was unexpected. Still, beyond the very red, very bright, very clothing-staining rocks is the entire Coral Sea, so its not such a bad deal.

Not only did I go to the beach, but I even swam. Theresa (roommate number 1) and I communed with the trees at Lake MacKenzie. We also both made valiant attempts at appearing effortlessly wind-tossled and cinematic, but I don't think it worked.





We took a nighttime trip around the city a couple days ago, so I give you Melbourne at night. I took this from the main bridge that crosses the Yarra River. The Yarra winds its way through the city, effectively dividing it into two sections. The photo is of the north side of the river, which is the side I live on. I haven't explored south of the river as much as I would have liked, because the university as well as the museums are on the north side.



Another picture of me. This one was taken by Theresa on Acland Street in St. Kilda. We've been here for THREE WEEKS and yet classes haven't even started yet, so I've had a lot of free time on my hands. I've taken to hopping on the tram and riding it as far as I can, getting off when I see something interesting. This picture was taken in the middle of one of those adventures—Theresa and I got off the tram in St, Kilda, got lost in a residential neighborhood, got hit by water balloons (whatever) and then tried to buy iced coffee at a cafe on Acland Street. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as ICED COFFEE in Australia. Seriously, you order iced coffee and they bring you this disgusting coffee, milk, ice cream concoction served in a sundae cup. Its overly sweet, slightly syrupy, and costs five dollars. The one time I asked for an iced coffee without the ice cream, the waitress looked at me quizzically and asked, "and why would you want that, love? Whats the point of the iced coffee without the ice cream?" As if that question could possibly make any sense.

Theresa, Lauren (roommate 2), and other girls from my program and I went to Brighton Beach last week, where I took this picture. Brighton has these little boxes lining the beach. Families own or rent them, and when we were there we saw people holding cookouts out of them.




This was one of my favorites—patriotism is the perfect beach acessory.

Alright, so thats it for now. Classes start for real tomorrow, which should be interesting. I only have American Politics and Society on Monday, but I'm looking forward to learning the Australian view of American democracy. I have been warned by many well-meaning people to not take offense, which means it should be exciting.

hah! the interwebs are no match for me!

I am all that is awesome. And by that I mean that after a week of being shunted from reception desk to help desk to IT and back to reception, I have finally managed to prove that I am a real person (IT was doubting it), that I truly am renting an apartment in my building (reception wasn't sure), and that the problem with my internet wasn't that I couldn't spell my own password (which was the only suggestion the help desk could give me.) In short, I have internet.

And so, without further ado, I give you Shoshi's First Week and a Half Down Under, The Picture Edition:

Orientation was like any sort of large group gathering of strangers, with kids shuffling around and repeating their name, home school, and major over and over again like they were the answers to a pop quiz. Still, I had fun, especially because we were housed in this strange little resort in the beach area of Noosa. It was all very out-doorsy and wildlife-y, which meant a) a lecture about all the various creatures that could poison, attack, eat, or otherwise harm us (a lot) and b) kangaroos!


We took the time to hang out at the beach, surf at the beach, sleep at the beach, eat at the beach, etc. An awful lot of beach time for someone who hates sand, but I actually found myself won over by the amazing location. The best beach-ing by far was on our day trip to Fraser Island. We stopped for lunch and a swim at Lake Mackenzie (after driving our huge tour buses through the undergrowth, over rocks, and even into the surf for hours on end) and were informed that the sand has such a high precentage of silicone in it that you can actually polish your teeth with it. Which we did, of course, but unfortunately I didn't think to document the moment. Still, here is Lake Mackenzie in all its glory.

After that there was a lot of stress involving moving in and buying things, both of which I'd rather not revisit except to say that all buildings that are meant to hold copious numbers of students should be obligated to have doors that stay open for more than ONE FREAKING SECOND. The suitcases aren't going to push themselves, you know. Since then my roommates and I have been exploring the city, seeing the sites, eating a LOT (we've taken to calling our study abroad experience the Gastronomical Tour of Melbourne) and generally hanging out. There are a lot of kids on my program and because the campus is basically empty we've found ourselves hanging out together more often than we should. We travel in packs of ten to twenty kids, entering small cafes and bars and generally taking them over with our loud American-ness. Its pretty amusing, but I'm hoping that as classes start I'll have the chance to get to know other people, preferably ones who don't sound like me.

One place in particular that I took a liking too during all this site-seeing was the Queen Victoria Market. A huge open market, it has what seems like a trillion stalls. It goes on forever - it stretches over almost an entire city block. There are four sections: the fresh produce section, which is something out of a Berkeley Bowl employee's wildest dream, the meat and cheese section (pretty much useless to me, but very pretty to look at and which also includes bread products), the food court (a highlight of the Gastronomical Tour) and the last section which I like to call "random crap." Its basically a combination of the Berkeley Bowl, the Ferry Building farmer's market, and a really good flea market.


The last stop on the wild photographic tour of my Victorian life so far is St. Kilda's Beach. St. Kilda's is an beach-side section of Melbourne filled with twisty streets, great cafes, grungy bars, and the original Jewish settlement in Melbourne. Most of the religious Jews have moved out to the newer suburbs there, but I managed to get kosher kebabs when I was there. My roommate and I made our way down on Sunday for the St. Kilda's Festival, this crazy weekend-long party with lots of music, crafts, and food. My favorite section of St. Kilda's is Luna Park - its an ancient boardwalk that has the oldest hand-operated wooden roller coaster in the world. Each car on the coaster is manned by a conducter who has to pull a hand-brake when the cars speed down the coaster to fast. I haven't ridden it yet, but its' on my to-do list. Right now I just get a kick out of the terrifying moon at the entrance to the park.

Thats it for now - tomorrow we have university orientation, which will most likely act as a distressing reminder that I actually have to do WORK while I'm here. I'll find out what classes I'm taking, how often I actually have to show up to them, and most importantly, what days I have off for travelling. Its midnight here though, so I'm for bed.

Boo the internets!

Okay.

So I had a lovely long post all written about my adventures in orientation (also known as sleep-away camp) and the trials and tribulations of move-in (THINGS COST SO MUCH HERE, and I resent having to buy a whole new apartments-worth of stuff when I already have an old apartments-worth of crap packed up in boxes and overgrown tupperware and spread out in garages and basements across the greater south east) and the awesomeness of my roommates (they are roomates! And they are awesome!), and how much I miss my school roommates (who are roommates! and are more awesome!) and everyone at home, etc. etc, but then the free library internet showed its true crappy colors and crashed, deleting my lovely post. And so instead you get this absurb run-on sentence and the assurances that I'm doing well, settling in, shopping (of course), trying new things, and generally enjoying myself. The rest (and there is more, trust me) will have to wait for a day when the interwebs don't hate me.