from the land down under

time for an update from the land down under. I don't even know where to start, these past four days have been fabulous and so full of interesting stories I don't really have the time or space to put them all here. BUT I will hit up a few of the highlights.

number one: the trip here. O. M. G. I literally thought I was in an alternate universe. QANTAS is a great airline and they did everything possible to make us comfortable but couldn't take away from the fact that it was 16 hours on a plane. and the weirdest part was that it was night the entire time because of how we were traveling. so by the time I saw the first glow of daylight as we approached Melbourne I had almost forgotten what it looked like. literally no sense of time or place the entire flight. but we got to eat and watch movies and tv shows for free so that was cool I guess.

dawn in Melbourne

so we got off the plane, got our bags, went through customs, etc. then went outside to meet chilly temperatures. after 16 hours on a plane it was actually really refreshing, but still a little shocking considering that last time I had been outdoors for any length of time it was circa 87 degrees. and that was at 9AM. our hotel wasn't ready for us to check in yet so we (with the help of our program director and guide, Neil) explored Melbourne a little before finally getting the chance to take a shower. then, we kept exploring and wrapped up the day with dinner across the river in Southgate (a shopping/restaurant district). everything was in walking distance.

first thing's first: coffee and blueberry pie. coffee shops here typically serve their coffee in those little glasses.

<>

Melbourne

Hosier Lane. grafitti in Melbourne, especially on this block, is often viewed as an art form, not vandalism. some of it was really impressive.

Chinatown. Asian culture (and food) is really big in Melbourne.

<>

another view of some city buildings

dinner at Blue Train Cafe. after about 60 pictures, this was my first with actual people in it.

Melbourne is a wonderful, creative place, very artsy, with a wide variety of people. one thing that was somewhat surprising to me about it was there weren't many "sketchy" areas. obviously we only saw a little of the city, but even when we asked our guides how safe Melbourne was, they seemed to think its biggest threat was drunk and "rowdy" people near the bars after 1-2am. well duh.

on Sunday we left Melbourne and went 6 hours north via bus (although our version of the trip took about 10 hours for various reasons) to Mildura, where we are now. I have a lot of things I could tell about the trip and what has happened since we've been here, but the internet in this hostel is really slow and loading just the few pictures I've shown took forever, and since this blog post is kind of pointless without pictures I'll just give a brief description.

our trip took longer mostly because we had to retrieve one person from the airport, and turn around and head back to the hotel to retrieve another person who didn't realize we were coming to get him at the airport so took a cab to downtown. okay. we also discovered that stopping for "10 minutes to refuel the bus and have a bathroom break" means everyone walks down the street to the coffee shop. okay. so then we arrive to our lunch destination (at like 2PM), Logan's Pub, which was so far out in the middle of no where it makes Carbon Hill look like a metropolis. also, there were children in the bar as well as a pony named Henry. IN the bar. people were hanging out playing pool, we got some weird but good local fare, and tried the local favorite beer (Carlton Draught) which kind of tasted like a mix between Yuengling and Bud Light and came in these miniature mugs. again, all of this is absolutely worthless without pictures.

we arrived in Mildura and unpacked in our hostel/guesthouse, Stopover. it typically serves as a traveling workers'/backpackers' residence but we have basically taken over and the few other guests that are here hate us, 95% positive. on Monday (yesterday) morning we got a tour and history of the area, then in the afternoon essentially had "syllabus day" for our class. today (Tuesday) we dove right into camera operation. I received a digital SLR on loan from the university and got to learn how to play around with some of those mysterious settings and absolutely loved it. we are also required to keep a journal where we write, draw, glue, etc. ideas and objects that inspire us. the right side of my brain doesn't get too much work, and let me tell you, it is sore. but I really do enjoy exploring this artsier side of myself (even if I'm making it up, which is a possibility). we also have been studying the work of other photographers and how they use different elements of photography to express their ideas. it's incredibly deep and a lot of it kind of goes over my head but some of it really resonates.

tomorrow, we are leaving very early to head 120km north (that's what they keep telling me, I forget the miles conversion so it's meaningless, maybe like 75 miles?) to Mungo National Park to spend the day and night before returning to Mildura Thursday morning. we pretty much will be walking around this park, hearing stories about the Aboriginal people of the area, and taking pictures. maybe I will be able to use the university computers next time I blog and upload some better stuff.

ok so I was just about to sign off and someone just said there is a mouse in our hostel. so two other girls and I just started meowing to try to scare it off..........................................bye

xoxo