The Final Stretch...

Since I came back from New Zealand, there has been lots of down time and studying. I'm 3/4 of the way done with 1 more final on the 21st and then I am free to do what I want until July 2nd when I have to leave.

It has finally turned into fall here and we've had a few nights of very wintry weather. I wish I had warmer clothes and I wish Unilodge has central heating, because every time I go to the bathroom or out in the hall I freeze. We've also had some wild weather- i.e. wind and lots of rain at random points in the day. This morning it became torrential and I couldn't even see out of my windows. And then, water starting pouring through the window, obviously the windows have not been sealed properly. I thought the building was going to blow over, but it passed and now it is sunny.

Turning into fall on Campus

When I am not in the library with my Library Club (LC) members... or my LLC girls, I am out doing some things in Melbourne I haven't had much chance to do. This is what the last month has looked like:

Gym. Katie and I joined the gym again, and we have been gym buddies throughout the month of June. It's definitely helpful to have a gym buddy, because we motivate each other. We also went swimming at the gym pool, which was super fun. Before I go home I want to get down to about 62kg, which is like 135, because that's about what I was when I left New York. Silly Australia making me gain weight.

Cooking. With more free time, I have been able to improvise on dinners more. Last night I made lamb fillets. Katie and Laura came over and Katie & Laura made cabbage, pumpkin and gnocchi. It was a delicious meal, and the lamb turned out great. I had never made it before! Last week, Katie gave me the idea to make chicken nuggets. I took a chicken breast, dipped it in flour, egg and breadcrumbs and with a little oil in a frying pan cooked them up. They turned out soo good, and they have been making fun of me ever since for being super enthusiastic about it.

Chicken Nuggets from Scratch!

Visitors. Last week Nikita came to Melbourne with 2 of her friends from Uni in Sydney. We made plans to meet up, and along with Katie we went to St. Kilda to a restaurant called Lentil As Anything. Lentil As Anything is a little restaurant that accepts donations in return for food instead of having fixed prices for their meals. It started out as a place where artists could go to eat when they didn't have a lot of money for food, and then when they got money they would pay more to make up for all the free meals they got. They encourage you to "pay what you can or what you feel your meal was worth" It's kind of a cool concept and the food is pretty delicious.
Katie and I shared a Lentil Burger, and an apple curry special. For dessert, we shared a little carrot muffin. We are planning on going back tomorrow for lunch, and it will be delicious I'm sure.

Laura and I on Brunswick Street

Brunswick Street. After not ever going to Brunswick Street throughout the semester, I finally got the chance to go! Katie, Laura and I decided to go to a club/bar called Perseverance. It was the night of the World Cup Opening Game, and it was super packed. As we skipped down to the road, we ran upon a Possum that was pretty fearless and came super close to us. It was cute. Then we got to the bar as it started to rain, and we waited in line for about 30 minutes til we decided to give up and go home. We had grand plans for a movie night with popcorn, but as we walked home we all got tired. We had a run in with an adorable cat (And Katie loves her cats), and then all went home to get warm and dry. Even though it was a fail night, it was still fun.

A few days ago, as I didn't feel like studying, Katie, Laura and I went to Brunswick Street. It was so cute, I had no idea it was as beautiful and eclectic as it was. Brunswick Street is in the suburb called Fitzroy, and I think Hamish and I will look into living over there next year. We walked around and window shopped. It's a pretty alternative area, and is full of cafes and boutiques and vintage stores. We went in a Flower Shop, a fruit store, a garden store, and then decided to stop and grab a coffee. We sat outside and enjoyed the autumn weather.

Beautiful Garden Store on Brunswick St. Note the little sheep statues.

Ice Skating. Tuesday is "Tight Tuesdays" at Ice Skating in the Docklands, which means half price! For only 12 dollars, we got skate rentals and 3 hours of skating. This was our second time going. Charlotte, Katie, Laura, Hamish, Chris and I all had a great time, though my legs were cramping and sore from the gym earlier that week.

The girls Ice Skating

Exam. I had my marketing exam on Tuesday. And besides the fact that I had to take a test for 2 hours, it was awesome. Firstly, the exams for Melbourne Uni are mostly taken at off-site locations in buildings they rent out. In this case, they rented out the Royal Exhibition Building, which is right near the Melbourne Museum, about 10 minutes walk from where I live. It's a huge dome shaped building, and HUGE, (see photo). Inside, there were desks in rows: about 2000 desks to be exact. Each person had a desk number pre-assigned to them, and we had to find our desk. The 'reading period' started at 2pm. I never knew what a reading period was, but apparently you sit there for 15 minutes, not allowed to write anything, but you can look over the exam. I didnt want to do that because I would freak myself out about it. So I sat there bored and filled out my attendance card. Little did I know, we werent allowed to write ANYTHING on ANY PAPER, so I wasn't supposed to fill this out. Luckily, I didn't get in trouble. How was I supposed to know anyway? There were no rules told beforehand. Anyway, the inside of the building was gorgeous- had gorgeous ceilings and architecture. I would love to have a HUGE reception in there for like, my wedding. Except I don't know enough people to be able to fill it up....

Royal Exhibition Building (REB)

All in all, it has been a great finals month. It is nice that my finals are spread out, because it gives me time to have fun and be productive too. I cannot believe that I am down to my final 2 weeks here. It is so bittersweet. I am very excited to see my family and friends and it will be great to be back in NY for the summer. I cant wait to go to a Yankees game, and I am excited about my last summer at Bloomberg. On the other hand, I am really going to miss all of my friends here. It has been an unreal experience, and I feel so close with all of my friends here. On the bright side, the majority of them live within visiting distance and we all have plans to see each other within the next 6 months. And for that, I am happy about. I am going to miss the game of Footy. I'll miss Australia in general- the culture, the coffee, the people, the way of life here. But I know I will be back next year, and so I can only look forward.

Chris and I at Ice Skating

That is all for now- must go read a full semesters worth of notes.