Cultural Crash Course

Well hello all! Its been a bit since my last post, but with school and Jordan being here, I have found a free moment to write a quick post. Granted it is 1 am but don’t worry, I don’t have class until 2:15 tomorrow, so I will get my recommended eight hours of sleep! Anyway, Jordan and I have been having a blast! It has been a whirlwind of activity, but it has been so nice to have her here. She is leaving Friday morning though, which is sad. We have done so much in the small amount of time she has been here. We went to St. Kilda which is a nice little beachy area and then that evening a bunch of people showed up and we did a little pub crawl. We also toured downtown Melbourne and Jordan was able to take her first street car tram ride. We did some shopping... I didn’t buy anything, but Jordan got some souvenirs. I totally could have broken down and bought this one whole outfit however. We walked into this one store because I wanted to try on a shirt that I thought looked nice. Well... you would have thought that the King of England had just walked in, as the two women working in the store were bringing me clothes left and right. I would walk into the dressing room and then three shirts would appear. This happened EACH TIME! At first I was getting a little freaked out, because I wasn’t going to buy anything in the first place and I only wanted to look at this one particular shirt... anyway as time went on I kinda started liking the pampering so I just let them bring me clothes. I was putting on jeans and shirts galore that the first lady was bringing me and then I had changed into all sorts of different shoes that the other girl was bringing me. Each outfit was better than the next and I was really starting to fall in love with everything I put on. Unfortunately, but luckily I suppose, reality hit when they started talking prices. I finally just told them that I would have to think about what I wanted to buy and just come back. They weren’t too happy with that, but then again I didn’t ask for the service. I just wanted to try on one simple blue button up shirt. The rest was just a fun game... After I surfaced from my visions of grandeur in high end fashion we checked out a couple more shops and caught a tram back home. Everyone will be happy to know I spend all of $0 on that shopping spree. I was feeling pretty good. Minus one pair of black jeans that I will probably be going back for at some point in time.
Sunday was a really dreary day with super cold temperatures and a lot of rain, so we opted to stay in. Monday was pretty lax as well with just a couple of strolls downtown. Tuesday night was fun however. We hit up a couple of local hangouts and then went to a comedy club. The people were pretty funny. There were several comedy acts and when they found out that there were Americans in the room they all got pretty excited and started ragging on us. It was all in good fun and was overall a good evening. Tonight we went and checked out a casino. There is a massive complex here with heaps of restaurants, shops, High end stores like Louis Vuitton, Prada and more.... Then there is like a five story casino. Jordan and I spent five dollars on some random slot machines. I would rather play poker, but the poker tables they had open were already pretty full and I don’t really have the money to gamble away... but overall it was an awesome experience. I have never really gambled outside of an occasional poker game at home. It was neat to just be in a casino with flashing lights and “place your bets” noises coming from all around.
After our walk about and our five dollar loss we went to a bowling alley to meet up with some friends. Jordan and I and a couple other people didn’t bowl, but it was fun just to hang out. It was a pretty cool venue called Strike. It was all underground and there were different sitting areas with cool looking bars. All of the lanes were blacklit and really cool. It was just an overall good evening with friends, both new and old. After that and watching a couple of the boys from our group play an intense pool tournament we headed back home to the village. Tomorrow, or later on today if your really want to get technical, Jordan and I are heading to the museum to do one final cultural adventure before she leaves. I have been to one section of it before and it is pretty awesome! What’s even more amazing is that it is free for students so that is a super bonus!!
Friday marks two full completed weeks of class which means I only have 10 left, which is absolutely crazy to think about. My time here is going by insanely fast! I know I’ve said that before, but when you look back and think... Wow it’s already August, in five days I will have been out of the USA for an entire month and I only have four months left... I don’t think I can get everything I want to done!
Well... thirty minutes later and I’m still just typing away. I should probably get some shut eye. Until next time, No worries!