Whoever said keeping up with blog posts were easy probably has never owned a blog. Essentially, my blog posts were always delayed by a week, then it became 2 weeks, and now I’m making posts to summarize what happened in each month! Boy, have I gotten extremely lazy. I do apologize for the lack of updates ever since school got more intense. I am studying for 2 midterms as we speak and of course, I would take the time to procrastinate and write a blog post.

I hardly even remember where I had left off, I think it was about meeting new people and starting new friendships. But first, let me talk about Tim Tams. They are the single greatest chocolate desire ever met. You may have seen one and tasted one and have thought, this is nothing special. You have yet to discover the magical hidden world that is behind a Tim Tam: The Tim Tam Slam. I would make an instruction video on how this is done but you simply must search it up and try it yourself. I’ve tried it with original flavour, dark chocolate flavour, and white chocolate and so far, original has been my fave. Although these are a prized possession of Australia, Vancouver has some too in London Drugs, go find them and discover.

I won’t go backwards in time and recount my adventures but I will continue forward. The weather lately has been getting much better from the cold, brutal winds to more soft and warm winds. Apparently, it’s Spring (?) but the temperature has already hit the 20s (Celcius). I am utterly confused. But I ain’t complaining. Some days I would wear summer clothing and on others, it would be of spring attire. Here are some scenes of campus when it was a beautiful day and outdoor luncheons were encouraged.

This coffee shop above is one of the hidden treasures on campus. I finally had the chance to try it out and no surprise, it was good coffee.

At around the time, the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) was going on and Kim had gotten free tickets from her exchange group so I thought why not, let’s hit up an indie film! We saw What Maisie Knew and it was nothing but breath-taking and heart-throbbing. Overall, I really enjoyed the movie. Search it up if you’re interested! I wish there were more films like this rather than huge blockbusters. Also a little side note about the theatre: it was in this old antique 70’s-looking theatre with oh-so comfortable leather chairs and extremely expansive leg room. Wow, now that’s what I call a great theatre.

So having no work to do for the first few weeks of school, my exchange friends and I decided to check out this craze of $1 champagnes at this bar on Thursday nights. Although the champagne tasted horrible, they also had 2 for 1 margaritas which were the greatest things in life. I ordered this strawberry colada and I have to say, if you are ever in town, try it out!

I feel as though I have been brought back to myself in first year uni when I was a mild alcoholic. But how can I resist when the deals are that great?!

Fast forward to a fashion runway brought to you by the city council held for international students! The things and money this city have for excessive activities is crazy! But at the same time, I love that the city takes time to hold so many events to make it more lively at all times! It was a bit chillier that day and started raining but it was still fun before the storm decided to drop by.

This was a performance by a New Zealand tribe!

Coming now to my first dimsum experience in Melbourne with my friend Gordon (who went to my home school in his first year but moved to Melbourne), his girlfriend, and another one of my exchange friends. They brought us to this super fancy dimsum restaurant and I’m pretty sure they called dimsum something else here. Nonetheless, the food was exquisite and nothing short of a great dimsum outing.

I can always count on Melbourne having festivals, shows, etc all around the city at any point of time! A friend told me about this nightmarket that was going on at the Victoria market every Wednesday night so we decided to check it out. Not to my surprise, it was mostly involving food but that’s what I live for, right?

Although it was still winter so it was a bit cold, the atmosphere was just right. There were performances, prizes to be won, and I got myself some yummy chicken wings with home made sauce.

So in one of my classes – Glee Singing, I met two wonderful girls who were locals and we often dine after our class on Thursdays. One of them is actually interested in doing an exchange to my home uni :O If you’re wondering what Glee singing is, it’s basically a class like the show, “Glee”. We do have a lot of people in the class so there are no solos or whatnot and mostly just choral singing to pop songs, medleys, etc. It’s got to be my favourite class semester, no doubt, and barely any evaluation needed! After class one week, we decided to pop by this Taiwanese Cafe to try out the food because I was craving beef noodle soup and clearly having a Nos The withdrawal.

Although the photo looked delicious, it can be deceiving. The food was satisfied my hunger but to no greater extent. I am still on the lookout for better Taiwanese food!

Another day went by and I met up with my friend Kenny, who did an exchange at my home uni back in my first year and who I have not seen for 3 years! Boy, do time fly by fast! We caught up in one of my favourite cafes and had some brunch! He was pretty much in shock since out of all the people he had met on his exchanges, I was the only one who actually came to Melbourne uni to do an exchange.

The other form of weird animal species I’ve witnessed here besides the possum is a mudlark. These beautiful creatures are juxtaposed by the ugly noise that they make. God is very fair, I guess.

One of my local friends invited me to his birthday party and said he would have a lamb spit for bbq. What’s a lamb spit, I said.

This was a lamb spit, he answered. I was bewildered and wondered if all Australian bbqs were like this. That’s crazy, I thought to myself. Well, at least there’s a first time for everything.

Speaking of first time for everything, I finally tried Kangaroo meat! But I’ll explain more of it later on in another post.

First off, I have to say that I enjoy that all of my classes here are quite small. It’s a nice change from a 300-600 people classroom. So in the labs (or practicals, as they call it here), you actually get to interact with the professors because there are not that many TAs doing all of the work. It’s nice to be able to communicate with the professors and perhaps, get that recommendation letter going! 😉

Kenny took me to eat dinner with his close friends at this Mexican Restaurant called Touché Hombre, touche. I loved the restaurant, let alone the food was amazing. Why are restaurants here so artsy?!?!

They had these incredible lamb ribs that were to die for. I don’t how they made it but I will definitely go back for more!

Not to mention their taco platters were extremely creative with the flavours I love. And just look at that delicious and perfectly ripened avocado. *_*

Lip smacking good, I tell ya.

So when I was late one day for my class, I ended up in the same situation as another girl and we ended up becoming friends! Although I rarely go to that class now, she invited me to go listen to Melbourne Uni’s symphony orchestra at the town hall! What an experience. I was mesmerized by the architecture of the town hall and how building and antique the whole room looked. Not to mention the orchestra was amazing.

You would be in awe too if you had this view. 😛

So I’ve been obsessed with finding a great bubble tea shop here and I think I’ve found the one for me – Gongcha. I just keep going back there and every time I walk by, I can’t help but decide if I should wait in line to get one or save money. Honestly, I had it 2 nights in a row and would not mind going back for a 3rd time.

The big sport here has got to be Footy (maybe crickets, too) but Footy was the big thing in season at the moment. Apparently, you just had to experience a footy game so we definitely did that! The stadium where it’s held, the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground), was massive and so grand. We sat up on the top and the tickets weren’t even that expensive.

A panoramic view:

The game that we watched were of Hawthorn against Collingwood. Hawthorn was doing really well in the league and so it was a huge game for the two teams. If you don’t know the game of footy, I suggest you watch some youtube clips. You’ll be amazed at how they play. It’s like a mix between American football and rugby, but the hype is huge because there are many teams and each team has its members. For example, Collingwood had 80,000 members. I won’t delve much into the competition and rumours behind each club’s members but it’s quite a funny read if you have time for that. That’s crazy.

I’m going to finish this post here as I must now study for my 2 midterms! I have been cramming since last Tuesday or so and I am simply freaking out because there isn’t enough time in the world to finish studying! So … wish me luck! 🙂