milestones

Lots to cover in this post, including the first photos to be posted from Melbourne! (obviously not first in the world, but first on my blog) I think I'll go in chronological order to avoid confusion. Friday afternoon I went on the City Treasure Hunt (a Welcome Festival event-this university welcomes international students awesomely). I was in a group with students from Germany, the Netherlands, California and Sweden. Our hosts were from India and Hong Kong. I'm not meeting many Australians, but I am meeting people from almost everywhere else in the world! Anyway, the treasure hunt was my first time on public transit, and my first time downtown. The tram ride was great, except for the old lady who kept on saying "Oi! Can you keep it down?" (We were not being that loud.) Thankfully she wasn't on the tram for very long. Once we got downtown we had different questions to answer and pictures to take ie how many light posts are there at the cricket stadium? and what building is considered the centre of Melbourne? The hunt took us to Parliament, where we got a group photo.

You can see a tram in the background, but its wonky due to the picture taking conditions.
After the hunt we went to an Asian restaurant for a buffet where you pick out raw meat (and noodles and vegetables) and cook them in flavored boiling water that's in the middle of your table. It was very good, especially since I avoided all the freaky meats.

Saturday morning I headed towards campus to catch the bus to the mall and saw not one, not two, not three, but FOUR kangaroos hopping around. Very thrilling. I didn't have my camera, but it was just as well because they were a bit too far away to get good pictures of.
Then I headed to the mall to buy hangers, sticky tac, a notebook, laundry detergent and my very first cell phone. If anyone wants to give me a call, just email me and I'll give you my number.
After my shopping I headed back to campus and met up with Heather(Ontario), Brian(California) and David (South Carolina) to go downtown. I met them at McDonalds where I tried a McOz burger-pretty much a regular burger, but with sliced beets on it. Downtown I picked up the gloves I had forgotten at the restaurant the night before, and we visited a huge outdoor market, went to the Old Melbourne Gaol, and then to an Italian restaurant for dinner. I was pretty worn out by the time I got home-so worn out, that I slept past 6 am for the first time since arriving!