Ian Potter Museum and Shots

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Today was another adventure day in the city. I planned on going to the Chinese Museum in Chinatown and then maybe grabbing a coffee and exploring a bit. (L) Springvale Station where I get on the train.

I got off the train in Melbourne Central and decided to get to know what this tall building in the center of it was (R). This is the shot museum (no not alcohol shots, bullets). You can go inside the first level and read about how they made shots back in the day. Here is how its made:
"Led was melted at the top of the tower and into a basin that had a removable perforated plate called a 'pouring card'. The assembly was positioned above a fire-bricked shaft leading to the basse of the tower.Perforations, each about tw-thirds of the diameter of the final shot size, separedted the flow of molten lead into streams, which then broke up to form droplets. The droplets were shaped and solidified during the fall and finally cooled by dropping into a trough of water at the bottom of the tower." Here is a pict of the machinery.

After the Shot Museum I walked around the mall at central station. I was surprised how big it was, really huge. Maybe 6 stories of shops and food places and the train as well. In order to find shops they have a directory (like we do at our malls) except theirs are digital touch screens! Total high tech but I think I like ours at home because I know how to use it... aka read.


I got to Chinatown around 1 and (after some work) found the museum. There was a sign that read that it was closed until the 28th of August due to revamping of the museum. Poo. I went in and asked the Chinese men if there was something else they suggested to go look at. They gave me some ideas and I went my way, agreeing that I would come back when they re-opened.

I walked around Chinatown a bit, going into shops and realizing I was a poor college student when I looked at a pair of shoes for 112$ (originally 280) and put them back. I would like to comment on how shoes here are pretty expensive. Runners for example are like 250 where at home my gym shoes were like 60. I decided to enter the Target shop in chinatown where things were a bit more my price. I told myself I wasnt going to buy something unless it fit and was around 20. I didnt end up buying anything. I need to relax with worrying about spending money. I just dont want to waste it is all.

Some Photographs of Federation Square:



I jumped on a tram and headed down to flinders st station where they have federation square (I was just there yesterday with the street performer). Using my handy dandy guide book (thanks again chrissy) I learned that I could go see the Ian Potter Center where they had all sorts of art work for free. On my way I got distracted by an amazing glass shop that had a movie about how the girl made one of the pieces in the display.

The Ian Potter Center was really cool and had some great aboriginal art along with traditional artwork. There was no way to sneak photos. Looking through this museum maybe took about 3 hours and soon enough it was 4pm. I said I would come home around this time so that I could get work done. On the train timeline it said that I had 10 min before my train came so I decided to look around some ally ways. One of the cool things about Melbourne is that you can wander down an allyway (and no not get raped) but find some great coffee and other shops. Here is one such allyway. Looking at my watch I dashed back to the train, caught it and got home.

From what I can guess at (my memory fails me at this part of the story) I got home, did some hw, tea, and then watched the Offspring with my cousin Kat in it.

VIC Library, Fed Square, and out to dinner

Saturday, August 21, 2010

I woke up early (like 7am) to go to Becs footy match. However, after looking at how cold it was and realizing I would be outside from 8am till 4pm watching 3 matches I decided to stay home and put off the footy till next week when (hopefully it would be warmer) there would only be two games and less cold time.
Instead I went back to bed and woke up around 11am to go into the city. I decided to go to the Victoria Library because I had read in one of my amazing tour books (courtesy of my amazing sister)




L: George and the Dragon. ohh ahhh. R: Jean D'Arce. Had to take a pict.
Almost forgot; there was this guy- Sir Redmond Barry Doctor of Law and a Judge of the Supreme Court. Name sound familiar? Ive got heaps of classes in this guys building (named after him).

Anyway, enough with the outside. Once I got inside there was security, and then the library. They had heaps of computers to use and off to the right they had an interactive gaming room for kids with a wii, big screan, video games etc. It was pretty cool. I went up the stairs and found an art gallery.

(L) Some cool paintings that i liked, (C) Sir Charles Darling- he has many things named after him such as Darling Harbor i wen to in Sydney (R) what melbourne used to look like. hahaha. thank god im not staying in the colonial melb, i would go crazy (plus it would have taken me months to travel here by ship, lol).
The art gallery was 3 rooms large and bc they didnt have a guard I snuck the photos in. Probably not allowed.

I then went upstairs to see what I could find. On the 4th Floor they had a museum attributed to books and such. I saw a tablet that had been used 20,050 BC!!!!!!!!!! I didnt take any photos here because I didnt want to damage anything (such as the practically prehistoric tablet). It was really neat to see old bibles, torahs and even a midget library (small collection of books no bigger than an inch tall).

The next floor up, 5th Floor, was dedicated to the history of Melbourne Victoria. They had some interesting things including (and those who know me shouldnt be surprised) the story of Ned Kelly and the Kelly gang (bushrangers)! Here is some of the ish they did: drugs, illegal use of horses, theft. Not too intense in my book but he still was a rebel. At one point Ned and the Kelly gang devised an armour type thing they wore consisting of full helmet with eye slits, body and back cover, and shoulder covers. They had Neds at the museum (R).








This level also had some images of old Melbourne:













I thought they were cool



On the 6th Floor it was essentially just an outlook over the main portion of the library. Not a museum, but I still went up there to see what it was about. (R) This is actually the view from the 4th Floor I believe.



After the Vic Library, which seemed more like the Vic Museum, I decided to go wander around down flinders st station. At federation square there was a street perfomer. According to my indigenous studies friend Jake ( i think thats his name) he is fantastic to watch, does it for a living, and actually went to school for the job. I decided to sit down and watch. He was fantastic, I really had a great time. He would interact with the crowd or passerby's ("Daddy, I havent seen you in so long" to an older gentleman). He also juggled flames. I enjoyed it, and i guess he could tell, because he called me up to have me in the show. If it wasnt fun already, it was now. I was among two guys and I had to check them out, pick between them, decide I didnt like either of them, and go after a stranger and sit on his lap. The two guys realizing they were alone embraced each other. This was all done with interpretive dance. It would have been nice to have a video or pict but I was all by myself today so that wasnt going to happen. Heres some images of the show:











After this I caught a train out of flinders station (at 4pm) to come home to get ready to go out with everyone.

Bec, Micheal, and I drove to a restaraunt to meet up with josh, mic and sarah (Ive hung out with them previously if you can remember). We sat down, ordered drinks (FINALLY a place that sells mojitos!!!!!!) and then ordered food. I got a cheese pizza because I had been craving pizza. It was super good. After dinner we then went over to a TAB (gambeling) but we didnt feel like loosing and money that night so the guys had a beer and then we left. Here is some photos:










Left to right: Me, Bec, Josh, Micheal, Sarah, Mic



*****Culture Note: Today was Election day to vote in the new parliament and decide upon a new prime minister. Voting is mandatory here and if you dont go in to vote you will recieve a fine. The two main parties are Labor and Liberal. There are other parties as well but not as significant. Picture (L) Julia Gillard for Labor, (R) Abbot for Liberal. The votes were tallied towards seats in the Senate and they were tied. We are now in a hung parliament (and have been for over a week). They seem to be trying to figure it out. Whats there to figure out? Dont you just count the votes and whoever has more is PM? and if they are tied dont you have a backup system for this? It doesnt seem like its too clear. It appears that both lib and labor are trying to get the other parties on their sides and that maybe the other parties votes will go towards them? Not sure, but how long can parliament be hung?*****

Fish Fry and Shopping

Friday, August 20, 2010

I cant seem to remember what I did during the day. I reckon that I stayed home, listened to lecture and tried to be productive in some way. Sorry bout the lack of information there. I was home for tea so I dont think I went to the city.

At about 6pm Kevin came over and the whole family sat down for the friday fish and chips and salad. Peter really makes a mean fish fry using rockfish, shark or whatever else. Its great to see kevin and it always feels like a fancy fish fry, i like it.

After dinner Bec, Micheal and I went to the local mall to look for a dress for Becs birthday. The mall was crazy cool tho, they had everything from Prada, Tiffanies, and Chanel to the Gap and so on. I dont think ive actually even seen a Prada store I feel like if I went in I would be so scared to touch anything, less i break it and have to sell my life just to pay for it. jk of course.

Getting back home I sat down and watched Waking the Dead with Anita and Peter. Around 11pm Bec and Micheal decide that they want to go to krispy cream, and would i like to join. YES, i would have to be stupid to say no to an offer like that. I got a cinnamon, and a blueberry- delish. we got home later and I went to bed.


*****Culture Note: Driving on the other side of the road has already been established. But along with driving on the left comes the drivers seat on the right, the fast lane on the left hand side (as opposed to our right, duh), standing on escalators on the right while passing on the left, etc. Our whole system of walking, driving, standing but the opposite*****

Note~ A photo has been added to entry titled: I Dislike Genetics Practicals.

Salsa?? No

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Class today as usual.

10-12 psych
worked with alyssa over the phone about our trip
2:15-3:15 pol
4:15-5:15 pol tute

Psych was interesting. Afterwards I worked on some psych hw and talked with alyssa about our trip plans. Things were still up in the air and she wasnt sure what her plans were but we tried to figure that out so that we could sort out OUR plans together. I ate lunch outside and talked to chrissy and bernie about my trip. The trip is going to cost a bit and i was a bit uneasy about spending the money on it. thats just how i am, worried about spending even a dollar. They assured me that it was a good deal and im only going to be on this side of the world once (I beg to differ- i would like to come back. and i havent even gone to asia!). They also tried to convince me that "couch surfing" was a bad idea.

Politics was like normal- learned stuff ive never heard of bf.

I had my pol tute and my tute guy (david) told me and another girl that we werent on the roster for his class. He said this was tute 3 of week four and he had the final roster. Uhhhhhh. after the tute the other girl and i found our way to the politics office... where it was closed. fast foreward to the weekend where i found out what happened- apparently i was signed up for a tute that was on thursday at 415 that was not davids. There were two tutes at the same time, diff buildings and i had been showing up to the wrong one the whole time. I would also like to point out that the first tute me and that guy went to the wrong room. I think im pol tute cursed.

After going to the pol office I quickly walked to the tram stop all the way across campus. I planned on going salsa dancing for free at this one place in the city. I tried to get some of my friends to join me but zoe had work and carolin doesnt like that type of thing so it was just going to be me. the dancing started at 5:30 and i figured i had just enough time to get there from my 515 class end. well i got to the tram stop and realized I was on the wrong side of campus. It was going to take too long to walk back, take the tram, and walk to blocks to the dance place, there was no way i wasnt going to be late, so I took the tram and train home.

I got home and we had dinner and then I got on with alyssa about the trip again.

I dislike Genetics Practicals

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Because its an "on" week I have a lab so I have to go to school today even though its wed.
I took the train to uni and went to prac. If you remember last time I had prac I didnt have a proper seat. I was hoping that I could get the same seat that I had that time because I liked my table buddies and wanted to stick with them. This did not happen and I got stuck in seat 108 (as opposed to seat 5 i was in last time). I would like to point something out- how well can kids learn in a practical when there are over 100 students????!!!!!!! seriously, if i need help I have to search for someone to help me because there arent enough lab techs per amount of students. There are so many kids in such a big room that they have many tv screens where the head tech goes through pieces of the experiment at a time and you watch on the monitor. And to think, sometimes i got annoyed waiting for the tech at marymount to come to our table with 20 ppl in the class room. HAH, never again.
Sorry about the rant, i just think its rediculous and not very good for teaching.
sorry, agian.

The kids at my new table werent as friendly. The table was much bigger holding 10 ppl as opposed to the other one which held 4. I friended a girl next to me but she never seemed to know what was going on. Not helpful. Still it was nice having someone to do experiments with.
There were 5 points allocated to a drawing you had to do- my drawing was good but I lost 2 points because I didnt put the right thing after the measurements and I wrote 40x for magnification when they wanted me to do 400 instead. same thing. The test at the end was only 5 questions, hopefully i got at least 2 correct to score a 5 on the prac. Apparently, last prac i got a 5 exactly even without doing the math on a calc. I just want to pass.
After lab i ate lunch and chilled in the library. the usual. I then went to lecture at 3:15. During lecture four guys popped in with a frizbe. they threw it around a couple of times and then left. more prosh week i can only assume. My professor went on to tell us how this mornings lecture was interupted by a couple of naked people. yes, naked people. ???? (the one time i wish i went to morning lecture, lol). She said she pointed to them and said, "and this is genetic variation in action!"

After Lecture I got on the tram and train to go to parliament to get to St Patricks to meet peter. Heres some photos of the church and area.











Outside the train station there is some cool artzyness that i wanted to capture too.





After finding Peter we went over to Kitty's place.

It was nice to see them again. They have traveled a bit so I asked them about my trip for spring break. They were able to give me some great tips and pointers such as: there is no beach for swimming at Cairns. There is a place for alligators to go swimming but not humans. Therefore we should go to port douglas if we want to go swimming/sunbathing.Here is a picture of Kitty, Me, and her husband.

We let them go and came back "home". I talked to Alyssa for a bit, had dinner and then it was Farmer time!!! During Farmer wants a wife I had to darn some sox. Idk why but two of the sox i had worn on my left foot had holes in them. They didnt show wear at all bf putting them on so it doesnt make much sense. None the less I patched them up and watched.

***** Culture note: They write their dates "backwards". They put the day, month, year instead of our month, day , year. It can be kinda difficult when you want to see when a date is. Also they use a lot of 24 hour clocks instead of my typical 12 hour. We usually refer to the 24 hour clock as military time.*****

What is Prosh week???

Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Apparently this week is prosh week. Honestly I didnt even know what prosh week was until I just looked it up on Wikipedia 5 seconds ago. Here is what it says...
“Prosh Week: A celebrated tradition at Melbourne, usually held in mid-August, whereby teams of students engage in various activities - the winner claiming the 'Prosh Week Trophy'. These shenanigans include giant boat races, conga lines through the Melbourne CBD, a billy kart rally, and jelly wrestling. It culminates with the infamous Scav hunt, at the conclusion of which the winning team is announced
The term 'Prosh' is thought to have originated in one of two ways. It's chiefly considered to have evolved from an annual charity procession that once marched through the Melbourne CBD, producing the abbreviation 'prosh'. A second theory states that the term originated from when all of the faculty social balls were held in the same week. The week was nicknamed 'Posh week' due to the number of times students would have to dress up in formal attire. The effects of alcohol caused words to be slurred, and thus 'posh' became 'prosh'.”






Not sure what these "things" are supposed to be but they kept the days interesting. Anyway, my scheudule for the day:
10-11 Indigenous Studies
2:15 Politics
4:14 Indigenous Studies Tute

During Indigenous studies two guys came in singing "A Whole New World" from Aladin to each other. At one point they even wipped out a "magic carpet". It was hilarious. Why didnt I take a pict of that? It really did make the class interesting- it was a little dry today. I think they had a time requirement bc the one guy kept checking his watch discreetly and they would keep singing the chorus.

At the end of the day I got home and submitted my paper for indigenous studies on Language in Aboriginal Culture. The first paper is the worst, idk why but it always is the hardest to write.

The rest of the night I was on skype, fb chat, and phone with Alyssa about the trip- its so much work!!! It was so important to get done that I even gave up watching Tangle that night just so we could get stuff completed. I figured I could find it to watch online anyway (but no- a few days later i checked and it seems like they dont have any internet tv at all. i feel spoiled)

Busy Much?

Monday, August 16, 2010

This week is a class intense week: aka I have two extra classes Psychology tute for 2 hours monday and on Wed i have a 3 hour practical
Todays schedule:
10-11 Indigenous Studies
12-2 Psychology Practical
2:15-3:15 Genetics Tutorial
3:15-4:15 Genetics Lecture
Take note- only an hour break!!!
This picture is of a large clock located in Melb Central. Melb Central has a train station underground and like 5 levels of shops.
I decided to take a pict at night of the graffiti on the wall going into the station. It came out a little different with shadow people... creepy



I had fun with my camera, i honestly dont know what i was doing "wrong" that made these photos come out. but i like it. The next morning i took real photos so you can see it for real




Anyway---- I took the train home and got in. Bec and I told Chloe that we were going to meet her at Zumba but we were both too hungry (and I was kinda tired) so we sat it out. It was nice to eat a good meal. Instead we went to Officeworks for a printing job. When I got home I worked for hours with a friend I meet at the sydney orientation to organize a trip we would both take during our spring break. This is kinda how the next week went: class and trip planning. Its good Alyssa got on me to plan it otherwise I might have left it for too late.

Relax

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Today I got to sleep in (from my late night last night i was happy to do this) till 11. I kinda bummed around the house all day I think. It doesnt sound too exciting but I was ready for a down day. After dinner Bec and I went to mocha joes to meet up with Chloe and their friend Ana. I was tempted to get myself another spanish donut but went with teramasu (sp?) instead- yummy.
We got back in time to watch the second hour of the premier of Kats new show, Offspring.
Starting from the Left: father of center woman nina, kat (to her right) and the last guy on the right. He was originally married with woman second person on right but they are divorcing and he just found out he had a baby with ninas coworker the woman next to him on his right.
Nina (center) is an obstetrician who was once married to a psycho (not in picture) who likes to blow things up. Her and the guy in blue to her left work together but she would like to be more. Her ex husband however just blew up his car because he was jealous.
Kat (to ninas right) is playing a woman who sells property but doesnt have her own. she is dating the guy to her right but they are off an on. She is very hot tempered in her role and had to move out of her dads place because she couldnt deal with having a step brother in the house.

3 Parties and Victoria Market

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Today was a blast. I woke up early to get to the city by 10/11 ish. I road the tram to Queen Victoria Market. The market kinda reminds me of Paddy's Market in Sydney: full of all sorts of things- clothes, produce, fresh fish, meats, breads, cheese, shoes, suviniers, toys, hand made crafts, live animals even. It really is huge. The market is open Tues (6am-2pm), Thurs, Fri (6am- 5pm), Sat (6-3) and Sun (6-4). My friend Zoe got a job working at the veggies of a local farmer but quit after she had no life. Now she has a new job and still has not life! the irony.





I found some chickens that you could by (3 for 20$) to later eat.







I also found some other interesting things.... ever seen Borat?


Hopefully I wont be seeing anyone wearing that while im here (or anywhere else even).

The market is lovely. There are clothes and shoes and such that you can find here that would cost more in stores. I thought about buying something for myself but it turned out that I really didnt have much money in my wallet, and what I did have I got the fam t-shirts (thanks to chrissys sizing help).

At 12 I got hungry and grabbed a quarter slice of pizza for 3.50$. It was delish. I then headed down to the famous 1$ hot out of the oven donuts. I got in line and waited a bit then ordered 2 donuts. All the donuts are the same type: jelly filled, sugar covered, wonderful. kinda like my fav type actually.
I got my two donuts (kinda small so good thing I got two) and they were two hot to eat. So I found a place to sit down and munched down.
When I was standing in line there was this cute kid. He had a box and at first it took me a minute to understand what he was doing. Apparently he was attempting to catch pigeons. I had to take a pict.

I continued to walk around the market some more until 3pm when I needed to get on the train/tram to get "home" to get ready for the mad partying I had ahead of me.

1st Party: This party was an 80th bday party for Peters sisters (Gay) husband (Barney). Only the brothers and sisters of Gay and Barney were invited (but I was an exception- Bec wasnt interested in coming however and had plans to do something with friends). The party was past St.Kilda. I got to meet everyone. So many people that I dont even know. I asked one of the women if she could pass on the photos she was taking to me but I havent gotten them yet. The party had margaritas, champagne and beer. Everyone was supposed to stay drinking according to Barneys son so I had two champagnes and then discovered that I did not like drinking margaritas. yuk. They had finger food too so we chatted, drank and snacked for a good long time. It was really a great opportunity to meet the family. At about 8:30 Anita, Peter and I left so that they could drop me off at a nearby station to meet Bec in the city.

2nd Party: I am blanking on the pubs name but it was in South Yarra off of Chapel St (famous for its shops). We got there and grabbed drinks (a cran and vodka for me, malabu and coke for bec) and then I got to meet everyone. There were maybe 5 guys there from the footy, 1 other trainer, and 2 random guys Mundy brought. We chatted it up for a bit and then went inside for shots. WP like always. I then decided that since I had never tried one it was about time I experience a Long Island Iced Tea. I decided to shout bec a drink and ordered hers as well. I figured a 20$ would pay for it all so I handed it to the bar boy. He then told me it was 29$- my drink costs 20 on its own!!! 30 dollars later I decided that was all that I was buying that night. My drink was in a bigger glass and contained more alcohol then normal drinks i guess. I thought it was going to be some alcohol in iced tea- wrong. It was heaps of diff alcohols in coke..... wtf...... what happened to the iced tea part of the LIIT????? It kinda tasted like crap but because I had paid an arm and a leg I wasnt about to get rid of it. We went outside to chat with the guys and Chloe showed up. Two of them decided to take interest in me. They were both 28 (one had a kid) and cute. Everyone decided that we needed shots and re-drinks (i was still sipping on my LIIT) so the one cute guy led me into the bar again. I triped over a step and kinda fell on this other guy. The guy thanked the footy player and the footy player let me away. I cant remeber their names 1. because I was kinda drunk, 2. because I had heard heaps of names of ppl at Barneys party, and 3. because they had footy names that are nicknames completely abstract. Anyway, we got inside and I figured i wouldnt have a shot (seeing as how I tripped so embarasingly). But cute boy number 1 who led me there got me one anyway. It was a skittle bomb- amazing because its made of skittles. We then went to go dance. Guy number two came over to dance with me for a while. Once his beer was through he went to go get another one, made sure I didnt need a drink and left me. Guy number 2 then came in and started dancing with me. He told me how he thought I was cute first and I felt like i was going to start a brawl between two mates. After some time guy two disapeared and number one stepped in. i dont even know. Danced some more with number one and then we had to leave. Apparently Mundy wanted to go to another footy party that night. We kissed the boys good bye and made our way to the car. Mundy hadnt had a bit of drink at all so she was good to drive. We got in the car and began a new adventure. This adventure included getting mackers icecream, getting lost, and arriving at the next party at 330am

Party 3: when we got to this party everyone was smashed. all our alc had warn off by the long drive. We got inside and it was like a small crazy frat party or something. One guy thought that we should have a no pants party- we promptly told him that since we werent wearing pants (ie we had stockings on) that we didnt have to take anything off and he should keep his pants on. He did. Mundy seemed like she was having fun so we tried to occupy ourselves with the pool table. I think that Cloe, Bec and I would have been more happier at the other party (with the cute guys) than this one but we just dealt with it. We played pool with half a pool stick and a broom. I drank a burbon and gingerale. Since it was some dudes birthday we did shots of whiskey (2) -yuk. After a while bec finally pulled Mundy away and we got in the car. We first had to drop off this one guy, then another guy. Then we took the journey back "home". We finally ended up getting in bed a quarter past 6am. Bec had work in 2 hours and I got to sleep in till 11am the next day.

I had a blast.