Fashion Photos

Here are the pictures of the models- there wasn't enough room for them all in the last post. Enjoy!

Carly Hunter

Above.

lime drop

Walk, Walk, Fashion Baby

I am writing to you this morning from a state of happiness and headache. Last night my lovely roommates and I took on the city to attend Melbourne Fashion Week's- Avant-garde show. It was comprised of local designers and held at the town hall. They have been having free shows outside all week, several exhibits and professional shows like the one we attended last night.
We only got out tickets at the beginning of the week because I didn't even think to look before, thinking that it would be expensive. The shows were very close to sold out so we had to get balcony seats, but they were only $20! Being students, the 3 of us didn't care if we couldn't see well, we were going to be there!!


So last night Germany and I got dressed in our best and took off downtown to meet up with my other Canadian roomie. We went to happy hour at this really trendy bar called The Red Dragon, then onto Equinox for dinner. They make a really delicious green curry, which we all ordered. 

With the price of our ticket we were allowed to go into the pre-show venue and get a free drink! As students, you never pass up anything free. The bartender there made us 3 Coinitreau "blushes" and we settled in to watch the crowds of people all dressed up before the show. There was a massive VIP section nearby, but we didn't have the right tickets to attend. We saw many fabulous and weird outfits while people watching. 

None of us knew what to expect with our "balcony" seating, but it was actually a fabulous view of the stage! The picture doesn't do it justice, we were actually much closer than this.

I loved the local designers, specifically limedrop (who we got a free goody bag from) and above. fashions that featured a really nice red and grey colour scheme with lots of jacket and trouser combinations.

The show only lasted 45 minutes but we saw about 10 designers over all, not included the shoes (Aldo, Nike and Sirens provided). 


Our ticket also got us into a fancy after party at this bar called The Emerald Peacock. It's a super swanky bar where one cocktail costs $18.50 and were it not for the free admission, I'm sure I would never get the chance to go there. The entire bar had peacocks everywhere! Wallpaper, murals, flooring, photos.. EVERYWHERE!! It was really cool- and guess what?? ANOTHER free drink! We could not have been happier.

However, once you had to start paying it was time to split so we could head to The Wah Wah Lounge up the street to dance and consume cheaper beverages. We got in just before 11 for free admission and somehow ended up attending ladies night at the bar. It was really fun.
All in all a great roommate bonding evening- although I am paying for it this morning!

2 Month Anniversary!

Today marks 2 months of me living in Melbourne! In some ways it seems like so long ago that I arrived off the plane, nervous and exhausted. At other times I can't believe how much I've seen and packed into these two months, not to mention all the people that I've met. 
In celebration of this milestone, here is a list of the top 10 things I've seen/done/eaten/love about living in Australia:


1) Eggs on burgers- I know it sounds a little strange, but almost every burger here has an egg on it along with the standard tomato, cheese and lettuce- it's SO delicious and I'm going to continue eating them this way when I return home

2) THE WEATHER!- obviously. It get's warmer here by the day and is usually quite sunny. While Melbourne experiences a lot more rain than the rest of the country it keeps all the beautiful parks lush and green, so you can't really complain about that


3) The Aquarium/Zoo-  have been my favourite activities so far in Melbourne, but that's because I really love animals- in case you didnt read me writing that 10 times in my last posting.

4) Cider- a delicious, beer like drink made from crushed fruit like apples or pears. Cider is HUGE here in Australia with many different kinds, all of which I seem to love. I don't know how I'll ever go back to being a proper beer drinking Canadian again.

5) E55- my favourite bar in the city, that oddly enough has my favourite cider and makes pizzas from scratch. It's a very chill place that plays reggae music and is filled with comfy sectional couches, love seats and reclining chairs. As well each month a featured artist puts up their work which can be purchased from the bar, so there is always something new to look at. 

Photo courtesy of my friend Kathryn

6) My program (believe it or not)- I really like my professors and the material that we have been studying. I only have 2 classes but it gives me the opportunity to get ahead on readings and assignments, which is a nice change from my hectic undergrad

7) The Queen Victoria Market- it's a very busy place where you can buy everything from an entire pig to a kangaroo rug. I usually just buy fruit and postcards but I could spend hours wandering the outside stalls looking at the merchandise, tasting the local wine and listening to the vendors call out their sales. 

8) Riding the train- In Ottawa we have the O-train with only 5 stops. In Melbourne there is a large network of trains and I always take the train going into the city. It's very relaxing to take public transit, I've always found that, not just in Australia. But the trains here are never crowded, and pass the most beautiful scenery of the river and houses in the hillside.


9) Winterfest/St. Kilda Beach- one of my most favourite weekends was now 3 weeks ago when we travelled to the city to skate at Melbourne's Winterfestival and then went to the beach all in the same day! St. Kilda is an amazing area with a fair, the beach, dozens of little shops and some great restaurants. All of us agreed we would love to live there if it wasn't so pricey and so far away from school. The area is what I though all of Australia would be like. 

10) Platypus!- You knew this was coming. Platypus which are native to Australia are so adorable and cool animals. When I saw one at the zoo this past weekend I was instantly in love :) Now how to get one home in my suitcase?

Things to look forward to over the next 3 months here?
- Trip to New Zealand!! 
- Attending Melbourne's Fashion Week
- Finishing my first semester of the my Masters

Added Photo of "Lion-Around"

This picture was taken by my friend because my camera died. This is the group of us who went to the zoo! Oakville, Michigan, myself and Newmarket

Lion-Around!

Saturdays are very quickly becoming my favourite day of the week. This week I took to the city with my friends and went touristing at one of 3 Melbourne zoos. I love animals, and my good friend from Michigan is studying to be a vet so we decided this was the perfect activity. Two other Canadians tagged along as well and made for an awesome day.


Last night I was so excited I couldn't sleep, and I can't remember the last time I was THAT excited about something. I really love animals, and we got to see TONS of them from all over the world. 
It took us 4 full hours to walk the entire zoo, but it was worth every minute. 

Map of all Exhibits

The winner of coolest animal of the day is the Platypus! Native to Australia they are cute little creatures that I mentioned earlier in my posts about sending postcards because they were on the stamp. I have fallen in love with these animals. The one we saw was very active and posed nicely for the camera.

Well enough talk, the pictures are the most important part! I've found the Lion on my journey through Aus :)

Meerkat

Penguins

Seals

Monkey

Mom monkey and baby monkey 

Tiger

Me and fellow Canadian from New Market in front of the Elephant Caution sign

Elephants

Our extra lunch guest- peacock

Giraffes

Zebras

Echidna- native to Australia

Opportunity Rant: 1/4 Life Crisis

This past reading week while my family and I were in the Dominican Republic we met an interesting man. This man was a salesmen who walked up and down the miles of beach in front of the resorts selling his trinkets to tourists like us. There were many people doing this, but this guy really stood out. He called himself "Opportunity"- and having learned english simply by speaking to tourists, this name made a lot of sense. Everyday we would hear him shouting his sales pitch to the guests up and down the beach, getting to know famliar faces and making deals -"OPPORTUNITY! VERY NICE! EVERY COLOUR! EXCELLENT QUALITY!" And hey, it worked, my whole family bought stuff from him!
I've been thinking a lot about Opportunity lately. This guy made something from nothing, which I thought was pretty amazing. 
These days I am trying to do the same thing. I feel like I don't have to explain to all of you about Canada's terrible job market.. most of you are students, you already know. So we all get out of school with our bachelor degrees but without the "2-5 years experience" that every job seems to call for. Plus more..ahem.. senior position holders are refusing to retire to make room for us young folks with degrees! This is why I stayed in school to pursue my Masters. Who could pass up a trip to Australia? And it was a great way to pass the time and wait for the job market to get better.
However, I'm a forward thinking person and I HATE to pass up opportunities. Since I've arrived in Australia less than 2 months ago I've already attended 3 public lectures, an International Student Orientation and The Australian Institute of International Affairs- International Career Conference. These opportunities all got me thinking that I need to start thinking about what I'm going to do when I get out of here. 
Although I'm miles away, I'm still checking in on the Canadian job market and seeing if there are any jobs out there that I could apply for once I have my Master's... the results do not seem promising. 
Thus, I spent all day today enduring a "quarter-life-crisis" in which I did the following despite my panicked state:

• emailed my professor about finishing my thesis in Canada (I'm currently in a coursework program, but being able to write a thesis would put me a leg up if I wanted to get into a PhD program- which eventually I'd love to do). 
• I also applied for 2 internships with the United Nations Public Information and External Relations department (as a social media intern). These would start over my summer break (Canadian Christmastime) and are located in New York City working on social media development and relation campaigns. 
• Then began the application to the International Telecommunications Union (my dream jobs lie in this industry, which is an association of the United Nations), however, they are not presently looking for interns.
• I looked at writing the United Nations Secretariat Young Professionals qualifying exam in December in New York. If I passed I would be offered an opportunity to work at any office in which there was a need for me.
• And finally I researched programs at universities back in Canada that I could enroll in to learn more french (the second official language of the UN)

These are ways to get my foot in the door for future employment as well as some life experience. However! Millions of people apply so who knows if I will get anything.


Today has dealt me some big questions and serious life thinking. Do I want to have a big international career where everyone knows my name?? OF COURSE! But is that going to be realistic? I don't know. It certainly seems to include a lot of moving around and a lot of money (sorry mom and dad!) I thought that if I paid all this money for a rolled up piece of paper I'd at least have someone that appreciated it in the job market... 
The point to all this? I guess even if you take all the right steps, study hard, you still have to be open and strive for opportunities... and do a lot of waiting. 


So that is my rant about the situation that I, and I'm sure many others, are experiencing at the moment. To compensate for this complaining and irritable post here is an enjoyable photo of a peacock and of the beach on which I met opportunity.

And a flamingo

Fake Football

To finish off my weekend I attended an Australian Rules Football game. The Melbourne Demons vs. the Gold Coast Suns. I have to say, as an NFL fan, that the AFL cannot hold a candle to it. The game is played by a bunch of men in short shorts. The rules are very complicated and involve a lot of kicking and punching the ball to one another. They are VERY high scoring games, like over 100 points. Overall, it was interesting, but I didn't really enjoy it and I can't wait to start getting up at 3am to watch my Patriots play in the NFL. Horray for time change!


Here are some photos of my and my friends at the game. The company of course made it a great time, but I think I'll be looking for other ways to entertain myself. Hopefully rugby will be better.