Happy 4th, But Not Here

Happy 4th of July everybody, except it's not the 4th yet in the States since I'm a day ahead of you all, and also, it's not a holiday in Australia anyway, which has been really weird for all of us. It's really weird being in a foreign country on the 4th of July.

We had our first day of class today, and I have to say that I really enjoyed all 2.5 hours of it. The combination of literature with the natural world is like my dream class and I never thought that it could be so well integrated. Dr. Schroeder is a really nice guy and he uses a really creative integrative approach to his lectures that I really respond to. I already feel like I've learned so much about Australian history and politics, it's great.

After class, a bunch of us went down to Melbourne University campus (I-House isn't actually on the campus, we're about a quarter-mile away) to see if we could buy some uni sweatshirts or something, but the clothes store was closed. We then took the tram down to the Southbank and ate lunch at this AMAZING food court. Everything looked so good but I ended up going with Edith to Stacks, a pancake bar. I had a banana stack, which was pancakes topped with bananas, carmel, cinnamon, brown sugar, and ice cream. To top it off, I had an ice cream soda, which was a delicious raspberry/lemonade/ice cream concoction. Basically, it was the best lunch ever.

After lunch we had to meet the rest of the group at Federation Square, which is a new city center with two amazing museums that are indescribably postmodern glass-and-steel-and-sandstone hulks. They're really cool. We met up with Jane, an architecture expert, who took us on a walking tour of Melbourne, pointing out the architectural wonders that Melbourne has to offer. I thought at first that it'd be pretty boring, I expected we'd look at like an arch and admire its arch-shape, but it was actually a really cool tour. We started at one of the Federation Square convention center areas, which had this cool wooden theater that overlooked the river. Then she took us to a funky hotel that was converted from a factory and is now one of the most famous hotels in Melbourne. They have a pool that hangs over the edge of the roof, so that was cool, and we got to see one of the suites in the building as well.

After that, we toured some of the old Victorian-era buildings in Melbourne. Melbourne has a city trust where old buildings are revered and restored rather than being torn down, so almost every city block is full of Victorian facades with renovated interiors. We went to St. Paul's cathedral, which was amazing, as well as a series of banks which were incredible. We even went to a high-class shopping center that was indescribably beautiful, with huge vaulted ceilings and hand-laid tile pathways. We went by a tea room that has been in existence since 1850 and you can have tea in the same chair as someone from the 19th century! Very cool.

I should probably mention that Jane was an amazing tour guide. She's this little tiny Australian lady who was so cute and kept asking us if we wanted some coffee or if we were too tired to keep going. She was really nice and actually gave us a list of the good pubs in town that she got from a "trendy 21-year-old." She kept taking us into all these incredibly old buildings and then ask if we had any buildings like that in San Francisco, it was funny.

As I was walking around today, I kept thinking how amazing Melbourne is. I don't usually feel comfortable in large cities, but I feel totally in my element here. It's such an amazing, diverse city and I can't get enough of it. I've only been here for three days and I already want to be here for the rest of my life!