Lunch with Nicole

So I just had lunch with Nicole, and as everyone else took that time to scamper away from the I-House, I'm sort of alone and bored, so I decided to update.

After class I went down to Lygon Street where I met Nicole at this restaurant called Tiamo's. It's a cool bar/Italian place and I had some really great spaghetti carbonara. But it was more fun to catch up with Nicole. We talked about where she lived when she was a kid (on Brunswick Street which is crazy) and what she's been up to and what I've been up to and she wanted desperately to know about the zoo people but I have sadly not kept in touch with very many, so that was sad. She also said that she just went off the pill and she and Michael are trying to have a baby! In the meantime, they're also looking to buy a house. Wow.

We had a great lunch and afterwards I walked her back to her office in the museum and she showed me some cool places to eat on Lygon Street. Apparently there are tons of chocolate cafes in Melbourne, so I have to try those out, as well as the gelati bars. Mmmmmm. Again, I think my mission here is to eat my way through Melbourne.

That's basically it, so to make this entry slightly more interesting (and to copy Joey and Tisha's coolness), here's the top ten things I love about Australia thus far:

1) The wildlife that we've seen in the zoos/sanctuaries and even the city birds like rainbow lorikeets
2) Melbourne's amazing (and relatively cheap) food/desserts
3) The many, many pubs here!
4) All the cool streets in Melbourne: Brunswick, Lygon, Southbank, etc etc
5) The tram: semi-cheap, semi-easy transportation
6) Aussie accents
7) The awesome UC students here that I've gotten to know and love dearly
8) The old beautiful buildings juxtaposed against the new, modern architecture
9) The surprising friendliness of Australians
10) The contagious love that Australians (and Melburnians) have for their city and for their country

Okay, until next time...bye!