On Sunday, I did some work in the morning, and then went out for a walk (it was a beautiful, sunny day). I took myself out to lunch, which I think was my first solo meal in a sit-down establishment. I sat by the window, ate some delicious dhal, and thought about the wonderful place I found myself in.

After popping into a couple thrift stores on my way home, I did a little bit of studying in the park before it got too windy. Monday was pretty normal, with a run in the morning, just a couple classes in the afternoon, and some time spent with friends.

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Tuesday, I got to visit the state library, which I hadn’t seen yet. It is downtown, very picturesque, and a great place to do work (except their wifi was down, so we ended up heading to Starbucks I am ashamed to admit). Following that fiasco, and some good productivity, Jaimie and I thought the clear solution for the evening was dumplings for dinner. We later also split some greek donuts that were warm and cinnamon-sugary in just the right way.

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Wednesday brought an excursion for Australian Wildlife Biology to a park along the Yarra river. I have met some lovely Australians in that class, which is a lot of fun! Excursions tend to take a lot of energy out of me, as they are typically about as long as a lab, but I have been learning a lot (the past two were on birds and I already feel confident in naming several common ones). We saw two pairs of tawny frogmouths, which can be hard to spot, so that was really exciting!

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Wednesday night included a birthday dinner for my friend Miriam, at a delicious pizza restaurant. It was a lovely evening with friends, and AMAZING pizza.

If it wasn’t in the others, I suppose the theme of this blog is food. Bright and early Thursday morning, Jaimie and I went to eat croissants at a famous “croissanterie” in Fitzroy. I went to class, and had a chill evening.

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Friday was supposed to be nice, so it was a beach day! Jaimie and I took the bus and then the train to Altona beach, about an hour away. We saw a ton of wildlife and caught up on some reading. As a mark of how lovely it was, we completely lost track of time, which I thought was quite refreshing.

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I also encountered what I think was my first Melbournian public toilet. It had an automated voice upon entry, a toilet that flushed when you started to wash your hands, and toilet paper dispenser that let out a certain amount.

Saturday morning, I found a lovely new boulevard to run along. I love to walk or run to explore an area, especially when I lack a car or a bike to get around. Where I live is right in between the city and more neighborhoody areas that border Fitzroy and Brunswick, so I tend to run north or northwest, into those areas. Every time I take a different turn I stumble upon new street art, new cute homes, or a new park, places to revisit when I’m not so out of breath.

After returning home, I headed out with my friend Laura for bagels. Laura goes to Columbia, so she is used to a good bagel, and we had quite a cute bagel date (and she approved of the place I picked)! After that we had an opportunity through our street art class to go paint on some walls, which a really fun thing to do. It was interesting to see how hard it is to manage a spray can, to see the work that goes into some of the pieces you see on the street.

Sunday was spent productively, doing work and getting some grocery shopping done. In the evening, I went to a bar with a few friends, as we had all been busy and hadn’t all been together in a while. Monday found me going to class, and then in the evening I made banana bread for my friends to enjoy!

Today, the weather continued to be warm and sunny, as it had been most of this week. I went to book club, which I read “Picnic at Hanging Rock” for, an Australian classic. There were some interesting contextual elements I didn’t pull out when I read the book, so it was cool to see the thoughts other people had. Also, it’s been good as I try to get back into the habit of reading for fun. I went to class, spent some lovely time in the sun on the South Lawn of campus, and went for a nice walk along Lygon Street on the way home.

As I type this, Aidan is in the air, headed to Melbourne. We’re pretty used to long distance by now, but I do miss him quite a bit, so I am super excited to see him tomorrow morning, and to show him around my city. Easter break starts on Friday, so I’ll have time to explore Melbourne even more, and I’ll be going to Cairns which I think will be mind boggling (Great Barrier Reef!?!). Here’s to all the adventures on the way.