On vacation?

I'm hoping that I'm starting to figure out the right length for my blog posts; not too long, enough photos, and most importantly, that I'm not spending to much time typing them up. Just as a fair warning, I've been pretty good so far about writing, but until I figure out a nice balance, entries may be long... or they may be non-existent.

I feel that I should still be asleep at 7:30am on a Saturday, however here I am typing a blog entry instead.

Yesterday (Friday, 18th of February)  was my first full day in Melbourne. In the morning Lucy did some work, and I got my internet fix. It was very relaxing. I must be on vacation. (Next week though, I need to get serious about finding a job and a place to livve, for real, because I'm having small panic attacks about how expensive everything seems to be, and apparently I can't handle the freedom of having nothing in particular to do, or nowhere to set down my stuff. At least I think that may be the root of the problem.) *shrug*

By the afternoon yesterday, Lucy and I went to Yaraville, a small suburb just outside Melbourne for lunch and to look in the shops. Along the way I saw a number of strange things, but that's normal in Melbourne, or even Australia for that matter. Lucy says that I should watch out for Hipsters though, which I believe are people that think they're trendy. I haven't quite figured out the true meaning of the term, but I'm sure I will eventually.

For dinner we had Butter Chicken Tikka Masala from a local Indian food place. It was really good. I could probably have it for breakfast this morning it was that good. I won't though, because that doesn't actually sound that nice. Breaking news on TV while eating dinner was "Welcome to the town of SpeedKills". Yes, the city of Speed has changed their name. Good ol' Australia. Why would you name a city "Speed" in the first place?

Following dinner Lucy and I prepared to go out. It was her sisters 24th birthday party last night. We went to a pretty posh bar called Charlies. It was nice.It was good to meet Lucy's friends. The music was a little too loud to talk and a normal volume and I didn't feel like shouting, so believe it or not, I didn't talk much. If I did it was about some of my park ranger experiences, because they were fascinated by it. One of the discussions we had was about Polar Bears' fur. Yes, as a matter of fact it is not actually white. Due to the hollow nature of the pigment-free and transparent fur, white light is scattered and refracted back to your eye which makes the fur appear white. While talking about stereotypes at the end of the night, I did have Lucy's roommate, Kate, convinced for a split second that I had lived in an igloo while in Alaska. Good times. :)

After coming back to the apartment, I think a few Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were had and then we all headed to bed.

As a side note to my Aussie friends... if I bring Reese's Peanut Putter Cups over, make sure to remove the paper wrapper before you try to eat the chocolate. The chocolate doesn't taste as good with the wrapper on as some of you may have figured out. :)