Day 67

Mon the Biff!

On Sunday night I saw my favorite band Biffy Clyro at the Palais theatre in St Kilda, the seaside suburb of Melbourne.

 













I have to admit that I barely listen to any other music apart from that of Biffy Clyro, and although it was only a few months since I saw them last, I was incredibly excited. They did not let me down.

Despite it being an all seater venue, which took away the jumping around and mosh pits that I love about a typical Biffy gig, Simon, Ben and James put on an amazing show.

In the weeks leading up to the gig, I failed to hid my joy and told pretty much everyone I now know in Melbourne exactly what I was going to do on 7th September. Not one person had heard of the mighty Biffy Clyro.

Although it would have been great to find someone else who loved Biffy Clyro as much as I do (or more realistically had just heard one of their songs), I quite like having a different music taste to everyone else.

I have played (or rather forced people to listen) to their songs and them all seemed to like it. One why wouldn't they- its Biffy Clyro! Or two maybe they were just being polite, either way I will keep on banging on about Biffy Clyro regardless of people listening or not.

Oh yeah my parents are coming all the way from sunny Yorkshire to visit me tomorrow. That will be fun right?

Day 59

Sydney!

As mentioned in my previous post, I booked a weekend away in Sydney. It was epic. Not that the weather was up to much. On both Friday and Saturday it rained pretty much non stop. Hence there were visits to the museum of Australia and the New South Wales state library. Not exactly the main tourist attractions but interesting none the less. However despite the gloomy weather we ventured on and saw the main two spots that everyone who visits Sydney descends on. I am of course taking about the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge (below). They are both stunning piece of architecture and are worth on their own the hour or so flight from Melbourne to Sydney.



On Sunday when the weather picked up, we took the short trip outside of the city centre to the world famous Bondi Beach. We even managed to see a famous face as pop star Ronan Keating (below) jogged past us while we were chilling on the sea front. With the glorious weather on our backs we enjoyed a beautiful coastal walk to round off our weekend.



It was all in all a brilliant weekend but it also made me realise that I had made the right choice. I do prefer Melbourne over Sydney. That may be harsh on the latter considering I only had a couple of days to explore it and knew very little of the area while I now know my way around Melbourne. That being said Melbourne feels more relaxed, less 9 til 5 and more pleasant. Melbourne may not have the iconic landmarks of Sydney but I would have to say it is a nicer place to be.

I have a pretty uneventful week ahead which will consists mainly of catching up on work that I failed to do over the weekend. However on Sunday night, I will get very excited. I am seeing (for the seventh time) my favourite band Biffy Clyro (below) in St Kilda. I have to admit that I barely listen to any other music. They really are the soundtrack to my life and therefore I am barley able to control myself ahead of this weekend!

Day 50

Day 50 seems like a milestone. I write this on a lazy Sunday afternoon having been to the gym and looking forward to some Volleyball later and a trip to the cinema to see the brilliant Inbetweeners.

I did, however, reached a proper milestone yesterday. I went to my first house party outside of England. It was pretty cool. It was not like the ones I am used to back home. Normally back at school someone would have (or more accurately get) a party when their parents were out of town. There are always quite tense affair as everyone knows that at any moment it could turn nasty as the parents come home to find someone vomiting into their plant collection. No this party was cool, it even had the mythical red cups (below) that I had only ever seen before in American films and TV shows.



Things got a little bit scary on the train back home when a man, holding an empty vodka bottle,  was adamant on having fight with someone and shouting his hatred of the English for the whole carriage to hear. Thankfully he kept his distance from me and did not ask where I was from ( like he was doing to everyone else). I probably would have had to lie and not admit that I am an English gentleman from the fine county of Yorkshire who enjoys nothing more than a Sunday roast and a nice cup of tea.

In more exciting news, this Thursday I am going to Sydney for the weekend. I am so excited. So the next post will be a bumper Sydney special!

Day 44

It has been a while.

I have to apologise. I have been caught up in my student life out here in Melbourne that have failed to post on this blog for ten whole days. The weather is still not great. While I am writing this, I can hear the rain falling on the roof above with my light on as the sky is miserably dark and grey. Yet it is going so well.

Since I last posted, my trails around Melbourne in search anything remotely hip or cool have died down. The work load for my course has started to pile up. That has not stopped me, however discovering the odd new bar or two, some in better condition than others!

one of Melbourne's many laneways full of "cool" bars.

Unlike the previous 20 years of my life, I have spent a fair bit of time in the gym while I have been out here. That is in large fact due to the cost of my gym (below) membership being covered by my college fees. One thing I have noticed straight away was how busy it is. It seems like exercise is a way of life out here, far more so than back home in England.


Even those who don't claim to be very sporting all head down to the gym at least twice a week, something I am sure does that happen that often back home. The other things that is completely different is the attire of those who attend. I feel like the odd one out in my standard shorts and fairly old football top while the majority of the gym goers strut (and yest strut is the right word) with their vest on and the full length and very tight leggings. I think it just sums up the total commitment that the Aussies have to sport. Or maybe their weird taste in fashion. Yeah lets go with that!

Day 34

The word routine is often seen as a negative. It has connotations of being stuck in a rut or not making the most of situations. I can proudly say that I have settled into a routine out here and in now way is that a negative.

I have now been to all my classes. Like I said last time, the Nerd inside me is loving it. I am now not getting lost on campus (pictured below) every time I set foot there. I can see why the university has such a great reputation and I am in no doubts that my year here will be great.





Before I came to Australia I had heard a lot about current Prime Minister Tony Abbott. I had seen the videos of him talking very slowly (below). But I never realised until the last couple of weeks just how lowly he is regarded by his own people. I must stress that the majority of people that I have met since coming here have been young people of a similar age to myself and thus probably not his target audience. Even so it has amazed me that he is the butt of pretty much every joke. If someone is clumsy they are referred to as Abbott, if they are slow they are referred to as Abbott and so on and so on. Often there is no joke, but a minute or so of ranting about him. Politicians have a pretty awful reputation in the UK, especially among younger people. Yet I know people my age who support all of the major parties and like (at least) one of the leaders of these parties. Even Nigel Farage has some followers. I am pretty sure I know why Abbott is regarded the way he is. Like their counterparts in the UK, the Australian government have increase tuition fees. If there is on things that students care about, in terms of politics, it is tuition fees. I will endeavor to find someone (hopefully around the same age as myself) who likes Abbott. I will let you know how I get on.

Day 26

It has begun.

After weeks of just dossing about my time at the university of Melbourne is finally underway. Well sort of. Although lectures for my four history subjects have started, there have been no tutorials. Even the lectures have taken on a distinctly introductory tone. Over the past couple of days I have started to read around my subjects, looking at both primary and secondary sources. I am loving it.  I know that sounds a little bit nerdy but I can't help it. The periods that I am doing (20th century in both Europe and America) fascinate me. It looks set to be a interesting and engaging semester, helped enormously by the fact that I don't have any exams!

At the start of this blog I declared that I was aiming to find out more about the nature of Australians. It is nearly four weeks on since I made that statement and I do feel that I have learnt plenty about the Aussies. However there are still things that take me back. A prime example would be a conversation that I had with one of my fellow residents in college earlier this week. We were discussing life in Melbourne and they were explaining how busy and unpleasant the CBD (central business district) can be (pictured below).





It is basically the heart of the city and inparticular its banking and finance centre. Now I have spent a fair bit of time in this part of Melbourne during my first twenty or so days in the city. Yes it can be fairly busy but nothing on the scale of rush hour in central London (pictured below). When I tried to explain this fact to my fellow residents they were in shock. "What a place busier than the CBD? No. Impossible. I could not cope". This brief conversation taught me two further things about the Australians. One they don't expect to be proved wrong especially when concerning things they know well. And two, that they have no idea what a busy city centre is.