I’ve made it halfway through my time in Sydney and finished my first two classes already. It’s wild how quickly these classes go by, but now I am ready to start my next block of classes. This was an eventful week, as I was finishing up my finals for my classes, and we were about to go to Melbourne for the weekend. We got into Melbourne around 11:30 on Friday, and I hadn’t eaten dinner yet; Melbourne had one of my favorite chicken places that aren’t in the US, Nando’s. It was so good I ended up getting it twice on the trip.
Saturday was an eventful day. First, we started with a walking tour of the city at 9 AM. It was an excellent opportunity to view the culture and history of Melbourne through an immersive tour. One interesting thing about the tour was that Melbourne modeled their city after London, Milan, and Paris. They had an arcade that was modeled after one in Milan. Throughout the tour, there was a melting pot of cultures from Irish to Chinese; it is a very diverse city.
Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne
Later, a few others and I went to the ice bar, where everything in the bar is made of ice. It was cold there, so they gave us coats to stay warm. The drink I ordered came in an ice glass; overall, it was a fantastic experience. After the Ice Bar, we went to a rooftop bar to get a good view of the city skyline. I loved the atmosphere, and the view was amazing. We even spoke to some locals to ask them who their favorite NBA player was. Most people said LeBron or Steph Curry; I was hoping someone would say, Jalen Brunson. After the night, Jonah locked us out of our apartment, so we had to wander around the city until our other roommates returned.
Ice Bar in Melbourne
View from the rooftop bar
On Sunday, we had to check out at 10, and our flight was at 6, so we had time to explore the city independently. We walked around the entire city looking for things to do. We went into a free museum to learn about the Aboriginal culture, which is Australia’s indigenous people. There are still areas of Australia where they live, which I found interesting. One thing I learned about Melbourne is that they take pride in their coffee. Being an enormous coffee enthusiast, I had to see how good the coffee was. I am a big cold brew guy, so I found a cold brew near me. The coffee lived up to the hype and is much better than Sydney.
Coffee in Melbourne
Someone painting on the street
Cool building in the city