February 20th and on

Hello mates!

This past week has been another up and down one.  I started it off by going to Planetshakers Church, which is about half an hour away from the Uni. I also didn’t know they were quite famous until I looked at my iTunes and saw that a friend from Cal had already given me their music. Churches here tend to run a bit longer than most at home; they tend to run over two hours.  There’s also a slight difference in feel and attitude than what I’m used to, but I think it’s due to their location in the heart of the city rather than their cultural background.

On Monday, I went to the Melbourne Aquarium.  It’s quite small with only three levels, but hey, I got to see more animals! The best part was the penguins, especially because this one ran at me and I'm pretty sure it was saying, "COME AT ME BRO!":

I spent the first day of Orientation Week (which was the 21^st – 25^th) in bed because of a horrible stomach pain. The remainder of Monday was spent at the emergency hospital for a gastro-intestinal infection and the rest of the week pretty much in my room.  Long story short, I am slowly but surely getting better.

Every Wednesday night in the summer, Melbourne has a Queen Victoria Market festival where they sell food and drinks from all over the world, stuff from local artisans, and have free concerts from Australian bands. The highlight of it all is that I tried a kangaroo burger!

Roo meat doesn’t taste like beef or chicken. It’s not as meaty as beef either, tasted quite salty, and felt a little mushy.

On Saturday we went back to St. Kilda beach, a half-hour tram ride from outside the Unilodge. Despite the scorching-hot weather (about 93 degrees F), the water was crystal-clear and refreshingly cold.  We swam next to schools of tiny fish and walked on the sand bar in the middle of the water. =]

Today was the first day of class.  Judging from today, I’m going to have to do a lot of independent work.  My Neuroscience and the Mind class is going to be quite difficult; I thanked God today that I’m dating an MCB nerd. I guess all the independent studying is a trade-off, being that we only have three months of school and this is my weekly schedule (it's not finalized and I might not have to take Music Psychology!):

Speaking of school, good luck on midterms my Cal friends! I hope you do ace!