Big thing tomorrow

Tomorrow I'm going to do something big again. It's not anything like skydiving this time, it's something completely different. I feel like I did when I had booked the skydiving though, I can't believe I'm going to do it! I've wanted to do it for a long time and now it just feels right, been thinking about it a lot since I came here. I feel very excited and a little bit nervous, but I won't tell you what it is until I've done it.

Now I don't have much time to write anymore, cause I'm going out to drink a beer with my old friend Rebecka tonight. We haven't seen each other for 2-3 years and now we suddenly end up on the other side of earth at the same time. Life is strange.

These pictures give you a clue of what I'm going to do tomorrow.

First job interview in Australia

I had my first job interview in Australia three days ago. It was a group interview with about 30 other people. The job was a fundraising job where you were going to work in the streets, talk to people and try to make them donate money to charities. I didn't get the job, but I'm not disappointed, cause I did my best. Many of the other people had worked with charity before and were really motivated. I don't think the job was something for me either, I've worked with sales before and this job seemed a bit like a sales job. I wanna try something new. It's a good experience to have done an interview anyway.

Otherwise it isn't happening much when it comes to jobs. I'm applying for as many as I can every day, but no response yet. I've been thinking, and I think that I'll try another week here in Melbourne. If I still don't get anything I'll continue my travelling and try to find a job somewhere else. I don't have the time to stay here for too long, it would be different if I had one year or so, but my time in Australia is limited. I wanna visit more places and do more things. Let's just hope that I'll have enough time and money for everything!

Three days ago I went to the bar with my roommates and we had a nice party night. Tried to teach them some Swedish card games, that was fun. Right now all my roommates are from England. I haven't been partying much here in Australia though, this journey isn't about partying for me. It's about experiencing new things.

Today I've been eating candy and crossbuns to celebrate Easter, it's Good Friday. The person who came up with the name Good Friday must have misunderstood what happened this day. Yesterday I went into the city and I found a Green Day album I had never seen before! It was an old live album from 1994. Amazing that I still can find new Green Day albums when I've been a hardcore fan for 8 years.

My plans for the rest of this day are to relax and enjoy some time by myself. I had to change to a private room just for one night because there were no other rooms at the moment. Feels great to finally get some me-time when you're used to sharing a room with 8 other people.

Here comes some pictures from the old prison we visited last week. It was the first time I went into a prison (and hopefully the last time, haha). It made me think of the movie Shawshank Redemption, really good movie. Watch it if you haven't already done so.

Great Ocean Road Tour

Today I did the Great Ocean Road Tour together with my roommates from Argentina. We went 7 am this morning and came back 8 pm this evening, so it has been a long day. It was a really cool trip, the landscape in Australia is fantastic. Not flat and boring like it is in the part of Sweden where I come from. The radio in the bus played two Green Day songs during the trip, guess who was happy?

We went to beautiful beaches and places, visited a light house, saw wild koalas (!!!) and finally we went to see the 12 apostles. It was the first time ever I saw wild koalas, there were lots of them and some were even awake! Koalas are so cute, I can't believe that I've been that close to them. The view of the 12 apostles looked exactly like a photograph on some postcard. The surroundings were impressive too.

There were warning signs that said we should watch out for snakes in the bushes. We didn't see any snakes though. You hear about how much dangerous animals there are in Australia, but I haven't even seen any spiders yet. People are afraid of snakes and sharks, but the jellyfishes are more dangerous. The risk that you will be bitten by a shark is very small, there is a greater risk that you get a coconut in the head and die.

Thought I should teach you some "Australian language" I've learned so far:
Lollies - Candy
Brekkie - Breakfast
Wettie - Wet suit
Thongs - Flip flops
Barbie - You may think it's barbie doll, but no, it's barbecue
No worries mate - You're welcome

Yesterday we went to an old prison and to Fitzroy, maybe I'll post pictures of that later. I took so many pictures today that I don't know which ones to put on the blog, but here are some of them anyway. Hope you notice my pink hippie pants!

                           

Melbourne museum

I've been busy the last days and I like having things to do all the time, so that's good. I'm applying for as many jobs as possible. It's difficult to get a job because there are many backpackers here right now, but I can't do anything more than try my best. Yesterday I went to many bars and restaurants in this area to talk to the staff and hand out my resume. I found several places where they needed new staff.

Everyone I talked to was really nice even though they didn't need anyone in most of the places. If you compare staff in shops here in Australia with staff in Sweden it's a big difference. They are so much nicer and more sociable here. Everytime you walk into a shop/café/whatever they ask you how your day has been or something like that.

Two days ago I went around the city with the city circle tram and got to know more about everything you can do in this city. Then I visited Federation square, the architecture was cool. I visited the Royal botanical gardens too.

Today I met a girl and a guy from Argentina and we had a great day together. It's so fun to meet people from different countries and cultures. You learn about what it's like in other parts of the world. I love spending time with new people and do spontaneous things.

Anyway, first we went to Queen Victoria market to go shopping. It's the biggest and best market in Melbourne according to what I've heard. There was food, clothes, souvenirs and pretty much everything. I bought a pair of pink hippie pants. I don't have any pictures of them yet, but they're so comfortable and I totally love them. I'm crazy about the color pink, I don't know how many pink garments I have.

After the shopping we went to Melbourne museum. When you were a school kid you hated going to museums, but now it's interesting. I've found myself interested in history and art since I came here, guess I'm starting to grow up. The museum had everything: dinosaurs, design and photos, facts about your body and mind, Australian history and much more. The Australian history part was really interesting as you don't know much about Australia from before.

In the evening we went to an IMAX cinema and watched Oz the great and powerful in 3D. The 3D effects were really cool and the movie was good too.

Job hunting

Today I've started my job hunting here in Melbourne for real. I've applied for about 20 jobs so far, let's hope I get something. I should at least have a higher chance now when I have my RSA certificate. The weather is chilly and rainy here and most people are at Grand Prix, so there hasn't been much else to do today.
Tomorrow I think I'll go into the city and do some sightseeing. I haven't been in central Melbourne that much yet. St Kilda is a great place, but I wanna see more of the city.

What has happened today otherwise? I went up early this morning, since I came to Australia I've been more of a morning person than a night person. I cooked tacos today, it tasted really good. Maybe Australia is called Down Under because your whole personality is turned upside down here. At home I'm a night person who never cooks.

I think travelling makes you a different person, you discover new sides of yourself. Especially when you're travelling alone and have to take care of everything on your own. You meet people who don't know you and they have no expectations of who you should be, so you can just be whoever you want. Before I went to Australia many of my friends said: "I didn't know you were this crazy". They meant that they didn't expect me to do such a thing. But this is who I am.

For every day that's passing by I feel like I'm getting more and more confident to be exactly who I want to be. I don't care about what anyone else says or thinks about me. I don't live my life to please anyone else, I live for me.

Here comes some pictures I've taken in St Kilda and central Melbourne. As you can see, this city has everything. Parks, beaches, cafées, old buildings, tall buildings, music and art. Even if Sydney was nice, I must say I like this city more. I would say that Melbourne is Australia's Gothenburg because of all culture and the trams. Gothenburg is probably the best city in Sweden if you ask me.

Grand Prix

Yesterday night there was barbecue and live music in the bar here. Sadly I didn't see much of the live performance, but the trobadour guy started to play Good Riddance when I entered the room. I love moments like that. Nice night as well, talked to many people. My English has never been more fluent than it is right now. Not so strange as I talk more English than Swedish nowadays.

Today has been a hectic, but fun day. First I went to check out Grand Prix with two English guys and a German girl at my hostel. It's a really big F1 competition here in Melbourne right now. I'm not interested in cars and motors at all, but it was free to go today and it was much more funny than I expected. It was like being on a festival. There were cars in many different colors and shapes and some really crazy motorcycle riders. I don't know how they managed to do all those amazing tricks.

After Grand Prix I went to do the RSA course. For those of you who don't know, RSA stands for Responsible Serving of Alcohol or something like that. It's a course you have to do if you wanna get a job in a bar or restaurant in Australia. The course was easy, you can figure out most things when it comes to serving alcohol just by using your common sense. Now I'll hopefully have a higher chance of getting a job.

Tomorrow I have to get up early and change hostel temporarily. There are many people here because of the Grand Prix so it's hard to get a place to live.

If you're ever going to Australia I have some advice to give you:
1. Don't eat marmite, it tastes disgusting.
2. Don't ever go outdoors without sunlotion, not even if it's cloudy or if you're just going to be out for a short while. I did that today, which was stupid.

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Penguins

Another hot day today. There is a festival here called Future Music, so many people in my hostel are there. Unfortunately they don't have the kind of music I listen to. I mean, Avicii is the headliner... I've been walking around here in St Kilda instead, first I went to check out a market with art and different stuff. I bought a necklace and a cool ring.

I went to the pier to watch the penguins too. First I went there in the afternoon, but there were no penguins anywhere. I didn't give up, so I went there in the sunset and then there were many of them. They were so cute! Now I've seen wild dolphins, penguins and parrots, what will come next?