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.

¨

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?

Chilling in Melbourne

I've been in Melbourne for three days now. Sydney and Melbourne might look pretty close on the map, but the travel to get here took 14 hours by bus. Feels good to be in Melbourne though, my impression of the city is good so far. I live close to St Kilda beach, so I've been to the beach a lot these days. I'm actually starting to get tanned. It's extremely hot here. St Kilda is a nice place anyway, it's lively and peaceful at the same time.

I've been tired these days, so I've spent most of them lying on the beach reading. I'm reading that sort of book that is hard to put aside. It's nice to have time to read, I haven't read anything else than course literature for a long time.

I'm a person who always thinks very much and reflects on things, but on this travel I've been thinking more than usual. Travelling really makes you see things from another perspective. You realize what matters in life and what doesn't matter at all. Suddenly it feels like I'm able to do whatever I want with my life. I mean, I went to the other side of earth because I wanted to. I skydived because I wanted to. What says that I can't do anything else because I want to?

Today I went to the central part of the city to check out shops and stuff. I found several rock clothing shops, that's nice. There are many cafées here and many street musicians. Tonight I've been partying at my hostel and talked to people from all over the world.

Taronga Zoo

I've been doing lots of things this week, one day I went to Taronga Zoo for example. It was fun to see kangaroos, koalas and other Australian animals. The koalas were sleeping though. The kangaroos were more lively, you could walk close to them too. Thought I should share some pictures with you. The last one is of a Tasmanian tiger, I thought I should get a good picture of him, but then he ran away into a hole. That is why the picture is blurry.

Happy birthday to me

I celebrated my 21st birthday yesterday. I can't believe that I'm getting so old! It was the first birthday I spent far away from home, family and friends. The day was perfect anyway.

I lay on Manly beach all day, it was a really nice beach. The weather was good too, it has been raining here for some days, but not this day. I've never celebrated my birthday on a beach before.

In the evening I went out to eat dinner and drink beer with Lisa. We ate lasagne on an Italian restaurant, lasagne is one of my absolute favorite meals. The best thing about the restaurant visit was that I got a huge piece of chocolate cake for free when I told them it was my birthday. I even got a candle on it and the whole restaurant sang for me. It felt like I was in a movie or something. After the dinner I drank Pure Blonde, it's an Australian beer which is very good. A new favorite actually.

Beach, lasagne, chocolate cake, beer and good company. Can you possibly have a better birthday? Maybe if you add a Green Day concert (I'm the world's biggest Green Day freak for those of you who don't know). Otherwise, I don't think so.

Talking about beer, I bought awesome earrings the other day. They look like Heineken caps. Heineken used to be my favorite beer back in the days. People in all ages start talking to me everywhere just because of the earrings, they always ask if I've made them myself or bought them.

Tomorrow I'm leaving Sydney for Melbourne. It's going to be exciting to see what Melbourne is like, I've heard lots of positive things about the city. Tomorrow it's three weeks since I left Sweden, time flies. I don't miss Sweden at all, this is so much better. What an adventure it has been already, I can't wait to see what the rest of the trip is going to be like.