Melbourne Part Deux

Dear Readers,


      Yeah, you didn't expect this did you.  A blog only a day later?  Frankly, that's uncharacteristic.  Yeah, we can all change.  "If I can change, you can change, everybody can change."  Yeah, that's a video of Rocky Balboa single handedly proposing peace treaties in the midst of the Cold War.  The Italian Stallion can do that.  Anyways, away we go...

    Saturday, we spent the majority of the day trying to recover from an eventful, fulfilled Friday.  We watched this movie called "Bra Boys"; it is a documentary on a surfer gang set in Sydney that tries to take young hoodlums into their gang and get them hooked on surfing instead of narcotics.  Pretty crazy film and makes me upset that Townsville has the Great Barrier Reef knocking down the tidal activity.  Later, I received a phone call from Dakota and Greta (fellow Americans from James Cook Univ.) alerting me of their arrival in Melbourne.  They planned to stay one night before their excursion over to New Zealand so we planned on meeting up for some drinks that night.

     The Colby Crew had other plans earlier in the evening for an ice bar called "Chill On".  I don't know about you but an ice bar is one of the more attractive ideas I've ever heard of.  You have to pay an entry fee but you are supplied with a parkour, gloves, a drink, and a shot.  You need the jacket, gloves, and alcohol because otherwise you'd freeze considering the temperature is at -10 degrees celsius or 14 degrees farenheit.   After finishing your drinks you can spike them on the ground because literally everything is made of ice.  The downfall of the bar is the inability to bring a camera to take pictures since they take them "professionally" and sell them to you.  Luckily, we are snakes and Campbell snuck his droid in so I can put pictures exclusively up on my blog...and yeah maybe for the memories too. 

    After a half an hour of freezing, we departed to meet up with Dakota and Greta and eventually find another venue to celebrate.  The obvious choice was to head towards Chinatown.  Can I just say that I love the fact that other cities outside of the U.S have a Chinatown because that's incredible.  Chinatown was a great spot to be but after waiting in line for about 20 minutes for a club in the pouring rain, we were disappointed that the cover charge was 30 dollars.  That's preposterous!  We went down the road to another place where we found a great place to enjoy a beer and that's what we did.

    Sunday became a day of rest where started the recovery process by going to a quaint breakfast place and getting some eggs.  Later in the night, I met Campbell and Tommy's friend Dale Bishop.  She's very nice girl who is much more spirited and motivated than those two clowns.  Without Dale, it's likely their lives would be much less organized than they already are, basically in shambles.  We decided to hit up a local pub for a casual night with a few beers.  Tommy convinced Dale that I am the best dancer at Colby College (lies) so when "Billie Jean" came on the jukebox complemented with some coercing, I hopped up and busted a move or two.  What I have failed to mention that there were about 15 people in the entire pub with about 6 of them being men over 50.  I spun left, I spun right, I flashed my hands around like a helicopter and did a variation of the crip walk.  Out of breath, I sat down after about 30 seconds of shame and ill-choreographed moves but to my astonishment, the crowd began to give me a round of applause.  Either they felt bad for me or I wore my dancing shoes that night. You take your pick... 

  
   Monday, we toured another part of the city by the river and business district.  We purchased some tickets to aboard the Eureka Tower which has the highest public vantage point in the Southern Hemisphere.  Pretty cool stuff:

   On Tuesday, Dale planned a dinner party to have a few friends over Tommy and Campbell's place, cook a salmon dinner, and have a some drinks.  However, the lone fact that it was Jordan's 21st birthday did not bode well for the party plans.  How could we manage to have a classy salmon dinner party and a ragin' cagin' 21st birthday social in the same small apartment?  Well, here's how:

A Fancy Dinner Party in One Corner:

 And a 21st Goon Power Hour in the Other Corner:

   Both parties turned out to be a success in both respects and converged into one party at some point.  The 21st birthday of Jordan turned into one for the history books with some craziness happening later that left both rooms in ruins.  

   All in all, I had a fantastic time in Melbourne with the boys.  We discussed senior year and the potential shenanigans we will all get into in our senior APT. 043 baby.  It was nice seeing familiar faces and certainly nice traveling for the first time in a while.  Melbourne treated me well and I'm glad those Colby kids are having a blast down there.  I bid them farewell and headed up north bright and early to come back to warmth of Townsville.  I know that this blog has quite the length to it but I'm glad you guys tuned in for it.  I'll divulge more detailed stories later on in a personal account since I couldn't include all my travels.  Leave any questions or comments in the box below.  Thanks for reading!

To Infinity and Beyond

- Alex Chase

Melbourne!

Dear Readers,


    It's been a while. I know I haven't blogged recently but listen, there've been budget cuts left, right and center.  The American dollar is just not holding up in Australia for the Australian Chase: simple as that.  I'm letting go staff daily and the office doesn't have the charm as it once did.  Frequent readers will be required to pay after a certain number of visits however, I am unsure on this number -- I am waiting for this slacker at Google to get me some figures.  The plan will resemble that of the New York Times new subscription plan in hopes that the fees will only strengthen "our ability to provide high-quality journalism to readers around the world and on any platform".   Anyways, I hope that none of you believe that slander I just wrote and if I was really on top of my game, that could have been a good blog to post on April Fool's day (which by the way nobody really celebrates in Australia).  In fact, those first few sentences have been in the draft box since April Fool's which can serve as a testament to my lack of motivation these last few weeks.  Anyways, away we go...

     Last Thursday, I woke up with the most excitement since initially arriving in Australia.  For those that I may not have spoken to recently, I planned a trip down to Melbourne to visit my Colby College hombres, Kenneth Campbell McDonald Stevenson IV (or his short name: Campbell) and Tommy Kimball.  My excitement stems from reacquainting with familiar faces, going to a real city/getting away from Hickville (I mean Townsville), and above all, the concept of traveling.  My primary reason to study abroad was not to engage in rigorous academics or set up shop in one city in a foreign land; yet to experience traveling incognito to places I'm likely never to go again, encounter and converse with individuals either temperate or bizarre, and enjoy myself partaking in these activities. 

   My Aussie friend Kelly Borg graciously offered to drive me to the airport because he is moving four hours south of Townsville to find work elsewhere.  Great guy and hopefully I'll be able to see him once more before I leave this island but after he dropped me off, my focus was set on surviving my plane rides so I can see those damn Mules.  First plane ride didn't go so well because luck landed me next to a sweaty red-faced obese man who on take off started moaning and breathing heavily.  And even better on landing, he had his vomit bag ready to roll. So what did I do? I stared at him with a magazine as a defense to deflect any ricocheting puke but he held it down.  I'm proud of him...we all were.  The rest of the trip wasn't terrible but a bit long because for an island, Australia is damn big.  Flying from Townsville to Melbourne is about 2,500 miles and is equivalent from Boston to New Orleans for you navigators out there. 

   Once, I arrived at their apartment I was welcomed with a Budweiser to start my trip off appropriately.   They live very close to the city and have an excellent view off their back deck:

      The rest of the Thursday night is a bit hazy but on Friday, we explored Melbourne which included walking around the city, eating at Burger King (Yup), and stopped in at Queen Victorian Market.  The city is quite beautiful and because you can just about walk anywhere in 20 minutes, it is easily manageable for a tourist.  Queen Victorian Market is one of my favorite places I visited that week because of the vibrant culture that occurs, the variety of goods sold,  and the quality of the locally produced food.  Butchers are hollering prices as you walk by, all vendors are welcoming and friendly, and at many kiosks, you can try a sample of the food you wish to buy.  You can even buy one of these little guys if you want:

    Later on, we explored a sketchy alleyway that one may think breeds unspeakable crimes  but to my surprise, it is an ongoing work of art that various artists contribute to over time in this tucked away-graffiti side street:

   Once we returned to their apartment, we planned to rendez-vous with two other Colby kids, Jordan and Hadrian who are both studying abroad in Melbourne.  We played polish horseshoes mid-day in a near-by park...legality? Not so sure on this one but Australia can't touch five Colby kids.

   Polish horseshoes is one of my most cherished drinking games because it has everything you need.  Think about it: you have to play during the day which we all know is the best time to; you and another partner need to work together to overcome disadvantages-- inebriation and operation with one hand; and you get to whip a frisbee at a beer bottle teetering on a ski pole.  Pure Genius.

   Later that night, we caught the train into the Melbourne Cricket Ground to go see an Australian football game.  This stadium is known to hold more than 100,000 people at these matches which is a stupid amount of people.  As far as the game goes, it's entertaining to watch  but I'd argue it lacks excitement with 18 players on the field for each team with only about 5 of them involved.  But what do I know? I'm just some American who only loves American sports so I can't really pass judgement.  Here are a few pictures of the game:

  
    If you look closely at the jerseys, one team is all black and the other team is all black with white vertical stripes.  What dimwit thought it would be a good idea to have similar looking jerseys worn by 36 people on the field at the same time?  I had a great time at the game though because I had no emotional attachment to either team and usually when I attend sporting events in Boston, they typically lose on me. After the game, Jordan, Campbell, Tommy, and I were in search for this bar that was critically acclaimed but with no such luck, we decided to call it a night. 

   Speaking of which, why don't we turn this Melbourne adventure into two blogs?  I don't know why I type the question out for you to read because for one, you frankly have no choice and for two, in all likelihood you only look at the pretty pictures and glance over the written words.  For maybe a third, because of the lengthy nature of this blog, you are probably back on Facebook by now and will not even read the conclusion of Melbourne.  Just kidding, you guys have been great and I appreciate the feedback and continue to welcome it.  Part Deux should be coming soon so keep your eyes peeled for it.


Keep on keeping on



Cheers,
Alex