Sweet as.

My life is a complete 180 from Sydney.  Sydney was more of a "glitz and glamour" type of lifestyle.  I lived on the beach, worked a (mostly) Monday to Friday desk job, partied hard on the weekends (and some weekdays), shopped a lot for dresses and heals, and spent a lot of time lounging on the beach.  My life in Melbourne has consisted of working a lot for the last 3 months.  I live in a place without heat (although, I moved out of there on Monday and now live in a hostel).  I wear coats and sweatshirts all the time.  I worked in an ice house, and usually spent 12 hours a day on my feet... I have only recently started to go out, and that consists of going to a bar, sitting and having a few drinks with friends, and going home.  Sydney, we drank before we went out, went to a club, drank and danced until 3am.

Also in Sydney, all my friends were foreigners.  From England, Ireland, Germany, America, Canada...etc... everywhere EXCEPT Australia.  I barely even saw Australians.  Sydney is mostly made up of Asians and tourists.  If we saw an Australian in the bar it was like they were this weird, foreign species that we stared at from afar... not quite sure what to do with them.

In Melbourne, mostly all my friends are from Australia or New Zealand.  I've picked up on the accent a lot more (I say "sweet as"... or "[insert any word here] as" a lot).  

A few of the people that I have hung out with are as follows:

Jess:  Chef at the cafe that I work with.  She's from New Zealand and says "sex" instead of "six."  Come to think of it... all Kiwi's (I love calling them that...) say that.  We bond over our messed up views on relationship and sex... we blame our parents/grandparents for giving us screwed up views of love.  

Sarah: Barista at the cafe.  Also from New Zealand, but she is dating an English man.  She is pregnant with her first child, and we like to give her a hard time every day for her expanding waistline.  She is a true hippy, and the complete opposite of both Jess and I.

Brooke: Worked with me at the Icehouse... she is Australian.  Gets way to excited to clean things... especially the sandwich press.  Gets even more excited when we get new shipments of Steel Wool.  We have had many late night excursions using the buses at night (getting off work at 1am on a Saturday).  We're both a little strange and have a shared of love of saying "...was funny" in any form.  

Mikey:  From New Zealand, he plays in a band.  He will be famous and I will be able to say "I knew him when..."  We like to have random cuddle sessions.  Well, really, he forces himself upon me, forcing me to be the big spoon.  He wears a bowler hat every day, dresses like a hipster, and flirts with anything with boobs.  Possibly why we get along so well.  Plays hockey like a pro and works at the Icehouse selling overpriced merchandise.

Rob:  Also from New Zealand (sidenote: possibly might have lied about knowing a lot of Australians...).  Roommates with Mikey.  Dresses like a hipster and is known for stealing Ray Ban sunglasses from work.  Talking to him has made me say "[insert any word here] as" way more than I ever used to.  Plays hockey and works as an all-rounder at the Icehouse.  

Alice:  From England, but recently relocated to Australia.  Is 16 going on 25.  We only just started to get along, right before I quit the ice house.  Her dream is to own a bar, preferably by the age of 18.  We also like to giggle together over our "16 year old school girl crushes."  

Arron:  Obviously.  You know him... I write about him way too much (don't want to stroke his ego too much. heh.)  The only constant in my Australia experience.  Known him 9 months now... which we both agreed we could've had a child by now, if we had wanted to.  Thank God we didn't want to.  Oh, he's allergic to peanuts and shell fish... I didn't know what to write about him that you didn't already know.

There are a lot of other people that have made my time here very enjoyable, but these are the ones that I have hung out with the most.  And, really... that's not that much, since I worked all the time.  But, now that I have quit the Icehouse, I have a lot more free time.  

Speaking of the Icehouse, wanted to thank everyone there for making work not suck so much.  All of the kitchen staff... keeping me filled up on fattening foods and making me laugh.  Also, thanks for dousing me with water on my last night.  Thanks to everyone else, you know who you are.  Skeet, Scotty, Jake, Leo, and Travis always kept me entertained.  I will miss you all.  (even though, pretty sure no one really reads this.)

All Icehouse staff, left to right, Danielle, Rob, Me, Brooke), Leo, Arron (drunk on his 25th), and Mikey.

Again, Icehouse staff, Shelley, Lachlan, Danielle, Ali, Skeet, Scotty.

Love,

Michaela