I'M BACK IN MELBOURNE!!! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
Yup, that was my general reaction when I landed in Melbourne's Domestic Airport on Sunday. I was looking forward to coming to Melbourne since May, and I even missed Melbourne to the point where I envisioned myself walking towards college (more on that later) whenever I was about to sleep. Kinda obsessive and crazy, but Melbourne IS a great place to be in!
Anyway I was so excited to be back in Melbourne, that on the morning after I landed, I immediately caught a train/tram to college! To meet up with my awesome buddies Estha and Shern Shern (because I missed them!!).
The walk through Williamstown (where I'm staying now)...
And here is Williamstown Beach station. In Perth the station I always went to was right beside the Kwinana Freeway, and it was often noisy and packed. Here in Melbourne, I was greeted with a very empty and quiet station. Took me a while to get used to it, but hey! It shows I AM BACK!!!
Ended up in Melbourne Central Station as the train went through the City Loop - and I didn't want to go one big loop and end up at Flinders! So I got off here.
First thing that greeted me when I stepped out of the subway: TRAMS!!! YARRA TRAMS!!!
Yes - TRAMS!!! Proof that I'm now in Melbourne!!!! :D Anyway I took the tram up to uni.
Retracing some of the shortcuts I took in Melbourne Uni during my undergraduate days (more to that in subsequent posts I promise!). These include passing the maths building, the (in)famous Redmond Barry building aka the Psychology Building and the Baldwin Spencer Building.
The university was like Perth at night (from what I remember) - quiet and sparsely populated - presumably because of the exams.
The route I took everyday from 2009-2011 - ROYAL PARADE!! Yes - I'm back in Royal Parade and I had to resist the temptation to run down the straight road yelling "I AM BACK!!!!". Jeez the minute I stepped onto Royal Parade I knew that I was getting closer and closer to college!! And that obviously made me even more excited.
This was exactly the image I envisioned many nights when in Perth. Walking down Royal Parade and ending up at this crossing, where University College was.
Finally reached my destination. The place was still the same I guess, with some minor changes such as a new coat of paint on the outside, and the sliding doors were replaced. Other than that, no changes.
Did not end up walking down this corridor, but ended up taking a few snapshots before heading to the dining hall for lunch.
This corridor was also the one I often took when going back to my room - especially when it was raining. If not I'd take a shortcut across one of the courtyards.
Caught up with friends and decided to walk around college to take more pictures of course! This courtyard was the one I often crossed - as a shortcut to my room.
Couldn't bear to leave so soon!!!
Anyway I decided I couldn't stay longer so I decided to look for the famous Aggie the College Cat! I've got lots and lots of pictures of her! Should say that I officially became a crazy cat lady thanks to her! Anyway do check out the pictures of her in the Blog Archives! Some of the links are located here, here and here. I've got more links of course, but these three provide a good start! :)
Was looking around this area, wondering where Aggie was, then suddenly I heard a familiar "meow, meeeooowww", and there she was, RIGHT BEHIND ME! I was like, "AGGIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!" and gave her a huge cuddle.
More on her in later posts! I did 2 photoshoots of her!
The bad thing about coming in winter was that it turned dark pretty early. So I had to leave. And besides, Aggie wanted her privacy.
So I went back to Royal Parade to catch the tram! And attempted to replicate a picture I saw on Facebook. Probably didn't replicate it exactly.
Some more pictures - this time focusing on the wing which I used to live in, and the new fence outside.
While waiting for the tram...more pictures of Royal Parade! MUST.COME.BACK.TO.MELBOURNE.NEXT.YEAR.!!!!!
Flinders Street Station, while waiting for the train back to Williamstown, and also since I haven't been there for a while, I desperately wanted some pictures!
That's it for my first day in Melbourne! Day 1 Part 2 will be all about Aggie and the photoshoot I did for her when I saw her! Stay tuned!