Hello all! Woke up this morning to the very confusing sound of a train whistle (like your stereotypical, Harry Potter Hogwarts Express sounding train whistle). Even though this should make sense, since there's a train station about two blocks away, this is the first time my whole time here I've ever heard it. And it's happened quite a few times throughout the day since. Weird. But I kinda like it, it makes me feel like I'm living in a movie. Anywho, after getting ready, a bunch of us decided to head down to Paddington Markets, a little street fair that happens every Saturday starting at 10. It was very cute, and had a whole bunch of great looking stuff. I might have to go back next weekend to pick up a couple of souvenirs. They had a free wine tasting, and some great samples of some homemade chocolate by this one guy. So good! Even better though, was the fantastic deal going on at the Fudge Stand, where the man was selling three huge blocks of fudge for only $10 (compare that to a small bag of chocolate being $14 at the chocolate stand, and I was feeling pretty good about it). I couldn't resist so I got myself some peanut butter, caramel, and chocolate fudge to try. Yummm! Just had a piece of each a few minutes ago and they were so so so good! The picture in the slideshow does not do the fudge justice, in it's real life glory.
We decided to eat lunch while we were there, and I got to try the Turkish Gozleme, a very popular Turkish (obviously) dish over here in Australia. It's flatbread with a whole bunch of yummy possibilities for fillings inside, but I stuck with beef, spinach and cheese. With some lemon squeezed on top, it was absolutely fabulous! I'd been wanting to try it for a while but couldn't find it anywhere, as it's mostly market food, so it was awesome to finally get the chance. It was also huge (you can't quite tell in the picture, but there are two layers of it on that plate), and incredibly filling which was awesome. After looking around at all the stalls a bit more, we decided to head on down to Bondi Beach since it was finally quite nice out. Even better, upon getting on the bus, the driver gave us a free ride! Woohoo! No swiping our cards necessary! Unfortunately, when we actually reached Bondi, rain clouds were rolling in, and it was getting a bit chilly. So much for an afternoon at the beach. Never fear though, as we walked around the side streets of Bondi instead which was very cute, and then went for some of the best chai tea I've ever had in my entire life (I got a little overexcited and drank some before I took a picture (in the slideshow), which is why it doesn't look very pretty anymore, sorry!)
In our wanderings, we found this absolutely amazing looking Mexican dessert place, which had some of the best designed and displayed desserts I've ever seen. I was incredibly tempted to try one of their lava cakes, but due to the fact it was $12, and I'd already gotten some fudge, I decided to pass. Alas, I'm sure it would have been incredible! We then went to a different coffee shop to try and do some of our homework readings, but we kept getting distracted and ended up talking instead, oops. Finally we decided to head home for dinner, so I read a bit on the bus and then again at home, and managed to finish Our Sunshine, a fictionalized novel about Ned Kelly. It was okay, but jumped around a lot, and I could never tell if something was happening in the past and future. If our professor hadn't already told us every little detail of everything that ever happened to Ned Kelly, I probably wouldn't have been able to follow along with anything. Oh well, I finished it and that's all that matters.
Next we're going to try to go to a bar/club called The Argyle close to the Harbour, because we've heard it's pretty cool. And if you go before 10:00 there's no cover charge, which is awesome. But that'll probably be it for the night, maybe I'll watch some of Orange is the New Black, or a do a bit more of my readings as well. Still haven't heard back that my climb for Monday is confirmed, which I'm a little annoyed about, but I e-mailed again, so hopefully they'll get back to me.