First two days.

I’m currently sitting in the Victoria State Library, and although the building itself is insanely nice and reminds me greatly of Toronto, it fucking sucks in terms of internet speed and connection. I’ve been here for one hour, maybe longer now, and I’ve been attempting to access two websites the entire time. This one that you’re currently probably not reading and Facebook. Facebook’s worked twice or so, and then reloaded for no apparent reason, and now I can’t access it again. It’s really frustrating. I should have just gone to the McDonald’s down the street, and camped out there for a few hours. Apparently every McDonald’s has free WiFi, plus I’m hungry as shit since I’ve only eaten Cheerios as I’m trying to ration out my money before I get funds into my new Aussie account next week. I could go for a disgusting Big Mac right now…

I eventually went out across the street to the Hungry Jacks, which is just a Burger King, and got a Double Whopper. I immediately regretted the decision. I also took my first tram from the Central Business District (CBD) – the 19 to North Coburg which goes through Brunswick. I did not pay for it because I don’t know how to do so, and so I kind of just walked on and sat down. You don’t have to put the fair in at the front of the tram like you do on the TTC streetcars, and also, every door opens up like that Queen St. streetcar. I hear I can get fined from my roommates if they catch you, obviously, but I was also reassured that I can probably plead ignorance and use my “accent” to get out of a ticket.

Anyways, this is day two. My flight from Hong Kong was the most exhausting thing ever, 15 hours straight with nothing to do really. The movies on the flight were all relatively lame, but I ended up watching Cyrus on the way to HK Airport. It was all right, I suppose – the movie I mean. I sat next to an old Asian couple in their at least mid-80’s, who smelled like decaying flesh and traditional Asian foods. Needless to say I began feeling sick at the 7 hour mark, which is about half way there accessing the washroom to either throw up or take a shit, neither of which happened. I took another 12 hour gravol and began to calm down drifting in and out of sleep, and sitting with nothing to do attempting to feel fine, staring blankly at the screen in front of me.  The Hong Kong Airport is kind of shitty itself, in the sense that it’s insanely large. Some old dude at Pearson told me, “it’s like the airport in Hong Kong was designed by a golf player and you have to walk to all 18 holes”. It was true. The internet there was actually better than in this library. The connection to Melbourne was actually a lot better some how. I was contemplating missing that flight while in Hong Kong to sleep on the benches there since I didn’t want to A) fly anymore and B) sit upright for 9 more hours. Turns out that there were only about 100 people on the flight, and I had 4 seats to myself so I got to lie down for the whole duration of the flight. Fuck yes.

This entry is all over the place it seems.

I arrived in Melbourne at around 10:30PM or so, and got to my “apartment” at around 11. When I pulled up to the house, or what I thought was the house, it turned out to be a pretty rundown apartment building that was apparently a factory. At this point my heart sank into my stomach, and I told the cabby that I think I’ve been scammed. For some reason there are two girls sitting in this factory in the lobby (?) with the lights on, so I get out of the cab and walk up to the factory door at 11 at night, and knock on the door. They see me through the glass door, and decide that I look sketchy and threatening so the decide to yell at me through the door. I can’t hear anything because my ears haven’t popped yet so we’re yelling back and forth like:

“IS THIS 50 HOPE STREET?!”
 “YEAH! BUT THIS IS A FACTORY!”
 “A WHAT?!”.
“A FACTORY!”
“SO THERE AREN’T APARTMENTS UPSTAIRS?!”
“NO! IT’S A FACTORY!”
“WHAT?!”
“NO!”
“Oh. Shit…”

I think they thought I was fucking insane and going to knife them.

Turns out the house is just a way down the road at 51 Hope Street and not #50.  Even though the area is kind of half residential, half industrial, it’s a really nice house. It’s two floors. The first is all hardwood, has Randy’s room, the “laundry room” which is essentially just a closet, Randy’s bathroom (or the main floor bathroom), and the kitchen/living room in that order. It’s pretty spacious, relatively empty but nice nonetheless. The second floor is all carpet, and holds Courtney’s room to the left of the staircase, the bathroom, and then my room (which is really Jen’s room). I think my room may be the biggest and has the best view, and also a terrace or balcony – though, it’s really just glass doors that open up like a giant window and has a gate right there so you can’t really walk out. I believe that I can catch a glimpse of the Eureka Tower through the trees, which is one of the largest buildings in the Southern Hemisphere, and a bunch of other buildings in the CBD. That may be wrong, but regardless, the Eureka Tower is pretty nice and hopefully I’ll get to see it and more of Melbourne soon. 

Send me mail and cookies (and presents and money for groceries):

Daniel Alcinii
51 Hope Street
3056
Brunswick, Victoria
Australia

Hopefully the next blog post will actually make sense and be enticing to read.