see you later

In Aussie tradition, it is the norm to say "see you later" instead of "goodbye." So here goes one last post before I leave. Today is the last official day of PRIME, and it feels a bit strange. Over the past nine weeks, Melbourne has become our home and the experience has changed from being a vacation destination to somewhere we feel we belong. Anyway, here are some last words and memories.

Monday night we celebrated Andres' 30th birthday with dinner at Soda Rock - a 50's diner just down the street.
Then afterwards, we headed back to the Claremont and baked a cake.
I must say, it looks a lOT better than the first one we made, the night we met John and Andres.
The Germans made us little party hats out of styrofoam cups! They were so cute. (:
Tuesday night we decided to get everyone that we had met at the Claremont back together. There's John and Andres (the Colombians), Xiaomin (from China), Moritz (from Germany), Anil (from India), and Lena, Michaela, and Matthias (The Germans). [and Katie from Wales who we've met just recently, but couldn't join us]
It's turned out to be way more of a multicultural experience than I had expected - but good times. (: Here's Anil's own rendition of us. Can you guess who's who?
Here's us hanging out at the Claremont, in the dining area.
Then the girls progressed onto newspaper hats - we're trying to be pirates, but ultimately just ended up looking a bit retarded.
Look, there's a cryptic crossword on mine!
And the boys, were boys.
Thursday was our last normal lunch with the lab - we finished an entire crossword by ourselves! I don't know what I'll do over lunch once I get home, just kidding! I'm not too good at them. But anyway, this is where we eat everyday.
And then we always go for coffee afterwards.(I tried to get a picture with them)
One of the grad students, Philip, got back from his conference in China today (just to see us off - jk!). We went out for lunch with the lab today followed by David's seminar, an office party and now there's a farewell dinner to follow.

I am already feeling a bit nostalgic about leaving, and one thing I know I will miss for sURE are the breakfasts at the Claremont with Anna. She's so cute, and she knows all of our morning rituals - who wakes up early, if we're late, etc. All of the Claremont staff as well, who are all so friendly and oh so forgiving.
PRIME has been an awesome experience and I feel that I have learned and grown so much. Special thanks to Peter, Teri, Gabrielle, Linda (and NSF and Cal-IT2). This has been one absolutely amazing opportunity and I will definitely never forget it.

We shall be saying many more goodbyes this weekend since we depart for New Zealand and Sydney for a total of two weeks on Monday. I am very sad about leaving (a few tears already), but there are many more adventures to come. So until then, see you later.

Cheers, mates!
- Stephany

yarra

The Yarra is our backyard, and these past few days we have spent much time exploring. Saturday was extremely nice, so we walked to the City along the Yarra.
Along the way we saw many people training on the Yarra, be it kayaking or rowing. I suppose it's a Saturday morning type of activity. There were coaches on bikes riding along the path yelling instructions at the rowers, and we would constantly have to get out of the way in order to avoid being run over.
Here's us PRIME-rs on the Yarra River.
And as always, a jumping picture. :P
It actually didn't take us that long to get into the City, and it was a really nice day because Spring is coming! It'll be soo weird to go home and have it be on the verge of Fall. oh well. Here's a little bit of home - Sun God, Melbourne status!
We decided to take the tourist city shuttle and be tourists since we hadn't done that yet. I don't know why I'm helping with directions since I usually end up getting us lost - oops! (which is why I shall not try to navigate too much in New Zealand)

But anyway, we got to the bus stop and hopped on the bright blue bus.
It turns out that we had actually gone to most of the places that they pointed out on the bus!
It made me feel quite the accomplished, like we know the City now, and we're not just tourists. However, we did stop and take a walk down Brunswick Street, which is basically a cute and lively street with shops and restaurants, not unlike Chapel Street, but not quite as expensive.
Taking a break.
I sense some anti-Bush sentiments.
Ooh look - it's a playground!
We are Russian dolls.
Petrol is expensive..
Just kidding! It's pretty much the same, I think, compared to when I left the U.S. Actually, prices are by the liter and in cents.

We then visited the National Gallery of Victoria in Federation Square, called the Ian Potter Museum. There was a big variety of art there -from aborigines to impressionist to abstract to sculptures - mostly Australian art. Aborigines art is pretty amazing - it's mostly composed of dots and using colors that represent the earth.
And then some sculptures, impressionism, and abstract, among others.
No worries, pictures were allowed, just no flash. This one was my favorite - it's an abstract work of the City.

A little tired, perhaps?
A visit to the Docklands was next on our list since last time we went, it was raining and gloomy. We caught the sunset this time, which was beautiful.
And then stopped for some delicious hot chocolate at - guess where?
Then it was time to go home, and make a visit to Anil's house to teach him how to bake a cake - PRIME style, in the microwave. He actually ended up making us dinner - an Indian breakfast dish - and as always, we ended up incredibly full of good food, with plenty of leftovers for the next day.
Sunday found us once again at Queen Victoria Market, why we end up there so often, I do not really know. I guess it must have something to do with the cheap items and souvenir shopping. We also stopped at a Crafts Fair along the Yarra in the City as well as St. Kilda. Why we end up at St. Kilda on Sundays is another mystery. Then our last stop for shopping was Chapel Street. This place we always walk through during the night, and it has quite a different feel during the day. Because Spring is almost here, much of the Winter stuff was on sale, perfect for us as it's only a few months 'til Winter.
Monday morning (bright and early) found us yet again on the Yarra, this time walking away from the City (like how Heather and I went last weekend), and armed with cameras.
There were actually many people on the path in the morning, many people taking a morning jog/walk or biking to work. It seems that people here are more health conscious than in the States.
And there was a random rock wall!
Rod Laver Arena is home to the Australian Open, held every January. Knowing my family and tennis, of course I had to pay a visit.
So Liz and I went to the Arena on Tuesday and took a tour of the place - there were only three people, including us on the tour, so it was pretty cool. The actual arena didn't feel as big as it actually is, basically due to how it was designed. We actually got to go into one of the Superboxes as well, where all the VIP people sit. It's quite a good view from all points in the Arena. There actually aren't tennis court surfaces at the moment because they ripped them out last week and are replacing them with a new surface just in time for the 2008 Australian Open.
It was kind of exciting, though, seeing Federer's and Nadal's and Roddick's and etc.'s lockers, walking through the Hall of Champions, and seeing all the places that I see on TV every year. They replaced the backdrop in the interview area recently with new colors and a new logo, so it was pretty cool that we were one of the first to see it.
Anyway, the research aspect of PRIME is wrapping up since Friday will be our last day at Monash. I just got a whole new set of instructions from Anushka and I am definitely planning to continue work on this when I get home as there is still so much to do.