Fed Square, Graffiti, and Roommate in Melbourne

Directly upon my return from Sydney, my buddy Danny came to visit Melbourne.  Besides seeing him in Sydney, it had been about a full month since we both parted ways at the airport in Thailand. Needless to say, it was time to do some epic sightseeing and super fun nights out in the city. 

When Danny first arrived, we decided to go do some sightseeing.   Starting off, we went to Federation Square to check out some happening film-related exhibitions.  My favorite was an ultra-interactive exhibition called Screen Worlds.  There, we saw the full historical scope of motion pictures from the earliest pieces of movie machinery to wild upcoming forms of hyper-experience entertainment.  Who would of thought that Chinese shadow plays and magic lantern shows from the Roman Renaissance would be considered the earliest forms of cinema? Next, there was a section entitled Voices that showed the Austtralians have contributed to the moving image.  Sensation was by far the coolest part of the exhibition because they had an array of displays that put you into sensory overload like a Matrix-like multi-camera room that filmed a 360 degree video clip of us jumping and waving like wild animals (that was hard to explain).  We killed about and hour there and then moved on to check out the elaborate downtown alleyways.

Let me start by saying that Australia does graffiti right. .  In terms of legalities, graffiti is shockingly legal to certain degree here; however, these were not just your typical amateur thugs that sloppily stained their names throughout downtown.  These alleyways were true exhibitions of modern artists’ vibrant creativity and imagination. I have a full photo compilation of us taking edgy pictures with this graffiti—it was way, way, way awesome.  Images of hip-hop doughnuts, psychedelic ponies and Indian elephant gods were to be seen.  I have admittedly been back heaps of times since. J

Danny and I also went to check out and Australian Rules Football match, or “footy” as the locals refer to it as.  This was an awesome experience because footy is the ultimate favorite of the Aussies.  I would say this game is like a bunch of different sports mashed up into one.  The ultra athletic players attacked the ball with powerful soccer kicks, volleyball-like passes, and American Football (or “gridiron) goal-scoring.  Although Danny and I had no idea what was going on for the most part, we just enjoyed eating meat pies and chips and rooting (or “barracking”) for our teams.  I was recruited early on to root for the St. Kilda Saints and Danny barracked for the Western Bulldogs.  We had a blast.

To wrap up Danny’s visit, we explored the downtown nightlife.  Admittedly, I had not yet ventured past the local Uni pubs, so this was definitely one of the more extreme times going out out.  We saw the awesome Melbourne city skyline at Rooftop Bar, caught up, danced with some fellow Trojans at Revelers Bar, and partied all through the chain of clubs at Brunswick Street.  Needless to say it was a wild and crazy few nights, but it was definitely filled with some good times to remember.  Danny ended up catching his red-eye flight back to the states after a late, sleepless night out in the city.  Literally, his alarm went off as we were walking back to Saint Mary’s, so he had to quickly pack and catch a cab at 4 AM.  A funny little bit, is that he accidentally packed a pair of my jeans in his suitcase. When he mailed them back, we had to employ one of the cheesiest jokes ever… “Brotherhood of the traveling pants.”