Hi everyone!

As part of my photography course, I have to track my development on a blog. The posts from September 2011 until January 2012 are part of a module called Project Management, for which I was required to work in a group of eight students to create an exhibition. The blog followed every step we took in order to create a successful gallery. The blog posts starting from September 2012 follow my final year on the course. I'll be documenting my research and analysis of my final year projects, as well as include notes of my Professional Practice unit - which prepares us for a range of post graduate options. Finally it also looks at a project called New Creatives, where I'll be working alongside an artists to help college students get more involved with art.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

2 Months in Melbourne

It's already been two months since we arrived in Melbourne and it's all been a bit hectic. We got all the important stuff out of the way immediately and moved into our flat exactly 2 weeks after arriving in Australia. Since then we haven't really stopped. My boyfriend got a job as a rigger for various events such as the AFL and horse racing etc. I also managed to get a job at Subway! I obviously started applying for loads of photography jobs, but never heard back from any of them, so Subway it was! I've been there for over a month now and working like crazy. The 'normal' shift is 10 hours, when in the UK 7 hours was a long shift! Tuesday I ended up working a 12 hour shift.

I work in the middle of the city on Bourke Street. It gets extremely busy there - we made 101 subs in one hour!! Bourke street is the main shopping street. Then there's also Elizabeth street and Collins street. Collins street has some of the more expensive shops, whereas Bourke and Elizabeth street are a lot more affordable. I really enjoy living so close to the city centre and working there. Melbourne is such a lively place, there is always something going on. There are constantly buskers everywhere and they are amazing!! Well most of them... I saw someone playing an air guitar as he was saving up for a real guitar... There are always protests going on, which isn't always the best but definitely entertaining! A few of them have started in front of Subway, so I get front row seats to the event!

One street up from Bourke street is Little Bourke Street. This is where China Town is. We quickly strolled through there on our way to the Museum. The museum has a whole marine science section so Kevin is looking for jobs/volunteering opportunities there.

One of the first real touristy things we did was go to the Shrine of Remembrance. We can see the Shrine from our flat so we thought we might as well start there! The shrine is absolutely beautiful. We had been admiring it for a while, but it was great to learn more about it. Like the fact it took 150 pages of equations to decide on the location of the shrine. Everyday as the sun sets, it illuminates the shrine as though there is a huge spotlight on it. Since it's built on a hill, everything around it is dark, but only the building is lit up. It looks beautiful! There are 4 streets that lead away from the Shrine. One of them is St Kilda Road leading to Swantson Street (into the City) and the other is towards South Melbourne (the street where the sun sets). I'm not sure about the other two. When you're in the middle of the city crossing Swanston Street you can actually see the Shrine in the distance. It's such a strange/amazing sight!
The photo above is taken from the balcony. The street straight ahead is St Kilda Road leading to Swanston Street. On the left side of the street you can see the tallest building in Melbourne. If you look closely you can see a spiral on top of a building on the left side. This is at the Arts Precinct. That's where the National Gallery is as well as the theatre. Every sunday there is also a lovely market with all sorts of things. They also had poffertjes (Little Dutch pancakes) so I felt right at home! Just past there is a bridge across the Yarra River.

If you go down the stairs you'll be at Southgate. This is an area full of restaurants. It's such a nice place, it looks beautiful in the evening. The next bridge on the left has a pub underneath it. It looks awesome!!

Just over the bridge on the other side of the street is a orangey/brown church. This is by Federation Square and Flinders Street Station. Basically where the city starts.