Exchange on Exchange: A Tale of Bromance Pt. 2

Hi guys,

the last little while has been hectic as the end of term looms. With exams to study for, a World Cup to watch, bags to pack, goodbye's to be said, I found little time to recount the second half of my Tale of Bromance with James Elgin Craig. I will do my best to fill you in on the details but will keep it brief to get back to the books.

James flew in to Melbourne and I went to pick him up at the airport with my friend Liz who graciously agreed after I guilt tripped her into it. After settling in and showing him around campus, we set out on the 86 tram and met up with all the Canadians plus and minus a few. We hung out and frontloaded before heading to the Rochester Hotel (the Rochie), doing goon slaps and high-fiving all the way. James and I had the fantastic idea of pretending we were Irish for the night figuring it would be much easier to meet people if we were Irish. I was Declan O'Hoolahan and James was Sean Shawn O'Shaughnessy. We carried this on to the best of our abilities, often throwing in some Irish jigs on the d-floor to give credibility to our charade. At one point, while chatting to some girls, I must have got frustrated by the fact that James was getting more attention than me so I totally sold him out and told them it was all an act on his part and I was the only true Irishman. James recovered well by conceding that he was from Newfoundland and Labrador in a voice resembling Samwise Gamgee. It was this night that proved once and for all that one's ability to put on an accent has an inverse relationship to the amount of beer you consume. fact.

The next day we ventured into the city to show James around. Melbourne's got a really nice downtown core with loads of great architecture and green space so James was just taking it all in. Much to our chagrin, the Titanic exhibit was sold out at the Melbourne Museum but it worked out in the end because we headed instead to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Federation Square. We spent hours checking out this really cool exhibit about all things to do with the development of interface technology ( ie film, tv, video games, augmented reality and the history behind them all) that allowed us to try video games from throughout the ages on their oringial consoles as well some other really cool interactive exhibits. Later on, we found out that there was a documentary on that was made by the famous street artist Banksy. He is a really interesting character who's art often challenges social norms and is always really symbolic yet he hides his identity from the world. No one knows who he is, where he is from, what he looks like as all of his art is done on the street in the wee hours of the morning all over the world. The documentary he made was about a guy that tried to make a documentary about him. It was really cheeky and really well done.

The next day was rather uneventful as we decided to have a lie in. The Titanic exhibit was again sold out so our plans were up the air once again. We headed back into the city, enjoying our usual conversations and musings of becoming street artists. We took the free tram around the city that showed you all of the historic spots before heading to Rooftop Bar. This place was so awesome and an idea I want to take back to Canada with me. The bar is completely open-plan on the roof of a tall building so you sit by the heat lamps amongst sky scrapers in the open air. In the summer they play movies on a big projector screen which would be really cool to see. James was leaving that night so after our quiet pints we took the tram back out to Bundoora to get his stuff. We plan to spend my last week together up in Brisbane and Fraser Island but right now my focus is on my exam....at least it should be. I am finding it really hard to juggle everything at the moment to say the least and it's depressing and exciting at the same time to be living out of a suitcase once again. My rooms all packed up and I write my last exam on Wednesday. But the adventure is just beginning, so stay tuned folks.

Much Love,
D