The essentials

Eating

I love fruit. Maybe it has something to do with being in college and having ramen noodles and bagels far more accessible than anything fresh, but walking into Whole Foods and seeing all those cups of fruit lined up like that is about as good as it gets in my world. I feel almost as strongly about fresh vegetables. So in my version of heaven I get to wander down aisle after aisle of fruits and vegetables and not worry about how long they are going to last in my dorm room (there is also mountain scenery, fantastic weather, and a library of all the books about which I have ever thought, "I'll read that when I have time," but these aspects of heaven aren't really relevant to my story). So it turns out that this produce paradise exists not only in my head, but also at the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne! It's great. I discovered it on the tourist bus and it made my day, well made my two weeks actually, since that's how long I'm here. They also sell souvenirs and clothes and stuff like that, but I go for the food side. All the vendors are yelling about their prices and I just get to walk around and bask in the limitless options for lunch and dinner.

Sleeping

Doesn't happen around here as much as I would like. My hostel is a lot of fun, but it's not best place for going to bed early, since my window is right above the entrance to the pub and I can generally hear what's going on in there whether I'm interested or not. Plus there's always a lot going on, so It's not difficult to get distracted and wind up going to bed later than I planned.

Running

There's this thing called "The Tan" around one of the parks in Melbourne, which I was told was the best place to go running around here, so that's where I've been going. The Tan is a 4k loop, and I've never once passed someone else who was running not walking on it. I get passed all the time though, on both sides, by intense looking rugby players, much older men, women in their forties and fifties, people with strollers, and once by a girl who wasn't even wearing running shoes. They all run at breakneck speed, it's amazing. The highlight of my day once was after I did The Tan I was jogging back to the hostel and I was even passed by a elderly woman on one of those motorized chairs. People walk quickly too though, so maybe it's just how things are done around here (or maybe I'm just very very slow).