1. Art is Everywhere!

Before I came to Australia, my ignorant perception of the country was the “Outback.”  Kangaroos, the dessert, and rural areas of non-inhabited places, what some would call in the middle of nowhere.  But as I traveled the east coast of Australia, this was far from the truth.  This country is filled with lights, city noise, like cars honking and loads of people walking around town…it was full of life!  One of the cities I visited was Melbourne, located on the far southeastern side of the country in the state of Victoria.  I heard many good things about the place before coming from other travelers, but was I in for a treat.  One of the first few days here, I took advantage of a free group Mosey around the city with Lee, subbing in for Miss Molly…the events guru of my hostel, Habitat.  He did a fine job for his first tour of the city.  He took us to various cites, down dirty secret alleyways only a true Melbournian would know, on rooftop bars that overlooked the city and also spoke a little of the city’s architectural history.  I instantly fell in love with Melbourne during this tour.  As you know, I majored in art.  And let me tell you this city has lots of it.  The graffiti art is everywhere!  I love how many of them are down alleyways.  You would never walk down alleys back in Norfolk, VA.  Something horrible could happen if you did that.  It’s such a creative way of making some dirty and ordinary space into something beautiful.  The graffiti was displayed in some rented spaces and others commissioned by the city itself, which is great support for the starving artist.   There are large-scale sculptures in the middle of inconspicuous spots in the city and I later found some that were located on random parts of the highway when I took drives outside of the city.  Even the walls that partitioned the highway from the countryside were not just plain concrete walls, but in random parts of the wall were colorful glass or plexiglass panes.  The city’s layout, the architecture, the display of shops and department stores, and just everything about this city were screaming creative execution.  I <3 Melbourne and have been here for almost 9 months!  It’s going to be hard to leave this city.