Laura - Day 15 (20.3.)

Today I woke up at 8:30 am. Because my exchange student Ashleigh had to work in a bakery this morning, I decided to go for a short run. I went jogging on a small way next to a flood-relief channel for about half an hour. Afterwards, I had a shower and a small breakfast (toast with nutella).

La Manna

Subsequently, Ashleigh’s mum took me to a special supermarket not far away from their house. It is called ‘LaManna’ and  the owners are originally from Italy. You can buy a lot of self made and local food there (fruit and veggies are Australian grown only!). In consequence of the good quality, the things they sell, are very expensive. When we went to the chocolate aisle, I discovered a lot of European or German brands like Lindt and Kinder Schokolade. Before the checkout, we had a small guessing game to see how much our purchase would be. Karen, Ashleigh’s mum, won and she assumed it would cost about $200. All in all we had to pay $250. The café at the supermarket had a lot of self-made food and drinks, too. I chose a chicken-schnitzel wrap with a banana-honey smoothie and it was very delicious.

Queen Victoria Market

At 12 o’clock I went to the ‘Queen Victoria Market’(or VIC Market) with Ashleigh and her mum. It is a big market close to the city center where you can buy nearly everything. Some of these include souvenirs, clothes, shoes, fruit, vegetables, fish, etc. and it is open everyday apart from Monday and Wednesday. We had a look around, I bought a few souvenirs and in the end I tried poffertjes (Danish pancakes) and paella. I especially liked the stallholders who shouted out advertising for their food.

Family life

In the afternoon, we had a short visit at Ashleigh’s grandma’s house. I got to know her ‘Nanna’ (that’s what they call their grandma) and Ashleigh’s aunt with her three children. They were all pretty nice but it is a family with a lot of short people so I felt like a giant. Normally I am very small compared to my friends but for once I felt tall. 

The Melbourne Star

At 6:30 pm, we went to the ‘Melbourne Star’. It is a giant wheel similar to the London Eye. When we went on the ride, it was perfect timing because we could see the beautiful sunset from above. In your cabin you have a perfect view over the city.

Dinner and Dessert

After that, we went to a street called Lygon Street with a lot of Italian restaurants.  We sat outside and I had a small pizza. Because of the ‘Grand Prix’ which is a car racing event, we could see a lot expensive cars like Ferraris and Lamborghinis. On the way back, we stopped at a big café called Brunettis to buy something for dessert.

Overall, I really enjoyed the day even though it was very busy. I learnt a lot of new things, met new people and discovered new places.

I would like to introduce three new words that I have learnt in Australia:

1. shnoz – it is an “aussie” word for nose (Nase)
2. pins and needles – it is when parts of your body “fall asleep” . It is called pins and needles because it feels like pins and needles are poking into your skin (eingeschlafene Gliedmaßen)
3. hiccup – you get it when you drink something with a lot of carbon dioxide (Schluckauf)