Altogether Lovely, 8 Nov 2012

A stateside friend asked me today if Melbourne is as beautiful as the travel ads say. While there are fewer attractive, shirtless men than a single straight girl might desire, it really is beautiful. Perhaps because it is spring and I just left fall behind. Or perhaps because it just really is just lovely. Here's some pictures from around where I'm staying to give you a sense of it.

this is the circular drive entrance to university college, where I'm staying in one of the visiting faculty apartments. In the middle of the roundabout there's a sundial. I get to walk past it on the way to breakfast and supper each day. Plus, University College has gardens and green spaces throughout. Below is the view I have at breakfast out of the dining hall window.

Speaking of breakfast, another other beautiful thing about Melbourne is listening to people talk. My usual breakfast companions are two Scotsmen. Sometimes we're joined by a British fellow. And then I go to work and listen to Australian accents all day. They're so musical. I was just wondering today if I would think that was true even if the accent was yelling at me. I'll let you know if I find out. I suspect it will coincide with my first attempts at driving.

I've been taking different paths through campus home from work, and stone archways are a typical and lovely sight. Lots of greenery and flowers, too.

The weather here is also pretty lovely. In Michigan and Minnesota, the weather mantra is "Don't like it, wait 10 minutes." The Melbourne weather mantra is "All four seasons in one day." If this is the case, their version of winter is A LOT different than what I'm used to! The temperature can get chilly, and it seems like most days it can change from sun to rain to sun quickly. So far the rain showers are short lived, even when they are fierce, and the sun, rain, sun means more rainbows. Tricky to capture in photos, but I tried below.




 Oh and under the rainbow is the park across the street from my apartment. Tonight it rained a bit more thoroughly, and it's the first night the trail around the park hasn't been a steady stream of joggers and walkers, and dogs, and baby carriages and bikers, and the fields aren't full of rugby and cricket. Single lady friends, I'm keeping an eye out for the shirtless guys. None so far. But summer's coming.

 It really is ridiculously lovely here. The Melbourne ads may not be just shining you on.