Taco Bill (not "Bell")

Some of you guys might know about Mexican-fast food chain "Taco Bell" in US. In Australia, however, we can see a slightly different version of Mexican food restaurant called " Taco Bill". It's certainly a imitation of American "Taco Bell", but I'm not sure whether ours is authentically called "fast food" since they serve quite proper dish meal. Anyways, Hannah, Sho and I went there for la comida mexicana * my tiny Spanish vocabularies*.

The restaurant was filled with cheerful Latin american music, and cactus outside the window took us away to the totally different continent;)

We all had different Burrito, which was quite okay. We also indulged ourselves with sinful chocolate mousse dessert. After two hours of chatting, I was sure that our Japanese conversation invaded the entire land of Mexico;P

I'm leaving for Warrnambool tomorrow but haven't even start packing yet!

Hasta luego!

Simply luxurious

Since all my friends are still in the mid of their exam period, I've been alone wandering around my favorite places in Melbourne city.

After spending some time in Chapel street for browsing (!) through all the expensive boutiques, I went down to the city and took a big walk in Royal Votanic Gardens. It was perfect weather, and I regret that I didn't bring my book with me;(





Walked up to Shrine of Remembrance war memorial. Doesn't it a bit look like our kokkai building?;P haha.

On the way back to the city, I also checked out Asian art exhibition at National Gallery of Victoria.

Lastly, filled my thirsty body with cold bubble milk tea in China Town:)

...well, I'm truly in love with this city!

early summer greetings...

Melbourne is undoubtedly heading to summer. Yesterday was 29℃, and I saw people with their shorts sitting under the Christmas tree in City Square. Geez. I'm so scared to go back to Japan where people are already dressed with jackets and boots according to my mom:( Daylight saving also started this morning, so our clock is one hour forward now (+2 hours to Japan time).

All the best for everyone who is having exams!

The end of Monash chapter

After a month of insane workload, the submission of the last sociology essay ended the whole chapter of my academic life at Monash university.

As you might have guessed from my silence for the past few weeks, I've been swamped by inhumane amount of assessment tasks. But it's over now. No more essays, reports and tests. And I'll never get to sit in the lecture theater or tutorial room as a monash student. Even though there are still too many things I haven't learnt.

I won't look back all my learning history at monash here, but I just want to send my deepest gratitude for Matthew, my best study advisor. He has been helping me with my work since last semester when I was totally at a loss for my study. His encouraging, caring and enthusiastic assistance has given me numerous wonderful learning experiences. I'll miss him so much after I go back to home.

Studying in Australian university has changed what 'learning' means to me. We can agree, disagree or even challenge to the existing argument. And participation made learning even more interesting. Every time when I stepped out of the classroom after tutorial, I could see the world with another new perception.

...Okay, enough with my study story. Now it's time to commemorate the completion of this academic year, and time to enjoy the last moment of my stay in Melbourne! I have the whole month to have a fun until my good-bye to this country. It's still early to get nostalgic...!

Melbourne Marathon 2007

We made it.

This morning, about 16,000 runners were set to pound the street of Melbourne city. Of course, I was there.

Since the beginning of the year, I've been consistently running with group of friends, and this Melbourne marathon has been our ultimate goal as something to work towards. Unfortunately, some have given up and some have got too busy to train;( But Nathan unexpectedly showed his interest in the race, and this morning we both made it across the finish line. By the way, I did 10km, while Nathan chose to do 5km. Tarli from our hall also came with us for 10km.

10km commenced outside the MCG( Melbourne Cricket Ground) at 8:45am, with about 8000 other competitors flocking at starting line. I wasn't competitive enough to squash into the massive crowd, so it took quite while to actually set off even after the starting whistle.

I never had such an amazing run. Whole marathon was awesome. We entered into the city, and ran all the way around the Royal Botanic Gardens, and then followed the way back to MCG. I hardly felt tired while running since I was so fascinated by all the beautiful scenery of the city.

We finished up at MCG, and it was the greatest part ever. As entering the stadium, I heard the roar cheering up all the participants, and I felt as if I was an Olympic runner;P



Nathan completed his race, too. He is now thinking of getting proper shoes and starting running as routine;) ...and guess what. Tarli won the third place in 10km (37min)!! Nathan and I were feeling so proud while she was having presentation in the stadium. You are great Tarli!

I'm thinking of coming back to Melbourne for the marathon some time in the future. Hopefully I'll be doing half marathon next time:)

Sorry I didn't take camera with me, so no picture of my contended face with the medal;(

Okay, I'll take a short nap now...

life still goes on

Completed my business letter assignment yesterday, which was 4 days late due to my sickness.

Also had my feature article assignment back, which was 18/35. I screwed up.

Assignments after assignments. I can hardly picture myself finishing everything in three weeks.


But one still needs some getaway from these craziness;
Melbourne marathon is tomorrow! yay!