Daydreamer.

My desire to go back to Europe has hit me like a sledgehammer. I have spent hours over the past few days looking through my photos of the sixteen months I spent living in Europa and reading gleeful status updates from mid-2009 (thanks to the new fb timeline). I know everything wasn't sunshine and slow motion field running over there, but I had some of the best times of my life sprinkled in amongst the angst. My life right now? Reallllly not exciting. Don't get me wrong, I am not unhappy, not by a long shot - I am headed in the direction I want - I guess I am just a greedy little green grass dreamer.

2013.

 Segovia, Spain

Christmas markets in Bruges, Belgium

A Customer Crush and Brunch in Lorne

Ugh. I have a huge crush on a customer at work. He has come in the past two Sundays and I have served him and his pretty eyes. But this Sunday I was serving some bloody woman when he turned up and so pretty eyes bought his food from someone else. I was shattered. What a waste of a pair of my contact lenses. I've never had a customer crush  before, it's entertaining. When I saw him out of the corner of my eye I felt my cheeks flushing, ah so great to feel alive....and thirteen again.

Yesterday my parents and I went to Lorne. I'd never been before and to be honest I was expecting it to be much more picturesque than it was. The Great Ocean Road was nice, but compared to European scenery it wasn't really worth stopping to take photos. I just don't find Australian landscape inspiring. Although I love the Melbourne cityscape. Anyhow, we had a really nice brunch at a restaurant called Ba Ba Lu, a charming Spanish themed place away from the main resturant/shops strip. With the rustic tables and umbrellas I could almost pretend I was in Malaga. Almost.

My man and our sons (I am single and childless)

I like to dream that there will be a moment in my future that looks something like this photo. The chickens will just be beloved pets though...

Photo: Anna Rosa Krau

Trotters, Nova, and The Emerald Peacock. Celebrating with Lick.

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Yesterday Lick and I met up on Lygon street to see an Italian film. At cinema Nova all Monday screenings are only $6 before 4pm, and $9 afterwards. That pretty much knees all other discount cinema days in the balls!

Before the film we had lunch at a restaurant called Trotters. The food was great. The service? not so much. We had a sullen waitress, which I can accept - not all hospitality workers have to be all smiles and sunshine for me to enjoy myself... but when we went to pay the girl working the register scowled at us when we asked to split the bill as if we'd asked to pay it all in five cent coins. Considering the three seconds it took her to punch in our orders separately I'm not sure it was worth the further contribution to her frown wrinkles. Oh well, it has inspired me to not be so short-tempered with my own customers in the future.

The film we saw was called Ages of Love. It consisted of three (loosely intertwined) films about love, narrated by a teenage, arrow-wielding, cupid. Lick and I enjoyed the last short the most. It starred Robert de Niro as an American historian living in Rome who meets a younger woman - played by the stunning Monica Bellucci . I preferred this section because, unlike the other two, it didn't have an element of unfaithfulness. It seems that whenever Italian films are classified as ' Romance' there is always cheating. Just quickly thinking I can come up with three Italian films I have seen which portray infidelity: Cinema Paradiso, The Last Kiss and Remember Me. I find the cultural difference between Italian romance and American/Australian/British romance very interesting. Lick and I agreed that had the plot been the same but in English, set somewhere other than a European country, we probably wouldn't have enjoyed it. Italian films (and also French and Spanish films) don't seem to worry too much about having likeable protagonists, whereas if audiences can't root for the main characters of American films they won't bother watching them. Anyhow, I can't say I would like to sit through Ages of Love a second time, but it did make me think about different cultural appreciations and reminded me why I like to watch foreign films.

After the film we decided to celebrate our thesis marks with an afternoon drink and headed to Section 8. Sitting uncomfortably on a crate, sipping my cheap beer, I was reminded of being there five years earlier, celebrating the end of my first year uni exams. I wore a terribly uncomfortable pair of heels that night, and ended up stuffing half a roll of toilet paper and whinging all evening. I also patted the head of the bouncer and pissed him off by almost poking him in the eye and telling him he looked like Heidi Klum's man, Seal. Oh, to be nineteen again.

After our drink I wanted to check out the rooftop bar at The Emerald Peacock on a quiet day (the last time I went was Friday evening). It was lovely up there, a few groups of people relaxing in the sun, no crowds, and only a handful of business people who were game enough to start drinking on the first day of the working week. I can't wait to go back there on another sunny afternoon to try their food menu.

At Trotters: My favourite meal - any time of the day - Eggs Benedict.

 Lick got the Bella Pizza

The Emerald Peacock on a Monday afternoon. Practically our own private rooftop bar.

Dum dum dummmmmm thesis results are in

Well, thesis results are in. I don't think I've ever felt so many emotions in such a short time span. Firstly there was the numb, terrifed feeling as I waited for the webpage to load, secondly there was the moment of satisfied relief when my eyes settled on the first grade I saw 85....lastly there was the moment of delirious happiness and hysterical laughter when I realised I was looking at a different grade and my thesis mark was actually 92. I am incredibly pleased, and a bit surprised, about my result. I called Lick straight away and we screamed like children. Her thesis received the highest grade in the department of History: 94. I am not even jealous, she really deserved it. Honours was an enjoyable year for both of us, we didn't get overly stressed, we didn't pull all nighters, and we made sure to continue socialising even when times were tough. I'm certain that without that balance I wouldn't have done so well.

Today Lick and I are meeting up to see a film and have an evening drink in celebration. There are plenty of other things I have been meaning to blog about, including my first ever book club meeting, but for now I just want to brag.