Early this year, when le boyfie told me his thoughts of a Playboy Party for his birthday, I thought he was joking.

But it turned out that we *actually* got round to doing it!

So guess what arrived in the mail a few months later?

A black double-breasted jacket and bright red cravat

A pair of Playboy bunny ears, collar and cuffs

So that was it… let's geddit on! 😀 😀 

It was good to know that most of our guests turned up as such awesome sports as well.

The boys came all suited  & vested up and the girls came in bunny outfits!

The birthday boy and I 

Pimping, Alex?

LOL Allow me to quote him –

"There will never be a good photo when Alex is around"

The birthday boy's mother & sister came too – check out more bunny girls!!

Woohoo 

T'was awesome that le boyfie's mom came all the way to Melbourne to join us for the celebration!

She decorated the tables and bought a Chocolate Mud cake too. Yummy 

Nice!

Dinner at Minh Xuong Chinese restaurant along Russell Street was amazing.

There was so much food on the table, everyone ordered something different and we shared amongst ourselves. We had Wanton Noodles, Barbequed Pork Ribs, Black Pepper Beef Slices served with Rice, Claypot Glass Noodles, Chinese style Fried Rice, Soft Shell Crabs and more!

They were all very reasonably priced & delicious. Best part is, the restaurant was BYO all alcohol!

Gettin' a lil red after all those glasses

I loved the food and the ambience. Would certainly go back again (if we weren't kicked out!)

Okay fine, we weren't kicked out… but here's what happened –

As the signage did say BYO all alcohol, we maximized that to our advantage.

Only thing was, if you had known our gang, you would also know the copious amounts of alcohol that follows. So we brought bottles after bottles of various types of whiskey, bourbon, vodka, gin, beer, cider and more.

Just as we were leaving after 3 hours of dinner + drinks, the restaurant reprimanded us in a typical FOB accent

"TOO MANEE DRINKS.

TOO NOISHY.

NO MORE NESH TIME!!"

But if it wasn't for all of us, the restaurant wouldn't have made AUD$300+ in one night.

So, suck it up & be thankful mister.

After dinner, the gang of suited up guys and bunny girls roamed the streets of the Melbourne CBD and eventually ended up hailing a taxi because it started to rain.

At Transport in Federation Square

We randomly decided to go karaoke but decided against it and went clubbing instead.

Wootwoot it was fun being all over town! From Russell Street to Federation Square to Docklands to Southbank!

Photos above credited to Grant! 🙂

The occasion was merry and crazy! Wrapping up the night was messy though.

Most of us were tipsy and the whole gang split up into a few small groups but managed to reunite and ending up disappearing and reappearing again. It was mad! 

By the end of the night, lotsa people regurgitated and passed out after all the insanity.

Some of us! Couldn't find the rest of them at the time of this photo

Another good night in the city with my love and my mates. 

Also, my days in Melbourne are numbered once again. In 3 days, I will be back on the Malaysian soil 🙁

Nothing wrong with Malaysia, I love Malaysia to bits but Australia had already left it's mark on me ever since I first left in July. My friends, my other half, my extended family, the culture and the lifestyle here has grown into me.

It's no wonder why my heart lies in Melbourne 

Don't cry, Jess. Don't cry.

Happy Birthday once again Konzylove 

I hope you liked my surprise, presents and had fun during the celebration! Love you always

Okay this post was actually scheduled to be up 3 weeks ago!

But for some reason, it decided to go bonkers. So just imagine you are reading this like waaaayyyy before today.

You know how advertisements about universities always try to depict some form of "excellence" or "condusive study environment" and the like?

The usual pin-ups of students posing all-so-serious in the library, in the science lab or on the grass?

Looks like they weren't kidding.

Because here in Australia, it really is a real-life scenario

In Malaysia, to be honest, no one sits on the grass to study or even hang out.

Probably there will be a handful of white people doing so occasionally. But apart from that, people usually keep off our grass.

Not that there's anything wrong with our grass or that it is layered with pesticide or something.

It's just not our culture to sit on the grass – I presume. Most of us would just hang out at the uni cafe, uni lounge or even the library.

May the people who never had their asses on university grass before,

come sit and pose for an obligatory photo

Look ma, I'm sitting on the grass!

The university grass!

I gotta admit, we find it pretty queer to do that when there are plenty of vacant seats around.

But as they say – when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Australia, in this case.

During orientation break. Meet my new friend, Anne from Germany.

I can't pronounce her last name so just 'Anne' will do for now 🙂

Fellow Malaysians on exchange!

We were treated to a hot pancake breakfast, giant muffins and hot chocolate/coffee.

Hmm.. anything to make us feel welcome I guess? 🙂

At night, we all headed to the glorious Queen Victoria Market.

We were pretty lucky as it was summer when we arrived.

I hear that there was a night festival of food, culture and music ONLY during the summer nights.

It reminded of our 'pasar malam' back in Malaysia.

Our night markets often comprise food and cheap shopping

Here we are inside the night market!

Fellow exchange students from Malaysia, Canada, Germany and local Ozzies

I loved what I saw.

There were international food all over the place and so many things to buy!

Some form of Mediterranean food

A rather icky pig head on display.

If I didn't love meat so much, I'd turn vegan the moment I saw this photo

Okay here's a cute picture to erase any recollection of the pig head.

MUPPETS ON SALE!!! AWWWWWWWWW

Apart from eating and shopping, we even sampled Yellow Tail wine!

Yup, there was a free tasting session. And I must say, it's pretty damn good.

There were many flavours, but I loved 3 of it only.

They are Moscato, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir

ommmnomnom wine.

The very next day!!

A short city tour – of which I have already explored in this post. Remember? 🙂

Excited exchange students from all over the world

Made some new friends, Lisa and Adam

Went to Federation Square and walked down some steps which I never knew existed beforehand!

Down down down to a scenic riverside bar.

Yarra River!

And the off to Chinatown for dinner!

Was pretty strange that I came all the way to Australia – to eat Asian food.

But hey, there were heaps!!

In most parts of the city or even suburbs like Glen Waverly or Boxhill, there are Asian food aplenty.

But when I'm here, I tend to avoid Asian food like the plague because it would feel so silly to eat something which I can easily have back home in Malaysia for a huge fraction of the price!! Like, one plate of noodles here would cost me 15 $AUD = 45 Ringgit Malaysia when I could pay 5 Ringgit Malaysia for the exact same thing.

YOU TELL ME. MY WALLET PAIN… OR NOT?

After dinner, we chilled out at Emerald Peacock

It's a really pretty rooftop bar! 🙂

Now, if only the view wasn't blocked by so many high-rise buildings, it would be perfect.

With Lina. She bought me this drink! Ommnomnom

On my way back home. I bought a pie from PieFace for supper because I thought the waiter was cute as! And also because I was hungry duh

So! Orientation Week in Monash Clayton campus went pretty swell for the international students.

They made sure we are well-informed of the culture and how to get around town before we all seperated into our campuses.

Oh and… I'M SITTING ON THE GRASS!

(which reminds me, the last time I sat on the grass was when this photograph was taken)