Riona Cardozo

Day 1: Arrival and LUME

Still, I got myself sorted out and prepared to take on the rest of the day (with a few naps on the bus rides and at the food court during lunchtime). After getting out of the airport and a quick turnaround at the hotel (and being told that I apparently dress in a mom-like fashion), we were ready to head to the LUME, where they were showcasing a collection of works by Claude Monet, Edouard Manet, and many more artists. I learned a lot about the places art can be inspired from, since there was a lot of emphasis on the artists’ inspirations for their works – one thing in particular was Manet’s tendency to create artwork based on day-to-day life, which I found quite interesting. Then, we returned to the hotel for some down time before a relatively early dinner around the Bourke St. area. To be honest, I’d completely forgotten about the shops in Australia closing far earlier than Singapore. Along with a couple friends, we explored a high-end department store after grabbing a simple (and very unhealthy) dinner. It was also really fun when we returned to the hotel and met some friends from the other Melbourne trip also staying there. All in all, it was an exhausting, but fun day!

Day 2: Street Art + Festival

The first challenge of this day was definitely waking myself up – and also waking my roommate up. Seeing that we were both relatively heavy sleepers, I knew from the start that this would be a challenge we’d both have to overcome together – by using a good 3-4 alarms per person. Fortunately, we managed to get up in time for breakfast and hightail to our activities for the day. Coincidentally, it was my friend’s birthday that day (he was on the Melbourne trip at the other hotel), and by complete chance we ran into them, so I got to wish him in person, which was nice! Then, it was time to begin the Street Art Tour. Our tour guide had quite an interesting personality, sharing inside stories about being a street artist that one may not believe upon seeing the unique and stylish artworks on the walls. One of my favourites was the Stray Kids mural, since they’re one of my favourite music groups of all time. I also really loved all of the wacky emus done by John Murray, I thought they were hilarious but immaculately detailed. I truly enjoyed just walking around and admiring the intricate walls. I even spotted a famous bollywood actor on one of the walls which was really cool. I seriously underestimated the amount of walking we’d do though, and definitely didn’t pick the right shoes. After the tour ended, we took a brief visit to Queen Victoria Market and my friend and I browsed a bit since we weren’t too hungry for lunch. Then, we went to our tour guide’s art studio and learned how to create stencils to use with spray paint. I think I heard the word “bridges” more within that workshop than I have in my whole life, since incorporating these bridges into the artwork was such an important part of the stencil-making. Although my stencil turned out okay, the colours I chose to use were definitely not right, and I now know exactly what I would do differently if I were to do it again. We ended off the day by going to the St. Kilda festival. It was really fun to walk around, though it was quite loud and crowded. I heard from a friend that there was a section playing Bollywood music that I missed (which was SO SAD because I love bollywood, if I’d known I would’ve gone there and danced my heart out). But other than that, it was fun to explore the festival and the different stalls they had. I also learned that cotton candy is referred to as fairy floss in Australia. 

Day 3: Kayaking + Photography

This day was initially one of the days I dreaded for only one reason – I despised kayaking. Although I knew that it would be a relatively relaxed kayak, not a high-octane adventure across a river with a fast current, it just hadn’t really been my cup of tea based on my past experience with kayaking. However! The guides were so friendly and nice to us, and one of ours even offered to tow my friend and I along with him after we started to get tired (at first we wanted to try doing it on our own, but the offer of getting pulled along became too tempting as our arms began to give way). It was quite relaxing, and compared to many of the others, I didn’t get nearly as drenched, which I’m grateful for. I heavily debated bringing my phone onto the kayak, since I didn’t want it to get wet, but it was worth it, since I got these pictures and this video of these two swans (ignore the fact that I called them geese in the video, I couldn’t see that far and I didn’t have my glasses hehe). After getting some food, we took a tour around the university, which was formerly a prison. Despite the sad stories about prisoners (the youngest arrested was ONLY 4), it was still quite interesting to hear about how a prison turned into a university. Another story I found pretty amusing was that of Ned Kelly, who was sentenced for being a Robin Hood-like figure (stole from rich to give to poor). After this, we participated in a smartphone photography workshop, and learned how to use the app, Snapseed, to edit our pictures. It was alright in my opinion, I think many of the photos my friends took of me turned out really funny and I looked more closely at different objects around the area. Although Snapseed did take up a whole lot of storage on my phone and used up my battery in a flash, my favourite part about it was the healing feature, which allowed me to clear any blemishes on my skin and make me look like a skincare model, which was great! At the end of the day, we got lots of free time to explore, and a few friends and I went down Elizabeth St. to hunt for some bubble tea, and found this adorable beauty shop that had Sanrio themed goods. I had to stop myself from buying the whole store. Afterwards, we found a clearance sale across the road and, being the discount hunters we are, WE RAN. It was so nice to see cheap stuff in Melbourne, after being completely shocked by the expensive pricing at various shops. 

Day 4: Arts Centre, Puppetry, Alexander McQueen

I think this day was definitely one of my favourites of all of them! We started with a tour of the Arts Centre Melbourne, and, as a performing artist, the facility is absolutely STUNNING! Our tour guide was so nice and funny, and I liked that we got to sit down in the comfortable auditorium seats during each part of the tour. There were a lot of functions in the theatre built underneath the extravagant design, which didn’t look like much, but actually contributed heaps to the acoustics and space (for both audience and performers), and other parts of the theatre. I also loved how each theatre and its respective lobby had a different colour scheme and different artwork to compliment it. I thought it was such a nice touch (especially the art by the First Nations people). Each area of the theatre was so well thought-out, it’s truly incredible. Another thing I loved about the Arts Centre was the spire built on top of it, and after our guide explained the meaning behind it, I liked it even more! The combination of a ballerina’s tutu flaring out with a conductor’s baton – it’s so clever and I didn’t even realise. But after learning about it, I couldn’t unsee it. After the tour, we went to a puppetry workshop, which was actually really fun! I got to learn more about physical theatre and a completely different type of theatre I’d never even thought I’d know about at all. I learned about the various puppet types and got to create a scene with a group of friends. Our scene was so chaotic, but it was absolutely hilarious for us to create and (hopefully) for others to watch! Another note – when I volunteered to man one arm of the puppet when the teacher was singing, her voice was so beautiful, I forgot to move the puppet! Actually, it was on this day that I finally realised that during each tour and class we took, the guide/teacher always took time to pay respects to the First Nations people, which was really nice! Anyways, after this, we went to the Alexander McQueen exhibit at NGV and MOTHER OF ALL THAT’S HOLY I LOVED IT SO MUCH. I took photos of literally everything and tried my best to read each and every description because I found McQueen’s inspirations behind his designs so incredible. There were a few clothing items that weren’t really my style, but I found many which definitely fit my typical dressing and drawing style. I love fashion, so this was so incredible. 

Day 5: Healesville Sanctuary

I was really looking forward to this day because I saw some Aussie wildlife when I visited Sydney last summer and I thought all of the animals were absolutely adorable. Additionally, I loved some of the nature and sights we saw on the long bus ride to Healesville, and the progression from the super-urban Melbourne to a more suburban area, and how the architecture changed over the course of the journey. When we reached the Sanctuary, I immediately noticed the difference in atmosphere from the centre I went to in Sydney – because it was a sanctuary as opposed to a zoo. Each of the animals had a huge nature-filled space to themselves, which was so nice to see. One animal that stood out to me in particular were the emu (as you can see, it was very photogenic and was posing for all of the cameras. Another would be the echidna, because the way it waddles around was so adorable. The final animal I wanted to mention was the dingo, not only was it so cute, seeing any type of dog reminded me of my own dog at home, so it made me really happy. We ended the Sanctuary with the bird show, something I really really enjoyed! I hadn’t seen a bird show for a while, and it was interesting to learn about various birds and how they’re taken care of at the sanctuary. Their names were also very cute! Afterwards, we went to an authentic bakery in Healesville — where I wish I could’ve tried more stuff, but I was so full. I also wanted to buy some things from the next stop, the chocolate factory, but unfortunately did not. We concluded the day with some time to rest, and then some friends and I grabbed hotpot together which was so much fun!

Day 6: NGV and Mary Poppins!

On this day, we visited the NGV again for two tours — one general tour and one focusing on the First Nations people. I really liked our tour guide, since he was very engaging, but what really intrigued me was some of the artefacts they had from Asian history. They had such a wide variety of country’s culture and history on display — so much so that I recall someone asking if they were “stolen” (which I genuinely thought about). I especially liked the one section about “then vs. now” art from China, which juxtaposed old and new pieces of art. I also made some connections with the first day at the LUME, since we saw some of Monet’s work at NGV. From the First Nations tour, I remember distinctly one activity we did — recreating one of the paintings as a tableau. To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what the purpose of this activity was initially, but it was fun and I understood the painting much better afterwards! The final activity of this day was one of the ones I was REALLY looking forward to — Mary Poppins. I’m super passionate about performing arts, and though I’d already watched Mary Poppins the Musical, I was absolutely psyched to watch it again, since I really enjoyed it the first time! It was also nice to get all dressed up to go to the theatre and enjoy an incredible performance. Some of the cast members were different than last time, but the magic and fun was still the same. I couldn’t stop humming Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious afterwards (which is how I would describe the show!).

Day 7: Improv and Avatar

This day was the LAST full day of the trip, and throughout the day I felt quite bittersweet. We began the day with one of my favourite activities from the trip, the IMPROV WORKSHOP! I’d been so excited for this one from the start of the trip, and I almost thought I’d be all alone since almost everyone I knew chose Costume Design. However, from what I heard from my friends in the improv workshop, they all really enjoyed it, and everyone was laughing and seemed to be having a good time! This made me super happy, because I love improv! Afterwards, we grabbed lunch at everyone’s favourite place: Melbourne Central. I think everyone grew to love that mall over time and its variety of stores and food places. Afterwards, we went to a short workshop at the Blindside, which was pretty interesting. However, the weather that day was quite hot and my head started hurting so it was a little hard to pay attention, but I tried my best! The tour lady was super sweet, and she also mentioned a lot about the opportunities they give independent artists to display their work. Anyways, after that, we went back to the room and chilled for a bit before leaving for the Moonlight Cinema. Although I’d heard several mixed opinions previously about Avatar: The Way of Water, I quite enjoyed the movie! It was absolutely beautiful in terms of CGI and animation, although the plot was a LITTLE wonky and a bit long, I overall enjoyed it. The experience was really fun, even though we got back to the hotel super late…