Sundays like this

Be prepared for a serious photo overload of the most amazing Sunday I ever had since I arrived here in Adelaide (already 2 months ago - can't believe that!). In the morning we headed to one of the cutest markets I have ever been to - the Market Shed on Holland. They sell everything I love - nice coffee, fresh cold-pressed juices, smoothies, home-made granola, cakes, muffins, wood oven pizza and they offer a huge range of healthy organic dishes. I could have spent all my money on their products. It is such a perfect place to hang out on a Sunday, because they also have tables outside, where you can sit down and enjoy your lunch in the sun while listening to live music. I will definitely spend some more Sundays on that market. After each of us had too much food, we took the bus down to Brighton to have a long walk down the beach and we discovered a little paradies in Adelaide, because that area really looked like a holiday destination. As we already felt a bit hungry after the 40 minutes bus ride, we had coffee and cake in one of the cafes at the beach promenade. Afterwards we got down to the beach, took our shoes off and walked about 5 km up north to Glenelg Beach. It just felt so good to have the sand and salt water under your feet and the sun on your face and actually I finally got a bit of tan today :) When we arrived at Glenelg Jetty, we again grabbed some take-away food (yep, I guess we are all a bit too much into food), sat down at the beach and watched the sunset.

Perfect Sunday! <3

Brighton Beach

Julia, Gitte, Tom, Lisa and me

Glenelg Beach

Spoil yourself

One of my favourite hobbies in Vienna is definitely trying out new cafes, bars and restaurants with my girls (kisses to Christina, Elena, Hannah and Natalie - missing our regular brunch dates <3). To be honest, I was a bit afraid that I would have to wait for a fancy brunch until I am back in Vienna, as Adelaide is a bit more laid-back and down-to-earth when it comes to eating out - don't get me wrong - I love those charming Pubs with their steak specials and stuff, but in terms of food I feel home-sick quite often (i know - first world foody problems). So luckily I discovered all those cute little cafes around Ebenezer Place, when I was on my way to the hairdresser last week and this Saturday morning Gitte, our Danish sweety, Julia and I spoiled ourselves with a nice breakfast at East End Providore - pure bliss!

Death by Chocolate

Today Lisa, Tom and I took part in a free guided viewing tour of the Haigh's chocolate factory in Adelaide. Haigh's is the oldest family-owned chocolate maker in Australia. Their first store was opened on King William Street in Adelaide in 1915 and today their products are only sold in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide. We did not expect too much of the tour, because we knew that the factory is quite small, but our lovely tour guide did a really good job and Haigh's Chocolate is definitely to die for. When it comes to chocolate I always lose the last vestiges of self-control, so right now I feel a bit sick -  I guess some things will never change ;-)

When the sun goes down ...

If anyone of you already got tired of all the sunset photos, I would recommend you to stop following my blog, because spring is coming and it seems that the sunsets will keep getting more beautiful in the next few months :-)

Here are some photos I have taken today when I went home with Julia after grocery shopping:

First Footy Game

Today we watched our first Australian rules football (also called footy or Aussie rules) game at the Adelaide Oval. There are 18 teams in the Australian Football League, two of them are from Adelaide: the Crows and Port Adelaide. We watched the match Adelaide Crows versus Brisbane Lions. For those of you, who don't know anything about AFL - here is a short summary of the essentials: Each team has 18 players, so all together there are 36 on the field during the game. The main way to score points is by kicking the ball between the two tall goal posts. Goals are worth 6 points and 'behinds' are worth 1 point. The team with the higher total score at the end of the match wins (of course). The primary methods to move the ball are kicking, handballing and running with the ball. There are rules on how the ball can be handled: players running with the ball must intermittently bounce or touch it on the ground. Throwing the ball is not allowed and players must not get caught holding the ball. The most interesting part of footy is that it is a contact sport. It can be really brutal sometimes and they don't wear any protective wear at all. If you want to get an idea of what I am talking about just watch some AFL youtube videos like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1aU0hz5Tf8

I almost forgot: The Brisbane Lions lost big-time :-)

PS: I did not only learn the AFL rules today, but I was also taught an 'Australian lifetime lesson' by the Aussie guy next to me - I learned how to squeeze ketchup on my chips with one of those weird-looking tomato sauce packets. Here you can see what it's all about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4nUhD92yNU At least some things work better in Down Under :D

Australian sunsets are out of this world!

Go Crows!

Serife stealing a stranger's beanie

New Home

Together with Julia I share an apartment by Unilodge, which is just right next to our campus. I enjoy living so close to university - I can sleep in almost every day and moreover I can always go home in-between lectures and tutorials to cook lunch, grab some coffee and chill on the sofa. Back home in Vienna it sometimes takes me up to 40 minutes to get to university, I never liked the food in the canteen very much and having lunch in some of the other restaurants on campus almost every day is just too expensive in the long run. Of course I miss my lovely modern flat in Vienna, because I furnished it the way I wanted, I love the feeling of wooden floor under my feet and I just don't want to get started on my beloved bed, which I miss so badly. In our apartment in Adelaide we have everything we need and I also feel comfortable here, but being at home here is just not the same feeling and let's just call it what it is: We have carpeted floors - pew! :D BUT this amazing view every evening makes me forget my apartment in Vienna immediatley:

16/08/2015 6pm

... 10 minutes later

yesterday's sunset

Smile, there's wine!

It might be that some of you don't know that Adelaide is surrounded by well known wine-growing regions, like Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale - both are just a 40 minutes drive from the city centre. In Adelaide there is also the National Wine Centre, where StudyAdelaide hosted a fancy free wine tasting for all the international students last week. We had such a nice afternoon sipping amazing selected wine and eating delicious sandwiches. My favourite one was a Sauvignon Blanc from the winery Shaw+Smith grown in the Adelaide Hills - yum! I guess a daytrip to one of the wine valleys is a must for students in Adelaide, but I think I will wait until spring :)

I did not take my camera with me, because we went out afterwards, but luckily StudyAdelaide organized a photographer, who took some great shots, so I can share some impressions with you.

Thank god this photo was taken before we tried some red wine ;-)