21st Birthday/Ravi Day

The 30th of April on res meant two different things this year. Firstly of course was my 21st birthday, possibly one of the most important of my life when I finally become an adult. However this was dwarfed by the first ever Ravi Day. I won't go into what it is or what it means because it is a strange story and I don't think I even fully understand myself. Thanks to word of mouth and a clever and subtle marketing campaign, the air on Burwood Student Village on the Friday was electric with the hype of Ravi Day. As you can see below I celebrated it myself by eating ravioli on toast, but I still kept on my birthday hat too.

All the pictures from this day will be in black and white by the way. It's just a decision I made at the beginning of the day ok?

So after a day of fun, festivities and steady drinking 20 or so of us hopped on a tram to go meet my dad in the city for drinks. We tipped up to an English bar called the 'Elephant and Wheelbarrow' which had a good atmosphere and a live band. My dad met a lot of my very drunk and crazy foreign friends and the drink flowed like wine (?).

This is Eddie, my dad and I preparing to consume a round of tequila shots.

We spent an indefinable amount of time in the pub before we left my dad and continued on our adventures. At some point in the next half an hour or so the group itself split up and it ended up being Matt, Prince, Aly, Nico, Sam and I wondering through the streets of Melbourne. Somehow we our way to a backpackers bar but not without stopping in a hose cupboard first.

Once we got in the backpackers bar the stupid dancing started as it usually does when we end up there. Despite the fascinating polo neck wearing Chinese bloke we eventually moved on. Considering it was my 21st the concensus was to visit a strip bar (sorry mum!). I spent most of my time in the place acting like a drunk little kid and ran round getting as many dancers to sign my birthday card they gave me at the door as possible. That made for some very interesting reading in the morning!

Eventually though time wore on and the novelty passed and we decided it was time to head towards the train station. As you can see the waiting was a thrilling experience:

By the time we finally rolled back in it was 6:30am. This is the time when the birds of Melbourne just love to squawk their little bird lungs out. For all the Brits reading this I can tell you its hardly the dawn chorus but of course this didn't impede my sleeping too bad thanks to the long day and the beer in my belly.

Overall I had a fantastic day and an even better night. Ravi day was a complete success. Oh yeah it was a good 21st birthday too.