Test Tubes and Hospital Beds (a.k.a. Our First Night Out)

Have you ever sipped a drink from a test tube??

Well we haven't either. Although we were hoping as much when we first stepped foot in Melbourne's renowned Croft Institute, a nightclub in a sketchy back alley of Melbourne's Chinatown famous for its test tube drinks and hospital beds. We got the beds, but we didn't get the drinks. Bugger.

Fun news: Nat and I met up with two of my friends from Stanford, Christy and Morgan, who happened to be in Melbourne at the same time (they were here for  business...the backpacking and professional worlds collide!). Before hitting the streets, we convinced them to come with us to Shanghai Dumpling, another Melbourne institution amongst cheap twenty-somethings who only want to pay ~$6 for a large plate of 15-20 fried or steamed dumplings. Two words: Chinese deliciousness. Oh, and it was BYO, as most places here in Melbourne tend to be. So, filled with dumplings and cheap wine, we made our way to Croft Institute, where we had a couple drinks, befriended some short Australian men (note: Christy and Morgan played for the Stanford Women's Basketball team, so when I say "short" I really mean short...), and made our way to dance the night away to L.A. Riots in some other club that I couldn't be bothered to remember the name of.

So there you go. Our first night out. We stayed out past our usual 9:30 bedtimes, and took Melbourne (read: a tiny alley way in Chinatown) by storm. Woot woot.