Murdoch Guild Tavern

I saved the Murdoch Tav for my 400^th review, since it holds a very special place in my heart. I studied abroad at Murdoch back in 2005, and at first it took me a little while to make friends. I was halfway across the world from everything and everyone that felt familiar, and I became rather homesick. It wasn’t until I ventured out of my comfort zone and visited the Tav that I began to come out of my shell and really start to enjoy the whole experience.
Back then, Thursdays had different dress-​up themes. Sometimes they were normal (for example, the first one I attended, the theme was «tropical»), and sometimes they were more outlandish. My favorite one was where we had to dress as something that started with the same letter as your first name. One friend dressed as a Mousketeer, while another went as Eve (as in Adam and Eve). My flatmate dressed as the Jamster frog from the incredibly annoying mobile commercials. Well, I didn’t want to be a cat or a clown (or anything along those lines), so I cheated a little and went with my middle name, and was therefore dressed as a sorority girl. Even though there aren’t sororities in Australia, enough people got it… and those that did loved my chosen Greek letters (Delta Omega Gamma).
The DJ always played great music. Even though I’m not much of a dancer, I had so much fun just because they played a good variety of upbeat songs. No matter what, the night always ended with Semisonic’s «Closing Time.» To this day, I can’t hear that song without thinking of the Tav. I think the only small gripe any of us had with the place was the fact that international students had to bring their passports as ID to enter and get drinks. Our driver’s licenses from home wouldn’t suffice, nor would copies of our passports. I was not exactly keen on carrying my passport with me to a bar, but thankfully it was still on campus. Even so, bars in Freo accepted our driver’s licenses as valid identification, yet the Tav didn’t. Amazingly, none of us ever lost our passports… :)
I realize that it’s been a long time since I attended Murdoch, and I know a lot has changed, including the Tav itself. But while the old Tav that I loved so much may now be gone, it’s nice to know a new one is there now and hopefully provides other students who were like me the chance to meet some great people and make some awesome memories.