Success! I am now fully enlightened as to what the dumb purple twig is called. It's red kangaroo paw, or anigozanthos rufus. I am so incredibly delighted, and a little annoyed that the teachers led me off in a totally wrong direction. But hey, while we were searching, we found a really wonderful supermarket called Whole Foods, which sells only organic foods and lots of other interesting thing. We studied the ice cream section quite thoroughly. There's actually an ice cream made out of rice. It's really good too, I bought some.
We [as in, my roomie and I] found a great art store near by, and there's a huge section selling nothing but paper. Expensive paper too. We bought a packet of handmade paper for $20 and some putty and we wallpapered our room. I really like it, though my side looks disturbingly like Starbucks.