Wow, so I just realized that the last time I wrote on this thing I said I would tell how my first day of school went... Now I am into my 4th week of classes (1/3 of the way through the semester), Crazy isn't it!? Sorry for not updating, I get so busy and I don't have time to write on this. Ok let me try and catch you up...
First week of classes went pretty well, of course I did not want to be there after my 3 month vacation. I realize that there are a lot of outside readings that professors expect you to do on your own for the classes because there are only 2 assessments for each class in the semester. This is good in a way, because you don't have to do BS busy work assignments. But then again, it scares me a little because if I do not have deadlines, I tend to procrastinate. Also, they only have those 2 things that determine your final grade. So if you mess up one essay, you are doomed. Well, can't change the system. I found all of my classes just fine, I didn't look too stupid pulling out the map because I saw many other students looking at their Uni maps as well. I actually went out more than expected the first week. Students were all excited about the start of Uni so everyone wanted to go out to the pubs at night and celebrate.
That weekend was our friend Erin's 21st birthday! We went out to dinner and bought her champagne and baked her a cake. It was very cute. She enjoyed everything. That night, we tried to go out to meet up with a friend of a friend who lives in Melbourne, and he took us to the "Spice Market". It was a nice place, very upscale. But when I saw that the people waiting in line behind me were 30/40 year olds who just got done with a rough day at work and just needed a cocktail, I knew this wasn't going to be the right place for a 21st birthday celebration. We ditched that place and ended up calling it a night. Instead we went back to our friends' apartment who also live in the Village and had a PJ party! We cooked pasta, listened to music, ate the rest of the cake, and hung around in our pajamas! Finally, the security at the Village broke up our party and knocked on the doors about 5 times telling us to keep it down. Party poopers.
We decided that Sundays would be a great day for getting coffee and pastries with a few of the girls to catch up. That Sunday we went down to Lygon St. (Little Italy) and went to a cute little outdoor cafe. It was nice to just relax over an espresso before getting ready for another week at school. Also, that weekend, there was the Moomba Waterfest, which is held in Melbourne along the Yarra River at the end of the Summer. It was basically the Luzerne County Fair but soo much better. There was a ferris wheel and other carnival rides, lots of food to eat (cotton candy = fairy floss, hehe), bands playing on the stage. They have a birdman competition and people dress up in bird costumes and jump off a platform and see how far they could "fly". At night, they have fireworks! We stayed to watch the fireworks and it was a really good show. We sat on the bank of the Yarra with our hot chips (french fries) and enjoyed the pretty fireshow!
Week 2: More intense than week 1 because we actually got into all of the material and did more than just review the syllabus. I am taking 4 classes: Australia Now which is a history course of Australia, we have been talking about the colonization of the country up until present day. It's very interesting because I know little about Oz. It is very strange because as a culture, I feel that Australians have a broad sense of the world and its history while us Americans are consumed in our own country and know little about the rest of the world. Yes, I feel ignorant sometimes and I'm glad that I am trying to overcome it. I'm also taking Microbiology and Immunology, enough said. The class is pretty boring, I like the Immunology part, but on the whole it's pretty dull. Minds and Madness is another course, which has a catchy title and sounds like a great course. Ehh, not so much... It's more history than I thought it would be, I was hoping for more Neuropsychology but that's not the case. I have tried to be open-minded about the class and it's going ok. We are studying the birth of the asylum and it is very interesting, just not what I expected. And last, I am taking the History of Sexualities. I would say this is my favorite course that I am taking. It's quite interesting to learn about the different views of sexuality, how homosexuality emerged, sex-ed taught in different countries, etc. Also, my professor is real neat, she is actually preggers with twins currently! She looks so cute, I feel like she gets bigger every week. I wonder if she's going to make it till the end of the semester.
That week, we were saving ourselves for Saturday, which was Sound Relief, the bushfire benefit concert. It was great!! We woke up early to be there for noon when it started. It was a pretty crappy day, rained off and on, but we braved the weather and had a great time. I got to see Jack Johnson!!!! (my man), Jet, Kings of Leon, etc. etc. All the bands were amazing, I have a new favorite Australian Hip-Hop band: Bliss N' Eso. Youtube them! I have decided that I would loove to see Jack Johnson alone in concert now, because since there were so many acts, each artist only played about 6 songs, which was not enough for me. So if anyone hears of Jack coming to anywhere near PA let me know! That night although we were very tired from the day long concert, it was our friend Jeff's 21st birthday and we decided that we had to help him celebrate. We went to a club called Bimbo's and it's kinda sketchy because it has dolls in leather and S&M gear hanging from the walls and babydolls hanging upside down. Real weird stuff. But it's got a neat roof top where you can sit out and there are all these lights hanging overhead. Haha.
So that Sunday it was Wicked Sunday for the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. The month of March from the 7-23rd was the Food and Wine Festival. It had a bunch of different activities like "Longest Lunch" where they set up a lunch table all along the Yarra River and it seats about 1,200 people and you have a 3 course lunch with wine and dessert and everything (I didn't go, but you could have for a steep price). Also, they had a deal that you can schedule lunch at a select few places and for $35 you can have 2 courses, a glass of wine, and a coffee/tea. We tried to get some people together to set up a lunch but it's so hard to coordinate everyone's schedule and we never ended up doing it. But we did get to go to Wicked Sunday, which was a Festival in Federation Square (a square right next to the Yarra River where they set up booths and everything) dedicated to Chocolates, Sweets, Coffees, and Cheeses! Yummm! We walked around there for a while, I got a delicious coffee and a chocolate crepe! I also got to sample some choc covered espresso beans, delish!, and some tasty biscuits (cookies). That festival was right up my alley! I love sweets, so I really enjoyed myself there.
Week 3: Busy week! Monday night, we had our first Ormond Welcome Reunion with all the people from the Melbourne Welcome that I went to. It was nice to see everyone, although I already hang out with a lot of them on a daily basis. The people are all so nice! I was talking to the coordinator of the Welcome and she said she was talking to someone higher up and the lady said that it's rare to have a group that got along as well as the Ormond group did! We all like each other and we are all pretty friendly, it's nice to know that many people in a strange country!
The next day was St. Patrick's Day!! I bought green food coloring to dye our beer/wine green and lime Jello! We really went all out, I know, haha! It was a fun day, we went to O'Connell's pub and they were having basically a block party sort of thing. There was a U2 cover band playing on the stage, it was packed! The lead singer of this band looked exactly like Bono, wannabe! Haha, they sounded pretty good too though, I was having a great time! Me and my friend, Q, pushed right up to the front row and were singing our little hearts out! Yeah Yeah Yeah, all I could think of when I would look at this Fake-Bono was the South Park episode with Bono in it, haha! You should see it, it was a good one! Anywhoo... After O'Connell's, I went to another pub and met a real Irishman, he was wearing a green dress. Unfortunately, I did not get to see any kilts!
The next night, we had a boat cruise for a group I am in at Uni, MUSEX (stands for some kind of Melbourne Student Exchange Club, whatever). The theme for the booze cruise was "Dream Jobs and Failed Slobs" and people had some clever costumes. I didn't have anything good to wear so I just wore a nautical dress and claimed I was a sailor's wife. I am not too creative apparently. There was a playboy bunny, Hugh Heffner, pirates, footy players, You name it. That was a fun night, we got to cruise around the Melbourne Harbor. The skyline at night is soo pretty, I would show you but people tried to take pictures and none of them could do it justice/turned out right. It was another fun night, but I was starting to get worn out.
Thursday we had to go to bed early because we were going on a 3-day camping trip of the Great Ocean Road and the Grampians the next day. We woke up bright and early to be there for pick-up at 7am on Friday. It was a full day of driving in our minibus and sightseeing. We went to a lighthouse and Bell's Beach (pictured in some movie but I forget which one, haha), hung out with some koalas, went on a rainforest walk, watched the sunset at the top of a hill right next to our campsite. That night, we slept amongst the koalas. I woke up in the middle of the night to some strange grunting noises, I think the koalas were mating. Hahah, they were really loud too! The next day we had to wake up real early again for another packed day! We traveled along the Great Ocean Road and saw the 12 Apostles (Limestone rock formations - Just Beautiful), Loch Ard's Gorge (the most beautiful place I have ever swam, put the Jersey beaches to shame!), London Bridge (which obviously fell down), got up close and personal with emus, which may be the scariest animals on the planet! They have red eyes for crying out loud!! I thought they were going to peck out my eyesss! Then we traveled on to the Grampians (mountain ranges, national park) for the night to sleep amongst the kangaroos! I finally got to see roos in their natural habitat. It was so neat. The next day, we went to the Grampians and scaled a mountain and had the most beautiful view from the top, it was definately worth it! Also, we saw Aboriginal hand paintings on the rocks that were preserved from many, many years ago! We got to see a waterfall and go to an Aboriginal Culture Centre. That day, we were all soo tired from an action-packed 3 day adventure but we stayed awake long enough to see each of the sites. It was home-sweet-home after that. And I was suprised to find out that I couldn't wait to get back to my small little apartment, in desperate need of a shower and a comfortable bed! It was a great weekend, I feel like I really saw parts of Australia that I needed to see.
It was a tiring weekend though, and I am trying to catch up on this week ahead of me. As I go through the 4th week of school, I cannot believe that I am a third of the way done with class! To be honest, I am thrilled because classes seem to get in the way of my travels, hah! I have a good 2 weeks at the end of June where I do not have any exams and I get to do some traveling before I am shipped back to the US.
It's getting to the point where I am still loving Australia, but I am missing my friends and family from home a real lot! I am very excited to see my parents in a month!!! Also, I am thrilled to go on Easter Break! Please go on Skype if you are reading this, because I want to talk to you so that I could catch up and not miss you so much!!!
This weekend is our friend Luika's 21st Birthday (wow, I feel like there are soo many 21sts here) and we are planning on barbequeing for her birthday and going out! It should be a lot of fun! Also, this weekend I hear back from a woman at PSU about a Peer Interventionist position that I applied for and hope to get for next semester!! I am also trying to watch a little bit of March Madness here but I still haven't figured it out yet. Hopefully I can watch some of the Sweet 16, the only problem is that it's at about 9/10 am for me... I don't usually get up that early but I can see what I can do. Let's go 'Cuse!! Who would have thought that I'm in another country and I'm still concerned about college basketball tourneys! Gotta love the Madness!
Alright well I should stop procrastinating on doing work and maybe get some pictures posted up too... I'm trying to set up an online photo album and when I get it figured out I will post or e-mail you with the link to the photo albums so you can see all of my great pictures!!
I love you all and wish you were here! Just to let you know, I looove mail if you were interested in sending me something... Address is: 5-17 Flemington Road, North Melbourne, VIC 3051. I'll be checking the mailbox. And if you were interested in receiving a post-card I could do that, just send me your address!
Till next time....
