Friday, August 29, 2008

... and then I found $5.

So I apologise it has been a while since I updated. I've been having so much fun doing things to write about, the actual writing seemed a little silly.

A couple of weeks ago I went to Sydney for a day. We, of course, took pictures around the harbour of the bridge and the opera house and this random carnival we saw when we were on the ferry on our way to see the aquarium. It was a really nice aquarium but generally pretty similar to the one in Baltimore. But there was a platypus! You really don't realize how fast those things are until you are trying to take a picture of them... bloody oath! I always forget until I'm in an aquarium how much the thick glass in combination w/ the water really screws with my head but I survived.

After the aquarium we went to see The Dark Knight in the IMAX theatre... OMG was that an intense experience. I was apparently very amusing to my friends sitting on either side of me. They all highly recomend that you watch an intense movie with me, purely for the comedy of me freaking out.

During the weeks I have been doing a lot of paper writing/procrastinating the paper writing so not too much stuff that you would find interesting if you weren't there has happened. My friends have figured out my s.o.p. for telling a story so they have a go at me for it every chance they get but oh well.

The next interesting thing that has happened was the ball... although there is a very good chance that it is only an interesting story if you were there. I had a great time with a bunch of my friends and finally got the chance to wear the dress that I got for the Founder's Day ball and never got a chance to wear in February.

There are pictures up of all of these things on Facebook as well as a random adventure or two.

Right now I'm working on writing a paper and figuring out my spring break so I'll keep you guys posted when anything interesting happens!

Interesting Oz Fact: Television is half a season behind here because they want the seasons to add up even though that means all the holidays are at the wrong time.

Monday, August 18, 2008

I am a visitor here...

So this has been kind of a rough weekend. All week I've been working on my psychology paper in fits and starts. It needs to be between 1500 and 2000 words and thus far I only have 263 and the research is just not coming together. I put that on hold today to work on my 30-50 minute presentation I have to give on Tuesday afternoon but I have a 3 hour break tomorrow that will hopefully lead to productivity. If it doesn't... well then tomorrow night will not be kicks and giggles.

Every time I start to feel settled, I get some sort of slap in the face, reminding me that I'm new here and only temporarily at that. I'm also hoping that what we were told about Aussies teasing b/c they love is true b/c otherwise I'd really start feeling bad about myself, given a lot of the things they say to me. I'm generally doing pretty well with the whole culture shock thing but the food is giving me problems. I'd really like something to be familiar that I actually like and are actual sustenance - not just m&ms.

Also, the fact that life is going on normally at home feels weird. Band camp has started for another year already - the first year I won't be there for championships since 2002 - and people are going back to AU and everyone else is starting on their adventures for the semester. People! Email me! I'd love to hear what's going on in your lives! And I swear I'll respond! On that note, it is sleeping time b/c I have class in 9 hours.

Interesting Oz Fact: No one seems to know what a heating pad is.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Walking on the Ceiling

This post is actually not going to go on like a novel, for once.

Classes are seriously under way and I am currently taking a break from a 10 minute presentation I have on Monday. When giving length limits on papers and such, they generally tell you how many words it needs to be instead of a page limit so the formatting directions dictate the smallest accepted margins instead of largest which really sucks b/c they insist on a 4 cm margin which is almost more than an inch and a half. That's such a waste of paper. They also frown on double siding you work, which I think is odd given the measures they have gone to for helping the environment such as toilets w/ the option of half or whole flush as well as switches for the power outlets.

I have taken all of my pictures out of the little book I brought them in and hung them up on my wall. Once again, I didn't notice how crappy my walls looked empty until they suddenly looked better. One of the Aussies gave me some of this stuff they call blu-tac (because it's blue. They also have u-tac or yellow-tac, which is called such b/c it is yellow - they are creative when it comes to naming things here). This stuff actually works a lot better than thumb-tac back home. There is even a picture of a "Mike Mayer Show" dry erase board advertisement.

I seem to finally be kicking this cold which has been giving me hell for the past month and then some. I love anti-biotics.

The American boys I live w/ are continuing to make drama b/c they won't just keep the bathroom clean and they keep mooching shampoo, conditioner, and body wash w/o asking. Ness is on the war path... which is absolutely hilarious.

I have re-discovered the beauty of going out sober, although it can be frustrating when all of your friends are getting drunk off their asses. It's certainly a hell of a lot cheaper w/ few side effects - all though I definitely woke up feeling just as crappy this morning - very unfortunate.

That is my life at this point. I hope you appreciated the abbreviated version.