speaking of segues...

sorry kate... i know i gave you a hard time when you used it but i suppose it is a good one...

so i am now sitting in my room, the place i've lived for over 3 months that has my pictures on the walls, my stuff in the cupboard, my name on the door, and it's reached that point where i have to start thinking about packing up to go home. classes are officially over and reading week starts on monday to give everyone the chance to make up on the 13 weeks of work they have been ignoring. i have finished w/ aboriginal studies, have a final to sit for psych on the 5th and a take home exam for sociology due the 10th and then my semester is over. what the hell... i got off the plane last week at the earliest. i suppose i should update people on stuff that has happened since my last update:

for the rest of spring break i hung out at campus and went to a couple of fabulous parties at pubs. i'm not really sure what we did during the days but the time passed quick enough. one day pip and i went back to being 14 and looked at love quizzes/love calculators online which was absolutely hilarious. amy and i decided that iain needed a welcome back demonstration of our love so we decided to put balloons on his door but we only had water balloons and long thin balloons... this were quickly combined into a fairly phallic shape and left w/ a sign referring to how much we missed his 'uber massive schlong' (quite the random inside joke that i came into afterwards), which would have been hilarious if his parents didn't bring him back from break and see said balloons and sign. i also cut a significant amount of my hair off. either the week immediately before or after spring break i joined juggling club and met some of the most incredible people ever. i can now juggle 3 balls (kind of) as well as spin poi a little... even when they are on fire (yes, they are designed for that)!

there isn't much particularly blog worthy that's happened between then and now. last night we had the 'final fling' with the theme of "f" so there were a lot of really random and fantastic costumes as well as free drinks. i went as fancy in fuchsia... i.e. a good excuse to dress up pretty. i actually survived wearing high heels again, although barely. after waking up not feeling so great this morning, i headed to the beach for a surf lesson. how fucking awesome is that? i wasn't very successful, only getting up on my knees and not staying there for very long but it was a lot of fun... even if i was absolutely wrecked when i got home.

that brings you up to date on my life. i'm not sure what i have planned for the rest of the session (besides some school work) but i'll update everyone when i figure it out. there will also be another post very soon with access to my photo albums b/c i have been taking a ton of them this session just to keep you all posted on my life b/c some of this stuff you wouldn't believe if you didn't see it for yourself.

where does the time go?

So we are now an hour and a half into October and I really have no idea where the time went. I suppose it was eaten by the large number of papers I have had but still... it’s somewhat ridiculous. I also think that only having a 3 day week contributes greatly. Before you get over the Mondays it is Wednesday and then it’s the weekend… and we all know that weekends fly by like nobody’s business.

On a completely random note, I have become absolutely obsessed w/ On A Sensual Note’s album and have been listening to it incessantly recently.

Classes are trudging on. I only have one or two assessments left for each subject which is absolutely nuts. We are currently in the middle of our mid-session break which is really more like 3/4 of the way through the session break since we have finished 10 of the 13 weeks after which we have 1 week of study break and 2 of finals and then the session is over and it is time to go home... or travel. I still haven’t worked out my plans but will b doing that very soon. I do know that my visa expires on December 10^th so I will be home by then.

A couple of weeks back we had harbour cruise... which is affectionately known as the “booze cruise” due to the fact that we spend four hours out on the harbour w/ an open bar. It is apparently very difficult to judge how drunk you are when you already can’t stand due to the fact that you are on a boat.

For part 1 of midsession break I went to Brisbane with Pam this past Thursday thru Tuesday. It was a lot of fun. I got to see UQ and Kate which was really nice... even if it did leave me feeling pretty homesick. We started at a hostel that was absolutely sketch-tastic and far away from everything so we moved to a different one where we were sharing a room w/ a total of 13 people. We went to Mt. Coot-tha, the botanical gardens, and surfer’s paradise and I managed not to get sunburned at all… which is no minor feat when you consider the fact that I fell asleep on the beach for 2 hours. The trip was a lot of fun but not particularly blog worthy. However, when I got back, the shrieks that accompanied the realisation of my return may have left me partially deaf... it’s absolutely delightful to be loved :-D.

On that note... before I left people told me about reverse culture shock and I thought that was absolute nonsense but I’m starting to see how it could happen. I’ve gotten so used to being American being cause for insults and seeing my country through the rest of the world’s eyes. Let me tell you... it’s not a pretty picture. I’ve been working so hard on getting the Aussie into my language that I’m pretty sure it will be hard to shake when I get back. Then there are the people I’ve met here. Missing everyone back home isn’t so bad because I know I will see you all again sooner or later but I have no idea when I’m going to see these people again... or if I’ll see them… which is kind of stressing relationships. It almost feels like I’m wasting my time by fully throwing myself into spending time with these people but oh well… I’m doing it anyway and having an awesome time.

I think that is overall a good update on my life. I would like to point out that my inbox has been sadly empty in terms of updates from AU! Keep me updated people! I suppose that is all for now...

Interesting Oz Fact: Poisonous things kind of just show up around us like the spider that appeared in Amy’s room and the bird that is nesting in the field. As Kate said... be careful. Everything in Australia can kill you.