BulaBula

On Wednesday, Char and I got a taxi at 7am—we arranged it the day before—to get to nearby resort where a bus would pick us up and take us to Port Denarau where we got on a boat to go to Tivua Island, one of the Mamanuca Islands. On the boat ride we got to see many of the Yasewa and Mamanuca Islands, all of which looked so beautiful. On the boat we got some breakfast and relaxed in the sun. When we got to the island Char and I decided to go snorkelling first. We were taken out on a boat to the best coral and we snorkelled for an hour or so. Then we went back to the island where there was free lunch and did I mention that beer, wine, and soda was unlimited? So we had some wine and a Fijian beer and lots of diet coke—soda in the rest of the world is incredibly expensive, so we took full advantage! After lunch we laid out on the beach and did more snorkelling. We sailed/boated back to mainland and once again, char and I got a lot of attention from the Fijian crew on the boat—they changed the words of some of the songs they were singing to be about us! Also once again, we basked in the attention! We didn’t get back to the hostel until about 8:00 so we showered and met up with everyone else. Char and I realized that we had to finish the bottle of rum before we left but only I wanted to drink! I told team GB this and they were appalled and thus helped me drink it haha. It was another night of scrabble and cards but this time it went until quite late.

On Thursday, char left after breakfast to head to the airport L I took out a kayak—the hostel offered them free!—and went really far up the coast which was amazing. Unfortunately, I wasn’t paying attention to the current, and on the way back I had to go against the current. Needless to say, I was exhausted when I got back. I laid out with the others on the beach for a bit and then it was lunch time. After lunch, team GB wanted to have some competitions in the pool. We had many contests and I would like to point out that I (along with my partner of team GB, who I called Mr. Richard Joyce,) won every chicken fight—that’s when you sit on someone’s shoulders and try and knock the other person doing the same off of their person’s shoulders in to the pool. Anyway, we all felt really sick from all the swimming, handstanding, pool wrestling, and flipping that we had done only about 10 minutes after eating lunch, so we took a break. It was just in time because it started pouring rain right after we got out! The girls went back to go shower because they were checking out in a few hours. I hung out with team GB and then made a coconut necklace—one of the other free activities the hostel offers. I had signed up to get a traditional Fijian full-body massage from 3-4 earlier in the day—it was amazing! I got rubbed down with freshly made coconut oil and it was wonderful…and only cost 20 Fijian dollars (for a whole hour!) which is less than 15 US dollars! At 4 I had afternoon tea with everyone before Team GB and I said goodbye to char’s roommates who I really liked. At 5:00 I played in the daily volleyball game with team GB, some of the Fijians, and a few other guests. It was quite fun but I still have bruises on my arms from it! Quite a competitive crowd—especially the old Fijian men! We all showered and had dinner where I found out that a few Norwegian girls and some English guys were going to make a bonfire on the beach that night. I played some cards with team GB until the fire was started and then we broke out the rum and joined the group around the fire. I was a bit sad as I talked with Team GB that night because I’m just no good with all of this meeting so many cool people when you’re travelling and then having to say goodbye so soon. Meeting people from all over the world is so amazing and there is nothing that compares to it, but when I click with someone so soon after meeting them, it’s hard for me to just let that go. It ends up team GB will be in Sydney up to the day before I’m going to Sydney. I tried to convince them to stay an extra day or 2 in Sydney—I’ll just have to see how it goes. Also, Char and her roommates offered their apartment to them if they want to stay in Brisbane for a bit. Again, I’ll just have to wait and see!

On Friday I got up early and went for a swim in the ocean despite it being overcast and a bit drizzly. I had breakfast (by myself because the boys weren’t awake yet) and then showered and packed up. I went to pay my tab—the hostel just put all the meals we bought and any other charges on a tab which was awesome—and found out that the shuttle to the airport wasn’t going to run that morning because it was only me who needed the transport! So I had to take the public bus again! But this time it was going to be by myself which did not make me happy. Team GB cheered me up though and we hung out for a while before they walked me to the bus stop. My bus arrived—20 minutes late of course because they are on “Fiji time”—and we said our goodbyes. I was really sad and they were too because now they didn’t have me to play cards with! Anyway, I left the hostel at 11:20 and didn’t get to the airport until 1:45 and my flight was at 3:20. I would like to add that if I had asked any Fijian what time I would get to the airport if I took the “11:00” bus they would say 12:30. Yea, not even close. They honestly do not believe in time in Fiji, which was great while I was there, but not so much when you have to catch an international flight! I thought I would have to rush but I had plenty of time to check in and buy a bottle of rum to bring home. Then my flight got delayed 20 minutes but it ended up taking off 40 minutes late. BUT, when we boarded I found I had all three seats of my row to myself! It was a pleasant flight and when we landed my baggage came out on the carousel within 1 minute so I beat the rush to customs. I declared everything I bought just to be safe, which I am glad I did even though it was all fine. They are very strict in Australia with what you bring in because it is so easy to introduce an invasive species. Anyway so I was able to catch a train about 2 minutes after I got to the platform which is awesome because they only run about every 40 minutes. I got off in the city and had to take the bus to campus. At the bus station I ended up talking to a woman, a graduate from UQ actually, for 45 minutes because the bus never showed. Eventually the bus I needed came and I got home around 7:45 and promptly took a much needed shower. I had no food except ¾ of a sleeve of Ritz crackers so I ate that for dinner (healthy) and then went to bed.

Overall, the hostel, the country, the people, and the food were unbelievable. There is no such thing as an unfriendly Fijian. I could have stayed there forever…but I could do with another means of transportation that is not the public bus ;). I could not have asked for a better semester break.

It’s now Sunday evening and I’ve had a lot of work to do since I have my regular work plus a presentation for anthropology on Wednesday and my marine midterm on Friday. I’ve been at the library all day and I still am not even close to being done with my work L Plus, my parents are currently in Sydney and will arrive in Brisbane on Wednesday so I’d like to be fun and energetic when they’re here! I’m exhausted and this was a lot of writing! I can’t help but try to include every detail when I write about this stuff!

Bula

I’m finally getting a chance to write about Fiji! It was definitely an amazing 6 days of my life.

So it began Saturday night. I slept over at Charlene’s apartment—which is awesome and has a HUGE deck that overlooks the whole city—and we woke up at 5am on Sunday so we could catch the early train to the airport. The train station is about 50 meters from the front door of her apartment complex which was obviously very convenient. We got to the airport and, of course, since we were so early there was no one in line yet to check in. We got first choice with the seats since we were so early, and so we were offered row 1—the one with about 5 feet of leg room! We were at our gate probably within 15 minutes of arriving at the airport. We got some coffee and I got out the 6 pieces of fruit I had taken from the dining hall for our breakfast—I know, I am the master at stealing of food from dining halls J. We just talked and before we knew it, it was time to board. Our flight was great because the crew was really friendly, we had tons of leg room, and char and I talked the whole time making the flight go by so fast. We also used her Fiji guidebook to help plan out what we were going to do. As we were descending, we got to see the gorgeous coral and many of the other islands from above which was amazing. When we got off our flight we got our baggage, did the whole customs thing, got some Fijian money from the ATM—there is only one ATM in the Nadi airport!—and went straight to duty free to get a bottle of rum for the both of us. All the liquor was so cheap!!! Anyway, we got some food—pizza, haha—while waiting for the bus and also looked at some brochures for some day trips we could do. We got on the 4:20 public bus and, well, it was an interesting experience. It hadn’t occurred to us that the bus would not really be a tourist bus, but an actual bus that Fijians use to get around. We laughed afterwards about how we were the only white people and how we put our bags underneath the bus in storage while everyone else used that storage for things like roots and leaves that they had collected. It was a very hot and crowded bus so we were happy when the 2 and a half hour bus ride to the hostel was over.

We checked in and I met Charlene’s 3 roommates and one of their boyfriends who had come from New Jersey to visit for 2 weeks. It was perfect because the rooms were 6 bed dorms and there were 6 of us. They were just going to eat dinner so we went out to sit with them and then char and I swam in the pool for a bit. We just hung out and talked for a while and then showered. We went to the office and had them book the 2 day trips we wanted to do for Tuesday and Wednesday. That left us with Monday (the next day) free to do the waterfall trek our hostel offered. We went to bed pretty early.

On Monday we got up early and had breakfast which was yummy and free from the hostel. Seeing the beach and everything in the daylight was phenomenal. At 10am we met our guide, one of the older men from the nearby village of Navola. It was the six of us, 4 people from Japan, and 2 from England. We basically hiked through the rainforest, barefoot, in lots of mud, though streams, over rocks etc. to get to Korolevu waterfall. During the hike we were taught about many different plants and their many functions/usages. The best part about it is that it is a waterfall that has a special meaning for the people of the village and only they really know about it/visit it. We swam in the pools there and took some pictures after we climbed up the waterfall. We headed back and we were all so exhausted—we didn’t get back until 3:00! We all ate lunch and took showers. While everyone else took naps, Char and I chilled at the beach and read/played on the swings that hang from the palm trees. We had dinner after which we met 3 really fun guys from England who had just arrived and who we hung out with for the rest of our time in Fiji. They are on a 6 month trip travelling around the world as they graduated from uni together at the end of last year and are beginning their respective jobs in July. We played mafia—yea, I know, it felt like camp or something!—for hours and also some other card games and had so much fun. We were all exhausted so we got to bed relatively early again.

On Tuesday, Char and I got picked up at 9am by our tour van that took us to Pacific Harbour, about 30km away from the hostel to the east, where we boarded a canoe and boated up the Navua River. We went to a village where they welcomed us elaborately. We took part in our first Kava ceremony and were told the history of the village. We were taken around the village and got to watch the women doing some really cool handiwork and were able to see the pre-school. The children sang for us and told us their names and ages—it was SO cute. We were served a lunch cooked the traditional way—underground. There were curries and fish and coconut and other salads and things. It was the some of the best food I’ve ever had! After we ate, the young men of the village danced for us and the women sang afterwards. When the women finished the men—all of whom were about our age-- came back and grabbed Charlene and me off the floor to dance with them! It was so much fun and everyone in the group ended up dancing too. The young men really loved Charlene and me and even told one of the elders about how thrilled they were to have “2 such beautiful young ladies” come to the village. Not going to lie—we both loved the attention and got a big kick out of it all. Anyway, after buying some crafts from the women, they sang a traditional farewell song and we got back on the canoe for the next part of our trip. We went to the Magic waterfalls which are huge. We swam in the pools there and got to jump off a rock that was about 15 meters above the pool. After that we got to bamboo raft down the river for a bit which is the original Fijian mode of water transportation. We got back to Pacific Harbour and then got dropped off by bus at our hostel at about 5pm. Char and I decided not to waste any time and to go snorkeling since the tide was high. The snorkeling was amazing at the beach where our hostel was! When the sun began to set, we got out and showered and had dinner with everyone where we were able to catch up on what everyone had done all day. In the evening we went to the village because we had been invited to drink some kava and just chill I guess. We stayed for hours in the village meeting room, drinking kava with the older men of the village and asking them all sorts of questions about their culture. After we walked back to the hostel we played scrabble and more mafia with the boys from England (aka Team GB…for Great Britain—we were known as team USA) Again, so much fun, and being able to hang out in the village seems so surreal.

I’ll continue in another post.

Yes, I'm still here.

So I haven’t posted in a few days because I’ve just been really busy…and still am but felt I had to write something before leaving for FIJI. (!!! )

Thursday I met with my marine group at a coffee shop where we could sit outside to plan our field work. It took us 2 hours but we completely planned what we are testing and the methods/statistics we will use so it’s should all be pretty easy from here. After that I came home to grab lunch and went to the library for the rest of the day to study for my midterms that are (too) soon! I came home, had dinner, and then packed for my Friday excursion.

Friday I woke up at 5:50am (yay!) to catch the ferry to the train to the bus to surfers paradise again for my second and third lessons. It was a gorgeous day, not a cloud in sight the whole day, so the beach was pretty crowded. I didn’t mind though--especially because I spent minimal time on the beach. My first lesson, from 10-12, built on my first one. The first wave I took when we all went in to warm up I caught all the way in which made me feel pretty good! I felt myself getting more used to the balance and everything and even was able to do some turning which is what our lesson was on. I was tired after the 2 hours so I went to lie out on the beach and eat the sandwich I had made for the occasion.

Around 1:30 I went walking around a bit and then headed back over to the surf school for my 2-4 lesson. That lesson was amazing. My muscles were fatigued from the start, but I didn’t care. Also, there were only 4 of us on the third lesson which was fun. We warmed up like we always do, but then our instructor called us out and told us it was time to paddle out in the rip current! Just as he tells us this, by the way, the lifeguard siren goes off and they rescue a surfer from the rip. That was the third or fourth rescue I had seen that day! He told us how to get over the big waves and stuff, and then off we went! I was secretly really nervous, but once we got in and I got over a few waves and felt a little better. Then I got completely wiped out and was able to really feel the pull of the rip and realized that it felt the same as rips I had felt when in the outer banks, just stronger. I was no longer nervous at all and I paddled hard out to where my instructor was. I got roughed up on the way out, but I eventually made it to the sweet spot for catching the best waves. When I got on my first wave, I was caught by surprise at how big and fast the wave was and didn’t stand up fully. But I got back out (which takes about 5 seconds when you’re in the rip) and when I took my next wave I got up and rode it. It was so exhilarating because when you take the big waves, it’s like, “wow, I’m really surfing,” …if that makes any sense at all, which I think it does if you surf and remember how it felt when you started. I only caught a few waves really successfully, I think partly because I was probably getting really tired. Also I kept sliding too far up my board and nearly nose-diving. I actually did nose-dive on one wave—it was actually really fun and I ended up doing several somersaults underwater. I love that feeling. Oh, BUT one of them I took from all the way out in the rip right to the shore!!! I actually just stepped off onto the shore! I was so exhausted and had been in the sun for over 7 hours so I headed to the bus stop right after the lesson. I didn’t get home until about 7:30 so I had missed dinner. I knew I would so I had bought a can of tuna and some crackers earlier in the week. After I ate I showered and fell asleep right away.

I woke up early this morning—I had gone to bed at 9pm! I did my laundry, went to breakfast, discussed plans for travel tomorrow with Charlene, called my mom, the talked to mike, started packing, went to lunch, and packed for the rest of the afternoon. I will go to dinner in about 10 minutes, then finish packing and head to Charlene’s apartment in Toowong which is about 10 minutes from campus. Her friend is picking me up because the buses stopped running early today. Tomorrow we will wake up at about 4am to get the 5am train to the airport. Our flight doesn’t take off until 9:05am but the next train would get us there at 7:35am which we both agreed is way too late for an international flight. So we’ll get there early and just get breakfast or something. Even though the flight is only 3.5 hours, by the time we catch the bus from the airport in Nadi to our hostel it will be 6:45pm Fiji time—(3:45pm Brisbane time). So it will be a LONG day. I’m so happy to be going with Charlene though—she is the so much fun and we are very much alike in our travel style. Ok I have an hour before I get picked up and I have to go down to eat and I’m not even fully packed!

I’ll be back on Friday night!

Oh and one more thing—I think it’s going to be raining the whole time we’re in fiji! Oh well, I think Charlene and I will make the best of it! I'm already tan so I don't need to work on that haha, so if I can't lie out on the beach, so be it. We'll hang out in the rainforest or something. :)

wed-nes-day

It was a typical Wednesday. Library at 8am because I printed the wrong article for anthropology and needed my psychology lecture notes, 3 hours of lecture (9-12), quick lunch, turn in chemistry prac calculations, 4 hours of tutorials and lectures (1-5), out for a run that ended in going to coles to get m&ms (necessary), dinner (nice and sweaty for that), shower, marine prac abstract/data write up…and now it's after 9:00.

I’m very tired and now that I just sent in my marine science, I think it’s time for a bit of relaxing before I go to bed. Tomorrow I have a lot I want to get done so that I can enjoy my Friday of traveling/surfing all day.

Note to Lauren: I guess the only kind of cuisine that’s Australian is aussie bbq? Oh and they eat vegemite. And natural yogurt which means it tastes like plain yogurt but then they add fruit an stuff. Apparently you can eat kangaroo but I don’t intend to. They don’t really have a cuisine, they just make crap versions of everyone elses cuisines! But they do have the most diverse vegetarian menu I’ve ever seen. Oh and they eat tons of pumpkin, chick peas, sweet potatoes, watermelon, cantelope, and pineapple. It’s a good thing I love all of that! Also, lots of things are put into the form of quiches and anything and everything is put into crepes and then called dinner. Almost every dessert has some sort of custard to put on it. They put penne pasta in tuna salad sometimes. Everybody likes a kebab after a night out. Wow, apparently I can go on and on about food. Not really a surprise. Hope that answers your question raren!

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I would just like to point out that I just noticed that the times (and also therefore dates) of my posts are always wrong. Maybe I should fix that...I probably won't.

When it rains...

Wow. My classes are really starting to pick up in pace. It didn’t register for me that I have 2 midterms scheduled for the week after break—and I have a presentation on that Wednesday—and the next week I have a big assignment due and another midterm. Plus my practicals take a lot of time and require a reasonable, but still quite time-consuming, amount of preparation. I can’t even finish everything I need to do tonight because I can’t keep my eyes open and I need to be rested for my seven hours of class tomorrow!

Anyway, I got word from Sydney that the weekend I was thinking of coming is good, so I just purchased the tickets. I had already done my research so I just had to buy them. The flights cost $200 with all the taxes and charges and stuff. I think that’s pretty awesome. I decided to leave Thursday morning and to come back early Monday morning. Sunday flights were more expensive and the latest I’d be able to leave was 1pm…so that would be a useless day. Plus, I know that Sunday is a big deal in Sydney, meaning everyone goes to the bar starting in the early afternoon. So I didn’t want to miss out. It should be an amazing weekend and I’m looking forward to it, but right now all I can really think about is all of my work… oh and surfing on Friday, and FIJI (!), and then A LOT more work and studying and a midterm, then parents are here/Byron Bay for the weekend, then another midterm and a big assignment.

Hence the craziness begins now.

I’m incredibly tired and the soreness from surfing Sunday only just wore off late this afternoon.

Get on your boardies

Today was a glorious day. It began at 5:55am when woke up, got ready, and headed out with James and Filippo to catch the 6:46 ferry to the train station. It’s a 15/20 minutes walk to the ferry, and then from the ferry to the train it’s another 10/15 minute walk. We caught our train which goes down the coast to about the same latitude as Surfers Paradise, but still west of the coast. It should have been as simple as getting off the train and onto a bus that takes us right to the beach, but of course, nothing can go that smoothly when it comes to public transportation here when I’m involved! It ends up the train that we were on did not continue all the way to the stop we needed to get to, so we had to get off and take a bus to catch the other bus. We were about 20 seconds from missing that second bus because, as you can imagine, the train goes much faster than a bus does! I was quite stressed because if we were to have missed that bus, we would end up arriving at the surf school about 5 minutes before our lesson was to start! SO I was very relieved to catch the bus. We would’ve had no idea at which bus stop to get off in order to get to the surf school, but luckily, being travel savvy me, I had google-mapped the area and printed it out. So we got off about 2 blocks from the school.

The three of us paid for our lesson. I found out that I can pay for the lessons in the package whenever I want—in other words, I didn’t need to decide if I want to take 1, 3, or 5 lessons before I took my lesson today. You simply pay for your one lesson, and then if you come back you just get the discount on the next 2 (so the same goes for lessons 4 and 5).

Ok so basically we were over a half hour early so we met the others in the lesson and they were all really nice and from all over. There were 2 girls our age from Germany on holiday from Uni who were very friendly, a couple from Ireland, a little girl and her brother who were Russian (but live in Israel!), and then of course us—the American, Italian, and Australian. We started off by getting our boards and lugging the giant things down the beach. You use bigger foam boards when learning because bigger=easier to balance and foam is less likely to injure you or someone else! The downside is they’re heavy. Anyway, we only did about 10 minutes on land before we got in and essentially practices body boarding. We came out and learning how to steer, practiced that in the water, and then we were on to learning how to stand! The was another quick, not even 10 minutes land lesson, and then we went out to try. On my first try I only got to my knees and then fell off when trying to stand, but by the second wave I caught I stood! I didn’t last all that long but it still felt awesome. About an hour or so later when we came out, I had caught many waves and was able to stay on much longer because of helpful tips from the coaches.

Overall, it was AWESOME. I was not happy when we had to get out of the water. Okay, I was happy because I was loving it, but I really could’ve done it for hours more. I mean, I probably would’ve passed out from exhaustion, but I would want to do all day. After we put away the boards, the coaches gave us awards. I had ending up making friends with everyone in the class somehow, especially the little girl who was absolutely adorable. She had done so well—I think she probably caught more waves than most of the class. I told her that if the coaches had given a special award, I think she would have gotten it. She then told me that she thought I was really good and that maybe everyone should get a special award because everyone is special in their own way. It was probably the cutest speech I’ve ever heard from an 8 year-old in my whole life. So the boys and I said our goodbyes and then headed to get lunch since food was the only thing either of them could think about—typical. We went to this little diner-type place and I got a chicken caesar wrap that was quite tasty. The boys were able to get big burgers and chips so they were satisfied. We then walked down the beach a bit so that there were less people, but it really wasn’t crowded. The beach is as big as places like Ocean City, but there were probably 1/10^th as many people. Plus, when I went for a walk later, I realized that just a few minutes down the beach further was completely empty. BUT, it’s empty because there aren’t life-guards or swimming flags set up so you can’t go in the water.

Anyway, we laid out on the beach for the afternoon and went for a swim. The waves are so strong so I could only stay in the water for a short time before feeling exhausted and even a bit nervous. The problem with just chilling in the ocean there is that you’re standing on a sand bar where the water is somewhere from mid-thigh to waist high, so when a huge, strong wave comes, i.e. the first in a set, there is no way to avoid it hitting you hard. I mean, I love my big waves, but I was really missing deeper water for strong waves like that! So after some lazing in the surprisingly cloudy weather and being tumbled around in the waves meant for surfing, we decided to head home. We caught the 4:05 bus and were able to take it to the train and then take the ferry. We got to the ferry station on campus at 6:47 and dinner closes at 7:00 on Sundays so, despite being exhausted, the three of us ran/speed-walked all the way home. We thankfully got to dinner just before it closed.

I just showered and unpacked my bag. I could not be more exhausted. This is my favorite kind of exhaustion. Because that’s normal, having a favorite type of fatigue! Well surprise I’m not normal.

It was an amazing day and I cannot wait until Thursday…oh yea, on Thursday I plan on skipping my 1 lecture of the day, waking up probably around 5:45am and going to surfers again for my second and third lesson. ;) 4 hours of surf amazingness, after which I'll probably be good enough to go pro. Mwhahaha. But seriously, what a way to start mid-semester break!

Save

So I was trying to go to sleep, but for some reason I’m really awake right now so I figured I’d write a post! This morning I woke up at 6:40 for absolutely no reason! Apparently this not needing sleep thing is happening a lot lately. So I went to the library to get some stuff done before my 9am chem. lecture. I don’t fully understand any of the concepts in chem…only partially. I’m just not interested in what we’re learning at all so I can’t be bothered to actually learn it. Hopefully I understand it well enough that I can get by on the exams. ;) After lecture I realized that I had left my Nalgene all the way back at the library! So I went back and luckily someone had brought it to the help desk. I came home and scrubbed it/rinsed it about 10 times—that may seem like I’m paranoid, but really, what would you do? I came home and took a quick nap because the getting up super early finally hit me. I went to lunch and then to marine lecture. I’m not understanding the material in that class right now either—but that’s not just me—the whole class is a bit lost because our lecturer goes through an incredible amount of material (that is all completely foreign to me) in a short amount of time. Anyway, Charlene wants to get together one day next week so we can plan out our itinerary for Fiji. She also really wants to rent one of these van-type-things (that apparently a lot of people do here) and go camping around the Byron Bay area one weekend. I told her about how I’m going to Byron Bay with my parents after break but that I still would probably be interested because a) it’s camping and b.) it’s the beach. Also, according to her, it’s not expensive at all to rent these vehicles for a few days.

So after class I came home and tried to convince James and Filipo that we just HAVE to go tomorrow to Gold Coast since the night life is supposed to be so good PLUS we’d have 2 days at the beach. And the hostels are cheap. They also think it’s a good idea, but we’ll see how it plays out. Either way, I will be there at some point this weekend—that’s what really matters!

After discussing with the boys I checked my email and found a response from my friends in Sydney that really cheered me up. Basically, I’m welcome to come any weekend after break—and both Lindsay and Taylor have a place I can sleep for the weekend. I’m thinking about going at the end of April because we have a 3-day weekend. I could leave Thursday morning and come home Sunday night and I’d miss 1 lecture. I could even get an early morning flight monday but it'd be about $20 more. I looked at flights this afternoon for quite a bit. I’ll email them with that date tomorrow or sometime soon to confirm it and then I’ll try to book the cheap flights while they’re still there! After some more looking at flights for other weekends and general daydreaming about my travels, I got to work. I had to get done my chemistry pre-lab stuff for Monday just in case we’re leaving tomorrow because I don’t know when we’d be coming back Sunday. It took me until 6:30 to finish, which is good because at 6:30 my hall had an outing to the fish and chips place that is in the shops that are walking distance from the University. It was a lot of fun . It’s an outdoor place and since almost everyone form the hall came, it was quite a big group of us. It’s a BYOB restaurant so a few people went to get some beer and wine while we waited but I was too lazy to get any. The food was good but it took such a long time for it.

I’m starting to get tired so I’ll end this post. Hopefully this weekend will be a success!

Everybody wants to make it count

Another day and it had its ups and downs just like any other. I woke up really early even though I don't have my lecture until noon. I have yet to sleep in past 8:30am since I've been here, even when I've been out late! I guess it's a good thing I'm not out late too much or I'd be quite sleep-deprived. So I went down to brekkie since I was awake and figured I should get something done. I came back to my room and read a chapter of my ethnography over again--I have to mention that since I feel very little pressure to do well in my classes,(in terms of grades, that is), it doesn't feel like work at all. So I had to do that though because I had to return the book by midday back to one of the libraries.
When I finished reading, it was still so early and I was feeling restless so I went for a leisurely speed-walk... is that a contradiction? Well not for me, haha. It was beautiful out--should I even mention that anymore? I think I will because, for me, the weather will never become redundant! I came back and caught my mom on instant messenger which made me very happy, even if she may not have realized it. I was nearly late to my lecture because I saw lindsay, the first of the canadian/american crew (haha) that I met when I got to Union and we started talking. She was very sweet and commented that it had been too long since we caught up and how were my classes and what was I doing this weekend etc etc. I've always thought she was the nicest, and after we talked I realized that maybe I would be doing some traveling with her. She has a field trip this weekend so she'll be gone, but so will I--at least for sunday when my hall makes our trip to surfers paradise! More on that in a second. So that encounter cheered me up some. Marine lecture was...long? We have a new professor for the next part of the lecture series and he's very knowledgable and asks the class a lot of questions and stuff, but he ran over in time by nearly 10 minutes! I'm quite happy I didn't have anything after to get to because I would've been so late. I went from lecture to the library to return the ethnography and then to the chemistry building because I had to turn in my chemistry lab calculations there in the electronic slot. The calculations aren't technically due until before lab starts next monday at 2pm but being typical me...haha. So I came home and made myself a pb&j in the dining room because lunch was about to close and no one was there to eat with. **On the topic of pb&j, I love how the aussie's cringe when I make it--most of them find peanut butter repulsive as it is, but to spread it on bread with jam? EW. I just remind them that they eat yeast extract with butter on their bread, and then everything is settled :)**
After I wasted about an hour doing nothing, I decided to go to the gym because I just couldn't wait until 5:30 for cycling. After that I showered and did nothing for a bit longer until it was dinner time. I had a sweet potato, bean, and tofu crepe. Who would've thought any of those things would ever be combined? Well it was pretty good.
I just watched some of a surfing documentary with Filipo and James and found out that...drum roll...they want to surf when we're at the beach on sunday! Tomorrow I'm going to suggest that we call up and make some sort of reservation at the surf school that I like :) I hope this all works out. I can never be too sure unfortunately! Oh and I secretly looked up all of these student trips up to the rainforest in Cairns and also trips to the Whitsundays. It's so addicting to just daydream about all of the places there are to see...
With persistence, I'll get at least some of what I want!

Milo Addict

SO it was a typical long Wednesday. I decided in lecture that I’m sort of understanding chem. which is good enough. Both hours of psychology today were really good; afterward I found myself jealous of anyone who gets to study neuroanatomy. I love it. Now that I’m nearly done with undergrad why not just switch my major? Okay, just kidding. Anyway I went to lunch and then had psyc. tutorial, and 2 hours of anthropology lecture. Both good, but I had to take so many notes in anthropology that my hand was hardly even functioning by the end. I came home but realized that I needed to photocopy some pages from my ethnography because I have to return it to the library tomorrow morning. I also needed to finish studying out of the marine textbook I checked out because that was also due. So I headed to the library and got that done. I got home just in time for the 6:00 seating for dinner.

I’m glad I got my work done straight after my lectures because now I don’t have much work tonight or tomorrow morning. This means I can go for a run or a swim before marine lecture :)
Today something quite good happened. Something, or rather someone, was brought to my attention. Filipo, the Italian in my hall, was asked at dinner by a girl in my hall what he was doing for the break. It immediately dawned on me that we had probably discussed every subject in the past few weeks BUT this. He said that he had wanted to go up to Cairns, but he hadn’t found anyone to go with him, so he might just stay here. When he spoke those words I had three thoughts that came to me all at once, 2 of which I wanted to communicate to him right away—1) I COMPLETELY understand, 2) how is it possible that I’m so blind that I did not think to ask him about his travel plans while here—I hang out with him more than any of the Americans and 3) I’m so happy, in the guiltiest of ways, that someone else is in this dreadful state along with me. So I didn’t say all of that to him obviously. I did, however, remind him of how hard it was for me to find someone to go to Fiji with and let him know that any weekend trip he ever thinks he even might want to do I am up for. He’d be a very interesting travel buddy because, well, he’s quiet, but something tells me he’s not actually quiet—I think he just doesn’t say everything he would normally because his English isn’t as fluent…I mean he’s completely fluent but he doesn’t speak as quickly as everyone else so I can imagine that it would be easier most of the time to only say what was necessary! Another thing that would make him interesting to travel with (sorry mike) is that he’s really good-looking—that combined with his accent gets him so much attention from the ladies! I’d find that commotion fun to be around hehe. Anyway, I don’t know if we’ll end up traveling together, but I’m definitely up for it.

Oh and in other good news, James put up a sign in the hall saying “TRIP TO SURFERS PARADISE SUNDAY.” So happy that he took me seriously when I complained all weekend that I NEED THE BEACH. Filipo and Bridgette are coming too. I personally want to go Saturday morning and then stay in a hostel overnight so we can go out (plus have 2 days at the beach.) I’ll work on convincing them! It would only be like $20 each for the night. Maybe I’ll also convince someone to do a surfing lesson with me? One step at a time.... :) Either way it should all be good and I’m pretty stoked.

Wrong side of the bed

I should’ve known by the feeling I woke up with that today would not be the best of days. I think I’m starting to get sick which is no surprise because my immune system fails me on a regular basis. I would write about today but the goo goo dolls express how I feel today and how I have been feeling too well. So that’s what I’ll write.

Stranger than your sympathy
And this is my apology
I killed myself from the inside out
And all my fears have pushed you out
And I wished for things that I don’t need
All I wanted
And what I chased won’t set me free
All I wanted
And I get scared but I’m not crawlin’ on my knees
Oh, yeah
Everything’s all wrong, yeah
Everything’s all wrong, yeah
Where the hell did I think I was?
And stranger than your sympathy
Take these things, so I don’t feel
I’m killing myself from the inside out
And now my head’s been filled with doubt
We’re taught to lead the life you choose
All I wanted
You know your love’s run out on you
All I wanted
And you can’t see when all your dreams aren’t coming true
Oh, yeah
It’s easy to forget, yeah
When you choke on the regrets, yeah
Who the hell did I think I was?
And stranger than your sympathy
And all these thoughts you stole from me
And I’m not sure where I belong
And no where’s home and no more wrong
And I was in love with things I tried to make you believe I was
And I wouldn’t be the one to kneel before the dreams I wanted
And all the dark and all the lies were all the empty things disguised as me

This feels a bit like Lehigh…

So today was a crazy busy Monday and I’m exhausted in every way that exists. I got up at 7am, had chem. lecture, went to the bank to get my online account unfrozen…long story…to find that it doesn’t open until 9:30, went across campus to the bio.sci. library to check out the marine textbook (I didn’t buy any of my textbooks) because Friday’s lecture went right over my head, read there for a while, checked out the book, went back to the bank, then spent an hour being a guinea pig for a psyc. PhD student…all of this was before lunch! I went back to college for lunch, dropped off books/picked up my lab gear and ate really quickly. Before lab I had an hour session at the lib on how to use the library cataloques/databases for my anthropology class. I mostly spent my time actually doing my research rather than listening to the library woman because it’s really not all that complicated to run the searches. I had to practically run from there to get to my lab on time. We had to run twice as many titrations as we did last week. Awesome. There were also a bunch of calculations and questions but I was happy to do them knowing that I didn’t have to do a formal lab write-up! Anyway I finished first just because I'm efficient and amazing...or maybe because I got lucky...whatever you'd like to think. I got out at 5:00—it starts at 2 and is supposedly over at 4:50—and had to rush home and change because I have cycling at 5:30 and it takes about 12 minutes to speed-walk to the gym. I got there just in time and found out it was the extreme class—it’s a full hour instead of 50 minutes because there’s an extra hill set and racing set. As if I wasn’t exhausted enough from the day in general!
I had dinner with some Americans who had also been at the gym but in a different class, and it didn’t please me. The dinner was actually decent but I don’t like many of them very much. It's weird because even though I'm very picky with who I chose as my close friends, I'm not at all picky when it come to aquaintance-type friends. Anyway, I just don’t see myself traveling with most of them. There are a few that are okay but now that I’m getting to know them better I just don’t feel like I’m fitting into their little clique. I think there are some in that group that don’t feel like they fit in either. I don’t know. Girls are lame.
I have a bunch of work to do. I actually like it that I have to take out textbooks from the library and return them within 3 days because it forces me to read the chapters while I have it.
I just showered and it’s 8:20 .At 9:00 union girls have their first netball game vs. another one of the colleges and Bridgette from my hall is on the team. A bunch of us are going to cheer her on. I think someone might have to carry me there. I really want to go but also I also really want to breathe for the first time today. Everyone (in my hall as well as the rest of the college as well as the entire university) is sick or has been sick for the past week. I know myself and on days like this where I overexert myself my immune system tends to just shut off. I don’t want to catch the bug. I want some m&m’s and my studying to be done. I want bed now. Dilemma.
I’m indecisive and I can’t stop thinking about things I wish I had done a few weeks ago so that maybe right now wouldn’t be so hard for me. My solution for tonight is to study—at least doing well in my classes is something I can control…
And Tuesdays are usually pretty good. I'll discuss my life with Charlene in marine lecture and I'm praying that she has something to say that will cheer me up. I've never had to rely so much on one person. I don't like it. But I can deal with it. And I will have to deal with it. Ok study of continental margins and volcanoes and atoll formation and...and then bed.

Just a day, just an ordinary day…

Last night I stayed up too late for no reason except that I didn’t feel tired. I woke early as usual this morning though and now I’m starting to feel the effects of not enough sleep. Ick. This morning, when I was dragged to brekkie by my mates…wow I didn’t even plan that word drop…it was pouring rain. It took me by complete surprise when I walked out the door. I imagine I had a look on my face that was something along the lines of what someone who had never seen rain before would have. Seriously though, I had forgotten that rain existed. Anyway, the rain lasted for about ten minutes and then all of a sudden the sun came out full force and within a minute the rain had stopped. I freaking love Queensland. 10 minutes of rain is all I need to get my fill of it for a few weeks. :)

So I spent the morning on the phone with the mum and then with mike. Somehow that, along with looking at the new surf school website/deciding I need to surf ASAP, took up my entire morning. I went down to lunch even though I’ve had no appetite with the goal of sitting w/the Americans but didn’t see them anywhere. About half way through eating I saw them, oh well.

I sent an email to Charlene, the girl I’m going to Fiji with, asking about surf school and the 2 3-day weekends we have in april/may. I must must must utilize those 3-day weekends.

**I must comment that some of the boys from my hall, the socially inept ones in particular, are sitting in the hall right now discussing anime and comics. Have I mentioned that one of the boys from another hall—long story but he’s sort of a groupie of our hall—has put me in charge of making these boys less awkward? I'm just so mature and wise in the art of social interaction. Anyway, they have no idea obviously but I think I’ve been helping them a lot with their conversation skills just by being my loud, “so close to crossing the line of appropriateness” self. I've definitely made them blush on several occasions! **

Okay so anyway I got an email back and we’re going to discuss it on Tuesday in marine lecture. It seems hopeful. For the afternoon, I did some work/going over of notes that I don’t really understand and then went for a long walk since, surprise, it was a beautiful day. I tried to run but my legs weigh 100 lbs each today...I hope I haven't caught the bug that everyone in the hall seems to have. At dinner, I again had planned to make myself eat with the Americans so I could see what they had done this weekend/see what they were going to do next weekend, but when I came down none of them were there yet. My hall tends to get in line early for meals so I just ate with them. I’m really trying to be around the other internationals more but it feels like every force in the universe is working against me! I’ll try again tomorrow (and every day following…) Anyway I need to go shower so I can go watch the Australian version of “so you think I can dance” with a bunch of people down in the lounge. I had no idea there was an Australian version…not that I’ve ever watched the American version! Oh well, it should be entertaining. Super long busy day tomorrow.

Do you want to go the seaside...

I didn’t do anything all that amazing today, but it was still a good day. I got up pretty early and wrote some lists and things to make myself feel better. Then I went to the library to get work done because I don’t trust myself when I’m in my room! I was there for a few hours and got quite a bit of work done. I came back, dropped off my books, and went to lunch. I ate really quickly so I could catch the 1:00 bus to the Indooroopilly shopping center. I shopped for hours because I was having so much fun browsing in so many stores that are new to me! I fell in love with this one store Supré that is sort of like American Apparel in that they have crazy neon stuff but there is also a surfer vibe and a bit of 80’s too. The best part is that it’s so cheap! That’s a first for this country! I ended up trying on tons of dresses and tops and bought 2 dresses, a top, and a fluoro-green headband. I will definitely be back there— I love everything there plus I know that no one in the US has the stuff! But other than just browsing there were some priority items such as a normal sized beach towel (I only brought small towels for the sake of space.) I caught the 4:10ish bus back and started my laundry when I got home which was very necessary. I had dinner with my hall and took a shower and, well, now I’m here! I’m going to try to get a bit more work done but then I’ll relax/maybe plan some travel.

Next weekend (hopefully!) I’ll go to the Gold Coast with some people on my hall. I’ll see if Aussie’s do the beach thing like Americans do haha. I just want the beach so badly! I kept complaining last night so James and Bridgette said they'd come to Gold Coast with me. I really want to start surf lessons but I’m just sick of repeatedly asking people (cough Americans cough) if they want to do it. The summer is ending here and the water gets colder! That’s why I’m feeling so much pressure to be doing traveling and surfing etc. now—so much of what I want to do is weather-dependent. In Brisbane it basically stays beautiful all the way through winter and never gets cold at all but it varies up and down the coast from here. I think I’m the only study abroad person who realizes this sometimes. For example, I was talking to a girl who had gone to Fiji before the semester and had decided to do New Zealand after the semester ends…so basically in the middle of winter. It gets pretty cold there and there’s no way it’s as good then as it is now. As far as Fiji, they have their beast weather in the winter. But whatever, I don’t care if stupid people waste their money. Can I just meet some smart people so I don't have to waste mine? So that’s my rant. The quest continues for my surfing buddy/buddies. Unfortunately if I don’t find anyone, one of the dreams I came here with will be shattered. :(

For now I’ll just focus on all the good stuff because deep down I know there’s so so so much more of that than the bad!

Kebabs and Pancakes

It’s finally the weekend but once again I’m not doing anything all that fun. But first let me catch up. Thursday: I went to the library straight after brekkie to print lecture notes and assignments for all of my classes and to choose my ethnography for my anthropology essay. I went through the list and found a few that sounded particularly good but one in particular. I was happy to find that the one I wanted was at that library, and even better the seven-day loan copy was there. So I checked it out and printed everything and was about to head home but realized it was already 11:25 and my marine lecture was at noon. I didn’t want to go all the way home because I would get nothing done in the short amount of time I’d be there. So I sat outside and started to read the ethnography, which is on aboriginal sorcery/healing methods/medicine. It was very enjoyable to read, not only because of the style, but also because I’m already so familiar with the topic from my witchcraft and magic class last semester! So I guess I’m cheating a bit by choosing this topic but I couldn’t resist. Marine lecture was good—we learned a lot about winds and the Coriolis Effect etc. I think the last time I had seen that material was in elementary school so it was an odd experience in that the whole lecture felt vaguely familiar. Anyway after that I came home for lunch. The main course was pizza and it was the most pathetic excuse for pizza I’ve ever had. It tasted like so weird bread with tomato paste on it…and that’s all because everything fell off of it when it was put on my plate! So some of the food here is pretty terrible but there’s always the salad and fruit. By the way, they don’t have salad dressing here. There is actually nothing to put on your salad (unless you want tomato sauce (ketchup) haha. Luckily I’m fine with that but some of the other Americans are not coping so well! Oh and they don’t serve lettuce either—salad is always what we would call spring mix or something along with red cabbage and some other leaves I’m not familiar with, most of which look like weeds you’d find sprouting up in your yard.

Enough about food, back to Thursday. I somehow got nothing done in the afternoon but from 5:30-6:30 I had my cycling class and a girl from my hall came with me which made it even better! We came back for dinner during which I found out that everyone was going out in the city and I just had to come. So I showered and such and most of the hall headed to catch the bus to Union Jack’s, a pub right in the center of the city. It was a very fun night and K-floor—that’s my floor—definitely took over the dance floor for a decent part of the night. I left with Bridgette, Sarah, James, and Filipo, aka Bungee, Lobster, Peaches, and Flipper, respectively. Yea, we all have nicknames. It’s an Aussie thing! I’m America, even though it was just a joke when someone thought of it, but it just stuck so everyone either calls me “America” or “Erica America.” Anyway the five of us got a cab and when we got dropped off the boys decided that they NEEDED kebabs right away. Sarah and I came along for the walk. The kebab place is apparently the place to go after a night of drinking—there was quite a line! When the boys finished eating we headed me and I promptly went to bed.

I had to get up at 8am for chem. lecture which was not fun, to say the least. After lecture I came home and left for long walk because there was no way I could handle running at that point, but it was another gorgeous day. When I got back I sent an email to the hostel in Fiji because I hadn’t gotten a response on whether or not I was booked in. I went to lunch and then to my marine lecture in which we had a guest lecturer who spoke on plate tectonic stuff and how coral reefs are formed. It was interesting but I couldn’t understand all of it because I didn’t know all of the terms he was using. Anyway I went to the store after class to get some m&m’s (the only chocolate I can have in my warm room) and tea. These are obviously the essentials! Then I came home to my list of work to do but instead of being productive I wasted the afternoon away getting music and movies for free via the sharing network the college has.

The good news is I got an email from the woman who runs the hostel saying that my booking went through and that they will try to get me in the same room as my friends. So I might not be in the same room but I actually don’t care that much especially because I don’t plan on being there except for sleeping.

I felt so tired but I suppose that’s because I was out late and got up early—duh. I went to dinner and it was pasta night which basically means yuck. Garlic bread and salad it was! I just watched 4 episodes of Sex and the City that I got from the shared network and then went on a mini-adventure. I walked out with Bridgette and the boys to this pool party that was happening off-campus just for the sake of a walk—Bridgette and I just wanted to check it out haha and we walked home right away. It actually did look really fun…I think it started in the late afternoon and is just going to keep going until?

I want to go to Gold Coast tomorrow just to hang out at the beach but it’s so hard to plan things when there is no one to plan with! So that plan’s down the drain. I guess I’ll be at the library instead doing work…because after today I now know that nothing gets done in my room!

I’m exhausted. I’m hoping that something, even if it’s just for a few hours, comes together for Sunday. I’ll try not to get excited about anything since there’s a 99% chance that no one will invite me to do anything and my constant attempts at making plans and asking around for interest keep failing miserably.

Good news will come to you from far away

So much has happened in the past 2 days! I’ll try to summarize. Tuesday I woke up and went for a swim which was nice because I was super sore. Then I talked to my parents on skype which was grand! After marine lecture we had a field trip for the whole afternoon to the coast to Moreton Bay. We saw mangroves and walked through the slt marsh and mud flats where we got muddy and dug around for anything we found interesting. There were lots of big mussels and snails and stuff. My group tried to classify some species using our Moreton Bay Guide book but it was a challenge! One of the most interesting things I learned about was the cyanobacterial mat (delish) that is pretty much covers the salt marsh wherever there isn’t grasses and other plants. It doesn’t look like anything but some whiteish patches on the mud but it is so vital for the ecosystem for fixing nitrogen to ammonium so it’s usable and for photosynthesis. Another interesting fact is that in the mud flats there are undulations in the surface that fill with water and they look like they’d just be caused by the current during high tide but really they’re from sting rays burying themselves in the mud! Overall, it was beautiful weather and I was happy to spend the afternoon learning about ecosystems that I know nothing about while feeling the ocean breeze and sun on my skin. Even MORE importantly…

I’M GOING TO FIJI FOR MID-SEMESTER BREAK!

When I told Charlene, my friend in my marine class about what happened last weekend and how hard it is to plan with the people in my college and how I want to go to Fiji but I can’t get anyone to plan with me etc, she insisted that I try to join her and her 2 roommates for break. So I came home after the field trip and immediately checked fights and got cheap ones by leaving on Easter Sunday, which is the flight Charlene is on because she also saw how much cheaper it is than leaving on Friday or Saturday. I’m leaving Fiji on Friday afternoon, so it’s definitely shorter than I’d like but I’m saving about $500 by going for 1-2 days less! And Charlene is coming back early too. It should be really fun because she is really the only person (from the US, that is) that I’ve clicked with so well right from the start. Plus, she is thrilled I’m coming because we are both really adventurous and want to do as much as possible while her 2 roomies were planning on spending every day lying on the beach sunbathing. I still need their hostel information so I can book that, but other than that it’s just planning what activities/sites we want to do/see which is like heaven for me. Unfortunately I’ve spent more time researching traveling than I have studying! Oh and also she invited me to do whatever she’s doing this weekend, which she thinks is a wine tasting tour. Anyway I was exhausted last night and went to bed early because Wednesdays are LONG.

So today I had 7 hours of lectures and tutorials. It was not easy to concentrate for all of that time today but I did alright. I’m starting to get a lot more work—I had to sign up for presentations, sign up for research participation, got assigned readings and found out I need to choose an ethnography asap for an essay I have to write for anthropology. I go from 9-5 and at 5:00 I could not have been more relieved! I rushed home and got ready for the formal International dinner for Union that started at 6pm with drinks. I got all pretty and went down to the courtyard with Filipo, the only other international on my hall and the only guy from Italy at Union. It was a very fun dinner and they gave us so much wine and beer! There were 4 at my table and we got a choice of champagne or beer before the meal, and then 2 bottles of wine for the table! One person was chosen from each country to give a speech and they all did so well! I thought that at least one person would go over-the-top trying to be funny and that some would be dull but everyone was so unique and funny with their speaking! After the dinner which ended around 8:30 or so, I left and went to check my mail because I had gotten a phone message that I had a parcel. I assumed of course that it was my printer, but it was not. It was a big package from Mr. Mike Berilla!!! The receptionist handed me the package and I said “Wait. This is supposed to be a printer…but this is from my boyfriend..Oh wow...this must’ve cost a fortune!” Then a girl who was also there commented that he must really miss me and I said “Yea, I think so!" I was loving it. I ran up the stairs to my room everyone came from their rooms because I made a big commotion— all the girls got so excited! I waited to open it but I only lasted a few minutes! Basically no one would understand what Mike sent me, so I won’t go into detail, but he wrote 396438987654345 letters and, for the first time since I’ve left the US, I cried. It was a happy crying though—the letters were very, very funny at times. Anyway the package definitely made my day/week/month. I’m so exhausted and even though I have only one hour of lecture tomorrow I have a very full day. But full days are what I live for!

Form a line

It was a busy Monday and I’m exhausted. Got up at 7, went to brekkie, then chem. lecture from 8-8:50. Now that UQ sport’s week of everything being free is over, I went to the gym to sign up for membership. I got a value pass so that I can use everything in the gym whenever but also have full access to the pool and can take any of the fitness classes whenever I want. I’m happy that I can do any of the cycling classes whenever I feel like it—they have them every day of the week but some times are better than others—and that I can go to the pool in my free time to swim laps or just relax. Then I had to go buy a calculator because, oops, I left that in the US! I found a cheap basic one which is all I need. Then I headed to the library to print 2 articles that (I think) I have to read for my aboriginal anthropology tutorial on Wednesday afternoon. I came home and felt surprisingly energized, probably because the weather was once again impeccable. 75 degrees, sunny, perfect breeze! I went for a run that ended up being my longest yet in this country so I was happy about that. I walked around the lakes for a while and got back home just in time for a quick shower before lunch. After lunch I tried to read my anth. Articles but the first one was hopelessly dry and I nearly fell asleep. When I got to my chem. practical at 2 I thought for sure I’d be out of there in 20-30 minutes because it was a simple titration and a few easy calculations. Despite the lab itself, as well as all of the glassware and other apparatus, being the best, most clean and organized I’d ever used, I had forgotten how long a titration takes when you are the first to actually start and you have no idea what the amount is supposed to be. I went slowly and carefully and ended up never overshooting and having three perfect titrations. When I finished my calculations, the tutors (that’s what they call TA’s here) alerted me that I was extremely close to the actual value—I was only off by 0.002M! It ended up that one other person was as close as I was but we had the best data in the class. I was quite proud of that…basically I’m a huge dork.

Anyway I got home at 5 and decided that I might as well go to the cycling class at 5:30, so I did. I really love that class, but the part of the class where we’re supposed to be going up a huge mountain nearly made me pass out…okay exaggerating...but running and then cycling class was a bit crazy of me-- my whole body is sore. Okay I’m going to read and prepare myself for tomorrow—marine science field trip to some Creek where we will look at mangroves and different sea grasses all afternoon! I'm just quite happy to be going somewhere!

The Kooks speak my life right now

So I did actually feel better this morning! I got up for brekkie (that’s breakfast) and 2 of the girls who left me yesterday came up at different times and each apologized about what happened. It was such a relief because I was beginning to think that they were very bizarre, emotionless people, haha. So I asked around regarding what people were doing today and was quite surprised (or not surprised at all?) that NO ONE was planning on doing a single thing today! And not just the Americans, but everyone on my hall as well was just going to basically lie in bed all day. I was not thrilled about this because I knew the weather was going to be perfect all day. So after I got a wonderful and much needed surprise call from Mike :) I decided to go over my chemistry lectures from last week which got old really fast! I read my chem. practical for tomorrow and highlighted all the important steps of the procedure which was so unnecessary—it’s a simple titration…I could probably do it in my sleep. I actually think I will be out of lab tomorrow within 20 minutes. I decided to escape and went out for a run. It was about 74 degrees and sunny with a perfect, cool breeze. I stopped in the Great Court so I could stretch under a tree and then walked to this park where there are 3 lakes, one of which has a huge fountain in its center. There were people walking on the nice pathways all around the lakes and others having picnics. I walked home and had lunch with my hall. I came back to my room and did a bit more studying and organizing but got bored of it so quickly—there really isn’t any work that I need to do so what I did today just got me ahead if anything. It was 2pm at that point and outside world beckoned me so I went on a long walk to clear my head. It was hotter out but the breeze was so nice and it wasn’t humid at all. I walked along the river for a while but ended up back around the lakes because it is just so beautiful there. I came back and felt refreshed. I’ve organized myself for the next few days so I think I will just read because I have the time and I can! I love that. Time to read for pleasure while at Lehigh= not possible. I will treasure it!

"I feel stuffed"

It’s been an interesting 2 days. Friday I got up for a run at 7am which was not easy to make myself do. I went to breakfast and sat with the Americans/Canadians which was good because I had realized the night before that I had no plans for Saturday or Sunday! I found out they were going to go to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary which is the biggest koala sanctuary in the world, so I asked if I could tag along and they said of course. After that I had chemistry lecture and then I donated blood—I had signed up earlier in the week. Blood was successful—I really love giving blood for some reason—and I ended up meeting an American and a Canadian girl as we were all three finished around the same time. One of them lives in Indooroopilly which is where the big mall is and the other girl lives right in the city center of Brisbane. Living in the center of the city would be awesome for the shopping/nightlife/convenience but I would probably end up only coming to about half of my classes! I’m quite happy with my living situation right now. Ok so I gave blood, recovered there for a bit and drank a popper (juice box), ran a few errands, and came home for lunch. I had marine lecture after that which was again very interesting. I think that my friend in marine lecture, Charlene, is my best bet for a traveling buddy, but she lives off campus with some other Americans so I don’t know since she’s planning stuff with them. Plus, let’s see, I’ve known her for what, 4 days? Everything is so complicated. Everyone else just comes and meets a few people and that’s it—that’s who they do everything with for the weekends and travel. Or they already know people from home. I think I’m doing the right thing by branching out and making friends with lots of different people from different places, but it is making my life so complicated and I’m beginning to second-guess myself. I know the easy way is usually less rewarding than the hard way. I’ve been trying to remind myself of that every day. I just want to plan my travel so badly now. I’ve pretty much figured out all of the trips that I really want to do and the most important destinations for me, but who knows if anyone else I know/meet will even want to go? And of course spring break is now, um, 20 days away! I want to know what I’m doing and how much it will cost and who I’m going with and when I’m leaving/coming back and…just everything. I can’t believe I still have no plan yet and see no indication that I will be able to make any soon.

SO this is what has been going through my head pretty much relentlessly. I somehow fell asleep for 2 hours in the afternoon despite my racing mind. I got up because the hall was noisy and when I came out everyone was already getting ready for the party that was going to be happening at Cromwell College, one of the others at UQ. I was so happy to be going somewhere that we’d be able to walk back from instead of taking a cab, but I hadn’t realized that it was starting at 7pm! It was a “used to be cool” party and I had nothing to wear so I improvised. I wore my shiny spandex biking shorts and a sweatband and put my hair in a crazy side ponytail. I drew a Tamagotchi with a permanent marker on a white tee-shirt I had (it was actually quite good). And Voila! Oh and I wore some really tacky bright blue eyeshadow of course. Our hall was hilarious all together because we all looked so ridiculous. It ended up being a really fun party and there were tons of people there dressed in everything you can imagine. Almost every guy was wearing those really short shorts and some sort of neon, 80’s-looking spandex. You could pretty much rate the cockiness of the guy by how tight his outfit was—the girls from my hall and I had a good laugh about that!

Saturday I got up and went down to breakfast with Bridgette, a girl from my hall, and saw a few of the Americans. I asked when we were going and it seemed like they hadn’t really even thought about it, but later into breakfast I was told either the 10:10 bus or the 10:40 bus would be likely. I told them to call or text me when we were going to finalize it and went up to my room to get ready. Long story short, I did not get a call, so at 10:40 I called and Amanda says that they just got on the bus.

THEY HAD LEFT WITHOUT ME!

And what was worse was that they didn’t even seem concerned about it, like it was completely okay that they forgot to call me and thus ruined my day. I didn’t know I was capable of being so mad at people I hardly even knew. They said “oh catch the next bus, it’s in 20 minutes.” I was like “NO, actually it’s only every hour.” SO I really wanted to sit around and feel sorry for myself and just be angry but I knew that if I didn’t go today then who would I be able to go with to the koala sanctuary on another day? I decided to be adventurous and make the journey on my own and just meet them there. I caught the first bus fine and got off at the second stop. I was supposed to have 6 minutes before the next bus I needed to catch arrived, but after about 10 minutes of waiting I realized that my first bus had been about 8 minutes late to that stop so I had in fact missed the bus! AND THE NEXT BUS WAS NOT FOR 45 MINUTES. I waited all of that time and that bus never showed but 20 minutes after that one was supposed to come, another one showed. So by the time I got to Lone Pine it had been 2 hours…and remember I left an hour after the group in the first place. I found them once in the sanctuary and after describing my disaster of a journey I didn’t even get sympathy. They all seem so normal but I have never met anyone in my life who would have this type of reaction (or lack of reaction really) to what happened today. Oh, and of course, they had already basically done everything so within 10 minutes I was on my own again to go see the kangaroos because they had already done that. I spent the rest of my time there on my own which just sucks because it would’ve been so much more fun with other people. They called when they were leaving to ask if I wanted to come but I was in the middle of a birds of prey presentation and you can’t exactly leave (or even stand up) once you’re there because there are large predatory birds flying around. They did not bother to wait up for me, which at that point I couldn’t have cared less about, except for that I didn’t really know how to get home. I eventually did get home, but I had to ask someone at Toowong, the station where I decided to change buses this time, how to get to UQ and it ended up that I had to walk a bit to another station, and then I missed a bus because I was again at the wrong station.

I finally made it home and had to try to pretend to everyone who was around on my hall that everything was just great. I mean, I ranted a bit about what happened, but I pretended like I still really had fun even by myself. I guess I did, but I just can’t deal with more excursions like today. I want to be able to be mad at all of them for what they did but I feel so trapped; they are my primary connection to the familiar right now and I don’t know if I can deal with having the link to everything I know completely severed right now. The fact is, I just have to forgive and forget, and the faster the better. But then comes the problem of what to do tomorrow…what I want to do is go into Brisbane and wander around Queen Street, mainly so I can go to a surf shop that is there, but also because it’s a really cool area with lots to do and see. Plus you take the City Cat ferry there which I still have yet to do! BUT so far no one seems to be interested. And I would be perfectly happy going on my own but I don’t think it’d be a good thing for me to spend another day on my own…my self-esteem is dropping by the second haha. I guess I will just see at brekkie in the morning…