I've signed up for quite a trip coming up at the end of August. I haven't quite informed my parents, as I know my mom won't want to hear about it until AFTER I've returned safely. Stay tuned for more information about that... My roommates and I get along very well. Jamie is my actual roommate, and Abby lives in the single. We had our first week of classes last week, but only the lectures. The tutorials start this week, which means on Monday I will have class pretty much straight through 9-6. I live far enough away from campus that I can't walk home during my two-hour break, so that's a bummer, and there's always huge lines for computers around campus. I reckon I'll use that time to do work.
As for classes, they seem pretty good. I switched out of a Holocaust class, though seemingly interesting, Jamie reccommended a somewhat easier class, so clearly, I switched into that. My history class about the US and Australia in the 1960s is pretty much all American students, though I did meet an Australian named Joel, who is going on his third year as a first year. When he found out I study and do homework he said at least I'll pass two classes, as we have two classes together, and he is only taking two classes. My philosophy class is Thinking about Reasoning, though I thought I signed up for a mind/body class. Ooops. I think I could always work on my argumentative skills...parents always need to be persuaded. Finally, my history through film and documentary seems very cool. As Jeff does his work in documentary, I thought it would be cool to get a little background myself. We watch a film every class and at the end of the semester we have to pitch our own documentary idea. We watched a Thin Blue Line last week.
I started ultimate, which is great. A couple of the people remember Jeff from when he was there, so that's kind of cool. I have pickup Wednesday nights and training on Thursdays and Saturdays. I've become good friends with this girl Eline, who I hung out with this past weekend. We have a coach to get us ready for uni games this spring break, and he's from Michigan. I hear we have a chance to get a medal at nationals, so that would be very cool. The team seems pretty solid; I'm on the same level as the other women, at least. I'll definitely improve playing here.
Recently, we went to this very cool bar/club in Sydney. It's called the Scubar, and everyone had a lot of fun. I went with three of my girl friends with some Australians for this kid Eltin's 21st birthday. I guess 21st birthday isn't a big deal, but these Australians look for any reason to drink to their mates. ;-) I've been to Sydney a fair amount. My friends and I checked out this coffee and chocolate festival, which was delicious. I bought some fudge, which originally I was going to send to my dad, but I figured it'd melt, so I've slowly been chipping away at it. We also went to the market on the Rocks, which is a huge flea market by Sydney Harbour with lots of cool gifts. I bought a cool bracelet.
We finally got internet! It took me a total of about 8 hours to set up the wireless. I sat home one night and one day trying to get it to work, and FINALLY we got it all set up, so no more internet cafes! More procrastination! Hooray! Well, due to the extreme time change, no one is online when I'm awake. Bummer.
I've joined a gym, which has pictures of Arnold Swarzenegger all over it since he used to train there. It's small, but it's got everything I need and it's about a three-minute walk from my place. There are a ton of hills in Coogee as well, which is good since this past week we've eaten a fair amount of cookies and chocolate. And other empty calorie things...
Today we went to the Taronga Zoo. We took a ferry from Circular Quay in Sydney. It was very cool; we went right past the Opera House, which I've yet to go to, but I do have four months. We took a cable car up to the top of the zoo and saw everything! Koalas, kangaroos, Tasmanian Devils, Wombats, Wallabies, snakes, elephants, giraffes, lions, tigers and bears, Oh my!, platypae (?) and a "hip-hop-a-non-a-mous." (see Big Daddy to get the joke) One of the koalas had her baby on her back while climbing up a large tree. We also saw feeding time at the dingo area, unfortunately very anti-climatic. It ate some raw chicken. Overall, the zoo was sweet. The chimps were a bit unruly.
Cooking as gottten a little better. I made French toast for my roommates, and we made chicken pesto the other night...my idea! I suppose I'l get there one day, but as Pam knows, tortellini with olive oil and garlic salt is clearly the way to go. I've had that...almost every night.
I reckon that is it for now. Please read on to find an Australian dictionary composed by yours truly.
Cheers
Studs: cleats
Pitch: field
Maggot: very drunk
Skull: chug
No worries: you're welcome
Shout: round of drinks
Footy: rugby
Mate: friend
Flat: apartment
Sepo: Americans (Yank rhymes with tank...septic tank)
Sheila: girl
Bloke: guy
Piss: beer
Jumper: sweater or sweatshirt
How you going?: What's up/How are you
Telly: television
dhfewihklsdf mate: what a lot of Australians sound like upon first listen
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