Orientation Week is now over. There were some highlights to the rest of the week that I thought I would share with you though:
I did go to karaoke night on Wednesday. I rocked the crowd to MIKA’s Grace Kelly and sung some backup to Dancing Queen. Not much of a public performer, but when in Australia… It was an overall fun night that ended at the beach for a bit of a night swim. Having a beach two minutes away can be overly convenient.
On Thursday I found out that I am technically dead. My roommate is a diabetic and I am trying to learn as much as I can in case I ever have to do something. So he was explaining to me how he decides how much insulin to take and his sugar intake and what not. To get some “hands-on” experience, he was going to take my blood sugar reading. But after three pricks and some finger massaging, we found that my sugar is below 20 (really bad I guess) and I shouldn’t be alive. A bit of depressing news if you ask me.
There was a big fair on Friday in the campus courtyard to sign up for various sports and activities. Me, not wanting to miss anything, signed up for the lot (including cricket and squash). I also signed up to be a puppeteer. I’m pretty excited about that one. I saw some of the puppets they use and it’s a pretty big deal I’d say. After getting some fairy floss (cotton candy) we set off for the sausage sizzle to eat lunch. On the way we got a cup that’s good for a free serving of fried squid at a local restaurant. I’m thinking that may be tomorrow’s dinner. But now I’m signed up for a plethora of events and await e-mails to alert me when to act.
That night we went clubbing, something that I have never quite experienced being as St. John’s isn’t quite a hotspot for clubs. But it was pretty fantastic. The first spot had a cover charge so we decided to go to a quaint little club known as Benny’s. This is where I experienced my first encounter with a dangerous Australian creature. I ordered a Red Back Beer. That counts right? Whoever voted red back wins! I did know they had a beer named after the nasty bugger so that’s where I cast my vote, sorry I cheated. There was a 21st birthday going on at the bar and I was able to wish the lucky lady a happy day. 21st birthdays are big here. Nothing happens legally (the drinking age is 18) but it still seems to be a big deal here. The birthday boy or lady gets roasted by close friends and they go out to enjoy the night. We have a few abroad students turning 21 this term so I’m working on some good roasting material.
Now that Orientation was over, we spent our first weekend in the cities of Perth and Freo. What did we do with our time? Went to the beach of course. But not to the beach where you lay out and bronze your Greek physique. Four of us went and got some snorkeling gear and went north on the bus to a nice beach about 15 minutes away. Here we donned our flippers and masks and made it out to the algae to spot fish and monsters. I did happen to run across a shark (no worries parents, it was a tiny shark, more like a fish, that hid in the sand). The other pair happened to come across a stingray which I hear was flippin’ sweet! It was a really cool day and probably the best investment made thus far. So awesome that we convinced some of the ladies staying at Hotel Cleo (another dorm, all girls, conveniently situated across the street so I can talk to them from my balcony) to go the next day. Unfortunately the water was a bit choppy on Sunday and the snorkeling wasn’t so great. We salvaged the day by eating some fish ‘n’ chips for lunch and going to the more commercial side of the beach to have fun in the big waves. I won “best looking tourist” from our group due to my white linen shirt and straw hat.
On another note from Saturday night, I scored some brownie points by helping a young lady close her shop that night while we cooled off outside of one of the clubs (yes, we did go clubbing both nights, Australians like their dancing).
Now we are supposed to be all oriented and ready to start our lectures. Today I didn’t have any class but the day was spent hard at work reading up on Evolution to prepare for tomorrow’s lecture. My roommate and I are taking an independent class with our Advisor here on evolution. We are the only ones in the class so it’s a bit harder trying to fake it in discussions. So we both spent the entire day reading up on Lamarck and Darwin and the process of natural selection. It was awesome.
Sand gets everywhere here. It’s impossible not to bring it in; there is always some sand on some part of your body. The one redeeming quality of the sand is that it reminds you of how you live by a beach. Every night for the past four days, we have walked out to the coast and watch the sun set into the sea. One of the coolest things I have seen here. Something you don’t really appreciate unless you actually stand watching the sun sink into the abyss. So Awesome!
Tomorrow is my first day of classes. I need to take a dry run and figure out where all my classes are for the day. James, my African friend, walked into the wrong class and ended up in a nursing lecture. Don’t want that to happen to me.
I hope all is well back in the states. I don’t like these long blogs so I’m going to try and write less but more frequently. We’ll see. It’s easy to find a distraction here in Freo. And no one wants to spend much time in their rooms when there’s so much to do! I posted some pictures on my webshots so you can get a feel for what the city and city life is like. Enjoy today…tomorrow!
I did go to karaoke night on Wednesday. I rocked the crowd to MIKA’s Grace Kelly and sung some backup to Dancing Queen. Not much of a public performer, but when in Australia… It was an overall fun night that ended at the beach for a bit of a night swim. Having a beach two minutes away can be overly convenient.
On Thursday I found out that I am technically dead. My roommate is a diabetic and I am trying to learn as much as I can in case I ever have to do something. So he was explaining to me how he decides how much insulin to take and his sugar intake and what not. To get some “hands-on” experience, he was going to take my blood sugar reading. But after three pricks and some finger massaging, we found that my sugar is below 20 (really bad I guess) and I shouldn’t be alive. A bit of depressing news if you ask me.
There was a big fair on Friday in the campus courtyard to sign up for various sports and activities. Me, not wanting to miss anything, signed up for the lot (including cricket and squash). I also signed up to be a puppeteer. I’m pretty excited about that one. I saw some of the puppets they use and it’s a pretty big deal I’d say. After getting some fairy floss (cotton candy) we set off for the sausage sizzle to eat lunch. On the way we got a cup that’s good for a free serving of fried squid at a local restaurant. I’m thinking that may be tomorrow’s dinner. But now I’m signed up for a plethora of events and await e-mails to alert me when to act.
That night we went clubbing, something that I have never quite experienced being as St. John’s isn’t quite a hotspot for clubs. But it was pretty fantastic. The first spot had a cover charge so we decided to go to a quaint little club known as Benny’s. This is where I experienced my first encounter with a dangerous Australian creature. I ordered a Red Back Beer. That counts right? Whoever voted red back wins! I did know they had a beer named after the nasty bugger so that’s where I cast my vote, sorry I cheated. There was a 21st birthday going on at the bar and I was able to wish the lucky lady a happy day. 21st birthdays are big here. Nothing happens legally (the drinking age is 18) but it still seems to be a big deal here. The birthday boy or lady gets roasted by close friends and they go out to enjoy the night. We have a few abroad students turning 21 this term so I’m working on some good roasting material.
Now that Orientation was over, we spent our first weekend in the cities of Perth and Freo. What did we do with our time? Went to the beach of course. But not to the beach where you lay out and bronze your Greek physique. Four of us went and got some snorkeling gear and went north on the bus to a nice beach about 15 minutes away. Here we donned our flippers and masks and made it out to the algae to spot fish and monsters. I did happen to run across a shark (no worries parents, it was a tiny shark, more like a fish, that hid in the sand). The other pair happened to come across a stingray which I hear was flippin’ sweet! It was a really cool day and probably the best investment made thus far. So awesome that we convinced some of the ladies staying at Hotel Cleo (another dorm, all girls, conveniently situated across the street so I can talk to them from my balcony) to go the next day. Unfortunately the water was a bit choppy on Sunday and the snorkeling wasn’t so great. We salvaged the day by eating some fish ‘n’ chips for lunch and going to the more commercial side of the beach to have fun in the big waves. I won “best looking tourist” from our group due to my white linen shirt and straw hat.
On another note from Saturday night, I scored some brownie points by helping a young lady close her shop that night while we cooled off outside of one of the clubs (yes, we did go clubbing both nights, Australians like their dancing).
Now we are supposed to be all oriented and ready to start our lectures. Today I didn’t have any class but the day was spent hard at work reading up on Evolution to prepare for tomorrow’s lecture. My roommate and I are taking an independent class with our Advisor here on evolution. We are the only ones in the class so it’s a bit harder trying to fake it in discussions. So we both spent the entire day reading up on Lamarck and Darwin and the process of natural selection. It was awesome.
Sand gets everywhere here. It’s impossible not to bring it in; there is always some sand on some part of your body. The one redeeming quality of the sand is that it reminds you of how you live by a beach. Every night for the past four days, we have walked out to the coast and watch the sun set into the sea. One of the coolest things I have seen here. Something you don’t really appreciate unless you actually stand watching the sun sink into the abyss. So Awesome!
Tomorrow is my first day of classes. I need to take a dry run and figure out where all my classes are for the day. James, my African friend, walked into the wrong class and ended up in a nursing lecture. Don’t want that to happen to me.
I hope all is well back in the states. I don’t like these long blogs so I’m going to try and write less but more frequently. We’ll see. It’s easy to find a distraction here in Freo. And no one wants to spend much time in their rooms when there’s so much to do! I posted some pictures on my webshots so you can get a feel for what the city and city life is like. Enjoy today…tomorrow!
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