Consistency in my blogging abilities haven't changed... hahaha On to more summaries, this weeks been a crazy one!
Tuesday (15th): Alicia and Gina, two girls who go to Substance Church back in MN arrived today! They were supposed to arrive in the morning but their flight was majorly delayed, then they got lost in Sydney so I spent most of the day worried about them. They got to my place safely eventually and all was well! Then I was off to a Prayer meeting at Eternity.
Wednesday (16th): Gina &Alica took me out to breakfast as a 'thank-you' for letting them stay with me. It was absolutely delicious. Biggest breakfast I've had in my entire life. Hands down. Then I had class, Prayer meeting on campus, Bible study, work. Exciting I know. haha
Thursday (17th): Class, Student Life meeting and dinner afterward. I met these three other unit students that are from the East Coast USA (Gavin, Michael and Zach) that are here for the semester as well and they live only two buildings over from me! I also met another Psych student who is in one of my classes. Although I've never seen here and probably will never see her in class because our class is massive... but at least I know her!
Friday (17th): No class day, yay! I wasn't really able to sleep in because Alicia & Gina were up early, they're going to the Colour Conference at Hillsong this weekend so they were up pretty early most mornings. Went to work (accidentally cut myself... I've shed a lot of blood this week haha). Then Gavin, Micheal & Zach invited me over for dinner. They made me a fabulous chicken Parmesan with veggies, garlic toast and all! It was fun to hang out and get to know them better. They are really great people. Then they introduced me to Liz & Xavier, two of their other friends. Xavier was going to a Dub Step concert and invited us along so Zach and I decided to join them!
We got to the concert at about 10pm and the line was ridiculously long. We waited for about an hour but the club was at full capacity so they sent us all away. I was really looking forward to just dancing. So we all decided to hop on over to a pub (most pubs here are pubs&clubs so they have dj's and dancing) that way we were all able to get our dance fix! Got home around 3ish
Saturday (18th): Up at 7:30! Had planned on hiking in the Blue Mountains but it was really cold and rainy out so we decided not to go there. Instead Erin, Tamisha, Ricardo and I (all church buddies) decided to go to a different National Park about an hour south of Sydney. We were attacked by leeches pretty much the ENTIRE time we were hiking. It was war and we were loosing badly. Since it was super rainy and damp they were allllll coming out. We had to stop for leech checks every 5 steps literally. After awhile we lost our temper with the leeches and decided to run the rest of the way back. Got my work out in! After that we went out to lunch down by Coogee beach!
By the time we got back to Erin's place we all just wanted to shower so I headed home and did so. I was going to go back over there for dinner but I ended up taking a nap that lasted four hours.... going on a hike when one is already extremely lacking in sleep is purely tiring!! So I didn't end up going back there. Instead I headed over to Zach/Gavin/Michal's because their roommate was throwing an Iranian New Years Eve Party! It was truly a beautiful experience. There were people from all over the world present USA, Africa, Mexico, England, France, AU, China and Sri Lanka (from what I know of). It was just so cool to sit around a dinner table with the world and just chat. After a while we played some pool, then like three different card games and ended the night with a movie. It is such a blessing to finally know people who live closer to me! So far most of my friends are Aussies who all live quite awhile away so it's hard to just hang. But now I have hanging friends!
Sunday (20th): Zach decided to come to church with me which was awesome! Gavin & Michael are planning on coming to church next week too. Love church buddies! After church Zach and I headed to a Refugee Detention Center called Villawood which was a little over an hour away by train. Zach had gone the week before with a group of people he had met and we met up with them this week too. It was an amazing experience. We mostly just hung out and played games with them. The majority of the people I spoke to were from Sri Lanka and have been in the Detention Center for 1-3 years, Never leaving the grounds. The AU gov. system is one of the hardest in the world to gain residency to. These detention centers are like jails for innocent people. It was heart breaking. I spoke to grown men who sit and cut themselves to feel alive. One guy had even said it was just so easy to commit suicide and it would probably be better than staying at the center. There are tons of people who commit suicide in these centers every year. It was so heart breaking. Most of the people there didn't speak english but there was a Sri Lankan girl in the group that was able to translate for us. It was just cool to be able to play cards and have a random dance party with them. I could tell it meant the world to them just to have a new face around, someone new to talk to and someone to just do something with them. I'm hoping to go there more often. Often time visitors will bring them Coke, Cereal, cookies and some basics. Next time I go I'm definitely bringing them presents!
By the end of the day I was completely emotionally and physically exhausted. We got back home around 7:30 and I just showered and relaxed for a bit. Alicia and Gina were at a nearby restaurant and had ordered a dessert pizza they wanted to share with me, so I headed down there to hang out with them for a bit. It's been really nice having them as roommates, they've been a huge blessing to me!
Monday (today): Had classes & did readings. I'm still really tired. Almost fell asleep in the majority of my classes today. Pretty sure a kid sitting behind me got a kick out of my "nodding" head as I was struggling to stay awake. Alicia and Gina are leaving today, in a couple hours. I am really looking forward to sleeping on a bed again. It's raining right now. It's been raining for about three days straight and the forecast says it's going to rain every day this week. I love rain :)
Now I'm just going to have a chill night. I need to catch up on some "me" time and some cleaning and some homework and some sleep. A lot of sleep. haah
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Bad at Consistency
I haven't blogged in over a week. Sorry! I'll try & be better about it... so Just gonna lay down some summaries!
Thursday(3rd): Had lectures/classes and went to the Student Life weekly meeting, had dinner with the crew, then headed to work for the night!
Friday(4th): Day off of School, woot! Went to work for a bit then headed down to Central Station to pick up Carrie & her sister Christi who were staying with me for the weekend! We headed back to my place for a bit then up to the Rocks! We attempted to figure out the buss systems but failed so we ended up just walking. We had PANCAKES ON THE ROCKS! Best invention ever. Had Chocolate pancakes with cherries :) We walked down to Sydney Harbor & saw the Opera House at night. So beautiful!
Saturday(5th): Got up early and went to the farmers market alone since the girls wanted to sleep it. Then we all headed to the Royal Botanical Gardens (actually took the bus this time). Stopped in Hyde Park to eat our PB&J, then Carrie accidentally ate her lip ring... so we wandered around the city looking for a place to buy a new one! Then we went back to they Harbor so Christi could see the Opera House during the day. We had grand plans of going to the beach but it was a pretty cold/cloudy day so we decided not to. We headed back to my place to change then went out for some Pizza! We decided to stop & get some Diet Cokes on the way back to complete the wonderful plethora of chocolate that awaited us in my room. We snuggled and watched Sense & Sensibility. Perfect girls night!
Sunday(6th): We all went to Eternity Church & out for some Thai food after the service. Then I showed the girls the Gelato shop I work at and we all got some Gelato! Then a bird pooped on me on our walk back. I swear the bird here hate me. Then the girls packed up and we just chilled in my room. I saw the girls off at the bus station and they were on their way back to Canberra! I spent the rest of the day reading... little did I know that I had like 150 pgs to read for the next day... haha
Monday(7th): Had my first Tutorial, there were only lectures the first week. It went pretty good. Its slightly intimidating because we're supposed to chime in in discussion and talk in our tuts, but I hate talking in classes, so looks like I'm just going to have to learn to get over my fear! haha After classes for the day I went to a Student Life leadership meeting. I'm not a leader but they told me to come anyways so I did! It was really fun, I got to meet some other leaders on other nearby campuses. We talked about the vision of Student Life and what we want our group to represent/be apart of. Then they asked if I wanted to be apart of their team! So looks like I'm all for Student Life! :D
Tuesday(8th): Classes & stuff. Went to weekly prayer at Eternity, twas refreshing and inspiring.
Wednesday(9th): Class, Student Life prayer meeting, work. Then I got to have coffee with Katrina, a woman from church. She's pretty awesome! Our coffee extended to bringing some dinner back to my place where she convinced me to go to a Hip Hop dance class with her! So I did! It was really fun, I was the only non experienced dancer there so I looked really dumb but I didn't care! haha
Thursday(10th): Fullll day of classes & tuts. 4 Lectures, 2 tuts! Another Student Life meeting & eating.
Friday(11th): Worked. Went over to my friend Erin's house. Erin is on staff with Student life. She actually studied abroad here and ended up loving it so much that she raised support and came back to be a missionary! Her life tempts me to do the same... we'll see where God leads! Had dinner at her place the just chilled and watched TV. Felt goo just to sit and stare at a screen for a while! Then we decided that we needed to learn some break dancing moves. Good thing she had an instructional video! haha They're having a hip hop party in a few weeks so we were practicing our moves! We stayed up late talked & I spent the night at her place.
Saturday(12th): Erin & I made scones in the morning, then she had a ton of cleaning to do & since I love cleaning I decided to help her out! Then we did some grocery shopping. She brought me to a new suburb called Leichherdt that I had never heard of. It was so cute! AND they had an Aldi so everything was so cheep! I had been scheduled to work but my friend Bec was turning 21 so I had asked for the night off. I was waiting for the call to say I was free but it never came so Erin just dropped me home so I could get ready for work. Then my manager called & I had the night off! So we headed off to Becs! Bec lives about an hour away near Mt. Druitt so we had a little trek to go on. It was such an amazing party! Turning 21 is a HUGE deal here! They actually view it as like a huge step into adulthood so they go allll out. There were about 100 people there all dressed up in the given theme of "Latin". There were teachers instructing us how to do the cha-cha, the the cockroach song and others. It was such a fun night! We left at about 11:30 and ended up getting lost... we had no idea where we were so Erin decided to pull over and call a friend. Then this car pulled up next to us and there were two guys telling her to roll down her window so she did (as I was thinking WHAT IS SHE DOING? We are going to die.) Then this scene happend:
Guys: Hey can you take us to jfskdjfh?
Erin: No....?
G (2 of them talking spastically and finishing each others sentences) : Aren't you a taxi, I thought you were a taxi? Why cant you take us there? Why aren't you a taxi?
Erin: No, we're not a taxi sorry.... (this is when I look down and notice that it was a cop car... and they were cops!).
Cops: Oh that's funny. (points to a sign stating: No stopping zone. Taxis ONLY.)
Erin: OH, i'm so sorry I just really lost and I pulled over to call a friend, i'm sorry.
Cops (noticing our accents): Oh where are you trying to go? It sounds like you're trying to go to Canada? Are you going to Canada? Don't ask us how to get to Canada, we don't know how to get there. You're screwed if you're trying to get to Canada. I don't know how people get there... So where are you trying to go?
Then the cops were nice enough to get us directions home and not give us a fine. The entire time I was trying so hard not to laugh. It was such an odd combination of thinking, they're hilarious, but they're cops so just look scared so they don't give us a ticket... lol We ended up getting home safely!
Sunday(today): Got up went to church. There was a potluck after church, so good! Then a bunch of us decided to head to the beach! I convinced one of the guys to give me surfing lessons so I got my first one today! It was absolutely a perfect day for the beach. We went to Maroubra which is about a half our drive away. The tide was really heavy so we weren't able to go out for very long. I was able to get on my knees though so that was cool! Then we played some beach volleyball & swam around. At one point I was sitting on a rock looking at all the different things growing on it, then a huge wave came and dominated me. I got dragged down the bumpy rock so now I've got some bad scratches and bruises down my back, no blood tho so that's a plus! My elbow unfortunately did bleep, but it didn't bleed for too long. A short while after that we decided to head home. I got back and did a bit of reading, I was so tired that I literally fell asleep on my book, then migrated toward my bed. Unfortunately I woke up about 2 hrs ago with my back & elbow burning in agitation and an upset stomach so I haven't been able to get back to sleep. It's about 2:30 here so I'm hoping it'll go away soon... I might go finish some of my readings. This is going to be a packed week!
Thursday(3rd): Had lectures/classes and went to the Student Life weekly meeting, had dinner with the crew, then headed to work for the night!
Friday(4th): Day off of School, woot! Went to work for a bit then headed down to Central Station to pick up Carrie & her sister Christi who were staying with me for the weekend! We headed back to my place for a bit then up to the Rocks! We attempted to figure out the buss systems but failed so we ended up just walking. We had PANCAKES ON THE ROCKS! Best invention ever. Had Chocolate pancakes with cherries :) We walked down to Sydney Harbor & saw the Opera House at night. So beautiful!
Saturday(5th): Got up early and went to the farmers market alone since the girls wanted to sleep it. Then we all headed to the Royal Botanical Gardens (actually took the bus this time). Stopped in Hyde Park to eat our PB&J, then Carrie accidentally ate her lip ring... so we wandered around the city looking for a place to buy a new one! Then we went back to they Harbor so Christi could see the Opera House during the day. We had grand plans of going to the beach but it was a pretty cold/cloudy day so we decided not to. We headed back to my place to change then went out for some Pizza! We decided to stop & get some Diet Cokes on the way back to complete the wonderful plethora of chocolate that awaited us in my room. We snuggled and watched Sense & Sensibility. Perfect girls night!
Sunday(6th): We all went to Eternity Church & out for some Thai food after the service. Then I showed the girls the Gelato shop I work at and we all got some Gelato! Then a bird pooped on me on our walk back. I swear the bird here hate me. Then the girls packed up and we just chilled in my room. I saw the girls off at the bus station and they were on their way back to Canberra! I spent the rest of the day reading... little did I know that I had like 150 pgs to read for the next day... haha
Monday(7th): Had my first Tutorial, there were only lectures the first week. It went pretty good. Its slightly intimidating because we're supposed to chime in in discussion and talk in our tuts, but I hate talking in classes, so looks like I'm just going to have to learn to get over my fear! haha After classes for the day I went to a Student Life leadership meeting. I'm not a leader but they told me to come anyways so I did! It was really fun, I got to meet some other leaders on other nearby campuses. We talked about the vision of Student Life and what we want our group to represent/be apart of. Then they asked if I wanted to be apart of their team! So looks like I'm all for Student Life! :D
Tuesday(8th): Classes & stuff. Went to weekly prayer at Eternity, twas refreshing and inspiring.
Wednesday(9th): Class, Student Life prayer meeting, work. Then I got to have coffee with Katrina, a woman from church. She's pretty awesome! Our coffee extended to bringing some dinner back to my place where she convinced me to go to a Hip Hop dance class with her! So I did! It was really fun, I was the only non experienced dancer there so I looked really dumb but I didn't care! haha
Thursday(10th): Fullll day of classes & tuts. 4 Lectures, 2 tuts! Another Student Life meeting & eating.
Friday(11th): Worked. Went over to my friend Erin's house. Erin is on staff with Student life. She actually studied abroad here and ended up loving it so much that she raised support and came back to be a missionary! Her life tempts me to do the same... we'll see where God leads! Had dinner at her place the just chilled and watched TV. Felt goo just to sit and stare at a screen for a while! Then we decided that we needed to learn some break dancing moves. Good thing she had an instructional video! haha They're having a hip hop party in a few weeks so we were practicing our moves! We stayed up late talked & I spent the night at her place.
Saturday(12th): Erin & I made scones in the morning, then she had a ton of cleaning to do & since I love cleaning I decided to help her out! Then we did some grocery shopping. She brought me to a new suburb called Leichherdt that I had never heard of. It was so cute! AND they had an Aldi so everything was so cheep! I had been scheduled to work but my friend Bec was turning 21 so I had asked for the night off. I was waiting for the call to say I was free but it never came so Erin just dropped me home so I could get ready for work. Then my manager called & I had the night off! So we headed off to Becs! Bec lives about an hour away near Mt. Druitt so we had a little trek to go on. It was such an amazing party! Turning 21 is a HUGE deal here! They actually view it as like a huge step into adulthood so they go allll out. There were about 100 people there all dressed up in the given theme of "Latin". There were teachers instructing us how to do the cha-cha, the the cockroach song and others. It was such a fun night! We left at about 11:30 and ended up getting lost... we had no idea where we were so Erin decided to pull over and call a friend. Then this car pulled up next to us and there were two guys telling her to roll down her window so she did (as I was thinking WHAT IS SHE DOING? We are going to die.) Then this scene happend:
Guys: Hey can you take us to jfskdjfh?
Erin: No....?
G (2 of them talking spastically and finishing each others sentences) : Aren't you a taxi, I thought you were a taxi? Why cant you take us there? Why aren't you a taxi?
Erin: No, we're not a taxi sorry.... (this is when I look down and notice that it was a cop car... and they were cops!).
Cops: Oh that's funny. (points to a sign stating: No stopping zone. Taxis ONLY.)
Erin: OH, i'm so sorry I just really lost and I pulled over to call a friend, i'm sorry.
Cops (noticing our accents): Oh where are you trying to go? It sounds like you're trying to go to Canada? Are you going to Canada? Don't ask us how to get to Canada, we don't know how to get there. You're screwed if you're trying to get to Canada. I don't know how people get there... So where are you trying to go?
Then the cops were nice enough to get us directions home and not give us a fine. The entire time I was trying so hard not to laugh. It was such an odd combination of thinking, they're hilarious, but they're cops so just look scared so they don't give us a ticket... lol We ended up getting home safely!
Sunday(today): Got up went to church. There was a potluck after church, so good! Then a bunch of us decided to head to the beach! I convinced one of the guys to give me surfing lessons so I got my first one today! It was absolutely a perfect day for the beach. We went to Maroubra which is about a half our drive away. The tide was really heavy so we weren't able to go out for very long. I was able to get on my knees though so that was cool! Then we played some beach volleyball & swam around. At one point I was sitting on a rock looking at all the different things growing on it, then a huge wave came and dominated me. I got dragged down the bumpy rock so now I've got some bad scratches and bruises down my back, no blood tho so that's a plus! My elbow unfortunately did bleep, but it didn't bleed for too long. A short while after that we decided to head home. I got back and did a bit of reading, I was so tired that I literally fell asleep on my book, then migrated toward my bed. Unfortunately I woke up about 2 hrs ago with my back & elbow burning in agitation and an upset stomach so I haven't been able to get back to sleep. It's about 2:30 here so I'm hoping it'll go away soon... I might go finish some of my readings. This is going to be a packed week!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Coke + Gelato = Hapiness
Today was a pretty easy day for me. I only had one Lecture at 10am! It was the first lecture for my Love in Different Languages class. It was quite interesting, there are four prof's specialized in four different areas of love. At first I was quite hesitant about taking this course at a public school but after hearing the introduction I think it will be really good for me to hear every perspective. There's even a gay professor so I'll get to hear that viewpoint too. I feel like this class is going to force me out of my comfort zone and speak up for what I believe in. After that I met up with Sophia to head to the Student Life Luncheon meeting. We all had pizza and just hung out for a little while. Then one of the members gave a mini testimony of how Student Life has inspired her life. Then we just hung out and talked for a little while. One of the girls was going to do some more surveys and since I didn't have anything going on she invited me to join so I did! Surveying today wasn't as productive as it has been in the past. The two girls we were able to talk to had deep convo's but by the end they weren't open whatsoever about hearing more about the gospel. At least we got them thinking, hopefully planted a seed!
After that I headed to the Copy center. Here each class has like a manuel of a mixture of readings for the course so I went and bought mine. As I was waiting in line the girl in front of my was drinking a coke. I had never wanted a Coke so bad in my entire life! I haven't really had any pop since I've been here. So after the copy center I headed straight to 7 eleven to get my Coke. The minute I took the first sip it was like a flood of memories hit me. At pretty much every single family or Eritrean gathering Coke and Sprite are the only drinks of choice. Just that one sip of Coke made me miss my family so much! And miss the entire Eritrean community and youth group too! As I walked back to my dorm I savored those memories with each sip of savory Coke.
I spent the rest of the afternoon filling my planner with due dates from classes and such. I started doing some homework on the bus systems too. They're really intense and kind of scare me, but Carrie and her sister Christi are coming to visit this weekend so I feel like I should be well informed!
Then I headed to Gelato Blu for my second trial. Everyone working was so happy to see me back! When Fatni, the manager, stepped out of the room one of the girls told me that I was going to he hired tonight! So it was easy for me to be super happy and friendly the rest of the night! It's such a fun shop to work at! There are so many regulars that everyone in the shop just know and love. I got introduced to so many people in the community tonight, and although I don't remember any of their names, I'll have at least a few more familiar faces around! :)
Tomorrow's my busy day with 4 lectures and a tutorial. Lot's of sitting. We'll see how that works out... till then I'm going to marinate in my happiness :)
After that I headed to the Copy center. Here each class has like a manuel of a mixture of readings for the course so I went and bought mine. As I was waiting in line the girl in front of my was drinking a coke. I had never wanted a Coke so bad in my entire life! I haven't really had any pop since I've been here. So after the copy center I headed straight to 7 eleven to get my Coke. The minute I took the first sip it was like a flood of memories hit me. At pretty much every single family or Eritrean gathering Coke and Sprite are the only drinks of choice. Just that one sip of Coke made me miss my family so much! And miss the entire Eritrean community and youth group too! As I walked back to my dorm I savored those memories with each sip of savory Coke.
I spent the rest of the afternoon filling my planner with due dates from classes and such. I started doing some homework on the bus systems too. They're really intense and kind of scare me, but Carrie and her sister Christi are coming to visit this weekend so I feel like I should be well informed!
Then I headed to Gelato Blu for my second trial. Everyone working was so happy to see me back! When Fatni, the manager, stepped out of the room one of the girls told me that I was going to he hired tonight! So it was easy for me to be super happy and friendly the rest of the night! It's such a fun shop to work at! There are so many regulars that everyone in the shop just know and love. I got introduced to so many people in the community tonight, and although I don't remember any of their names, I'll have at least a few more familiar faces around! :)
Tomorrow's my busy day with 4 lectures and a tutorial. Lot's of sitting. We'll see how that works out... till then I'm going to marinate in my happiness :)
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Let's Play Catch
Hhhok I haven't written in a long time so it's major catch up time!
Last Thursday: Carrie was here to visit me! We checked out all the booths up for orientation week got a ton of free stuff! I introduced her to my Student Life crew, then we just hung out in a park on campus here. It was nice just to relax and be with someone who knows you. I've been meeting a lot of people lately so it was nice to just BE. Then we headed back to the Student Life booth and walked to Marlon's house for a BBQ! It was fun to hang out with some more Christian peeps I hadn't met yet! We had to leave pretty much right after eating though because I had my first trial to go to! The Gelato Shop had called me in to do a 3 hr trial (they don't do interviews here, they just have you come in for a trial where they teach you what you need to know the first hour then they watch and judge you the next two hours to see if you can do the job right... intimidating!). It was really fun to work there. Who knew there was such an art to scooping Gelato? It literally took me the whole hour to get the hang of it! It is a really fun shop and super into to community. Like the owner I worked with knew everyone's name and was so friendly! At the end of the night she gave me a quart of Gelato to take home too! Carrie and I devoured it in about 3 min. haha I was so excited! The owner told me she would call me on Saturday with a final decision about the job...
Friday: Carrie and I went to the Sydney Opera house. It was a long trek through downtown and for some reason we were both tired so it felt like it took forever to get there! I was wearing one of Carrie's dresses that was ridiculously loose with the wind.... So I ended up flashing all of Sydney at least three times throughout the day. It was quite embarrassing. Also quite funny. It was really sunny so we both got plenty of sun that day! On they way back we stopped by the grocery store... Carrie spoiled the both of us by buying Tim Tams & chocolate cookies! We had a mini feast that included: Easy Mac, Chocolate Cookies, Pineapple Orange Juice and a grand finale of Tim Tam Slams (which is when one bites off both ends of the cookie and uses it like a straw to drink milk, then eating the cookie as a whole. Tim Tams are like two chocolate wafers with Chocolate cream in the middle, the dipped in milk chocolate. they are a DREAM!). We def had food babies after that!
Saturday: We decided to check out the Brett Whittley Studio. I had marked a few studio artists that I wanted to check out in my tourist book and he was one of them. Neither of us wanted to walk super far so it was nice that he wasn't all the way downtown! We headed there for a while. He was an interesting artists to say the least... then we had a classy 7 Eleven lunch on a bench on the side of the road. We were both tired and the sun was wearing us down so we couldn't make it all the way home before being refreshed. It was quite a delightful lunch. We sat on the bench for a long time just talking about life. We ended up bending our beverage cans into monsters and we were entertained with them for quite some time. The people in the cars driving by gave us pretty strange looks but we just found it amusing! We got back to my room & got all showered and cute. Then Carrie treated me to a dinner out. We decided to go to a Pasta place down on King Street. It was such good pasta!! And it was fun to go out on a little date :) Carrie is way too good to me!! :)
The Gelato shop never did call... so I kind of lost hope!
Sunday: Carrie & I went to church at Eternity Christian then afterward the Church does an outreach luncheon every month and so we went along! It was at this Center near apartment buildings that Eternity has been building relations with for the past five years. So each of the newbees got paired up with a pro and each pair took on a different level of the building. Me and my buddy went to the town houses. We all went door to door just letting people know that there was a free lunch available and that we'd love to see them! We also carried baskets filled with goodies such as cheese biscuits, olives and jams that we would hand to everyone living there. No one we had talked to had decided to come out to lunch but I pray that they were blessed by our smiles and goodies! After that we headed back to my place so Carrie could figure out the train she needed to catch to meet up with her roommate who was giving her a ride back to Canberra. She got all packed up, then I walked her to the station and we said our goodbyes :( On the way home I discovered a farmers market that was only about a 5 min walk from my place that had fresh fruits & veggies every Saturday morning! I'm planning on being there... ever Saturday morning! haha Then I just hung out in my room, did some reading and had an early bed time because the first day of school was here! Also the Gelato shop had texted me and told me to come in for a second trial on Wednesday! Which means I still have a chance!! Let's just hope I remember how to scoop right!
Monday: I don't have any classes before 10 am but for some reason I just couldn't sleep in. I guess I was just excited! My first class was Psych 1001. I discovered that there are 2200 students taking this course split up into 6 different lecture halls! I was blown away at how many students there were! I felt like I was in an overcrowded airport at Christmas. Lines were blocks long for everything, bookstore, library, offices, class changes etc. It was a crazy zoo! I was pretty overwhelmed since I'm so used to my tiny little MN schools! I ended up finding a little hide out just to catch my breath and decided to just sit and read before my next class, the quiet was really refreshing! Then I had my History of Psychology & Psychiatry class. I love my prof! He's this sweet old witty Finish man who made history really intriguing to listen to. I think I'm really going to enjoy him! Although this class seems really challenging , they normally only accept Seniors in this course so I was the only Junior, which is intimidating but at the same time it gives me some motivation!
I was pretty overloaded by the end of the day so I headed back to my place for lunch and ended up cleaning my room, reorganizing my closet & shelves & dusting! I love that I clean when I'm stressed! haha Around 5 I headed to meet up with Sophia (She's one of the girls who is in Student Life who I got to talk to a ton on Wednesday, we have a ton in common and she was nice enough to meet up with me to go over our first days!). We headed to get some Thai food (there are about 845283484 ridiculously good Thai places in King street!) We ended up taking for a good 3 hrs! I feel like we could have talked all night but it takes her about an hour to get home on the bus so she had to take off. It was the perfect ending to my first day, just to be able to talk with someone I was so instantly comfortable around! She's an awesome blessing in my life! Afterwards I headed back to my room and did some reading. I'm reading The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks. That man just gets to me, I can't help it! I ended up reading about half the book before falling asleep.
Today!
I woke up early again and decided to do more reading since I didn't have class till 1 today. I had almost finished my book only 20 pgs left before I had to go to class. I had another Psych 1001 lecture, today it was on Personality. It's nice that the lectures are all broken up by categories but at the same time it's annoying because I've already taken full courses on 5 out of the 6 categories... The Personality Prof is a complete nut. He reminds me of Prof Nava on his crazy days when he decides to be a different personality but ten times worse... This prof explained that his shirt was of the head demon angel and that if you're nice to demons they'll protect you which is why he's wearing it as a t-shirt. He also had these beads that are supposedly from evil spirits that are also protecting him. He held the beads the entire lecture.... Considering I took a whole course in Personality and the fact that this man scares me I'm planning on not going to most of his lectures...
Between class I had just enough time to finish my book which made me happy! Read it in 2 days! haah
My next class was Cognition Language & Learning. It was so interesting! This first lecture the prof had just filled with interactive examples of language and how we understand it and how it can be manipulating. We would listen to lyrics and try to make out what they said... everyone just looked like idiots but it was so fun! Her lecture was filled with these fun interactive examples which made everyone loosen up but it was also a good way to remember everything she was saying. I think I'm going to absolutely love this class!
After class I headed back to my room for a bit to try and understand the copy center website. Prof's don't print anything off for anyone so student have to order these handbooks that the copy center makes for you but it's a confusing process... So far all of my books are available in the Library on Reserve so I'm going to try and not buy any books... we'll see how this works. If not I'll end up just buying them... but all the profs are demanding the latest version of every book which makes it impossible to buy an old book :/
At 7 I walked to Church for a prayer session. The church is having a conference this weekend so the prayer was primarily for that. There were about 10 of us who worshiped and prayed together. It was really the perfect midweek refresher. God is good! Marlon's brother Ricardo was there who introduced me to his housemate, Erin. Erin came to AU through AustraLearn her Junior year just like me! She's originally from Washington. She loved being in Student Life so much that she returned home to finish her degree and raise support to come on Staff with Student Life! So this year she's just being a missionary to student here. She actually lived in the same dorm I did! I'm really excited to hang out with her more! My ride was leaving so I wasn't able to talk long but we're going to set up a date! :)
Tomorrow I only have one class at 11. Then I'm having lunch with Student life! God is Good!
Last Thursday: Carrie was here to visit me! We checked out all the booths up for orientation week got a ton of free stuff! I introduced her to my Student Life crew, then we just hung out in a park on campus here. It was nice just to relax and be with someone who knows you. I've been meeting a lot of people lately so it was nice to just BE. Then we headed back to the Student Life booth and walked to Marlon's house for a BBQ! It was fun to hang out with some more Christian peeps I hadn't met yet! We had to leave pretty much right after eating though because I had my first trial to go to! The Gelato Shop had called me in to do a 3 hr trial (they don't do interviews here, they just have you come in for a trial where they teach you what you need to know the first hour then they watch and judge you the next two hours to see if you can do the job right... intimidating!). It was really fun to work there. Who knew there was such an art to scooping Gelato? It literally took me the whole hour to get the hang of it! It is a really fun shop and super into to community. Like the owner I worked with knew everyone's name and was so friendly! At the end of the night she gave me a quart of Gelato to take home too! Carrie and I devoured it in about 3 min. haha I was so excited! The owner told me she would call me on Saturday with a final decision about the job...
Friday: Carrie and I went to the Sydney Opera house. It was a long trek through downtown and for some reason we were both tired so it felt like it took forever to get there! I was wearing one of Carrie's dresses that was ridiculously loose with the wind.... So I ended up flashing all of Sydney at least three times throughout the day. It was quite embarrassing. Also quite funny. It was really sunny so we both got plenty of sun that day! On they way back we stopped by the grocery store... Carrie spoiled the both of us by buying Tim Tams & chocolate cookies! We had a mini feast that included: Easy Mac, Chocolate Cookies, Pineapple Orange Juice and a grand finale of Tim Tam Slams (which is when one bites off both ends of the cookie and uses it like a straw to drink milk, then eating the cookie as a whole. Tim Tams are like two chocolate wafers with Chocolate cream in the middle, the dipped in milk chocolate. they are a DREAM!). We def had food babies after that!
Saturday: We decided to check out the Brett Whittley Studio. I had marked a few studio artists that I wanted to check out in my tourist book and he was one of them. Neither of us wanted to walk super far so it was nice that he wasn't all the way downtown! We headed there for a while. He was an interesting artists to say the least... then we had a classy 7 Eleven lunch on a bench on the side of the road. We were both tired and the sun was wearing us down so we couldn't make it all the way home before being refreshed. It was quite a delightful lunch. We sat on the bench for a long time just talking about life. We ended up bending our beverage cans into monsters and we were entertained with them for quite some time. The people in the cars driving by gave us pretty strange looks but we just found it amusing! We got back to my room & got all showered and cute. Then Carrie treated me to a dinner out. We decided to go to a Pasta place down on King Street. It was such good pasta!! And it was fun to go out on a little date :) Carrie is way too good to me!! :)
The Gelato shop never did call... so I kind of lost hope!
Sunday: Carrie & I went to church at Eternity Christian then afterward the Church does an outreach luncheon every month and so we went along! It was at this Center near apartment buildings that Eternity has been building relations with for the past five years. So each of the newbees got paired up with a pro and each pair took on a different level of the building. Me and my buddy went to the town houses. We all went door to door just letting people know that there was a free lunch available and that we'd love to see them! We also carried baskets filled with goodies such as cheese biscuits, olives and jams that we would hand to everyone living there. No one we had talked to had decided to come out to lunch but I pray that they were blessed by our smiles and goodies! After that we headed back to my place so Carrie could figure out the train she needed to catch to meet up with her roommate who was giving her a ride back to Canberra. She got all packed up, then I walked her to the station and we said our goodbyes :( On the way home I discovered a farmers market that was only about a 5 min walk from my place that had fresh fruits & veggies every Saturday morning! I'm planning on being there... ever Saturday morning! haha Then I just hung out in my room, did some reading and had an early bed time because the first day of school was here! Also the Gelato shop had texted me and told me to come in for a second trial on Wednesday! Which means I still have a chance!! Let's just hope I remember how to scoop right!
Monday: I don't have any classes before 10 am but for some reason I just couldn't sleep in. I guess I was just excited! My first class was Psych 1001. I discovered that there are 2200 students taking this course split up into 6 different lecture halls! I was blown away at how many students there were! I felt like I was in an overcrowded airport at Christmas. Lines were blocks long for everything, bookstore, library, offices, class changes etc. It was a crazy zoo! I was pretty overwhelmed since I'm so used to my tiny little MN schools! I ended up finding a little hide out just to catch my breath and decided to just sit and read before my next class, the quiet was really refreshing! Then I had my History of Psychology & Psychiatry class. I love my prof! He's this sweet old witty Finish man who made history really intriguing to listen to. I think I'm really going to enjoy him! Although this class seems really challenging , they normally only accept Seniors in this course so I was the only Junior, which is intimidating but at the same time it gives me some motivation!
I was pretty overloaded by the end of the day so I headed back to my place for lunch and ended up cleaning my room, reorganizing my closet & shelves & dusting! I love that I clean when I'm stressed! haha Around 5 I headed to meet up with Sophia (She's one of the girls who is in Student Life who I got to talk to a ton on Wednesday, we have a ton in common and she was nice enough to meet up with me to go over our first days!). We headed to get some Thai food (there are about 845283484 ridiculously good Thai places in King street!) We ended up taking for a good 3 hrs! I feel like we could have talked all night but it takes her about an hour to get home on the bus so she had to take off. It was the perfect ending to my first day, just to be able to talk with someone I was so instantly comfortable around! She's an awesome blessing in my life! Afterwards I headed back to my room and did some reading. I'm reading The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks. That man just gets to me, I can't help it! I ended up reading about half the book before falling asleep.
Today!
I woke up early again and decided to do more reading since I didn't have class till 1 today. I had almost finished my book only 20 pgs left before I had to go to class. I had another Psych 1001 lecture, today it was on Personality. It's nice that the lectures are all broken up by categories but at the same time it's annoying because I've already taken full courses on 5 out of the 6 categories... The Personality Prof is a complete nut. He reminds me of Prof Nava on his crazy days when he decides to be a different personality but ten times worse... This prof explained that his shirt was of the head demon angel and that if you're nice to demons they'll protect you which is why he's wearing it as a t-shirt. He also had these beads that are supposedly from evil spirits that are also protecting him. He held the beads the entire lecture.... Considering I took a whole course in Personality and the fact that this man scares me I'm planning on not going to most of his lectures...
Between class I had just enough time to finish my book which made me happy! Read it in 2 days! haah
My next class was Cognition Language & Learning. It was so interesting! This first lecture the prof had just filled with interactive examples of language and how we understand it and how it can be manipulating. We would listen to lyrics and try to make out what they said... everyone just looked like idiots but it was so fun! Her lecture was filled with these fun interactive examples which made everyone loosen up but it was also a good way to remember everything she was saying. I think I'm going to absolutely love this class!
After class I headed back to my room for a bit to try and understand the copy center website. Prof's don't print anything off for anyone so student have to order these handbooks that the copy center makes for you but it's a confusing process... So far all of my books are available in the Library on Reserve so I'm going to try and not buy any books... we'll see how this works. If not I'll end up just buying them... but all the profs are demanding the latest version of every book which makes it impossible to buy an old book :/
At 7 I walked to Church for a prayer session. The church is having a conference this weekend so the prayer was primarily for that. There were about 10 of us who worshiped and prayed together. It was really the perfect midweek refresher. God is good! Marlon's brother Ricardo was there who introduced me to his housemate, Erin. Erin came to AU through AustraLearn her Junior year just like me! She's originally from Washington. She loved being in Student Life so much that she returned home to finish her degree and raise support to come on Staff with Student Life! So this year she's just being a missionary to student here. She actually lived in the same dorm I did! I'm really excited to hang out with her more! My ride was leaving so I wasn't able to talk long but we're going to set up a date! :)
Tomorrow I only have one class at 11. Then I'm having lunch with Student life! God is Good!
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