The Big Banana

Today I was one of the last ones to wake up; everyone else was already in the kitchen, helping prepare a huge breakfast. Gord was cooking up scrambled eggs, Mark was on bacon duty, and Christian was setting the table and getting juice and milk out. I jumped in and started cooking up some toast…pretty hard job eh? It was quite the feast…there was so much food! After a bit, everyone started packing up their stuff to head back to Lismore because they had classes that afternoon. Before they left, Lisa wrote out a Thank You note for all of us to sign for Richard & Sue, thanking them for letting all of us stay over at their house. We took up all of their beds and most of the floor last night and made quite a mess, but most of that was cleaned up after breakfast. Now, the only thing left was the dishes….

Dishes actually were not too bad…with 5 of us still around we were able to clean up the kitchen, dishes, and food quite quickly. Rob, Gord, Christian, Mark & I played Wii for a bit while everyone finished up packing [and the Boys relieved themselves of breakfast] before we hit the road. The Boys also made sure to pack the golf course flags into the car, as a souvenir from the Coffs Harbour course.

We made one last stop at the Big Banana before leaving Coffs Harbour. In Australia there are a lot of “Big” things…such as a Big Apple, Avocado, Beer Can, Tennis Racquet, Cow, Crab…and the list goes on & on. You can check out more at http://www.bigthings.com.au/. There are over 150 Big Things throughout the country, mostly serving as a tourist trap or a good excuse for a road trip. The Big Banana in Coffs Harbour was the first Big Thing built in 1964. Anyways, we made the monumental stop and had our picture taken with the Big Banana.

Our road trip continued for three more long hours back to Lismore, with Christian as our driver. Along the way back we were entertained by Gord’s singing abilities, which actually were not too bad. Finally we made it back to Orion that afternoon and I enjoyed one of the best naps ever! I was so pooped out from the past couple days, I needed a good nap to catch back up.

It was Friday night, which meant it was Poker Night. At 7:00pm everyone was supposed to go over to Lloyd & Mark’s at 21C, throw their $5 in the pot, and try their luck. Lots of people ended up backing out, but we still played a game. Lloyd, Mark, Lisa, Kelly, Hoarey, Tony, Jimmy & I all went in for the Big Bucks, but Lisa ended up taking 2nd and got her money back and Lloydy took 1st and won the $35 that was in the pot. Nuts. Oh well, for my first game and only $5 it went alright. Maybe next time…

I convinced everyone to try playing Dirty Clubs after poker, though it wasn’t easy. A lot of them hadn’t played before and it was a while since I had last played, so telling everyone the rules of the game was a bit of a challenge. While we were trying to get a decent game started someone was talking about their moldy shower and trying to clean it up…I think it was Lisa. Anyways, she was telling Lloyd & Mark about how the caulk around the shower was really gross and she couldn’t get it clean, but they did not hear “caulk.” Instead they heard another word because of our American accents [which is not too pleasant] and were laughing hysterically. Lisa, Kelly, & I were trying to explain what caulk was by saying people use it between tiles and it is all over bathrooms. The Boys thought it was soo funny and kept saying “Just fill it up with caulk.” A bit inappropriate, but nothing new to those boys! We spent quite a bit giggling like girl scouts before heading our own ways back to our apartments.

Just a Quick Note!

Hello Friends!!

You have all probably noticed by now that I have not been putting up too many blogs. Well...I admit that part of it is procrastinating, but This Chick has been pretty busy these last few months. Hopefully they will be coming to you soon! I'm officially home the end of this month (talk to my rents if you are curious about the exact date) after one more week in Australia and another in Thailand to visit the Burrow Family!!

I Love and Miss You All!!

Coffs Harbour Race Day

Whoo Hoo!! Race Day! Today was Coffs Harbour Race Day. In Australia each larger city holds one a year and everyone in the area gets dressed up and goes to the track to bet on horses. Girls wear really nice dresses and the boys wear suit pants, button-up shirts, vests, jackets, and ties. Oh yeah…the ladies usually wear extravagant hats or headpieces with feathers, beads, ribbon, etc. Some of the ones we saw were pretty crazy! Something you would see the “Queen Mother” wear on a daily basis. The day is kinda similar to our college homecomings… a big day out “enjoying yourself” with friends.

We all were up and getting ready around 9:30. Actually, since it usually takes This Chick quite a while to get ready, I hopped in the shower first while the Boys went to get groceries for breakfast…well minus Christian…he hung back at the house with me, Mark’s sister Angela, and her friend Emma. It was pretty amusing…here were us girls sitting in the back of a television repair shop, putting on make-up, and doing our hair while Christian was just talking up a storm(which may have been due to the tapping of the goon box).

About an hour later, everyone had arrived from Lismore and we were all ready to go…well almost. The Boys still had to find a way to bring their flasks in. Somehow I ended up taking one for the team and had a bottle of vodka strapped to my leg...maybe it had something to do with my maxi dress? Our walk to the race track wasn’t too bad. It was a few blocks down, along the golf course, and down to the track. We managed to make it without any problems, though we did take a few stops along the way for drinks, photos, and the restroom (random trees and shrubs).

At last we had made it to the races! I didn’t place any bets, but a few of my friends did. My first time at the horse races and it was pretty fun. The track was really crazy…there were a lot of people out for the big day and it was hard to keep track of all the horses and jockeys. Once we were inside, I made a pit stop in the bathroom to hand over the drinks. Not a very fun experience ripping tape off your leg, but it had to be done. We ended up staying at the track for most of the races.

On the walk home I managed to get lost…on the golf course! I couldn’t remember which way to go back to Mark’s house and thought we went across the course, but apparently we just walked along/through a part of it. It was pretty funny running across the greens, especially when people were out golfing!

When we got back to the house, we hung around for a while and talked to Mark’s parents. Mark, being the gentleman that he is, introduced all of us to Richard & Susan. However, when it was my turn he said, “This is Lacey, you know, like a good pair of undies.” I had never heard that one before! I have to admit that it was pretty funny.

Not really sure what time we got back to the house, but we ended up going out for the night around 6:00 pm…or we tried to. The Maxi Taxi was full so Lisa, Gord, and I ended up waiting for a while for Nicky Dog to bring us out downtown. While we were waiting, we joined The Family for a dinner of stir-fry. Mark’s niece, Chloe, probably thought we were nuts because we kept asking her a bunch of questions.

Finally Nick arrived and brought us out to meet the group at The Coffs Hotel. [Not sure if I explained this before, but “hotels” are usually pubs, not somewhere you can check in for a sleep.] The Coffs Hotel was a pretty fun place, though not many of our friends got in. The security guards at the door could tell who had been out consuming all day and turned a lot of people away. I got in along with Nick, Lisa, Kelly, Arlo & Sarah, Rob, Gord, & Christian so we stayed and danced for a while before leaving for The Plantation to find the rest of the group. As we were leaving The Hotel, security guards carried in tons of Dominos pizza boxes and set them on random tables for everyone to enjoy. It was pretty sweet, especially cause the Boys were talking about getting pizza once we left.

We saw a bunch of our friends as we were leaving, who told us no one was at The Plantation because they didn’t get in so we decided to head back to Mark’s house. There wasn’t enough room in the car so Rob & Christian decided to try to find their way back to the house on their own. Once we got back Mark called to tell us everyone was at the Ex-Services Club so we drove back into town. It was interesting because this place was not a club or a bar; it was a casino. We found everyone and hung around talking for a bit. Nick was being pretty funny…he one his jokes “In Mark’s Letter to the Corinthians” was pretty funny. On the way home, he was telling us that he was trying to be…“What’s the word? Responsible?” by driving us home on a Thursday night when he had to get up the next morning to teach P.E. Back at the house we found Rob & Christian, apparently they had made it home and were snoring safe & sound.

Crazy Eyes!!

Tuesday

Last night I ended up staying up all night, trying to get caught up on a bunch of homework. I actually got a lot of stuff done…surprisingly. There were a few journal entries as well as a commentary on the discussion board for my finance class that had to be done by this morning. Since I had stayed up all night, I had enough time to shower and get ready for the day. For once, I made it to the beginning of my finance lecture (though it was only for the first 45 minutes). My Finance lecture is being co-taught by two instructors; today the more interesting professor was there and everything was easy to understand, unlike the other guy. It sucked that I had to leave lecture early to go to my Outdoor Ed lecture; I was enjoying class!

So on to Outdoor Ed I went, which usually consists of going through the powerpoint slides…kinda a snooze. The day was nothing out of the ordinary; just another Tuesday…until lecture was done. My friends were waiting for me outside the lecture hall and freaked once I finally came out. My eyes were Crazy! My left pupil was HUGE!! And my right pupil was tiny. Neither one was its regular size. When I looked into the light or the sun, they got even worse. I was kinda freaked out because this had never happened before…if anything my pupils have appeared large before, but I think that is just cause I have Big Eyes.

Anyways, after a phone call to my Mother and talking with my friends, I decided it would be a good decision to stop into the Uni Doctor to have a look. I was weary of going…I didn’t think he would know what was going on and didn’t want to skip my Outdoor Ed tute. And $45 later, I was right…he referred me to an eye surgeon right away that afternoon. It took a while trying to find someone to take me…it was about a 15 minute car ride…but finally Sarah ended up taking me. She works in the English language center and left her desk for the day to help me….a really nice lady.

The eye doctor took a while examining my eyes…so I for sure thought I was going blind…but he told me that I was going to live to see tomorrow…literally. Apparently the muscles around my pupils were not working well and though it sounds crazy, a lot of young women have this problem. It usually ends up correcting itself in a few weeks or months, but usually goes away. Thank God. For a moment I was considering looking up the nearest circus, with hopes of being the next main attraction. (My “friends” had a good time with that joke as well!)

While studying abroad, I am covered with international student insurance, which means I have to pay out-of-pocket…but most of the time (depending on the nature of your visit) students are reimbursed, as long as the receipts are kept. The second appointment was not cheap…$120. But Sarah was real nice and took me downtown Lismore to file my claim and get my money back right away. Otherwise it can take up to a couple months to get everything sorted.

After all the drama of the day, I headed home for a sleep. It was a good one too…about 4 hours long…much needed after staying up all night!

Later, after that wonderful nap, Mark came up to 19 to help me pick out a dress. He was going on a journey with the Canadian Boys to Coffs Harbour for Race Day. Everyone gets dressed up and goes to the race track to watch and bet on the horse races. They had asked me, Lisa, & Kelly to go with them, which is why we had to find some Classy Dresses for the Big Day. After I had a dress picked out, we went over to Kelly & Lisa’s to help them as well. After all the Dress Drama was situated, I headed back to 19 for bed. All the commotion from the day was exhausting and though I had an awesome nap earlier, I hit the hay around 9:00!

Wednesday

Today I didn’t get up until 12:30…in the afternoon!! I wasn’t feeling too well…probably early signs of the Swine. I slept in so late that I skipped my morning Perspectives lecture. Whoops! It would not have been that big of a deal [we are not graded on attendance] but we had a guest lecturer that I would have liked to have heard. However, I did make it to the afternoon tutorial, so the whole day was not a waste.

After class was done I headed with the Girls down to the plaza in search of some large hats/headpieces for Race Day. I really wanted to find a big hat decked out with feathers for the Day, but was unsuccessful with that mission. Instead, I picked up some much-needed groceries. Once we were done, we grabbed a taxi back to Orion and started packing for Coffs.

I was leaving tonight with Mark and the Canadian Boys: Rob, Gordon, & Christian. Lisa & Kelly would not be joining us until tomorrow along with Sarah, Arlo & Company. I had to hurry to get all my clothes washed and packed to meet the Boys at 9:00 pm to leave.

It took quite a while to drive there. All 5 of us were packed in the Canadian car along with blankets, pillows, and our bags. It was a cozy ride that lasted about 3 hours. We didn’t arrive in Coffs until midnight. Once there we drove up to a lookout point, which was really cool. Mark pointed out different areas and buildings to us. It looked really cool because the city was lit up and the coast could be seen. Then we made one last stop at the marina before heading to Mark’s parent’s house around 1:00.

Library Cram Session

Sunday was also a relaxing day…slept in a bit…lounged with everyone by the pool…had a sandwich. After the sun went down around 3:30 [keeps getting later…that is awesome!], I ran into Alex & Sandra who were on their way to the Lismore Showgrounds to work for $12/hour. All they had to do was package books, DVDs, and CDs into cardboard boxes. They asked me if I wanted to come along because Cathy wasn’t planning on going anymore. Lisa was going along too.

At first I wasn’t going to, but I knew I had nothing better to do so I joined the group. The company we worked for were in Lismore for 2 weeks, selling copies of books, DVDs and CDs at discount prices. Most items were a bit older, a few relatively new. They go town to town around Australia setting up shop in a large shed, on fairgrounds to sell their items. Their next stop is Rock Hampton. We worked from 4:00 to 10:00 and had a ½ hour break for dinner at 7:00. We hopped in Alex & Sandra’s car and went for food at Mackers. The time actually went by pretty fast and before you knew it we were getting paid $66 for 5 ½ hours of work…pretty awesome!

Monday I tried starting my day off early at 7:30 am, but that mission was unsuccessful. Instead I shot out of bed around 8:30 went for a good run, swung by the international office to check my mail and found a package waiting for me!! I was so excited! It was pretty heavy, so that’s where my run ended. I also found a letter from my Grandma in there as well…Sweet!

After trucking up Orion Hill with my new arrivals, I tore into them once I got into my room. My awesome Mother had sent me a bunch of little things as well as some DVDs, my newly fixed camera, a recipe book, some photos, a Huge bag of red licorice and socks.

My plan for the day was to shut myself into the library to get a bunch of assignments done and caught back up in my finance class. I hurried through a shower and a breakfast of eggs, raspberry toast, and orange/mango juice. Since Mark made dinner Friday night, I returned the favor and brought breakfast over to him. That may have been a bad idea…keep reading…will explain.

Finally I made it to the library around 10:45…not too bad. However, I did not actually step into the building until noon…I called home and chit-chatted with my Mother for quite some time. Monday mornings are usually a good time for me to call home…my empty morning with no classes and they are home on a Sunday night…nice! I made the library my home until 1:00 when I met Lisa & Mark for lunch in the Plaza. As we were heading down from the library, we saw a huge lizard. I was pretty pumped to have my camera with me and actually be able to take my own photos with my own camera! A Bangkok wrap from Wrap City sounded pretty good, though they are always huge and really messy. Oh well. We had a little bit of Mark’s sushi too; it was actually pretty decent.

The 3 of us finished a bunch of errands around campus…grabbed receipts from the bank, checked our mail, and Mark made a doctor’s appointment cause he wasn’t feeling too good…then went back to the library for some study. I managed to crank out a reflection paper for Outdoor Ed and got a bunch of articles read for class as well. The library was getting the best of us so we took a 20 minute break at 5:00, had a muesli bar to reenergize then went back another time for one last round.

Orion was calling us back at 7:30 for dinner and we were beginning to hate the library so we bolted out of there. We came back to mine for pasta, green beans, oranges with yogurt, and orange/mango juice as well as licorice for dessert! During dinner we listened to the new arrival of a Dane Cook CD and it was hilarious. After dishes were done, I locked myself up in my room to finish even more homework and work on my blog. I ended up getting quite a bit of stuff done…a lot of it was small things here & there, but had been on my to-do list for some time. I also went through a few too many cups of coffee and ended up staying up all night…oh well! While I was busy at work on my stuff, Mark called to say the doctor told him he may have Swine Flu. Great. Hopefully that is not the case….I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

James' 22nd Alphabet Party

This Saturday started off really good. I was able to sleep in for a bit and have yogurt & muesli for breakfast…my favorite. Later Mark grabbed me, Kelly & Lisa to head down to The Square for a coffee. It is pretty awesome that there is a Gloria Jean’s in the Square…a little taste of home. We shopped around for vital components to our outfits for the Alphabet Party later that night. It was our friend, James’ 22^nd Birthday Party. He assigned everyone who planned on attending a letter and you had to dress up as something that began with your letter. I was going to be an angel, Lisa a Fairy, Kelly had U so was going to be an umbrella and we decided Mark should be a Pedophile. Lisa & I found wings for our outfits, Kelly found an umbrella, and Mark found a small doll, candy, and had a newspaper to help him be a bit creepier.

We stopped by Cole’s to pick up a few necessity groceries that turned out to be more than necessities. We got lucky and were able to hop on a bus to Orion College for only $1.20. Some of the groceries I picked up were to make a chocolate/peanut butter trail mix. The recipe was from Ford…he had made it when we climbed Mount Warning and it was delicious so I thought I would try it out. It was alright, but the next time I make it I’m gonna use some larger oats. F.Y.I.

Soon it was time to start getting ready. I hopped in the shower, made some avocado, broccoli, and cheese sandwich melts for dinner and grabbed Kelly before heading down to 3 to pick up a black tie for her outfit. She changed her mind from being an umbrella to being Usher/Gangster. It was pretty awesome…she looked like a little gangster in Wellzy’s clothes and shoes…junk grab and all. We went up to grab Lisa & Peta, hung out at 3 for a bit longer playing card games then went over to 15 for the Alphabet Party. It was really fun because a lot of people got into it and dressed up. There were knights, clowns, a pack of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a showgirl, another angel, a Greek goddess, Aphrodite, a rock star, a black cat and many others who I forget, but they were all very good!

We played a few rounds of Flip Cup before heading downtown, wings and all. Dallas drove us down in Peta’s car because he is only 17 [drinking age = 18]. We had a pretty good time dancing at The Standard before heading over to Mary’s. I was afraid we would not get in because after 12 or 12:30 they stop letting people in and it was getting close to that time, but we made it!

While we were standing in line, 2 boys cut in front of us and I started to give them a hard time…one guy was already in, so I said whatever to the second guy and let him go. It was awesome cause once we were in we decided to go up a level to the nightclub inside Mary’s called “The One” and the guy who cut in front of me was going up there as well. Wait a minute…I wasn’t interested…but what was awesome was that he offered to pay for me to get in [$10!] and even bought me a drink. I didn’t talk to him for long though…us girlies headed off for the dance floor…a good escape!

I shared a piece of pizza with Peta before Gord came down to pick us [Rob, Lisa, Kelly, Mark, Peta, Alex and I] up. Being the nice girl that I am, I offered everyone to come back to mine for some really good trail mix, but before the Boys came up top my apartment, it was gone…devoured by Alex, Peta, Lisa, & I…though there wasn’t much to begin with…and it was kinda crummy. So I ended up finding some cheese, ham, and crackers for the Boys to have. Lloyd and Tony ended up joining us for all the fun. I was kinda worried we were being too loud…my roommate Ashley had stayed home and already went to bed & didn’t want to wake her so we went across to Kelly & Tony’s. For some reason Rob was dressed in all white, had a brown suit jacket on and was carrying around a tennis racket. I think he may have changed back into his Alphabet Party getup…guessing he was a tennis star?

Overall, it was a fun night.

Perspectives on Australia

One of my classes, Perspective on Australia, is held on Wednesdays. Basically, we talk about Australia…who is a typical Australian, what are the values & beliefs held by the people, what holidays are celebrated throughout the nation and among the different groups living here. It is difficult trying to define Australia as a whole, mainly because of the conflicting histories of the nation. When James Cook discovered the nation in 1770, he declared it “terra nullis” meaning “empty land.” From that point is when the 2 histories began…that of an Aboriginal and that of a white settler. A brief little insight to our class…sorry it began to turn into a lesson for the day.

Anyways, to get a better understanding of the region around Lismore, called the Rainbow Region we went on a field trip. Friday morning started off a little rough…definitely came too early! We had to be done in front of campus by 9:00 am with a packed lunch. I almost forgot the lunch part…actually I completely forgot about it…good thing Kelly was already on top of it. She packed us a PB & J with a muesli bar for the day.

Before we left campus, I remembered to pay for Outback Trip, the last day to sign up so I had to run to the bank on campus quickly. I should have taken a lot longer and accidentally “missed” the bus because the ride ended up being an hour long…on a Very Windy road with a Pothole every ½ mile. Not a very good experience…especially when I get bus sick from a 5 minute bus ride downtown to The Square. We finally arrived to meet Nan Nicholson at Protestor’s Falls, the site where many people had gathered in 1973 to protest the destruction of the rainforest. The people ended up saving a large chunk of the rainforest and Nan was one of the “hippies” who helped save it.

Though I was relieved once I got off the bus, my stomach wasn’t…it kept doing flip-flops. I thought I was good to go, but as I started walking with everyone to a picnic table saliva filled my mouth…I barely made it to the bathrooms before I hucked it. Not good…I felt like I was still on the bumpy bus. I hoped no one heard me, but definitely knew they all did when they watched me walk back up to meet them. Nuts! Oh yeah…the gum I spit out the night before ended up in my hair…I fell asleep holding it and somehow…not sure…but it ended up nestled in my roots…nice.

After a few saltines and water I started feeling better. We walked along a trail to the Falls, which were amazing. We sat on the rocks while Nan read a passage she had prepared about the Falls and what it meant to her & her family. It was interesting to be sitting in a place where so much mayhem had occurred. We could feel the mist coming down from the waterfall and off the rocks it hit below. I had never seen or been that close to a real waterfall…it was really cool.

The next stop on our trip was to Dharmananda, an intentional community established over 30 years ago on 260 acres of farming land at The Channon. The community consists of 16 adults and 6 children. While Ray Flanagan told us about the community we ate our picnic lunch. Rob, our instructor, had brought along a bunch of bananas, apples, Doritos, and vegetable “pull-apart” breads for us to share, which were really good. After we were finished, Ray gave us a short tour of the Community House, Meditation Room, and huge vegetable gardens before we boarded the bus.

The last stop of our trip was to the village of Nimbin, an iconic site of the 1970s counter-cultural movement in Australia. It is a very interesting little place…a lot of hippies and the center of the movement to end marijuana prohibition. We met with Nigel, a lifelong resident of Nimbin, to go over history and phases Nimbin has gone through. Currently, it is becoming a tourist stop. We broke away to do a self-conducted tour of the village for 45 minutes before meeting back up with Nigel to discuss our observations. The strange thing about Nimbin is how open and accepting people are with drugs. For example, we were all walking into Nimbin when a lady asked us if anyone needed cookies. Pretty sure she wasn’t talking about normal cookies either.

Our field trip ended at 4:00 pm when we were dropped off at Orion College. I was definitely relieved and excited to be done with that bus!! Mark decided to teach me how to cook fettuccini carbanara for dinner, Kelly joined us and we all watched Disaster Movie with Lloyd, Wakana, & Emma. After deciding Lloyd and Wakana were not allowed to pick any more movies out to rent, we were all off to bed.

Gypsies, Divas, Tramps, & Thieves

Thursdays are beginning to become pretty routine. Usually I sleep in to recover from the strenuous 2 days of classes, have a light breakfast, go for a long run, shower & get ready for the day, maybe have a little study, hang out for a bit, then head down for beach volleyball. Every now & then UniBar has a Theme Night so we will get dressed up and head down for a while later at night.

This week the theme was Gypsies, Divas, Tramps, & Thieves. There were not many people who got dressed up and went down because it was not a very good theme. People didn’t know what they should dress up as, so it kinda bombed. It had been a while since I went out, so my night began after volleyball. Tony thought it was a good idea to drink goon & lemonade with peaches…similar to Wop. It actually ended up being pretty good.

Once we were finally ready, we went down to 13A to visit with Karoline. She is from Austria and plays on our beach volleyball team. She was not feeling well the weekend before, but thought she was just getting a cold or the flu. However, once Sunday came around, she could hardly move so her roommates took her to the hospital. They admitted her and scheduled her to have surgery the next morning to take out her appendix. She ended up staying in the hospital until Thursday to make sure she had a good chance to fully recover…apparently they do that with all Uni students to make sure they don’t come back and start drinking.

After our visit with Karoline, we continued our journey down to 3 & 4 and eventually down to The Boys’ House. We were not there for too long before we climbed in the 5 taxis Arlo had called to bring us down to The Standard. The night ended up getting quite long…probably too long. Finally I made it home with the help of Rob & Kelly. I was sooo tired…down for the count. Sometime during the night I woke up to spit my gum out, but didn’t want it to be stuck to the carpet so I held onto it. Not one of the best ideas I’ve had.

College Trivia Night

Wednesday started out with my Perspectives on Australia lecture at 10:00. At first it was interesting learning about Australia and trying to define the culture, but now it is beginning to get pretty long. The beginning of class is usually pretty interesting; starting a new topic and discussion, but every week we go through the same routine. We will begin class on the hour and get into the PowerPoint slides, but once someone comes in late, Rob tries to “catch them up with us” and quickly go over the things we just covered. It would not be too bad if it happened every now & then, but every week…it never fails…the same guy is late…and not just by a little bit…he is usually 15-20 minutes late and tries to sneak in…unsuccessfully. I think the next time he comes in late, I’m gonna pop him in the face. Just kidding…but really, I would like to.

Finally, class was done and I was off to the library to do some study. It was a success…I checked Facebook…talked to some friends…wrote out a few postcards…the usual business. Oh yeah…I posted some discussion commentaries for my finance class and read the textbook. Gotcha! I’m sure my Mother was beginning to freak out a bit. I can hear her telling me to stop my procrastinating…but I don’t think procrastination ever leaves you.

Tonight soccer was at quarter to 5. In the beginning of the semester, the international office held a bowling night for all the new students. I bowled with Kayla, Michael and a girl from China…can’t remember her name. Anyways, I saw Michael around campus a few days ago and he asked if I would play on his soccer team because they needed more girls, so I told him to sign me up!

Later, in our Perspectives tute, I got a text from Wilko asking if any of us girls would be able to play on his team, so Lisa & Kelly signed up with him. We would be pushing it again…soccer would be done around 5:30 and we were supposed to play on a team for College Trivia Night at UniBar at 6:00. We brought some extra clothes down to change into, but ended up getting a whole lot sweatier than planned on so grabbed a ride with Alex up to Orion to shower & get ready.

We made it to Trivia just in time…I think we ran down Orion Hill in about 5 minutes! Everyone was able to get free drinks and nibblets for a bit because the new owners of the accommodation on campus were hosting Trivia Night. They even had bought Domino’s Pizza for everyone.

Our team was called Todd’s Ladies and consisted of Todd the American & Todd the Aussie, and Kelly, Lisa and me as their Ladies. We had 3 sheets to be filled out naming all of the 50 States…easy-peasy, Sites of Olympic Games…kinda hard, but Aussie Todd used a sports book for help, and Film of the Year which was really hard. We filled those out as we waited for everyone to get done with their food and sit down. There were 6 categories, each with 10 questions to answer.

Some of the questions were frustrating because someone would say the correct answer, but we usually ended up going with a different one that someone had said. The music category was a let down as well. It was kinda bad that we didn’t know a few of the country songs…we recognized them, but had no idea who sang them…we even missed a Garth Brooks song! After a while it started to get pretty long because the mike wasn’t working and people were talking loud, but overall it was pretty fun. A nice break from the usual hanging out at Orion, watching movies and cooking dinner. Someone said we ended up coming in 4^th out of 20 teams, but I am pretty sure that is not right….maybe 14^th out of 20.

Late Night Beach Exploration

Tuesday was another full day of classes. I got a lot of work done in the library between my lectures and tutorials, so that was pretty awesome. Before leaving I saw Mark, who needed another girl to play on their basketball team, so I signed on right away. I was pretty pumped because I was originally supposed to play, but thought the team was full. It was going to be a bit of a hassle though…I got tickets to go to a NAIDOC [National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committe] dinner at 7:00 with the Girls and the game was from 6-6:30. Oh well…I really wanted to play!

Basketball was really fun…the girls on the other team were kinda girly and not that good, so I schooled them. Someone had to do it. Though I felt kinda bad stealing the ball from them and massively blocking one of their lay-ups…but it was awesome! We ended up beating The Boys’ team…by a lot. Wilko ended up getting a pretty sweet black eye from Hoarey’s elbow.

I caught a ride up with Dario, Mark, & Alana to Orion, had a 5 minute shower and ran down Orion Hill to the Zest Function Room at UniBar for the dinner. I was just in time! They were just beginning to serve the entrée...fresh damper served with cherry tomatoes, camembert cheese and grilled mushrooms and onions. I didn’t think it was too appetizing…kinda slimy. The main course was really, really good. On the menu was Mixed Vegetables (squash, pumpkin, etc), Crocodile & Potato soup in a tortilla shell, Roo Diane: a kangaroo steak served with a creamy mushroom & onion sauce, Grilled Barramundi: a type of fish covered in plum blossom sauce, a Vegetable Bake with grilled polenta and macadamia pesto and cold pasta salads with onions, tomatoes, and carrots. Dessert was a tropical fruit salad served with wattle seed ice cream over the top. Everything was really good, especially the Barramundi. There also had coffee and tea for everyone…I definitely took advantage of the coffee. Lately, I have had quite the obsession with the drink…just can’t get enough coffee…with heaps of sugar and cream of course! They also had an indigenous art exposition, an auction of donated items, a raffle, door prizes, and live bands after dinner.

We checked out before the bands started. Bowzer, James, Sam, and Gemma picked Kelly, Lisa, & I up at the bus stop in front of UniBar. We were off on a late-night beach exploration. First we had to pick up Jimmy before heading to the first location. All the roads around Lismore are quite curvy, but the people around here show no mercy…they keep on the gas…and kill my stomach at the same time! Bowzer & Company are always off on these crazy adventures, finding secluded beaches or laying out on air mattresses on lakes watching the stars and hanging out. May sound kinda creepy, but we have hung out with Bowzer before & he checked out alright. The Girls and I had planned to go out with them a few different times, but it never ended up working out until now.

The first place was in Murwillumbah. It was a caravan park (camping grounds) that was along the beach. We followed a trail up to a lookout point, where we laid against the side of the hill, looking at stars. Since we were not near a city, the stars were really bright! I think I saw about 20 shooting stars while we were there. It was kinda scary though because if you fell down the hill, you would drop off into a lot of rocks and eventually into the ocean. Out in the water you could see The Three Sisters’ Rocks, a group of 3 massive rocks. We tried taking a few pictures before heading farther down along the narrow, narrow path. It took us to a quarry of flat rocks that jutted out into the ocean. It was really awesome standing there, having the ocean on three sides of you and being able to feel the water mist up onto your face. It started getting cold so we hiked back to the cars and onto the second stop of the night.

The next mission was to try floating an air mattress on the lake in Lennox Heads to look out at the stars. We were also going to try fitting all 8 of us on 2 air mattresses. Before we left Uni, we packed a bag with a change of clothes in case we fell in. The first one started sinking after Bowzer, James, Kelly, and Gemma were on because there was a hole in the side. Bowzer was determined to make this operation work so we went back to the car, filled the hole with a patch and pumped up the second air mattress. We didn’t end up using both mattresses cause it was getting really cold and windy and a few of us were too chicken to try it out. Maybe another time when it was warmer and you could actually see the area around you.

It was hard work trying to get everything to work out, so before heading home we made a third and final stop at Mackers [McDonald’s] for some food. We ended up getting home to Orion sometime around 3:30 am…probably didn’t actually fall asleep until sometime around 4:00. I was real excited and looking forward to class at 9:00 am…Not!

A Low-Key Weekend

This weekend was pretty boring. Not very much was going on…I attempted to get caught up on homework…mission was aborted. Friday consisted of sleeping in, calling home, cleaning my room, and going for a run…nothing overly exciting. However, for dinner, Lisa, Kelly, & Sam (Lisa’s Aussie roommate) came over to make tomato, avocado, & cheese sandwiches…that was pretty exciting. Saturday was pretty low-key as well…it seemed like Orion was empty because most people were gone for Splendor in the Grass.

Splendor is very similar to Country Fest or Rock Fest. It is held in fields just outside Byron Bay, but instead of one main stage there are probably 6 or 7 different stages throughout the festival grounds. Tickets have been sold out for a while and originally cost something around $240. A lot of our friends who did not have tickets were going to attempt getting in by 1) jumping the fence, 2) sharing wristbands, or 3) paying the volunteer security guards to let them in. We were thinking about taking our chances to try to get in sometime over the weekend as well, so Saturday night we came up with the Perfect Plan.

We hung out at Canada House for a bit, perfecting our Rock Band skills. Canada House consists of Rob, Gordon, Chris, and Brandon, who are all Canadian and live in a house just off-campus. Brandon had actually just left the week before to head back to Canada.

Back to the Plan…we decided to leave Lismore around 7 pm, once Gord was done with work at The Square on Sunday night, and attempt to jump the fence. We found some cushions & a piece of carpet to put over the fence [the top was supposedly barbed-wire] and were ready to go.

Sunday was spent catching up on homework and taking a little snoozer. We got ready and headed to Canada House around 6 to keep working on the Rock Bank skills, but when it came time to leave for Byron, I backed out. I decided not to go because it didn’t seem very likely that we would be able to get in. I also heard a lot of horror stories about people getting caught while jumping and getting slapped with a fine for a couple hundred dollars…didn’t want to sign up for that!

Lisa & Kelly ended up going with Rob & Gord and got in! Their first attempt over the fence didn’t go so well…they got kicked out…but ended up sneaking in through the fence a little way down and made it just in time to see the second half of the last act. I’m sure they had a good time, but I was content watching Ocean’s 13 and getting to bed early.

The Richmond

Last night was one of the best sleeps I have had since arriving. I was so wiped out from camping that I just fell into bed after supper. I tried sleeping in as best as I could, but was up around 8:00, rip-roaring, ready to go! This was definitely a good thing because I was able to pop down to the laundry room to wash all my smelly, dirty clothes before anyone else got to the machines. People like to throw the wet clothes from the washers to the tops of the dryer as soon as the machine stops so they can get their clothes in. Very Annoying. But not today…I was able to get in, get my clothes clean, and get out before anyone came around. Success! The rest of the day was spent going for a run, hanging out, and reading some online articles for my finance class.

Since today was Thursday, we had a beach volleyball game down at the Oval. It is part of the social sports on campus and is coed. Our team, The Baywatchers, includes me, Lisa (Stout), Shawn (Scranton), Vera (Norway), Cathy (Norway), Jay (Aussie), Karoline (Austria), Jess (Canadian), Emily (Aussie), and Todd (Boston). All of us on the team live on Orion College, which makes it pretty easy to round everyone up for our games which are usually from 4-6 pm. After we won our game tonight [we are currently 2-0], I hurried back up to Orion to shower and get ready to go out.

For dinner, a bunch of us [Brandon, Alana, Jackie, Sabrina, Lisa, Becca, Kelly, Katrina, Todd, & Karoline] were heading downtown to meet up with Tobin at The Richmond. Though we were a little late (15 minutes) getting down there on the Campus Safety Shuttle, Tobin was never showed up. [Later we found out his list of excuses…oh well] We had a pretty fun dinner though…it was nice to talk and continue getting to know everyone from the Meebunn-bia trip. Since we didn’t have a reservation, we ended up sitting outside on the patio…it was a bit chilly, but there was a warm fireplace next to our table that helped warm us up. I ordered a chai latte with wedges to share with everyone. It’s strange because the wedges were served with sour cream and sweet chili sauce. The chili sauce is used on almost anything you order…Aussies eat it like Americans eat ketchup. We hung around for a while talking before calling up a Maxi Taxi to carry us home. It fit all 11 of us and cost about $1/person.

When we got back the Rec Deck was full of people. There was a Going Away Party for a couple of British girls who were finally going home from Semester One. It was awesome because I met up with Sarah from UWEC who is here for 3 weeks visiting her Aussie boyfriend, Arlo. We didn’t hang up there too long though because Joshy, a College Assistant (CA), came to kick all of us out. There is a 10:00pm curfew for parties in case other students are studying or trying to go to sleep.

Lisa, Kelly, & I went back to 13C to hang out and chit chat for a bit before heading to bed. We were trying to figure out a plan for Splendor in the Grass, a music festival in Byron Bay, which was this coming weekend. Lisa had an urge for pop and chocolate, so we ended up driving to a petro station to fill her cravings. Peta, Lisa’s Aussie roommate, came with and let her drive downtown, which actually went pretty well.

I’m still alive...and heading to bed!

Meebunn-bia: Day Three

Our last day of the trip started off bright & early…at 4:30 am. It was pretty easy to get up though…we stayed up late the night before and apparently talked throughout the night, so it seemed like we hadn’t slept at all. Also, all we had to do was throw our sleeping bags in our packs and head off for the top of the mountain. It took us about 25 minutes to reach the top, going under barbed wire fences, over dead branches, and up a rocky incline, but we made it in time for the Big Show! Since we all stayed in our pajamas for the hike we just picked a spot and slipped back into our sleeping bags and watched the sun rise. It was really cool seeing the sun come up over the horizon. Once the sun was fully up, we dozed off for a bit before heading down the other side to our next stop.

We reached another High Ropes course and had a quick breakfast of bagels with PB & J. Gotta love the PB & J! You guys probably wanna make one right now. Anyways, this course was called the Human Umbilical Cord. You & a partner were attached with a rope about 2 feet long at your belly buttons. My partner was Katrina and we were the first group to attempt the course. It was extremely hard, but we made it…in about 25 minutes. Brandon & Todd were the fastest group to get through it, in about 5 minutes. They were way faster than Katrina & I! The bathroom at this site was simply a bucket above the ground with a hole going down a few short feet into the ground. Definitely didn’t smell like any roses to me!

After everyone had completed the course we hiked down to the next activity…another high ropes course called the Free Fall. This one was by far the scariest course of the trip, so naturally I volunteered to go first. Not a big deal or anything…just had to climb up a free-hanging ladder, about 40 meters up and jump off the edge without being extremely secured to anything. I do this stuff all the time…NOT! Usually I am the girl who gets to the top and hangs out for 10 minutes, slowing freaking out until I slip/climb off the edge…but not this time! Oh no…I didn’t want to do that, so I climbed right up there, bringing the safety latch to attach to the tree for everyone who would go after me and jumped right off the edge…no hands! It was probably one of the craziest things I have ever done…jumping off right away, but it was Really Fun! I wanted to do it again!

We had lunch while waiting for everyone to complete their jumps. Guess what we had? Yup…PB & J on flatbread, an apple or orange of our choice, some leftover green beans & snap peas, and a muesli (granola) bar I found in my pack. We had one more activity left before we ended the trip, the HUGE swing. It was a system of bungee cords tied around trees. Once someone was strapped in, the rest of us pulled the rope, hoisting the person up, then the person counted down 3-2-1 and pulled a rope that unlatched them, sending them flying into the treetops. It was pretty fun, but once you were harnessed in, there was some major cramming in your junkal region. We each got 2 swings, but after the first one, most of us were ready to be done with it.

Finally it was time to head back down to the pirate ship to debrief. We went around the circle, answering 3 Questions…What was your Magic Milo Moment? One thing you learned, & Your most Challenging Moment of the trip. My Milo Moment was the sunset/dinner with everyone on the second day, talking/asking questions around the fire as well as the sunrise the next morning. I learned how to clean pots with sand [and they ended up looking better than scrubbing them with a scourer]. The most challenging moment of the trip was probably deciding to be the first to climb up the Free Fall and jumping right away. I really didn’t want to do it, but once I decided to, it was really fun.

We made our final hike down to Base Camp where the crabby bus driver was waiting. We boarded the bus at 4:30 (only a 1/2 hr late). We finally arrived home around 6:45 pm. Jeff, our bus driver, turned out to be a nice guy and drove us to Orion College instead of making us hike up the Orion Hill with our packs. After an long, hot shower it was time for supper…that’s right…PB & J again cause I was too tired to make anything else. Then it was early to bed for This Girl!

Meebunn-bia: Day Two

Our second day began with Tobin trying to wake us up around 6:00 to see part of the sunrise. The moon could still be seen and it looked pretty cool…like a little orange slice in the sunrise. Most of us fell back asleep before we were woken up a second time around 7:00 with Brandon, Tobin, and Steve (my Outdoor Ed prof) running at us…screaming! For breakfast, Jess & I made some oatmeal for Team Rambo. Too bad we forgot to pack some cinnamon or sugar to top it off and help it go down!

After cleaning up our breakfast dishes, we got into 3 groups for our Navigation activity. We were to use our compass & map to find our bearings and navigate through the bush. We also carried a radio and first aid kit in case we ran into trouble. The trail was a circle through gulleys, valleys, swamps, up, down, & around a ridge, then back up the hill to camp. There were 15 painted cans along the way that we were supposed to find & assure us that we were on the right trail. Though it wasn’t too difficult, we had a hard time trying to find Cans 3 & 4. In my group were Alana, Jackie, Sabrina, and Becca. We ended up cutting the trail short because we had lost so much time trying to find it…we were also the last group of the three to leave camp. Oh well…we made it along alright disregarding that little mishap.

Since we were late getting back to camp, we packed up our things and hiked along to the next activity with everyone else. Once we reached the next site, a high ropes course, we were able to make a quick lunch of PB & J on flatbread with an apple. This course was called the Flying Fox. We hiked up along two different elements (sections of wire, one for your feet and one for your hands), then climbed up a pole to get to a platform. There we were secured to a wire line running across a pretty steep valley (with a lot of rocks below us) to the opposite where Steve would pull us in. The only thing you could hang on to was the ropes from your harness. It was pretty much a zip line that you would swing across. Before you could jump (yes, you had to jump off the platform yourself) you had to call out a phrase or song or the opposite side could respond and let you know that it was clear & safe to jump. Some of the phrases were: “Marco..Polo” “You’re a bit Flat-Chested…But You’re Alright!” and “Nicky Dog..Dicky Nog” (sorry..inside joke).

Once everyone had their turn, we began to hike down to Base Camp telling our Life Stories along the way to someone new. Once we refueled & refreshed, we were on our way to the next stop…hiking up a really, really steep mountain. The plan was to try to hike up it fast enough to catch the sunset at the top. Tobin & Steve told us that once we reached a pirate ship, we were halfway there. We were all pretty excited that we reached it in about 10 minutes…little did we know that it was not even CLOSE to being halfway…I don’t think it was even 1/20^th of the way! When we came to a fork in the trail we could choose to go straight (a steeper, but quicker way to the top) or to go to the right (a flatter, but longer way). We ended up taking the straight, extremely steep path! We probably hiked a 45 degree angle for about ½ hour before coming up to a campsite. By this time we were dripping sweat (and probably blood & tears as well), so we ditched our packs against the picnic tables…then along come Steve & Tobin and burst the news that we were going to continue up, to the very top of the mountain. The camp that we had stopped at was for high school students…dang. Another 15 minutes later, we could finally breathe and take a break. We made it for the sunset and it was definitely worth it! Everyone got some pretty cool pictures in front of it. Brandon set up his tripod and got some good group shots as well. None of us looked too good for the picture, but it was pretty cool to be that nasty and have such an amazing background for the picture.

The sun set pretty fast and soon it was dark. We had about another 35-45 minute hike ahead of us to the campsite. Steve was leading us while trying to remember where an old hut was that we were going to try to stay in. It was pretty hard trying to hike…in the dark…without a torch (flashlight). Once we ended up finding the hut, everyone started making dinner. We were pretty exhausted and hungry from the day’s adventures. Our food group made Cous Cous for dinner with peas & green beans. We had Tim Tam Slams for dessert. Tim-Tams are biscuits (cookies) that you bit a corner off each side then use it as a straw to drink up Milo (hot chocolate). They end up melting in your mouth and are a really good treat…definitely a good way to end our big day out!

Later, after everyone was done cooking and cleaning up, we sat around the fire and talked. Tobin started a game or discussion, where he asked a question of any nature to either one person or for the group to answer. If you had a good story to go along with the topic, you could share. Not much of a game, but a good way to get to know everyone. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip because I LOVE Questions!! We talked about tons of random things...anything from stories of our families, crazy rituals we do with best friends to serious stories about death, mortgages, and the financial crisis. Never thought I would be talking finance, especially mortgages, with a group of friends around the campfire, but I enjoyed it. Along with our discussion, Tobin sent around chocolate pieces with fruit & nut…Cadbury…only the best.

Bedtime was around 11:00 pm. We decided to get up around 4:30 am the next morning to try to catch the sun rise. The hut was supposed to fit 10 people on the cots, but only 8 beds could be used cause 2 had holes in the tarp. We ended up managing to fit 10 of us in there because some people doubled up. The rest of the group decided to sleep outside, under the stars. In the hut were Anna, Amon, Lisa & Kelly, Katrina, Jess, Todd, Me, and Alana & Jackie. I didn’t realize at the time…actually not until we were back on-campus a few days later…that Jackie & I had slept-talked during the night. Apparently she woke once and yelled at Alana to get out of the bed they were sharing, so Alana got up and Jackie went back to sleep. Then Jackie woke up, freaking out about a bug that was in, near, or around the bed. I heard this and started to freak out as well, asking her where it was. We ended up waking everyone in the hut up, before falling back asleep. I didn’t remember any of this in the morning. I was soo tired, I was delirious!

Outdoor Ed Trip #1 Meebunn-bia: Day One

Outdoor Education is one of the units I am enrolled in here at SCU. During the semester there are two field trips that we go on…one to Meebunn-bia and another to Girraween. We go to Meebunn-bia for 3 days/2 nights and Girraween for 4 days/3 nights. The first one is not too bad…the whole group stays together and we spend each night cooking & sleeping at the same site. For the second trip, most of the time will be spent in separate groups. We will also be doing most of the navigating, cooking, and sleeping on our own…haha…finding the actual site and putting up the tents that is. Monday to Wednesday, July 20-22 was the trip to Meebunn-bia. It is about 2 hours away from Lismore, in the state of Queensland to try to give you a better picture. I am not sure how much land Meebunn-bia is on, but it is a lot…I am hoping to ask Steve, our instructor this week in class.

We formed groups to cook in…mine was Team Rambo: Lisa, Kelly, & Jess. We did the shopping on the Friday before so all we had to do Sunday night was throw everything in our packs and be good to go! Oh yeah…we also had a creation to make. We bought some white tanks that we turned into “Team RAMBO gear.” The fronts had our name as well as a picture of Rambo’s huge knife, and a sketch of his abs (which would hopefully line up with our own belly buttons to help us look real tough). On the back was a Kill Count, which equaled 3 for the number of days on the trip as well as “Live for Nothing or Die for Something.” Pretty bad ass.

The plan was to stay the night at Lisa’s (again) since she had the closest apartment to the hill down to campus [we had to be down there by 6:30 the next morning]. However, I ended up calling the Rents around 12:30 and talked for ages, so I ended up heading back to my apartment so I wouldn’t wake those girls up. My sleep was terrible though…I kept waking up, afraid I would oversleep and not hear my alarm. But I was up & ready at 5:45…lucky me.

Day One

At last we were on our way to Meebunn-bia! Once we got there we were introduced to Tobin, who would be our guide for the next three days. We began the day off with a hike up the face of a cliff…with our backpacks on. I’m not sure, but I think they weighed about 30 pounds? Maybe? When we reached the top we stopped for a quick lunch break. Our lunch consisted of flatbread with cold pizza sauce and cheese with an apple/orange. It was a good place to stop…we were able to see our surroundings pretty well and took some cool pictures.

Lunch was done quite fast and we were on to our next stop. We hiked for about a mile until we came up to a high ropes course…in the middle of the bush…strange. Once we got harnessed up and learned how to properly latch onto the yellow “safety” spots, we were up & climbing. There were 3 different “courses” to choose from, with 3 being the hardest. Since we were Team Rambo [and Rambo isn’t scared of anything] we decided to start with 3…not one of the best ideas we’ve had. We probably spent about 2 hours on all of the courses before heading to our last site of the day…our campsite. Throughout our hikes, we also saw a lot of wallabies hopping through the bush.

The campsite wasn’t far from the High Ropes course…just up the hill. Once we got to the top, we spread out the tarps, put up the poles, and threw the second tarp over the top of the poles and that was our tent. Then we got out our stove, put some lighter fluid in the cup, and lit it up. The menu for the night was penne pasta with sauce & cheese.

After we had cleaned up for the night, we started playing campfire games. One was called “Honey, I Love You, Would You Give Me a Smile?...Honey, I Love You, But I Just Can’t Smile.” Here’s how it goes: one person is in the middle of the circle and says the first line to someone in the circle, trying to get them to smile, and you keep going to different people in the circle until someone smiles. Another game was for each person to pick a fruit and had to say it 3 times then pick someone else’s fruit and say it 3 times as well, all while trying not to show any teeth, then as the game went on your tongue had to be out, etc…kinda hard to explain, but it was fun.

While we were playing games, there were all kinds of possums that were trying to steal our food from the table. They are gross little creatures…real ugly. Finally it was time to hit the hay…but instead of sleeping in our little tent we created, everyone decided to sleep outside under the stars. Since we were literally in the middle of nowhere, there was not any light from a city or cars that affected the sky. The stars were amazing! I don’t think I have ever seen that many stars out at night…and they were all so bright! It wasn’t too chilly sleeping outside…I had a lot of layers on…a tank, t-shirt, thermal, sweatshirt, and my fleece. Kelly & Lisa ended up sleeping together in the same sleeping bag because Kelly couldn’t get hers zippered up…I’m sure they stayed warm that night!