AUS5- Beef Salad

Update: This place does have showers. They were down the hall, of course. Why didn't I look there? Oh yeah I did, about 8 times. Why they magically decided to show up last night is beyond me. I think it was the best shower of my life though.

Today was amazing and terrible at the same time. Is that possible? yes. Y'all know my two least favorite things, right? ** 1)being cold 2) being wet while I am cold** Well, today started off with a brisk 2 mile walk in the rain with a temperature of 30 degrees C to my first welcome session. I'm such a wimp with cold weather. I found out on my way back tonight that I probably took the world's most complicated route to the university this morning. Ya live and ya learn, right?

My hostel. My room is actually the 4th window

on the corner. Beautiful view from the room!

The meeting session was highly information. So much so that I have absolutely no idea what to do next. Immediately after the session was a "campus race". This included everyone being split into teams and following clues in order to note many different areas on campus. It was God's will that put Rochelle, who had attended a campus tour yesterday, in my group. We made it back to the office in first place! Good thing too bc if I would've been out in the cold rain for another hour, I would've convinced myself that a $2,000 body jacket is justifiable.

I also made a friend today who has a rather funny story. It is too great to not let you guys in. So he introduces himself...."Hey my name is (lets say Casey - probably shouldn't put whole names on here) but people call me Bruce." Whatttt. Why would they do that? Casey and Bruce sounds absolutely nothing alike. Turns out, his last name is Lee. Even funnier though is that he actually broke his arm once amidst a karate kick. Isn't that great? I thought it was. Well, the story - not the broken arm.

This is where the fun started. First and second place teams had to compete for the winner's prize. This competition had each person tie two balloons per foot to each ankle. At the start time, you just run over to the other team and try to pop others balloons. The losing team is out whenever all of their balloons have been popped. Y'all, apparently this is something everyone does (except for us Louisiana residents). I was embarrassingly scared. Everyone was acting like this was normal. Are we really going to just attack each other and kick each others' ankles? I like my legs un-bludgeoned. Is this really a "fun game"? Lord, keep me here. This one guy from India explained to me that, when he was growing up, they took turns. They went head-to-head one at a time. Is that better? I don't know. The start time came about 3 years before I was mentally prepared and I felt my old soccer skills immediately arise from the dead. Long story short, our group ended up winning that as well. I earned 3 free drinks for the welcome party next week and a SAH-WEET uni water bottle.

I went with a few new friends of mine to lunch right after in a neighboring building. The sun was finally starting to come out and I could see refuge ;). I ordered a beef and potato salad. Does that not sound amazing? It was. I could eat that for many days in a row.

beef and salad? Only in a dream.

Another example of the strange avians.

After lunch, Bruce and I went to see if we could sneak in a tour of our soon-to-be new home. The QMB is so baller. Before the tour, I felt cheated on the amount I was paying these people. After the tour, I feel like I should also be required to hand over my first born. This place is amaze-ballz. I cannot explain it to y'all via blog text. Number one on my excitement list is that each room has their own heater. First floor has many common areas such a a HUGE study room, printing area, and gym. Not common findings were the lounging theatre room, ikea sized kitchen area, bike parking garage, and four musical rooms wherein you can sing or play drums/piano/whatevs to your heart's desire in a soundproof box. I don't really play any musical instruments but that drum set looked like a good time. On one of the levels, there are two sky rooms which have cooking, seating, and tv areas in a glass box overlooking the city skyline. Oh, did I mention the rooftop terrace? THERE IS ROOFTOP TERRACE. Multiple electric grills, seating areas, and MY GOD THE VIEW.

We walked away from here and were stuck in a state of awe for a good ten minutes. Are we famous? Why are we staying here? This will ruin our expectations of any future housing.

The rest of the day comprised of us self-touring, walking up random staircases, opening doors we probably shouldn't have, and seeing some pretty cool things.

• there are 12 libraries

• one of the libraries has an entire case of crap on the 3rd floor. It literally is an art exhibit of different types of shit. I am not kidding. One window was titled "Shades of Brown".

• There is a free museum of all things Pompeii. There was even a leggo representation of the city and also other leggos you could just play around with. Mark, I thought you would've had a blast here.

• There are two different flushers. One for number ones and another for number twos

• They say "no worries" instead of "you're welcome"

• In the biology building there are jars of all kinds of crazy creatures. The platyhelminthes were my favorite.

• They have Subway, KFC, and Krispy Kreme.

• We found a pharmacy building with many old Rx relics.

• Shoutout to the Bolton's HealthMart fam <3

• there is a "barff road" on campus

• the fire escape doors do not have alarms hooked up to them

• there is such a thing as underwater hockey. People do this. You wear matching wet suits, snorkels, and sticks while trying to get a puck into the other team's trough.

• video of water hockey!

• There is an underground hallway that is set aside for the graffiti-talented.

• timtams and mars bars are yummy

walking up-hill to the quadrangle

J and B being good with directions

this staircase was beautiful with it's stained glass!

MILLER FAMILY GUESS WHAT

Despite the cold and rainy weather, I had an amazing day touring the campus and seeing Sydney Uni.

The jet lag hit me like a sack of bricks at around 3pm. I still managed to make it back to the hostel, have an amazing coffee, and write this blog post! I cannot wait to have my room at QMB set up and a place to stay (with wifi and a bed that I can nap in whenever I'd like). I guess I can wait a few days more though because surf camp starts tomorrow!!

7/16/15

#AustraliaTrip