Time is Passing

Sorry. I couldn't think of a good title.

It’s Tuesday night now, I am about to watch A Room with a View after doing a lot of reading for tomorrow. I chose A Room with a View because I have never seen it before and I think it’s supposed to be really good. It has great reviews on Netflix. It was also put in the “feel good” category, which I always like. I have to get up early, I have a ten am lecture. This is the one I feel I have to go to, because it’s Contemporary Art, which is a tough subject, and I think the professor requires us to come, but I can’t really tell. …
I skipped my lecture this morning. It was at nine am, and it was Australia and America, so I feel like I can skip the lecture alright and still figure stuff out by the tutorial, which is on Thursday.
Today, I went to Woolworth’s a couple times, actually, because I just needed some things and I wanted a couple breaks between reading. My classes are really super reading based, I have come to find out. But really today, all I’ve done is eat and go to Woolworth’s, and read. And talk to my mom and Margaret, Ellen, and Anthony on skype. That was really nice. Each time, I just happened to be online while they were. It’s nice to just talk, not planned or anything. And it’s strange to me to have such a strong need to know what’s going on in a friend or family member’s life. I guess I just feel so far away here, I really want to know what’s going on there.

Last night, Monday night, I went to Turf with Olivia, Andrea, and Cassie, a girl I didn’t know before. But it was so fun! I think that was a really good group to be with. On Monday nights, Turf has like a ladies’ night, I think, because they have all these silly drink deals for women. $1 glasses of champagne, for instance. Haha. I’m not sure I have had champagne before coming here, but it’s really nice. It’s fun to drink and not bad tasting, which is how I find most alcohol.
Anyway, Monday night at Turf seems to be a pretty big deal, because tons of people showed up a lot later than us. A lot of them were from RMIT Village, the student housing building, which is actually right next door to Turf. So I got to see a couple different people that I did Melbourne Welcome with! That was nice. I never see those guys anymore.
People were dancing, too, which I can’t tell if it only happens when American students are around, or if Australians dance on their own volition, but the girls and I danced our little heinies off. It was kind of weird, because we felt fine dancing like Americans, which means sort of provocatively and much more fun than how Australians dance, so at one point the people around us just backed away and stood there while we were dancing. We must have made a spectacle of ourselves! Yeah, I’m really not surprised. It is very hard to keep me from getting my groove on if I am in a mood to get my groove on, if you know what I mean. As it is for the other girls I was with. I danced with this guy, Andy, a couple times too. He was in my welcome group. He is also American, I think he goes to school on the East Coast. He’s really funny and fun, though, I hope I get to hang out with him again. He’s like one of those people that you know you will have a good time with if you go out together. I’m not interested in a romantic way, if any of you are thinking that. He’s just a cool guy. I gotta meet some Australian guys before while I’m here, not American!

Oh, and there’s not much news on the moving-to-queens front. I need to fill out forms and get my money moved from UniLodge to Queens. I spoke to the UniLodge people yesterday, and the guy was like “it looks here like your payments haven’t even come through.” I was like “… ummmm, no, that is wrong.” But I guess if they haven’t come through, that means Oxy doesn’t have to get the money from UniLodge to Queens, they can just send all of it to Queens from Oxy.
Oh my goodness, I talked to Monika though, the girl who moved out, and she said they wouldn’t give her back what was left of that month’s rent that she had already paid, even though she wasn’t staying for the rest of the month! That was about $450!!!! That is not okay! And not legal, I don’t think. They have to give her her money back. My god, the people here. I still can’t tell if I am actually giving rent to some sketchy organization that doesn’t keep financial records, or something.

Well, time to watch my movie. I need to go to bed early so I can get up tomorrow. Uggghhh early class. Gross. It was so, SO good to talk to my friends and mommy today! I love and miss everyone! G’day!

oh, p.s. sushi here is AWESOME. There is a place on campus that has $2 rolls that are muy bueno, and the sushi place underneath the UniLodge building has rolls for $2.50 that are also muy bueno!!! And they are good sized rolls! Nom nom nom I will be buying a lot of sushi while I'm here. :)

Shopping and Jazz Clubs

Alright, friends and family, it is about time I get out of this hellish place called UniLodge. So a few days ago, the light in my bathroom wouldn’t turn on, but they fixed it a couple days later, but now it doesn’t work again. So they just posted a sign on the door saying to use bathrooms on other floors where the light does work, because they can’t get someone to fix it until Monday.

-__-

So, coming back from this jazz club tonight, I walked past the bathroom, saw the sign, then took the elevator down one floor to use their bathroom.
Oh guess what? This bathroom’s pretty much flooded! The floor is completely covered in water. They had to make up for the fact that the lights weren’t broken, so they messed up the plumbing. Not to mention there was no toilet paper in the stall…

Really??? Really!!! What the heck is going on with this place??? My lights won’t work, there’s a whole in the hallway window, downstairs the bathroom’s flooded. I wonder what’s wrong with the other floors. Monika said when she lived here her fridge smelled like a decomposing body, so that’s a start.

You know, earlier today, I felt sort of weirdly bad for leaving UniLodge, like I’m giving up or something and it could be some great learning experience to stick it out here blah blah blah. Like I just met this guy this morning in the elevator, who was extremely friendly and I feel like I would like to know him better, but I doubt I will ever see him again if I leave UniLodge. So I felt sort of bad for leaving. Like, awww, now I won’t know this one friendly guy. Well, now I don’t feel bad. :)
Maybe in the next couple days of me still being here, I will see the guy again, I think his name was Hugh, and we will become biffles (best friends forever, for you older generation folks) and then we will make sure to exchange numbers and hang out all the time even after I leave. Possible. Not probable. Too bad.

So now I am holed up in my room, as far away from the extreme discomfort I get near the bathrooms or kitchen (though the discomfort is seeping in… the handle fell off of one of my drawers. !!!), in my jammies and slippers, with my heater on and the rest of my Mint Crush Tim Tams, and I will tell you about my day.
* side note: the handle of my dresser drawer! Like, oh my God! The place is crumbling down around me! I HAVE to get out!!! *

today I did a lot of things. I first dropped off a copy of my original housing application at Queens, came back a while later so they had a chance to look at it (luckily I listed Queen’s as one of my top 3 colleges I wanted to go to) aaaaaaaaand they officially ACCEPTED MEEEEE!!!!!!!!!! WHOOOOOOOOOOO I LOVE THE WORLD!!!!! I think the whole housing application process thing was a bit of a formality, because the Vice Master seemed to really like me, and I really liked him, and they really wanted to fill the room. So I ran back to UniLodge and I was like “FILL MY ROOM ASAP” and they were like, “okay, okay, calm down” and I ran off singing show tunes.
I have actually had some funny songs stuck in my head these past couple of days. Songs that fit my situation. Like “Part of you World” from Little Mermaid, and “Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want” by The Smiths, and “I Want You to Want Me” by… whoever that is.

After that, I skyped with my daddio to let him know the deal, and then Olivia and I just went into the city to sort of waste time and do some shopping. The first shopping I’ve done here! Which would seem like a feat for me, but here in Australia, the fashion is different. Not in an obvious way, but when I look at clothes, most of them don’t attract me right away, because they’re just not quite… there. They’re just different. And I am also quite the bargain hunter, so most things are just too expensive. I might have to get used to that, though, because lost things here are more expensive than they would be in the States.

Olivia is still having a bit off a tough time here, because she gets homesick pretty easily, so I just hung out with her the rest of the night. We went to dinner at Queens, where I met more people who I told I would be moving in with. They were all very excited for me! And all congratulatory that I got in. Maybe they feel it is pretty exclusive to live there. Well, the Vice Master said the Australian students are “sent through the ringer” when it comes to applying and getting in. The international students don’t have it so bad, but there still was no room for me on campus originally, so…
Anyway, we went to dinner, then hung out with the people on her floor. It is actually AWESOME that they all hang out in the hallway. Because then you can just go out your door and say hi or sit down and chill out. A bunch of people tonight were going to a 21st birthday party for someone in Queens. I guess 21st’s are a big thing here too… even though they don’t mean anything… it’s kind of weird. I think they just like an excuse to all dress up in theme. The theme for tonight’s was Arabian. The boys looked HILARIOUS with makeshift turbans that matched their ties and/or pants. One guy was wearing slightly see-through pants, because they were flowy and Arabian-ish, like Aladdin pants. Or MC Hammer. Either way, they were all really interested in meeting me and were excited for me to come and were all fun and easy to talk to. I spoke to more guys than girls, I think, which was interesting. I’ve always been more of a girls’ girl.

Those guys all went to the birthday party, which Olivia wasn’t invited to because she didn’t know the girl all that well. Then I convinced Olivia to go the jazz club that a couple people were going to, including this one guy, Ray, who was on her floor and who was very nice and wanted us to come. I just thought Olivia needed to get out and have something take her mind off of missing home. I’m not sure if it worked, but at least it was something to do. Olivia tends to not think in the present, so she will think about how long it is until she goes home, or until her parents come to visit, or if she might be able to leave early, stuff like that. That’s really detrimental, I think, to her having fun here. You can’t just be counting down to going to home all the time. You won’t be able to appreciate what you’re doing here.
The jazz club was … interesting. Haha I’ve never been to a jazz club, I don’t think, but it was sort of just what I expected. It was dark and small; everyone got quiet and watched the performers when they were onstage. I felt a little awkward because I didn’t have a scarf or thick-rimmed glasses. Soooo hipster. I saw many little bobbing hipster heads in the audience. Seriously, the guys there had that sort of fancy trimmed facial hair, like a goatee or thin beard outlining their jaw. They looked like Collin Farrell on a really bad, bad day. Not quite so attractive, though. I think the people from Queens who we came with went because a girl living in Queens’ brother was playing saxophone.

Olivia and Kirsten (another “Queener” as they would call her) and I all went back at the little break between sets they took. I just came back to UniLodge, because I can’t quite move into Queens just yet, and Olivia and Kirsten went to Queens. I’m thinking I will pack up some things tomorrow, even if I don’t get a call that they’ve filled my room. I’ll just be prepared when they do call. :)
And I think Olivia and I will go to St. Kilda tomorrow. Which is supposed to be this really pretty beachy place near the shore somewhere.
Oh, and I got my concession card today! Which means my tram tickets are half price. Awesome. So yep, I need to go to bed now. I am almost over this cold, it is almost gone. So I just need to get good sleep and take some more vitamin C and work it out. Goodnight! Or g’day! Whatever. I love and miss everyone a TON! xoxoxo