That Gushy Post that Had to Happen at Some Point

Today has been a particularly good day. I’m not sure what’s put me in such a radiant mood. Maybe it’s the sunnier weather we’ve had today and yesterday that’s leading into spring, or the endorphins from playing soccer three of the past four days, or the adrenaline from playing Assassin around I-House (I’ll explain), or the fantastic guest lecturer we had in my fiction class yesterday who set in motion this manic creativity high that I’m riding. Whatever it is, I’m running with it :)

I realize as I’ve been writing these posts that I’ve touched on the high points of my time here, but barely acknowledged the little things that have made life as great as it has been. I can honestly say that I’ve been in a generally, genuinely happy mood since arriving in Australia, especially the past few days, and I want to pay proper tribute and gush about everything that I think is responsible for it. So here goes.

I wake up to one of the prettiest, most pleasant atmospheres I think I’ve encountered so far. Looking out my bedroom window, I see the mountains in the distance and the entry way to I-House where there are constantly people going back and forth, day and night. I’m fifteen minutes from the Pacific Ocean and a clean, soft, sandy beach in one direction, and fifteen minutes from my tree-lined, grassy, and forever busy campus in the other direction. I need to take pictures of campus, because it rivals if not trumps any college campus I’ve ever seen. The people constantly walking around campus add to the beauty; people tend to dress much nicer for classes here, and it’s always interesting to see what people are wearing. It’s given me the confidence to break out some of my own dresses that I love wearing but never quite felt comfortable wearing at home! I hope to bring back a bit of Australian style with me when I come back!

There’s always something fun or exciting to do. This has simultaneously led to the improvement of my time management skills in order to accommodate all these activities and opportunities while maintaining a reasonable amount of focus on my studies. The latest and greatest game I-House has turned out is Assassin: everyone who wanted to participate was assigned a “target” to “kill” by tagging his or her back with a sock. Once you kill someone, his or her target becomes your new target, and the game continues until only one person is left. Though it causes much unnecessary paranoia, it’s been a blast trying to track people down, as well as run away. So far my only real brush with death went something like this: Ves points down the hallway, I see HC (I knew she was trying to assassinate me) charging down the toward me with a sock in hand, I drop my book, pen, papers, lanyard with my room key, and sprint away, at some point kicking my slippers off, then somehow ending up one floor above where I started where I sought asylum in James' room, out of breath. Whew. I’m still alive, but if (...or once!) I die, there’s still plenty to do.

Here’s a laundry list of some of the things I’m still looking forward to: tonight’s Tuesday Topical, Performance Night, where everyone at I-House will showcase their talents; Harbour Cruise this weekend, where I-House will get dressed up and catch a boat around Sydney Harbour then go clubbing for the night; formal, another excuse to get all dressed up and have fun with I-House; my mini-thesis for my writing theory class on truth in creative nonfiction, which I’m actually really enjoying writing (who knew schoolwork could be fun?!); the intercollege sand volleyball tournament I've heard about, which will be run just like soccer was, and will be a good day whether I'm watching or playing; and hopefully a bit more travelling around Australia or even New Zealand if I can swing it!

I mentioned that there were a lot of little things that just make me smile. Though they might seem insignificant, there are plenty of things I love about being here that I’m sure I’m going to miss. The multi-grain bread with butter and cinnamon-sugar from the toaster-oven-thing is delicious, and my day always starts out right with a piece of this toast. The keyboards on the uni computers (like the one I’m typing on now) make the coolest clicky noises as you type, and it just makes me want to write; if I ever find a keyboard like this in the states, I’m buying it and using it until after all the letters are worn off. Any given day, I’ll walk down the hall or around uni and hear a handful of languages being spoken within a few minutes; maybe it’s not that unusual, but I love the mixing of language, culture, ages, and backgrounds and how everyone seems to get along. The hot chocolate is the best tasting hot chocolate I’ve ever had. Getting little Facebook notifications every time someone posts on the I-House group wall was almost irritating at first, but now it’s a constant reminder of the close-knit community I belong to. The music is fantastic, and dancing to it is ridiculously fun; I’m confident that my dancing skills are as abysmal as when I left, but everyone has a good time bouncing around with whatever group of people happens to be out on that given night. There’s this thing called public transportation that takes you to school or around town, and it’s free; it’s weird not driving, but I’ve (mostly) managed to figure out the bus system and even though it takes a bit longer, it’s heaps convenient!

That doesn’t begin to cover everything I’ve come to enjoy here, and I haven’t even mentioned the people that make this place what it is, or the changes I’ve seen in myself. Still, I wanted to share what a good mood I’ve been in and show you all back home some of the everyday life things that don’t make it into my big, long posts about big things that happen here. I realized I have roughly six weeks left in Australia, and while the thought of leaving desperately saddens me, I realize I still have six weeks to make the most of my time here and strengthen the new friendships I’ve made. And let’s not forget that that means it’s only six weeks until I get to come home to a loving family and friends who I miss more than I thought was possible! Hope this post finds you all as happy as I am today! =]

Here and there,
Kiley