Anywho, I managed to write and catch up with most of what has happened in the last month, but I didn't really have access to the internet while I was writing and since it's so long and there's so much to tell and show, I'm breaking it up into a few different posts that I'll put up over the next week or so.
After Nerf wars and the start of noise ban, I went home with Charlotte for a few days to Batemans Bay, a bit south of Wollongong on the coast. What a gorgeous place!! It was so nice to get to chat with Charlotte on the drive down and just hang out at a house. I hadn’t realized how much I missed a full-size bed, lounging on a couch with movies, or home cooked food. Over the few days, we chilled with her dad (who I met once before when he came to I-House to talk about being a police officer in New South Wales – such entertaining stories!) while munching and watching movies and went op-shopping, or shopping at secondhand stores. I’ve never really done much of it back in the states, but it’s something I’m going to have to keep up with. There are so many cool, funky clothes and it’s so inexpensive. I got a skirt and dress for under ten dollars! Yay. Other highlights of the trip: some of the most beautiful views and beaches I’ve seen yet, seeing wild kangaroos on the side of the road that proceeded to jump across the road in front of the car when we were driving, and – wait for it – real life BOXING KANGAROOS. Yes, that actually happens. Two kangaroos standing a few hundred metres away, standing on their back legs and punching with their little fists. Except the fists didn’t seem so small with them going at it so viciously. Either way, it was hectic and a great Australian experience to add to the list.
Charlotte and I came back to Wollongong on Thursday, at which point Kathleen and I began our own little project. Kathleen had the brilliant idea to “photoshop” Mark’s romance book, complete with Fabio-esque cover art, with Mitchel’s face (see below). Proud of our handy work, we decided to go one step further and continue to plaster Mitch’s face around I-House since he was still visiting New Zealand and we missed him. This led to us printing various sizes of Mitchel’s face seventeen times and taping it over whatever faces we could find around I-House, including the stick men on the fire warning signs, the kitchen chef that gives warnings, an ad for the free uni bus, and a promotional ad for biking around campus. After people found out we didn’t have exams and were finished with schoolwork, I swear I started hearing evil whispers of “stupid arts degrees” behind me whenever someone passed by. Despite the 10,000 words I wrote in the last few weeks of school, I was absolutely thrilled to be finished so early and have time to relax and spend time with people.
On Friday night, I rode bikes to the beach with Charlotte and Annabel where we had some cheeky celebratory drinks and chatted for half the night,until the rest of the group turned up to barbeque a few hours later. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this, but Australians don’t “grill out” or put hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill, but rather “barbeque”. This always means sausages, and it also usually means on a slice of bread as well as absolutely covered in barbeque sauce. I’ve never met anyone that uses more barbeque sauce per meal than an Australian. That may be one of the few things that I’ve never really come around on. Anyway, I digress. The three of us biked it back to I-House eventually and hung out in the Red Room where we camped out saying hello to anyone that walked past, which was a surprising number of people. Turns out exams are a great time to wander the halls looking for ways to procrastinate! Saturday, I got to play 2v2 soccer with Phil, Ross, and Dylan, some of the soccer boys, on the lawn at I-House, which was so much fun. It’s been so long since I played any kind of short-sided game, and the boys I played with are all so good it was a real challenge to not get schooled every time! Turned out to be a great workout, and I’m really keen to keep playing soccer at home in some way shape or form.
The following week or so was spent basically wandering around I-House and receiving death glares from the studious exam takers among us. I did crank out my last American lit paper that first weekend of November, but aside from that Kathleen and I continued to celebrate being finished. That Wednesday and Thursday night turned out to be fairly big nights with everyone blowing off some post- or pre-exam steam, making the party bus and nights out well worth while and heaps of fun. Thursday morning, a group of us had our last go at UniBar after Elana and Mitchel finished their exam. Best potato wedges EVER, by the way, especially with sour cream and sweet chili sauce. I have got to find somewhere that sells sweet chili in the US, because it has become one of my favorite must-have sauces. Possibly better than ketchup, but don’t quote me on that. The next few days proved to be lazy ones spent at the beach and bumming around I-House and just generally enjoying everyone’s company.
And I think that's where I'll leave it for tonight because one, it's 4am even though it feels like 8pm and because two, that's plenty to read! I'll be posting again soon, but I can't wait to see everyone here in the states, and I miss my I-House family HEAPS. Here's to our (hopefully soon) reunion!
Here and there,
Kiley
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