What college kids do in their freetime

The first week in the village has been quite a success, since school has not started yet kids in the village are throwing parties every night. It is a pretty cool thing when you are at a house party and your RA is also there partying with the rest of the students. Its not like back in the states where RA's just want to get you in trouble, to be honest, Im not exactly sure what the RAs do here. Most parties are pretty relaxed, but the guys in 47 are aussies, and they are crazy. On friday they threw a birthday party for this girl from Long Island, MJ, this was actually my first time meeting her, but at least it was a good reason to party. These little house parties are fun and it definitely saves money from going downtown.

Mondays in the Village

The first Monday at Macquarie was a frantic one. Many are realising (Yes in Australia it is spelled "realising") that they have not packed quite everything needed, myself included. Luckily the Macquarie Center, aka the mall, is a 15 minute walk from the village. This place literally has everything, grocery store, food places, clothing stores, electronic stores, salons, movie theater, even the RTA (DMV) is the in mall! And of course to polish off a long day of shopping, Dave, AKA Mr. New York, takes us to his favorite place to eat, Thai Break, this thai food is off the hook. So what is there to do on a Monday night? Well, since its the first night we decide to go downtown to a little joint called scubar. For some reason this place goes off on Mondays, its pretty small inside but I guess thats why it goes off on Mondays; it doesnt take an excessive amount of people to fill this place up.

so.. about that essay

I know I havent touched this thing in weeks, I have been meaning to but its been hard to find time. Since I am supposed to be writing an essay right now, I figure this is the best time to catch up

Macquarie is cold

So after holiday in Cairns, we have come to find that Australia actually does have a real winter, Sydney has been mostly cloudy and gloomy with a few small rain showers. On the brighter side Macquarie is the coolest campus I have ever seen. Lush trees and vegetation surround and invade the large buildings of the campus. The village that we live in is also very cool, students are everywhere and parties are never in short supply. I have been getting to know my room mates Kiki from China, Stephanie from Maine, and Shirlene from Malaysia, Jordan too, but I already know him. A few nights we have ventured into Sydney. Kings cross is a madhouse on Saturday nights, partiers and prostitutes line the streets while clubs bump the bass that vibrates the street. It is easier to party all night and take a train home while most are riding it to work. This system works well, if you don't mind waiting till the morning to get to your bed.

Scuba

Our last day in Cairns may have also been the best day. The only night that 98% of us didn't parade downtown was well worth it because the ship set sail around 8 am. We were on our way to the great barrier reef, the largest living organism on earth. On this trip we were given the chance to snorkel and even scuba dive for the adventurous. I did not bring a underwater camera unfortunately, but the things that I saw down there were incredible. Yeah, "Planet Earth" is cool, but seeing it in person and being down there with the reef and fish is something that every one should experience. Oysters were the size of basketballs (some even bigger), fish were colorful and some also quite hefty. Jordan, Keola, Billy, and I were all in a scuba group together, being able to enjoy this with some of my closer friends from the trip was truly a memorable experience. The ride back to shore in the evening was rough, however, beers and goggles at the bow of the ship aided the few who were crazy enough to stay out there and get drenched by oversplash of the Ocean. The day was topped off by a ridiculous and final night in downtown Cairns... followed by an early flight to Sydney.. I wonder what I left at Bohemia

Kangaroos, cockatoos, and crocs

After destroying Blue Sky Brewery, and Rhino Bar, and somehow trying to scale the side of the hostel (don't even ask), the rowdy lot of us were yanked out of bed bright and early. It was time for our first Australian tourist experience up in the mountains. Although we saw a whole bunch of cool animals and vegetation it did feel annoyingly touristy, I guess the first day we had to knock that kind of stuff out of the way. The kangaroos, cockatoos, and crocs were in so short supply. We learned a bit about Aboriginal culture, and took a river tour through the forest. Also, I got my picture taken with a koala... I know you will enjoy that.

Ten sticks of DYNAMITE

We landed to a nice warm Cairns, Queensland and everybody was extremely excited to be there after two days of flying. A large group of people took the group flight so we were all semi-acquainted, and if there is one word that was said more than any other, I think it would have to be "rage". We met Steve, Australearn leader for the week, and went straight to the youth hostel Bohemia, where we were assigned rooms and funneled into the narrow hallway. The vibes of a party were already felt. That night we pregamed before dinner, unbeknown to us there was an information session before dinner... least to say, our leaders described us as "Ten sticks of Dynamite" after explaining that the fifty of us were louder then the group of 150 the previous week. This was going to be a good week...