Laid Back Down Under

Last night I spent a leisurely time in the internet cafe, posting here, chatting with various persons on skype, emailing clubs, etc. All of this was because it was raining a lot outside, and I had a barbeque to go to at 6, or so I thought. At 5:30 I went upstairs to get my map and head out, and I discovered that the barbeque was actually at 5! I finally biked there, and it started raining again about 5 minutes after I left, and I got slightly lost so by the time I got to the barbeque to meet these crew people, I was completely soaked. Luckily for me they had started late, and there was plenty of sausage left to go around. I've eaten sausage more times in the past week than I had in the previous six months, but Aussies really love to serve them at barbeques.

Anyway, after showering and changing, I ended up meeting some of the crew team at a bar to play pool, hang out, etc. When I arrived, they were already pretty drunk, and one guy was icing his lips. That's right, icing his lips. Apparently they had decided to do flaming shots, and instead of blowing the flame out like any sane person, he just poured it down his throat like a normal shot. Needless to say the night from there was entertaining, and long, and waking up at 8 for my 9 am art orientation was quite difficult.

I rolled out of bed and figured I'd go to orientation, which couldn't take more than an hour or two, then grab breakfast. I met Pending, one of Courtney's friends and a fellow painter/art student who does these cool deadly cartoon teddy bear paintings in front and we went inside to be orientated. (as a side-note, i had never met Pending before, and someone who looked vaguely like him wandered around the front of the art building looking lost for about 15 minutes, I am convinced he was just trying to mess with me)

When I grabbed an orientation schedule, I realized that art orientation was going to take ALL day. We met the professors, had a coffee break, listened to presentations from art organizations, had a barbeque (with organic sausages this time), and then toured the art building and painting studios. There was a huge hail storm and flood last year, and as a result lots of depts have state of the art equipment now. the photo lab has individual cubicles for each person and a conveyor belt that develops color photos!

After the tour one of the professors, Peter, brought us to the university house and got us some beers, then the dept head came over and brought some more! The teaching staff is very laid back and Ruth, the dept head, already said I could go on field studies trips (meaning I will miss 9 days worth of class).

After my epically long orientation I came back to the hostel and hung out with some of my friends there, and Pending came over from campus. After some interesting conversation with the bar regulars we went to meet my roommate at a club with a random guy (he bartends and wants to own his own bar, and for me to not have a boyfriend, thank God Pending was there!) we met at the hostel. There I witnessed:
--My first barfight (nothing serious, just some guy causing a fuss and getting owned by the bouncer)
--Tons of people dancing to Tina Turner, awesome
--The most disturbing music video I have ever seen. Unfortunately I do not remember the name of the song, but it involved a guy dancing in his underwear, and then when I looked back, he had no skin and was ripping off pieces of himself and throwing them at women, who thought this was the coolest thing ever
--food available after 5 pm, in the form of bad pizza that stands sell to drunk people (the aussie version of ghetto dogs)

Anyway, after such a ridiculous night I am ready for a relaxing weekend! I might even explore steaking out a space in the communal fridge I found at the hostel, although it is full to the brim at the moment...