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August 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, 2008
The last couple of days have been sweet.Friday my roommates and I went to the store and got supplies for around the house, like foods, I got a towel, and soaps.Then we went to the university to get our student ID cards and a modem.After setting up our modem, we found out that we need to get a router as well.Fortunately, with our modem we don't need an internet service because they have a sweet wireless network thing around here.Friday night we organized a small party at our place with our friends Gordy, Kevin, and Dominic (All Americans from the midwest) and played several rounds of Flip Cup with white wine (because wine is way cheaper than beer here).On that note, it is $50 for a 24pack of almost anything.In order to get a proper height table for the game, we had to set it on top of our 4 chairs and… well, just look at the pictures later when I post them.Which, by the way, I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, our internet is super slow and it won't let me upload pictures from our apartment, so I'll have to do it between classes tomorrow, or something.After the games, we went to the building next door to Gordy and Kevin's apartment and watched Wayne's World; even though we only got 20 minutes into it after goofing around and telling stories, it was hilarious.My roomies and I went home and all passed out in our beds - apparently I snored?!
Yesterday was the s***… just to put it out there.So there is this rugby tournament thing going on between the Auzzies and Kiwis (New Zealanders) and last night was game 2 of 3.Last week the Aussies won and last night the kiwis kicked butt.Since I know nothing about the sport, and neither do Jen or Allyson, we had to get Kevin and Gordy to explain it to us.After lying around the house for a while, Jen Allyson, and I took the bus to Sydney right after 5pm to meet the guys at a popular rugby bar called the Harlequin in an area called Darling Harbour.(Side note, the name the Harlequin reminded me of Tim Alig back home because he has a pair of Harlequin shrimp.) The game started at 5:30 and we rolled in around 6:30, but somehow managed to beat the guys because some lady gave them directions which sent them a few long blocks the wrong way.This bar was sweet, down stairs there were tons of TVs with the game on and upstairs, on either end, there were projector screens.The atmosphere was so fun, everyone had jerseys on and loud shouts would ring out after any big play, no matter which team was excelling.Everybody was sitting or standing around the edges focused on this game.All the couches and chairs were pushed to the outer edges so no one could be blocked by people sitting in front of them.We started off with a pitcher of beer for $12.20 - which filled three glasses… so that was a good deal considering a beer is around $7 for a half pint (I think I've mentioned that before).After about 15 minutes, the guys finally rolled in looking so depressed because the game was nearly over.After three pitchers of beer and an awesome order of "Chips", the game was over and we girls wanted to mingle.On our way to head downstairs, a couple guys made eye contact with me and gestured me over, so I yelled to the girls and we made our way over to them.There were five guys, all around 24 years old, who introduced themselves as Nicolas Cage (real name Guy), Sausage (Nick), Melon (James… was also called sausage, haha), Whitey (sounded like they were saying "wazzie", his real name was Andrew, and the first thing he said to me was "I LOVE YOU"), and last was Wolf (Oliver).Later, they explained the silly nicknames to us, and it was actually quite cute that they have those names for each other.We sat and chatted with them and flicked s***, and found out they were all Kiwis living in Sydney.
After about ten minutes, the energy in the bar had died down so the three of us girls were just going to go back and kick it with our American guys and probably leave the bar for a new one.But, on our way out, Sausage and Melon stopped us and said they were swinging by their place, then to a liquor store ("bottle store" here), and then to Kings Cross, which is a busy busy area of down town, especially on a Saturday night.We talked it over and decided 'why the hell not', but first we had to bid farewell to our neighbors.Apparently, the boys went home almost straight after we left, even though it was super early, I was sad to hear that.The two Kiwi men insisted we take a cab, but since there were 5 of us total, we had to take 2 because drivers don't let people cram.Another thing about cabs, it's rude if you take a cab alone and sit in the back, drivers actually prefer someone to sit up front with them.After a ten minute ride, we ended up on Macquarie street at the Flat of 2 of the guys and where a third was staying because he just flew in from NZ that day.This flat was across the street from the house of parliament there in Sydney… and this was actual Sydney, not a suburb like where we live.Let me just throw this out there, these guys look like average, normal guys just enjoying a rugby match rivalry when we first saw them.They used a code to get into this building that had granite walls and a sweet elevator ("Lift").We went up one floor and were let into their place.It was a mess from all the boys, but it was so freaking sweet, I made sure to take before and after pictures from us cleaning it - I know, funny that we cleaned it, but we did not want to hang out in that mess, plus they went out and got us a fifth of tequila and some OJ for tequila sunrises.Right when we finished up cleaning, the other three guys walked in and were in aw over the clean surfaces.I bet that doesn't stay clean for too long… but it was worth it for the night.Next, I taught the guys and Jen (the Canadian roomie) how to play a drinking game called moose, the first one I ever learned at the good ol' Lambda Chi Alpha.Jen lent me a Canadian quarter (which has a moose on the back of it) for bouncing, and the Kiwis thought it was pretty funny but the game didn't last long since not everyone could maintain attention for too long.The guys mostly wanted to watch another game of Rugby that was on the tv.Sometime in the midst of all this, I asked what the Kiwi cheer was for sporting events because the Aussies yell "Aussie, aussie, aussie, oi, oi, oi, aussie, oi, aussie, oi, aussie, aussie, aussie, oi, oi, oi!!"And apparently Guy and Whitey both knew it - instead of a cheer, it was a sort of battle shout and dance, which they claimed they couldn't do it because it had to be done naked.Fortunately, after much coercion, Wolfy turned the game off and told Guy he'd have to do it if he wanted to watch his sports.So, Guy and Whitey got up and did it, with clothes on though (Don't worry, mom!!).It was the most hilarious thing I think I've seen, ever.Awesomely enough, I got it on video and will post it as soon as I figure out this internet crap!!You guys will love it.
After the games and stuff were done, we made our way over to King's Cross, via cab again, and stood in line for a bar called The World Bar.It was packed and apparently popular.On our way in, the cover charge was $15, but one of the guys paid for me to get in, and one of the bouncers handed me a ticket for a "complimentary glass of bubbly".Once we made our way to the back, where the bar was, Whitey ordered six glasses of "CC" and something else - which I think is whiskey and tonic water, and, even though I dislike whiskey, it was actually good, but I stuck with my champagne.We danced for a while and enjoyed the scene; I even had some guy walk up to me and ask if I wanted him to take a picture of us all, I said sure, so those pictures will be up there as well.
After maybe an hour, we bounced from the bar to go hang out with Guy's cousin, in what they call a "backpacker" but we would call it a hostel.This Hostel was about four stories tall and packed with people from all over the world.We just went up to the roof and hung out, it was pretty hoppin'.At one point, guy was walking around without shoes on, and I guess Melon had convinced him that he stole Guy's shoes and threw them off the roof… but I guess that was a joke and Guy got them back later.We hung out there for a good chunk of time, and then decided to make our way back to the flat to call it a night.Right after walking out of the hostel, we saw a sweet fountain, which I took a couple pictures of, and we caught our two cabs.Apparently, the cab I was in came first and there wasn't another one yet for the rest of the group; so while they waited, melon thought it was a good idea to take off all his clothes except for his underwear and take a swim in that fountain.Allyson told me that some cops even came up to get him out of the water, but just stood looking at him and laughing… wow, right?Later on, the guys made fun of him for swimming in what was probably a great deal of bum pee.Aside from Guy, we all crashed at the flat and, for some reason, the guys woke up at 8am.It was ridiculous.
We sat around and figured out how we were going to go about getting home.We left the flat around 10am and proceeded to try to navigate our way around town, without much luck.Eventually we found our bearings and decided to get breakfast, which was more difficult than you'd think because most businesses aren't open on Sundays.We did, however, find a nice place that was serving breakfast.After that, we attempted to head to a bus stop and sat at one from 11:50 til around 12:20 before we realized that the schedule must not be accurate because the buses kept stopping at the stop across the street, but not at ours.So, we went across the street and waited another 20 minutes.One bus, which we thought was good to go, drove by without stopping… we had forgotten that you have to flag the busses down here, and were pretty pissed.Yet another 20 minutes later, another bus we thought we were able to take stopped and we asked the driver if it would get us to our school and he said no, that we'd have to wait for another bus.So, at around 12:55, an hour after we'd started waiting, the 518 bus rolled up and we finally were headed home.A few minutes into the ride, two kids got on the bus without pay and the driver yelled at them, but they refused to get off the bus.So that wasted some time, some guy paid their fare but the driver still insisted on having the cops meet him later, which was enough to spook the kids into getting off the bus at a stop.They made sure to yell something rude to the driver, but I don't yet understand aussie swears… haha.A few stops later the drivers swapped out, taking even MORE time.So, we eventually got home around 2 or so and we all basically just went back to bed.
I've just finished making myself pasta and we're waiting for our "R.A.s" to come by for some scheduled chat.At OSU, our RAs are around a year or two older than their residents, but the chick I met yesterday was older, it was weird.Also, the alfredo sauce is disappointing, or at least the stuff I bought and made was… so Jen added some of her regular spaghetti sauce and says it's called "Rosae"… I think that may be how it's spelled, but it was much better.
So here I am now, tomorrow I start classes.I only have one class on Tuesday and one on Friday, then I think two each of the other days.In all, I have three classes, but my schedule includes tutorials (recitations), Practicals (labs), and lectures.I'm pretty stoked to be going to school here, but I'm worried I won't be able to understand what the teacher is saying.Just hanging out with the Kiwis last night wasn't enough to brush up on the accents.Oh, and I definitely accidently referred to them in, some way or another, as aussies and the living room in the flat just burst in an uproar, it was hilarious.The rumor that you never call and aussie a kiwi and vice versa is certainly true!!
As I'm writing this, it is 3am Sunday for most of you back home and it is 8pm Sunday night here… how crazy is that?Anyway, since I've got nothing else to write for now, I'll bid you all farewell and update you again soon!!!
Cheers :P
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