Footy, Commencement, and Fall Holiday!

My latest video blog entry! Just click and watch me discuss interesting topics like my first footy match, commencement, and plans for spring break (fall holiday).

Also of note is that my roommate Lauren and I are attempting to complete every fitness class that the gym here has to offer. So far, we've done Body Pump, Body Attack, RPM, and Fatburner. We still have Body Balance, Body Combat, Body Jam, Crunch, Leg Express, Yoga, and Total Body Workout yet to complete. Let it suffice to say that all the classes have been pretty ridiculous. Body Pump was the most beneficial, as a resistance training workout, but Attack and Fatburner both had us doing ridiculous moves like the "Superman" (which we later re-enacted after a few beers - watch the video here).

As always, pictures of said activities can be found on Fotki. Enjoy.

St. Paddy's Day

Though not as eventful as the St. Pat's day that I spent in England with Corko (drinking 5 pints of Guiness at noon in order to get a hat), we had a great time here in Australia for St. Paddy's Day. We started out the day hanging out at the beach - I wish I could have brought my camera because we went to a new beach that day with a lot of really cool scenery around. Sometime I will get some pictures for you guys; it's gorgeous! After the beach, we went out to get some costumes for the evening's festitivities. Unfortunately there wasn't much of a selection. Lauren settled on some green felt to make some clovers, Carl got a green hat, and I bought a tube of green paint. The possibilities were endless!

I decided to take a white t-shirt and just write "Green" on it (hence, a "green" shirt - clever, eh?). I wrote "green" backwards on the back as well (doubly clever, eh? Ok, not really). After that, I was thinking that I needed something else to use up all that green paint. So why not paint my face? But not the whole thing, just a beard. Still not satisfied, I got the best idea of all - why not dye my hair to top it off? Yes, that's right, I used green acrylic paint to dye my hair. (Mom, before you freak out, it washed right out, no problem.)

Armed with a good looking crew, we headed out to the Evatt Common Room for some fun times. There was a green mash eating contest (I lost horribly - the potatoes were cold and not very good), and some other fun games. Then we headed out to the bars downtown. We all piled in the train, and there wasn't really enough room for everyone, so I decided to improvise and climb into the overhead luggage rack. It was quite comfortable - I could stretch out and everything! We headed to a couple barsand finished the night with an awesome pizza from a local pizza place.

Sunday I wandered around campus and took some random shots. You can see pictures of St. Paddy's and campus on my new Fotki site (my other one ran out of space so I created a new one). All my other pictures can still be accessed through the previous links, but from now on, all my new pictures will be at http://www.fotki.com/chase453-2.

Pajama Party, Blackbutt Reserve, and Swimming Carnival

This weekend in a nutshell - Pajama Party, Blackbutt Reserve, and the Swimming Carnival.

We started things out on Friday night with a Pajama Party (click for pictures) at the local pub, Shorty's. Our block dressed up as victims of bedbugs, so we painted red dots all over ourselves and got really cool Aussie flag boxers. We also all wore singlets (white tanktops) that we wrote on to indicate we were somehow mistreated by the bedbugs (I was "fondled by bedbugs"). Anyways, the night went well: there was lots of karaoke, skulling songs, pegs, and of course a few people cried by the time the night was over. All in all, a success.

The next day, Jillian, Peter and I set out to Blackbutt Reserve (click for pictures), a local nature reserve. We had a vague idea of where it was, so we hopped on the bus but got out a bit too early. We eventually made it there and started hiking on the trails. One key we forgot was insect repellent. The mozzies (mosquitos) here are killers! So we got eaten up, but still got to see some really cool plants and animals there. We then headed to the wildlife exhibit part of the reserve, where we got to see some really neat birds, koalas, wallaroos, and a few others. The area was contained, but the animals had a large area to roam around, so it was a really nice setup as opposed to a zoo.

After we left the reserve, we hiked to the bus stop, but realized we had about a 40 minute wait. So what better to do than walk across the street to the Blackbutt Hotel and grab a schooner (glass) of beer while we wait! We hopped on the bus and went to the local shopping center to grab a few things. Later that night, Jillian and I went to see "A History of Violence" a cinema. Apparently Aussies don't attend the cinema much and I can see why - they are even more expensive over here than in the States!! A *student* ticket was $11.50, with the adult ticket at $15.00! Popcorn and soda was just as expensive as well. Needless to say, we won't be going back anytime soon.

Sunday was the Intercol Swimming Carnival. Intercol activities are like intramural sports at universities in the states; the different houses on campus (Evatt, Edwards, and International) compete with each other through the semester to win the coveted Sports Trophy. Evatt has won it the last few years. The Swimming Carnival was basically a loosely organized swim meet. They have a 50 metre pool and swam the 50 freestyle, backstroke, butterfly, and breaststroke, as well as a few relays at the end. Each person got points for participating, with more points for those who placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd. I swam in all of the events except for the 50 fly. I did fairly well, but there were some hardcore swimmers there with speedos and everything! I also swam on the Evatt men's freestyle relay. Unfortunately we placed 3rd, but the Evatt Women's team won! At the end of the Carnival, our house was 3rd in standing and 2nd in participation. Not a great start to the year, but we'll have more activities for sure.

That's it for now -- so I wanted to ask if you guys prefer the text format of my past few entries or the video format? Post a comment and let me know.

Sydney

Sydney this past weekend can be summed up with one word - ridiculous. It was an outstanding weekend to be remembered for a while. Some UNI buddies and I travelled together, though we met up with plenty of other Newcastle students once we got there. We headed out Friday and arrived at our hostel, the "Funk House." It was located in a traditional red light district of Sydney called King's Cross (although it's trying to change its image). We stayed there because it was right in the middle of the action. Friday we headed out to Darling Harbour, a beautiful seaside harbour with nice restaurants, shopping and pubs around it. We ate dinner at a place called "I'm Angus" (a steakhouse). It was a bit expensive - we each spent about $40 - but well worth it. Afterwards, we headed to The Rocks district for a bit of bar action. We sang some karaoke at one bar including, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling."

Saturday we went to a local zoo and got to see and hang out with kangaroos, koalas, wallabies and other Australian animals; I can check that off my list of things to do while in Australia! We also checked out Olympic Stadium where the 2000 Olympics were hosted. The place is mostly empty now, but it was amazing to see such a huge place created simply for this event. The exact cost is unknown, but I'm sure it was many many millions to construct this place. It was amazing. Finally, we spent 2 hours taking public transportation back to King's Cross (mostly waiting time amongst a combination of buses, cabs, and trains). We finally set out to the Mardi Gras parade. It was packed! Apparently over 400,000 people attended. We saw lots of, um, interesting people there. At the end, we headed out to some bars and such...

Here's what's on tap for the weekend: Friday is pajama party a local seedy bar called Shorty's,. Saturday begins rugby season, so we're all heading to watch the Newcastle Knights play. I use the term rugby, but there are so many Aussie sports, it's hard to keep them straight - there's Rugby Union, Rugby League, Aussie Rule Football, and lots more... Anyways, Sunday there's an intercol swimming match so I'll probably head out there as well.

Pictures from this weekend in Sydney can be found on my Fotki site. Check 'em out!

Murder Week!

Check out my latest video blog posting about murder week.

Also, I've uploaded some more awesome pictures of Fiji on my Fotki site.

I'm off to Sydney tomorrow for Mardi Gras; I'm sure I'll have lots of stories after this weekend!