Graduation work, outdoors club fun, and my bench
Trip Start
Feb 15, 2004
1
12
34
Trip End
Dec 18, 2004
UNSW,
Australia
Monday, March 29, 2004
Me & My Bench
So between that, and my 4-day job at the Easter horse races, and my teaching practicum which starts after Easter, I think I'll be fine.I've actually been quite busy lately. I spent most of last week in the library, doing my reading for class and working on my first assignment, for my Bilingualism class. While in the library, I saw a great quote etched into the desk I was sitting at: "Life's a bitch. If it was a slut it'd be easy!" I celebrated handing in my problem set on Thursday by going on the Outdoors Club pub crawl. I've learned that all uni clubs and societies have two staples: a barbecue and a pub crawl. This one was in the Rocks, and started at the same pub where my St. Patrick's day started, the Lord Nelson Brewery. Some random middle-aged guy at the bar bought Kristin and me our first round, and then made fun of us for going to UNSW instead of Sydney Uni. I didn't care what he said as long as he kept buying me beer! :) We met a bunch of guys in the club (all of whom seem to be really into rock climbing), but the most exciting part was that Alf from Home & Away was sitting at a table right next to us!!! Then we moved on to a succession of other pubs, and at some point I ended up arm-wrestling with one of the guys. (Sadly, I lost. But I did beat him at thumb-wrestling!) The evening ended as all of our late nights in the city seem to - we wandered around the harbour and ended up at the Opera House. And then we had to sprint to make our bus home.
The people in the Outdoors Club seem pretty cool, though there are of course a lot of Americans in it as well. On Saturday, I went bushwalking (AKA hiking) with some of them in Lane Cove National Park, north of Sydney. The trip leader wasn't a very talkative guy; I probably said all of two words to him the entire 4 hour walk. The three other guys on the trip didn't say much either, so it was pretty quiet most of the time. I did talk to this American guy though, who's from Virginia Beach, is in a frat at Georgia Tech, and skis and surfs. And I talked quite a lot with the only other girl on the trip, who was really nice and actually from Australia. It was a good walk, with lots of steps near the end that kicked my butt. This coming weekend I'm going on the Outdoors Club's big camping trip, called Boree Log (don't ask me why). Apparently 80 people went last year, and for some reason we have to get dressed up in formal wear on Saturday evening. Should be interesting... I don't have a tent or anything, but one of the guys in the club offered me a space in his. As for food, I think I'll be living off of nutella and peanut butter, just like the good old days on the road trip.
Yesterday I spent the afternoon sitting on my favourite bench right on the edge of the Royal Botanic Gardens, overlooking the harbour with a perfect view of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. I love wandering around that area because everytime I do, I'm overwhelmed by this feeling of contentment that I live in such a beautiful city. The Opera House makes me happy. I think what I love so much about Sydney is its perfect blend of natural and man-made beauty. The plaque on the bench has Douglas Whitton's name on it, and proclaims that he was "an advocate of public education as the foundation of a democratic nation." I have no problem with that - thank you Mr. Whitton. But I have now officially claimed the bench as my own, after spending two consecutive Sunday afternoons on it. When I got there yesterday, an older couple was sitting on it, reading with their shoes off. Obviously they were unaware that they were occupying MY bench. So I sat on the bench next to mine (which isn't nearly as nice and faces you away from the Opera House) and patiently waited for them to leave, as I ate my homemade caramel slice (that I bought at the outdoor market in the Rocks) and drank my terrible flat white from a coffee stand near the ferry terminals (that I will never frequent again, no matter how cheap it is!). Apparently my intimidation tactics worked, because they soon vacated the bench, which I then promptly reclaimed as my own. It was a perfect Sunday afternoon, but when I got home I noticed that half of my upper body was bright red. I stupidly forgot to put on sunscreen.
So that's what I've been up to. The big news around here is that swimmer Ian Thorpe failed to qualify for the Olympics in his pet event (the 400m freestyle) after he was disqualified from the race for a false start. There's a big debate going on whether he should be allowed to compete anyway, since he's the defending gold medalist and current world record holder, or whether them's the rules, even for the best swimmer Australia's ever seen. It does seem crazy that a spot on the Olympic team is decided by one race, where if you make one mistake on the starting blocks you're out. We'll see what happens, but a big argument is that it's un-Australian to make a special allowance for him just because he's Ian Thorpe. I guess as they say on the Tough Love radio show on my favorite station Triple M (which my sister decided stands for "Monkeys Making Muffins"), "Build a bridge and get over it!"
And by the way, the Maroon 5 concert sold out in less than a week! Good thing I've got tickets!!
