Thursday, 21 May 2009
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"Put Your Records On" and "It's ALIIIIIVE!"
It's "Loud Shirt Day," today. Loud Shirt Day is an initiative of "Deaf Kids Talking" here in Australia, who's primary focus is to support deaf and hearing impaired children throughout the country so they can learn to speak, hear, and listen.
Weerona's participation in this event is to host a Loud Shirt Day "Karaoke Night" over at TC (the tennis club) next door - the college has rented out the upstairs level of the club for Weeronians and has arranged for each floor of each block to participate in a Sing-Off competition. They're asking for a gold coin donation at the door (that's either $1 or $2 dollars, depending on which gold coin you use) which will go to the Deaf Kids Talking organization.
Imagine 215 uni students wearing the brightest, flashiest, and (clearly by default) the ugliest shirts you've ever seen, crammed into one room and an outdoors terrace belting out old 80's hits and current chart-toppers and you'll get a pretty clear image of what my night is going to be like. :D
Do I take this opportunity to point out that, as I am an international student and had extremely limited luggage space available to me, I neglected to bring any incredibly vibrant T-shirts with me? Probably not. ;)
It's Aliiiiive!
If you're wondering at all where I could possibly have disappeared to in the last few weeks and what thrilling adventures I've been up to during the abandonment of my blog, the answer is simple, and a definite let-down.
I've been studying. Massive amounts of studying: Anatomy, Chemistry, Psychology, and Human Growth, Nutrition, and Exercise are remarkably demanding subjects, especially with final exams rapidly approaching.
Anatomy, in particular, has been a major focus for me over the past weeks as 75% of my final grade depends on my final exam performance both on paper and in the lab. Fortunately, Dr. Gregg Peoples (my subject and degree coordinator) is a brilliant and really understanding professor who's arranged that, for the remainder of the session, we'll be put through several practice exams in the lab to help us prepare for the final practical exam (undoubtedly the most daunting of my upcoming exams).
In what free time I've had, I've been...sleeping. Yup. Uber-productive! Nah, I'm still living with the marvelous effects of mononucleosis, so I'm in a pretty constant state of exhaustion, hence the ridiculous quantities of sleep.
*****
Winter's pretty much arrived, now. I officially had to wear my jacket for the first time the other night, on the way to Ryan and Kieran's play at Uni - a hoodie just couldn't quite handle the chill factor. Still, like Southern California. the days remain at relatively pleasant temperatures, usually requiring little more than long sleeves or a sweatshirt and (on the days that it isn't raining) the sunshine feels really intense which I love.
The rain is something I'm not entirely used to. I can pretty much guarantee I've seen more rain in three months here than I've experienced in an entire year in SoCal. No wonder everything is so green here! LOL! Not that I particularly mind the rain - unless, of course, I'm walking to Uni when the heavens decide to be overly-generous to the handful of brown grass blades in Wollongong.
In fact, I kind of like it: there's nothing quite like finishing studying for the day, making a cup of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate (depending on your personal preference), and sipping a hot cuppa with a group of friends in your dorm room, a friend's dorm room, or various common rooms (depending, again, on your personal preference.)
*****
By the way, I am now 100% OK with the fact that the traffic comes from the "wrong" direction, and on the "wrong" side of the road. (Note the quotation marks! I'm actually used to it!) I walk on the left side of the sidewalk, look to my right as opposed to my left before I cross the road, and I even walk to the left side of the car to get into the passenger seat. It's official. I'm pretty much over the whole "culture shock" thing. In fact, my slang vocabulary is increasingly dramatically and I've even been caught at increasing intervals to be speaking in an (apparently) accurate Aussie accent.
Don't even try to imagine what it'll be like by the time I go home in November!
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