Back to the future

This past week, with the exception of Tuesday, has been pretty swell. Hm, well I guess I have to start a tad bit before this past week...How about Thursday the 31st? That Thursday was 80s prom night at the Uni Bar. Partly due to the lack of poofy sleeved dresses around Bathurst by that time, most people didn't dress very promish, but still put an effort into looking 80s-ish. I didn't realize I'd have to dress up so much here. After finding some leggings, bangles, colored socks, ugly geometric earrings and fishnet tights that I cut holes in to make arm things, I was pretty satisfied with my last minute costume.

The night was a lot of fun, although there was a lot of non-80s music played which irked me...I mean, it's not like there's a limited selection. We did get to see the Greased Lightning scene on the projection screens, though. And I didn't know people still owned krimping appliances. One of the best parts was getting ready with the dorm because we don't do a lot of stuff together as a dorm.

Most of my classes finished this past week as well. I only have one more on Tuesday and then nothing until exams. (Monday is a holiday, the queen's birthday...By the way, Father's Day is celebrated on a different day here. Mother's Day is the same, but instead of Father's Day being June 17, it's September 2 here). I've heard from several people what a good school this is for journalists, too. A lot of the newscasters and journalists in the area went to CSU (my uni) and the overall coursework is pretty challenging, so that makes me feel pretty good about being here. It may not be on the coast like I wanted at first, but I suppose that's not the most important thing...

On Sunday, I walked downtown to Machattie Park on George Street, one of the oldest streets in Bathurst. It was nice to have me time and get a chance to read. I even made friends with a particular duck! What can I say?...I just have that magnetic personality.

Tuesday, though, I had a horrible day. I couldn't sleep the night before because I had a cold, so I woke up with a massive headache and had to go to class. I could live with that, but then I ran into drama that I didn't want to deal with and later found out my great-grandmother (Nanny) died. What a crappy day. I was glad I got to talk to the parental unit :) but I wish it hadn't been so depressing. Mom and Dad were telling me about Nanny and then Emily chimed in with, "I got me some new fwip-fwops." Gotta love comic relief.

I also realized at some point during the week that I'm missing a Victoria's Secret sale. (I like the lotion and no, I'm not kidding). I don't have money for it anyway so I guess it doesn't matter.

On Wednesday, though, I got to play badminton! One of the guys from Aboriginal studies told me several people get together to play, so I joined and didn't do too bad if I do say so myself.

On the subject of games (this is one of those times I like smooth transitions)...I was watching some of the guys in my dorm play a soccer video game the other day and it was funny watching a game with Australian-accented announcers. I never thought about that kind of thing.

Today, I walked around Mount Panorama again, this time with Pete. Nicola, one of the ladies from Bible study, has run the entire thing before and I honestly don't think I could do it. Hopefully if I was being chased, I would find the motivation.

I looked for the barrier that Megan and I wrote our names on back in March and it had been painted over :( I should have made a note not to paint over it until July when I'm gone.

It was fun, though. We took lunch and ate at the picnic tables at the top of the track. Then I went to church and we talked about self-esteem and how it should come from being loved unconditionally. The pastor was saying we are valuable not because of our education or money or how much family we have around, but because we are children of God and are precious and valuable in His eyes. The world may tell us lies about ourselves, but we are so important to God that He knows how many hairs are on our heads. (...Hey, I guess that wouldn't be too hard to figure out if someone is going bald. I just thought about that. I guess that makes His job easier, ha ha ha).

Anyway, we also sang several songs, a couple of which I haven't heard enough to know the tune by heart. You know when you're in church, reading the words off the screen and you either sing too soon or start singing the wrong verse because the projector person hasn't changed the screen yet, and you look around to see if anyone caught it? If you're lucky, the only ones around will be the kind of people who close their eyes and sway while they sing so they haven't caught you. If you're not lucky, the song leaders see you and smile, probably because they're thinking, "Aww, this person must be new." That's the only plus to hymnals for me. If I typed the verses for the screen, I would add "pause for two seconds" or "don't sing this yet even though it's on the screen...wait until the last stanza."

This coming weekend, I'll be heading back to the Blue Mountains to visit Kat for her birthday. I'm going to make her some haystack cookies because they're American. The weekend after that, I get to go to Melbourne!!!!! The most exciting part will be seeing the Twelve Apostles. Can't wait!

P.S. I updated the lingo.