Cold and Rainy :(

**thanks for all the comments on my posts. i hope i'll be able to live up to the standards i've created for myself. i had no idea my fan base like my story telling so much lol :) enjoy!**



:( i know i laughed when people said i'd need a scarf in sydney, but it IS cold. yesterday and today have been freezing, rainy, and windy...and it sucks. this weekend was nice though. friday morning i moved into my new apartment. it was pouring outside and it took me forever to catch a cab so my bags and i were soaking wet. i had a small bag with food in it, but the milk carton i had got a hole in it, so i also got milk all over everything. when i arrived no one was there except the cleaning lady, dell. she comes once a week on friday mornings. i was actually surprised how everything fit into my small wardrobe, especially because it weighed so much. (i promise the pics are coming as soon as i get internet in my house). i then trecked over to campus to attend a part time work seminar. i think 98% of the other students there were asian...i felt a little out of place. it's actually like that everywhere. i can to australia to be around aussies, but there are more asian people than i've ever seen! i am DEFINITELY the minority. speaking of which, it's kinda weird to not have any black people here...makes me kinda miss home more oddly enough. so the seminar was a waste of time...maybe if i'd been a freshman who'd never worked a day in my life i would have gotten more out of it. the speaker (also asian) said "so obviously everyone here speaks another language, which is good. that gives you an advantage over those ausustralians who don't"...great. now i'm feeling even more outta place :( i did see chris there and he agreed that the seminar was the same info we'd heard over and over again. there was going to be a big uni sponsored pub crawl down town later that night and we were all going to go, but we decided it would really suck to do it all in the rain. i ran a few errands, got lunch, and then went home. i was still trying to get used to my new place and getting my room just the way i wanted most of the early evening. i took a shower and gave chris and shannon a call. shannon had been to a business department meeting and had met a few friends there, they all decided that we would just call someone on the pub crawl and meet up with them when we were ready. chris was still in coogee (near me) so we decided to meet up and take the bus to campus together. it was still kinda rainy outside, but i hadn't been out to the city yet so i HAD to go. the bus near me was being really slow so i walked up the street to meet with chris. then the next bus was being slow...poor shannon kept calling us to find out where we were. i can imagine all her friends saying "where are they? can we go yet? i thought they were on their way?" yuck, what an awful situation to be in. eventually chris and i made it to the unibar, where shannon and her friends (2 german guys toby and dennis, a swedish guy matteis, and a columbian girl maria) were waiting. the unibar had closed early that night (7pm!) because there was a "big" concert playing next door. they said they heard the band warming up and the were terrible (glad i didn't get tickets!) we hopped on the bus toward circular quay (downtown) and decided once we were in town we'd get some quick food then head to the pub crawl. when we got downtown all the cheap eats were either packed full or closed. so we ended up going to a pizza place, when i walked in we though we were getting a good deal, but then the menu showed $20 for a small pepperoni pizza!!! yikes! i really did have a ton of $ with me so i had water and a pear and goat cheese salad, it was good, but obviously as a growin girl ;) i was still hungry. we then called up our connection and went to jacksons on george. it was a 4 layer bar with sports on the 1st floor, dancing on the 2nd, and pool on the 3rd (i never actually saw a 4th floor, but it was advertised on the front of the building..?) the 1st floor wasn't really the scene we were looking for so we went to the 2nd...which was REALLY loud. it seemed we all needed to "feel out" the night a little more and kinda ease into it, so we went up to the 3rd floor to drink and talk for a while. didn't really have anything eventful happen while we were talking but i DID meet a crazy/drunk scottish guy @ the bar. we starting chatting and he made me PROMISE i'd go to scotland someday. he was really hilarious. we then decided we were ready for some dancing and went back to the 2nd floor. but since we didn't really know each other all that well we didn't exactly jump right onto the dance floor...it was more of us just standing around watching everyone else and being wall flowers. there was this one guy out there, the red shirt guy, he was great. he wasn't from UNSW, you could tell, but he was out there having the time of his life. dancing all over, not a care in the world. he was pretty good too. i was really enjoying watching him, but then he noticed me. he came over and said "you're not allowed to laugh at me when you're not even out here dancing!" i tried to explain to him that i was just enjoying watching him and that i didn't think i could keep up with his excellent dance moves, but i don't know if he believed me and made me come dance with him. i did my best, and he claimed he "couldn't keep up with me", but i'm not sure if that was true. he said he and his friends were visiting from the gold coast (north of new south wales) and were about to go to a "real bar" and wanted me to phone my friends later to tell them i was alright. they said that they were worried why chris, (or mr incredible, as they called him) kept watching me. i told them if i went anywhere i'd have to bring them along. then as he went to leave he went of the kiss. i thought i was a kiss on the cheek so i turned, then he looked upset, grabbed both sides of my head and went right for my lips!! eww. i quickly pulled away and said "no no no no no" and many times as it took for him to move away. that was a close one!! apparently here if you dance with a guy he can kiss you...not very subtle. then shannon and i had some fun dancing with the nerdy group of guys from UNSW, but most of them had no idea why we were over there and made no attempt to dance back. later, a guy from england came over and tried to offer me a drink, but i was having fun dancing with shannon and politely refused and then HE went for the kiss! he again grabbed both sides of my head and went for it! since i had just practiced my kissing refusal act i was quite shocked i had to use it again so soon! (i'd just like to say for the record that NO random guy in a bar/club at home has EVER tried to kiss me...EVER). i was 2/2 for the night and that was enough for me. chris, shannon and i decided it was time to leave. saturday morning, still no sign of my roommates, i woke up and go ready to go to the central train station. des cooper, the head of my conservation bio program was having a bbq at the "cowan field station", which i assumed was in cowan. i got on the bus, to the station, bought a train ticket (such a city girl i'm becoming...lol...not really) and waiting on platform 9. the train didn't leave for another 45mins so i called christine to tell her i'd be late. BUT when i talked to her she said the bbq wasn't until SUNDAY...not today!! luckily they let me return my ticket. and i'm just glad i hadn't gotten on the train yet! since i was already downtown and i didn't really get to sight see the night before i decided to do some touristy stuff. i walked all over the city and saw some great buildings (again pics as soon as i get my internet) and even went to the "mall". prices on things here are quite insane, but i did manage to get a bargain on a $30 pair of jeans. now i'm sure you're thinking...trystan, doesn't she have a million pairs of jeans? well it's true i do have quite a few pairs, BUT i've managed to rip holes in 2 pairs since i've been here. :( one pair is still wearable, but i def needed a new pair. i walked to the water and took tons of pictures of the opera house (be patient...they'll get here soon enough. you can use your imagination for now), the harbor bridge and the street performers. when i started getting dark i headed home and finally met my roommates! sophie, french, is working for a lawyer downtown and ioana (pronounced eeohnah), romanian, is getting her phD in ecomonics. they both seem nice, quite, and apparently they aren't home much. which is fine with me, because i'm so close to lots of great things, as well as my new friends :) sunday i finally made it to the bbq (after going to the wrong train station...i went one too far and had to get back on the train and turn around!). it was out in the middle of nowhere and beautiful. it's a field research station with TONS of kangaroos and wallabies they use for studies. we were all super excited to see them, because as americans, macropods (the scientific term for kangaroos and wallabies) are very new :) for lunch we ate kangaroo and emu (VERY delicious, but a little funny that we were just excited to see the kangaroos and then we ate them!) here in australia kangaroos are like deer and to help control the populations people are allowed to hunt them. they taste very similar to venison meat, but it was kinda hard to tell exactly what the taste was because of the delicious marinade. we sat around talking about everything and anything...freezing. NO one expected it to get that cold while we were gone, and NO one expected to be out until 5pm! (our bbq started around 12pm). i still hadn't gone grocery shopping since i moved into my new place and peanut butter toast was getting a little old. it had started raining while we were on the train so it was even more of a chore to get some food, but...it's kinda important. i ran into the cole's near my house and just got 2 cans of soup and some milk. the aussies are very "green" so everyone carries around little cloth bags for their groceries and NO one has plastic. i decided i'd give in the the "green" movement (damn hippies...lol jk) and buy one. i got the bus back to my house and enjoyed my "warm" evening of soup and tv (private practice and lipstick jungle...pp was pretty good, but i don't know how i feel about lp...sex and the city is way better). yesterday i finally had my meeting with des about my research project. instead of electives i've decided to do a mini-thesis project which i would do with a partner. ashley (from fargo) still didn't have a project either so des suggested we work it out together. he gave us a few ideas:



a) trap brush tailed possums and put tracking collars on them. (cool, but they are pretty vicious so i hear)

b) help some lady named kathy take blood samples from the tammar wallaby. (she's studying the transfer of kennal cough from dogs to wallabies...my personal fav so far)

c) watch/monitor the behaviour of the grey kangaroos (cool, but it's usualy pretty boring to just watching the animals and write down what they're doing every 5 mins. i did that @ the zoo with the kiwi and it was pretty much like this: 0700-sleeping 0705-sleeping 0710-sleeping 0715-sleeping...you get the idea. the whole 3 months i did that project i saw the stupid kiwi move twice. let's just say i'm not thrilled about doing the same thing with kangaroos.)



des said we had a few weeks to finalize our decisions, but i hope it works out :) after our meeting it was pouring...again. so des, ashely and i went for hot chocolate, which des paid for (does that count as a guy buying me a drink? lol) he's really funny, and a nice old man who kinda gets lost when he's talking. he's teaching all of my lectures, so let's hope he can stay on track for a few hours in class :) i decided rain or not i HAD to go shopping for some real food. des offered to give ashley and i a ride where ever we were going (so nice :)!!) and he dropped me off at the royal randwick shops. don't let the name fool you. it's basically a few trashy discount stores with a market. i was hoping it would be a cheap grocery store, but it wasn't. it was expensive organic produce, but since i was there i bought a few things anyway. i still didn't have much food and it had kinda stopped raining so i went across the street to the trusty cole's. bought a few more things, but since i was going to have to walk a few blocks and it was cold/rainy i didn't want to get too much. when i got home i fixed myself a pork chop, peas, and pasta. but i guess i was really hungry because that still didn't fill me up. i thought i would be a good idea to make some hard boiled eggs to snack on now and in the future....looking back, it wasn't the best investment. i think i must have missed the hard boiled egg lesson in home ec. because after waiting for my water to boil and slowly lowering in my 4 eggs, all but 1 of them cracked. :( i figured i'd just eat them all that night and it wouldn't be a big loss. after 5 mins (i seemed to remember something about an egg timer being all they time you needed, but to be safe i waited a little longer) i poured out my water and cracked open an egg. (if anyone out there likes soft boiled eggs i'm sorry for wasting a good meal) let's just say i wasn't going to eat it...so i got some more water put my eggs back in the pot and let them sit while the water got warm (maybe they're supposed to get 3 mins AFTER the water boils...i'm not sure). so i waited until the water boiled, pulled out a test egg and it seemed alright. got out the other 2 of cool and started eating...but the inside was still a little runny (grrr) so i put the last 2 eggs back in the water to hopefully cook a little more. after what seemed like a hour of boiling eggs i said forget it, i'm eating them no matter what. they were fine...but i STILL feel a little funny after eating them. it rained all last night, and this morning, but now it's okay. but i'm not trusting it. i had to buy an umbrella at cole's last night and i'm caring it with me @ all times, just in case. i haven't been very productive today, but i did buy internet for my room. i was going to go the cheap pc card route, but that company doesn't have coverage in my neighbourhood. one street over does...but not me. i'm so lucky!! >:- i went with a company called dodo and i had to buy a brand new modem for almost $200 and then pay an extra $25 for them to mail it to me. i could have saved if i want to go pick it up...in melborne!! maybe i can try to sell it on ebay to a new student when i move out, because i don't even think i can use in while i'm in new zealand :( so i promise as soon as i get it, which they say should be aug 5th i will figure out how to use it and upload my pictures...as long as it doesn't take up all my...whatever they call it. here in australia they do their internet by loading and downloading. so everything you surf the web and download a song or a video they add it up and you have to pay depending on how much you USE the internet, not by how fast you want it to go. i've decided that over all...they just like to take your money any way they can....and we though that home was bad!