We’re Half Way There

This week was week six of classes, making my semester here half over already! I spent Monday in my usual lazy fashion, but since I’d done my chores on Sunday I had some free time to relax. I ended up going the the South Bank Parklands, home of the little river beach. I spent several hours lying in the sun and reading for class. I even took a quick dip in the water to wash off the sand and sunblock; the water was cool, but refreshing. It was nice to have some time to myself to think and just “be”.

On Tuesday I attempted to get up early and go to the gym before class, but my bed was just too comfortable. After class, my friend Meg and I spent some time lying in the sun and chatting; we even saw some planes taking off. After three lazy hours that could have been spent studying, we wandered to our 4 o’clock classes. Next week, we’ve planned to bring snacks and a blanket and watch a movie. In english, seven o’clock could not come fast enough, and I finally arrived home just before 8.

Wednesday, at my internship, I walked in to find a bar of chocolate and a flash drive on my desk; Amy had left them for me to apologize for last week’s fiasco and provide me with the correct data for the job. I spent the day indoors, working on that job and a few other tasks I had (including, but not limited to, scraping stickers off the white board and scanning pictures). I actually finished the data project in half the time as my first go (I developed a  very efficient system) and managed to get quite a bit accomplished. During the break, I was eating lunch with my coworkers and Garry mentioned that my chocolate looked good. I was about to offer him some, when Amy interrupted that he couldn’t have any because it was my apology chocolate for making me do something horrible twice. Amy is very funny and lovely and its nice to have a friend at work.

I also forgot to write about the stingray I saw in last week’s entry. While at the beach with the preppies last Wednesday, Garry found a stingray carcus very far up the shore. After the class had left for the day, he and Phil went back to the beach to get the stingray barb. I was supposed to be raking some rocks on one of the footpaths so people wouldn’t trip, but the guys managed to make a very… colourful argument to go with them. Phil said something along the lines of “my parents didn’t send me here to rake f****** rocks”. Australians are very liberal with their cursing (even the kids). Needless to say, I went with them to the beach and they told me all about stingrays. It was sad to see this one dead, a big beautiful female, and Phil said someone most likely caught her and thats why she was so far up. Her colouring was gorgeous and I would have loved to see her in open waters; maybe I’ll get to see some when I go up to Cairns.

On Thursday there were no students at Nudgee and it rained on an off the whole day. I was stuck inside with more odd jobs while Mary Ann, Cathy, and Amy all did paperwork and planning and Garry ran the Deadly Science class with the aboriginal students. As usual, I was a bit too inefficient and pretty much exhausted my job list before the day was through. One thing that did happen was that Garry brought his pet python in to show his class. Amy sent me down to check it out as well, so I got to hold her. She’s a gorgeous carpet python and pretty heavy; it felt like I was carrying a backpack full of books with her on my shoulders. Amy made sure to take some pictures of me, just to scare mom.

Thursday night I got to see a production of Dracula at QPAC. Since we’re reading the novel in english, my professor organized a trip for us and got group seats. The show was very good, complete with lots of fake blood and a count in tight leather pants. My favorite part of the production was the set; the stage had a circular piece in the middle that rotated. On it was a set of stairs that lead up to a platform and underneath the stairs were some small rooms. Depending on how the piece was rotated, a lot of different scenes could be performed in the small area. It was a very cool performance, and with a cast of only six actors! On my way home I had to walk past the Brisbane wheel where they’ve started setting up for the spring festival, so I got to see it with some cool colourful lights.

Friday morning I went to ACU for class. During my lunch break, went to the library to check out some plays for a paper I need to start writing for my drama class. Apparently, you can check out up to 30 books as a student here (not that I needed too) and for about a month, so I have plenty of time to read them. My philosophy tutorial was a bit of a nightmare because I was one of four students to actually show up. After that I caught the train to the city to pick up some groceries and walked the rest of the way home. We had an early night in because we had a day trip planned for Saturday morning.

On Saturday, Kelly, Sara, Jess, and I went on a day trip to Noosa and the Eumundi Markets up by the Sunshine Coast; the trip was organized by ACU’s student government. The markets were very cool; endless tents with clothes, jewelery, aboriginal art, prints, you name it. Even though we didn’t get to see everything, it was probably good that we only got to spend an hour there because my wallet was starting to take a hit. I bought a small didgeridoo there and a bunch of other cool Australian things. We’ve decided that its a place we will revisit before our semester is up.

Next we stopped at a park where we had a “sausage sizzle” for lunch. We had some time to walk around and sit by the water while we waited; I took the opportunity to look for sea shells and get some sun. I also got jumped on by a dog while I was there, so it was a very successful stop.

After that we continued to Noosa and the beach. My friends and I split from the group to go to a place called Betty’s Burgers they found the last time they were in the area. I got some fries and a really yummy spiked ice cream sundae: chocolate frozen custard, mint, brownie bites, and fudge topped with some Bailey’s Irish cream. We walked around for a bit after that, looking at shops, and then headed to the beach to sit in the sun. On our way we saw a really impressive sand castle made from “100 percent real beach”.

Never one to miss a photo opportunity, I’d brought my selfie stick (thanks, Riv) so we could take some group pictures. Can you say “tourists”? We ended our day all smiles and thoroughly exhausted.

The bus ride home was… eventful. Obviously not everyone was as tired as we were because a dance part broke out in the isle. However, I did get to catch up with Wyatt, the other intern at Nudgee Beach. We have totally different schedules, so we never see each other at work. We swapped war stories and compared notes; we’ve had some similar experiences there, but both have totally enjoyed ourselves.

We finally made it home and decided to rest for a bit before going out for the evening (cause who’s too tired to party?). After a fun, but late, night, I slept in this morning and had a lazy afternoon. Luckily, I have all day tomorrow to be responsible and get some work done. This week promises to be busy, as usual. Some of my friends are going to Tasmania for the weekend, so the rest of us will have to come up with an adventure of our own.

As always, thanks for reading. Cheers, America!

Luisa