May 15
Off to Sydney!
Hi all!
So you all probably think I’ve fallen off the face of the earth since I haven’t written in so long but I am alive! I’ve been pretty busy actually, which may be why I haven’t found time to write! Anyway, life in OZ has still been great, and full of fun times with new friends and old (eh hem Miranda). Between papers and biology labs I’ve been having a good time.
The other week it was Nathional Netherland Day, or as the Dutch call it, Queensday….OR as I like to call it, Orange Day (because orange is Hollands national color) and a few of us decided to join Shoes and K in their celebrations. Shoes, K, Anne, Jane (an Aussie friend) and I rounded up all the orange clothes we could find and headed into the city to start the celebrations. We had a lot of fun drinking dutch beer, eating dutch food, and watching dutch clog dancing (which by chance Shoes and K said they have never seen oddly enough). Let me tell you I thought that being from Wisconsin I knew how to party but boy was I wrong, the group at the venue were party animals! I could have sworn it was Octoberfest in LaCrosse! All in all I had a really good time!
Last weekend, starting with Thursday, Miranda and Jane and I headed into the city and had our favorite $10 Pot (which is a half pint of beer) and Parmas at Father Flanagans for dinner and headed back to college for a little get together with some friends. We wanted to keep our night a little quiet as the next night was the Chisholm Suitcase Ball!
The Chisholm Suitcase Ball is an annual semester party where a suprise weekend get-away is drawn for. Basically they draw your name out of a hat and if you win you have 20 minutes to pack your bag and you get swept away for a weekend vacation! Needless to say I didn’t win, nor did I expect to as I am usually unlucky when it comes to drawings and raffles and such. Another fun thing about the Chisholm Ball is that its a theme party. This year the theme was “A day at the races” (and by races they mean horse races, not nascar 
). Unlike the States with horse racing, the women wear facinettes (feathery clips) in their hair, not hats, and I am proud to say that I made my own! The girls wore dresses and heels and the guys wore suits, and let me tell you the guys looked good, you know, after they washed years worth of dirt off of themselves and got a clean shave :)! The venue was a really nice hotel and the open bar was a plus, for some anyway, as I am proud to say I may have been one of the few girls that could hold themselves together and not lose my dinner…. 
Anyway the night ended up being really nice and I had a really fun time!
Saturday night it was a friends birthday so a few of us headed to the party street in Melbourne, Brunswick street. We went to a pub that was playing 90’s music (think Ace of Base, Salt n Pepa kind of music) all night! I’ll tell you I now know what it feels like to say “Oh the good old days!” Anyway Miranda and I had a blast reliving the past with our new OZZY friends!
The rest of my weekend was pretty much spent recouperating and getting ready for the week ahead! So far this week I have gone to a few classes and had a few lattes, nothing special, and have been looking forward to my weekend trip to Sydney! Miranda, I and a few other Wisconsinites are heading out tomorrow (Friday) and coming back on Monday so I will tell you all about my trip upon my return. But I should really be going as I have to be awake in three hours to go to the airport for my exciting weekend!
Hope all has been well in the US!
~Claire