I have given into temptation and bought one extra-large,
navy blue hoody with the university of Melbourne logo proudly brandished across
it. The pricetag was kinda scary- $100!- but my mother said she’d pay for me to
get one, so I’m trying to see past that. I am painfully aware that in two years
I will most likely purchase an Edinburgh equivalent and thus my collection will
be complete.
Hoody aside- it’s too warm to wear it- I am very sorry for not
having updated y’all (I know for a fact that both Spanish Daniel and my parents
are reading this, and so it’s ‘y’all’ and not ‘you both’) since Saturday, but in
my defence, I have new friends now and y’all seem kinda dull by comparison.
Yes, O-week, the exchange students’ freshers week, has begun
and has bought with it the chance to talk to people without seeming precocious.
So far, I’ve met Will, who I’m seeing as the Universe’s way of balancing out
Esmond’s infidelity as he’s from McGill, Jason, a quiet home-schooled New
Jersey-ite, Daryll, a Korean illustrator and fellow nerd, Clara, a
contemplative Spanish biologist and Bastian, who’s Dutch and that’s all I
really know about him. In terms of actual ozzies, there are Logan and Aspen- who I
feel have to be mentioned together, so inseparable are they- Victoria, Elle and Ben. I don’t really know
any of these people tremendously well, but they are at least people who I can
count amongst my acquaintance and speak to of an evening. It seems the place to
go in the evenings is the second floor rec room, there to be found are assorted
nerdly activities like playing playstation 3, monopoly, minecraft, magic: the
gathering or trying to solve the tetris cube.
It’s noisy but friendly, and I’m working up the courage to step in there
on my own one of these days.
As to the events themselves, they’re rather self-conscious,
but can be quite fun. There was a poorly-thought through scavenger hunt which
wended too far from the building and that no one really completed follow by a
barbeque which everyone without fail completed. There was the casino royale
night, which boiled down to one in ten people in suits, playing poker,
dissolving quite early but leading into another night in the second floor rec
room. Then last night there was ‘christmas in July’, which frankly was just an
industrially cooked roast dinner in the cafeteria with some Christmas
decorations put up. I’d love to say that by leaving at 7.30 I was ducking out
early, but I was one of the last to leave. I was really tired so I skipped the
rec room and went to bed. There’s nothing on tonight, as far as I’m aware, but
I’m hoping I’ll find some activity to latch onto, as I finished my book today
and if I start another one tonight I’ll feel like a harlot.
One phenomenon I need to remark upon is that old people feel
they can eavesdrop on one’s conversations and then give their revered opinion-
it happened to Jason and me on the bus yesterday and Emma, Esmond and me a
couple of weeks ago and I only mention it cos they’re discussing spiderman at
the next table and I really want to weigh in, but I can’t cos I still have all
my original teeth and they’ll (justly) think I’m rude and weird. Alas.
Is there anything else to say? Um. I’ve been passing my days
by going into the uni campus and should really start venturing out to the rest
of the city soon- I did go to a pawn shop and Aldi with my yarra friends
yesterday, but that doesn’t feel adventurous and I can’t imagine why. Once I
find someone to explore the city with, hopefully, I’ll have more to write about
and I’m also looking into finding some way of taking photos. Watch this space.
