Last week went by in a bit of a blur, as I've been busy with classes (and not too busy with partying, I promise!). As I have a horrible memory, many of the events I will write about will probably be out of order, but at least you'll get the idea.
Last weekend was fairly chill. A few friends and I decided we'd go on a mini-roadtrip to Crystal Springs, which is a swimming and hiking area at a waterfall about an hour north of Townsville. We hopped into 2 cars Saturday afternoon and headed first to Stockland, or "Stockie's," as they call one of the malls here, to grab a picnic lunch. We bought lots of bread, some French onion dip, cookies, soda, lunch meats and cream cheese, and then got ready to head to the Springs. We were running a bit late because we didn't get our act together until after lunch, so we'd only be able to stay at Crystal Springs for a couple of hours as it was, but we were game.
Northbound from Stockies, we encountered a traffic jam on the highway. We sat there for about 20 minutes, wondering if we'd get through and make it to the Springs that afternoon. By this time, it was already about 2 pm so we were somewhat worried. I managed to devour almost an entire pack of Tim Tams in the car waiting for the block to break up. I haven't told anyone about Tim Tams yet, but they are light, fluffy, chocolatey heaven in a bite!
(See, I told you so :) My U.S. and Canadian friends ought to try to find some if they can!)
After another ten minutes or so, my friend Liz wants to get information from someone about the traffic jam, so we use someone's iPHONE to look up traffic info. Nothing. There's a rather largish man, smoking like a chimney, belly hanging out of his wife-beater singlet (tank top!) in front of us, leaning against the door of his soft-top Jeep. Andrea asks if we should ask him for info about the jam. Liz says he is creepy and that she doesn't want to get out of the car by herself to ask (Liz, if you are reading this or ever will, I'm sorry and I don't mean to single you out! I love you!). Andrea and Liz approach the "scary" man together, then come back to the car. All they have is that "the traffic jam has been going on since this morning at 11 am, and it's due to a crash involving a semi." We assume that it isn't going to get any better, so we turn around (pulling U-ies are legal here, unlike VT), and head back to the Strand for a picnic lunch on the beach. There are pictures somewhere in existence of us at the beach that day, but where they are I don't have a clue, and there are tons of pics of me at the beach anyway. I'll try not to make any American friends too jealous of my relaxing lifestyle :P
Sunday was a relatively quiet day. I spent it sleeping in and doing homework. Monday was ok but I was also just doing nothing. Tuesday night after going for a few drinks at UniClub (on campus), my immune system decided to get nasty, so I got sick. I was out for 2 days without going to classes because the head cold was giving me a headache and a severe sore throat, as well as coughing that still hasn't gone away yet.
Classes went really well last week, even this really tedious, awful lab (prac). We had to count coral spac, or baby corals, on the bottom of plates that used to be affixed to the reef, that were used in a study in the '90's by a big name marine biologist. It was interesting for about the first half hour. Then there were 2.5 more hours. You get my drift.
Wednesday through Friday were similar, only I was recovering. Friday night was an amazing night on the town. Friends and I went to a place called the Mad Cow, where we now have a tradition of going every Friday and calling it "Mad Cow Friday." For anyone reading this, the place sounds awful but there's great music and a great crowd! For any relatives, or even potential parents reading, no I did not get really drunk or get into trouble. It was me and the girls and it was amazing :P
Saturday, we went out for dinner at an Asian restaurant called Benny's Hot Wok. I ordered a giant sushi platter and some coconut rice, which also are in a picture somewhere, on someone else's camera....yeah. Those might be up some day.
Sunday night was "Mathletes and Athletes" night at Tom's Tavern downtown. We had to dress up as either nerds or athletes, so you can probably guess what I did ;) See the pic below. There were prizes for best-dressed and my friend Ajshe won a voucher to Tom's!
So far, this week has been rather boring, with nothing but classes and homework, but at least I finished my first writing assignment 3 days early! Go me!
I hope everyone back home is having a great summer and that those of you in school enjoy the start to semester! More details about my weekend, and about the field trip I am signing up for coming soon :)
Peace
