Hey all,
How you going? (Aussie greeting)
So I suppose after keeping you all in waiting for almost two weeks, I should probably write a little bit to you about Townsville so that way I don’t have heaps to write…at least not more than I already do!! Hah! Anyway, so I arrived in Townsville on Wednesday, the 20th of Feb in the middle of the afternoon.
University Hall (aka Uni Hall) is where I am living on campus. Here the dorms are called colleges. So that’s like Cary Quad on Purdue’s campus…that would be considered a college. Anyway, my room is fairly nice. It is a little bigger than half of a Purdue dorm room. I have my own room with a desk, bed, shelves, etc…all the usual. I have two dressers which sit inside of my closet (aka cupboard). I also have a massive window that runs floor to ceiling. The windows push all the way up and I can open my shudders which lead out to my balcony. Outside of my window are palm trees and all sorts of pretty things.
I think Uni Hall is the best place to live on campus. The people here are great. What’s really nice is that everyone has their own room, and it’s a co-ed dorm. Next to me is Max, across we have James and Catie (aka Doddsy). How funny is it that two of my neighbors are Max and James? (two of my best friends back home)…
Anyway, so we have an open door policy around here. Most people (the social ones anyway) leave their doors open if they are home. This means it is quite easy to wander the halls and walk into anyone’s room for a random chat. It is quite fun. So moving on…
My first day here I met several people, an Aussie by the name of Xavier…really nice guy. He introduced me to Brendon, an American, from where else…PURDUE!! How funny is that? I thought that before I left Purdue I had met all the people coming here…apparently I was wrong. Brendon is from Chicago and is majoring in Sales and Marketing ( I believe). I also met a gal by the name of Lidia (great girl). In a way she is my Vanessa (another best Purdue bud) here in Oz. Lidia is originally from Moldova (a Russian state…used to be), lived in South Africa for 5 years, and now Australia for the last almost 5. She is a citizen in all three countries! Crazy! But anyway…the four of us, Xavier, Brendon, Lidia and myself spent the first four days or so together. I arrived on Wednesday and most people hadn’t yet arrived. We went to the Strand (the beach area) on Thursday and Friday which was good fun. The only unfortunate thing is that you can’t swim on the beaches right now. It’s stinger season (aka Box jellyfish and its small cousin the Irukanji). Both are potentially fatal if stung. There are netted areas designated for swimming, but they are not 100% fool proof.
So finally people began arriving on Saturday. Sunday was the beginning of all of the massiveness. O-week officially started on Sunday the 24th. We started at the Riverside Tavern…great place. It sits on the river (obviously) right by the damn. It is a heavily wooded area around the tavern…very beautiful. I would say about 70-100 people from Uni Hall attended the festivities. There was live music and drinking…lots of drinking. It was a good time…everyone got to meet each other. Oh, and as I forgot to tell you, all of the freshers (aka those new to JCU and Uni Hall) has to wear bibs (yes that’s right…bibs) with their names all week.
Monday was a little less crazy. We had a pool party in the afternoon and that was the only major event for the day. JCU is a wet campus…meaning alcohol is allowed on school grounds and in the colleges. However, the campus was dry until Tuesday evening at 7 pm so that everyone could get settled in “quietly.” Monday night about 30 people from Uni Hall (including the RA’s…gotta love it) went down to the cricket fields around 11 o’clock. Security showed up so we moved down to the tennis sheds before finally heading back to Uni Hall and having a few “sneaky quiet ones.” Not to worry…I am not a crazy partier…all is alright. I realize that this all sounds crazy, but you have to know about O-week! Tuesday night was Toga night. Everyone dressed up in Toga attire and went to the Uni Club (only bar on campus). That was good fun as well. Wednesday night was Fresher/Fossil (if you haven’t figured it out…a returning student) Meet and Greet. More drinking took place here. Thursday night was club night, Friday night was bludgers night (meaning a few relaxing drinks over live music at UniClub).
Ah, so I forgot about this…Wednesday night was massive…everyone came home pretty late and went to bed later. At 4 am Thursday morning, we were all woken up to loud banging, music, and people shouting. Everyone from Uni Hall was woken up and sent downstairs. For an hour and a half, we all walked around from college to college screaming at the tops of our lungs the Uni Hall War Cry. Unfortunately, I am unable to type it out to you all, for it is slightly offensive in nature. Quite funny the same…but yes, so then everyone went back to bed about 6 am.
Saturday was the greatest of all of O-week. Kegs on the Lawn. From 2 to 6 pm on Saturday was $10 for all you can drink and eat. There were drum barrels full of Goon (basically everything you can possible throw together… boxed potent wine, champagne, etc, etc) and as much beer as needed. There was backyard cricket, a little rugby (without the tackle), blow up pools, slip n’ slide. The best of all of these was the accidental mud hole. There were some massive mud-fighting competitions going. It took me two days to clean my swimsuit from this! I finally just got it clean today! Anyway, it was tons of fun. I will post some photos so be sure to check out the photo page.
That about sums things up to today. I will fill you in as time goes on on the wonderful people here at Uni Hall. There are so many of them that I couldn’t possibly list them all and explain who they are and their significance in one sitting. I will wait until I have funny stories for you all. I hope this helps with what I’ve been up to! The last week and a half has been socializing and meeting as many people as possible. I hope all is well at home for all of you.
Townsville and its people are amazing. JCU is great. Uni Hall kids are great. I have a feeling it is going to be very difficult to leave at the end of the semester. I’ll write more again soon! Kim…if you are reading this…I will reply to your email soon! I promise! =D
Love you all!
Krissy
xoxo
No comments:
Post a Comment