24-17 August '07: La Trobe Uni Bundoora

This weekend I had planned on going to Melbourne to meet up with Hannah, who is doing the same program as me but she goes to La trobe in Bundoora. I wanted to see what it was like there, and I wanted to see her and hang out with her. Hadnt seen her for a while, and we kept talking about getting together so we finally did.

Laurs took me to the train station on the way to the supermarket, and I caught the 5:20 train to Southern Cross station which would mean I would get to Southern cross by 7:20. I met her on the corner of Bourke and Spencer street. It was great to see her, she jumped and gave me a huge hug.. and I was glad to be there!! She told me it was about an hour tram ride back to the uni from there- but that was fine with me. I just felt bad that she was on the tram for basically 2 striaght hours coming to meet me, but at least i will know for next time when I come. Hannah and I just chatted and caught up a bit on the tram and talkked about what was going on, what we have done and what we want to do etc. Hannah said she was going to Fiji with some friends for the spring break and invited me to go! OMG how amazing would that be!!?? At this point I wasnt sure, but i really wanted to go. So I thought her I would let her know when I get back on Monday- so i could talk to my parents. We finally got off the tram and it was about a 10 minute walk to her dorm, or as they call it here, college. She lives in Menzies college. When we got back her friend, Nicola (shes from Scotland), had gotten us 2 meals from the dining Cafe so we sat in the common room and enjoyed some food. We went out that night- to a bar in the city called Perserverence. It was 90's night, so they were playing 90's music all night long. It was pretty awesome. But Hannah and I agreed that next time we would have to pre drink for a place like that (we had to hurry and get ready since we got back to late!). It was still fun though, but by the time we finally left I was ready for bed. They didnt close until 3 am and we stayed until the end. When we got back Nicola, Hannah and I went to the common room and hung out with Steffen who is from germany. We just sat and drank some of his homemade brews. Pretty good if I do say so myself. By the time we actually got to bed it was 5:30 am. WHAT A GREAT NIGHT!!

Saturday was a late start for everyone!! haha.. we got up around noon and Steffen, Nicola, Hannah, Connar and I all walked to Macca's for some lunch. It was exactly what I needed after a night of drinking! YUM! After that we walked back and sat at some picnic tables that were near where Hannah lived. It was gorgeous out so we decided to soak up the great weather. It was 23 degrees today... which is 76 degrees at home. I am soo happy its finally getting warm out! I LOVE IT!! We decided to have a Barbie (BBQ) tonight because it was so nice. So then Steffen went to get some work done at the Library and Connar, Hannah, Nicola and I went to the bottle shop and to Coles to pick up some stuff for tonight. We got a case of German beer for Steffen and got what we wanted and headed next door and picked up some sausages, hamburgers and some bread. We agreed to meet around 7 for the events! Hannah and I went back and took showers and then went and hung out with Nicola in her room until the boys were ready. It was the perfect time for Hannah and I to figure out our flights and plans for Sydney for our surf trip that we signed up for during the program introduction. We got it all planned and booked. I am planning on taking teh train in wednesday night, oct 3rd so we could travel to sydney together. I'm really excited for this trip!! Its about 6 weeks away... :).

Finally everyone was ready for our BBQ. We took some drinks and some food and sat outside and chatted and hung out. It was definatly a good night for it. After eating and having a few drinks we decided to venture over to the hot plates because I didnt know what they were and I should know...and must I say... HOT PLATES ARE AMAZING!!! They are just these cement plates that well are hot. They have some sort of piping and ventilation under them that makes they hot all the time. It was really cool. So we just hung out and sat on them and goofed off and socialized with each other. We told stories from our home countries and just talked... and I was talked into staying an extra night bbecause there was some sort of beer pong tournament on sunday night. It was a low key night, but a great one at that.
The highlight of the night was when Hannah accidently gave Steffen a bloody nose. It was sooo funny and now we all say he got beat up by a girl. HAHA.. it was awesome. Because we started drinking around 8 pm, we all were tired and went to bed early.. well early as in 1 am.

Sunday Hannah and I hung out in the city all day! It was a great day. I went to my first ( and probably last for this trip, because next weekend is the last one) footy game. I saw the Bulldogs and the Hawks...the Hawks completely killed the bulldogs!! This game really is a totally different sport than anything that I am use to seeing at all. Its really nothing like US football at all. If I had to compare it to something it would probably be a mixture of rugby and soccer. The layout is set up like soccer and when you score its called a goal. Its 6 ponits if you get it through the middle gap, but only 1 ponit if you get it through the other 2 gaps. Each team has this group of people who are in charge of "cheerleading" but not real cheerleading. They just use these giant pom poms to get teh attention of the crowd and get the crowd involed in the game. Its really cool to see them move from the other side. Anyways, there are 4 quarters but they are very short ones. I think the whole game took about 1 hour and a half from start to finish. Its much shorter than US football. The refs bring water to the players while they are on the feild playing.. I thought that was very interesting. They also can push and throw each other around in anyway you want. It was funny to watch opposing teams pushing each other away. But all in all it was an interesting game to watch. After that Hannah and I walked around the city for a while and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon. While we were there we saw a horse in carriage.. I thought it was sooo cool. I dont think I have ever seen one in real life!!! We ended up taking the 6:30 tram back to uni and got in about 7:30. It was a good day!!

When we got back we got to have some free BBQ because it was Open Day and they were cooking all sorts of food.. and it was all going to go to waste if it wasnt eaten!! So, it was nice to get a free meal out of the weekend. Tonight was beer pong...you signed up as teams and played against others. This was an annual event that some study abroad students from America started.. who would of thought. It was alot harder to play though because they werent solo cups, they were much smaller...and alot of the Australians didnt know how to play or thoght they did but didnt. So there were all types of rules goinng on.. but it was a good time. Hannah and I each bought a jug of Carlton Drought and played two games. By the end of the night we were getting free beer which was awesome. I played one on one beer pong with Steffen... and we played germany vs US. So we were bashing each other for everything. It was quite funny. Then we came back and all ended up in Nicola's room. We were just talking and hanging out. I learned one thing.. THEY DONT SPEAK SCOTTISH IN SCOTLAND.. ahha. But I wasnt the 1st person to ask her that! It was another great night.. and it ended somewhat early. I'm so happy I stayed the extra night.

Monday morning I woke up at 9, and left by 9:30. I wanted to be on the tram by 10... to catch the 11:15 train back to Bendigo. I planned it really well. I got to Southern Cross train station about 20 minutes early. So I bought a water and a meat pie and headed to platform 5 to wait to board the train. It was a good train ride, and I basically slept the whole time. What a great trip it was!!!

When I got off the train... as we were all walking through I saw Di..It was so funny we were both on the same train and had no idea. I wish we would of known and saved someone the trip. Ash picked up Di and Sarah was here picking up me. Sarah wanted a frozen Youguart from the marketplace so we stopped in there before heading back to the halls. I got home at about 1:30 with a half hour to spare before ceramics class. I got in and saw I had 6 messages from Ryan who was soo very worried about where I was. I told him I was going to be home sunday so when I didnt call he got worried that something happened.. but really I was having too much fun and stayed an extra day!! I called him and headed off to class.

I must say, this was definatly the best weekend yet!! I had sooo much fun!! I will probably end up going back alot! I love it there...


well I hope all is well at home...things here are going by way too fast!! Miss you all.