October 30

A little hung over, we went to breakfast at Pando's. Then went to run a couple errands (bug spray for our trip and hardware store). We bought a mailbox for Michael as his Christmas present, because the one outside is a piece of crap, and some paint to try out on the walls! =) In the afternoon, I used some of the paint to paint the mailbox roof red and I put the numbers and Michael's name on the box. It looks pretty good. We are PRETTY sure that Michael's nickname is Box, so we also put that on the mailbox. It's now called the "BonnerBox"!! haha Hopefully he will like it. Then Lina and I went out to a fancy dinner on Park Road, and Jillian went off to Joe's house. Lina and I made some cards to go with our gift and then Lina passed out. I went to pack for Thailand and USA!!! Ahhh..

Here's a photo of the BonnerBox and cards that we made.

While I was in my room, a gecko crawled on my window and it had a double tail!! Eww.. Photo:

October 29

I had to go turn in my papers today, so I went to campus, printed out a bunch of stuff, turned them in, stopped by my professor's office to see if she was there to chat about her recent trip to LA, but she wasn't. Then I went to Oktoberfest and ate an expensive burrito. I didn't know anyone there, so I left and went home to rest before going out. I met Jane and Andy and Hans, etc downtown and we had a Korean BBQ at Andy's house. I poured strong drinks and got Jane and Hans pretty smashed. Whoops. We played some fun drinking games like 3,6,9 and Baskin Robbins and another one with numbers. Then headed downtown to the Victory. Around 1:30, I cabbed home.

Here's a bunch of the people from my program that we went out with:

October 28

Thursday, I had class, so I went to campus and not that many people showed up. Noel, the professor is quite funny and his lecture today was pretty interesting. So we all just kind of joked around a bunch. One of my classmates said they are looking for a secretary to be involved in the TSA (Tourism Student Association). I was a little interested, so I talked to the guy after class about it. It seems like only about 1-2 hours per week, and it will look decent on my resume, so I'm thinking about doing it. Secretary role is pretty minor, too, so shouldn't be too much out of my league. Then I bussed home and finished up my papers! DONE WITH MY PROJECTS!! Yesss...

October 27

Wednesday, stayed in all day writing papers, and editing our group project. Since it was the last time we would see Michael for a long time, we had dinner upstairs with him. Pepe's Mexican food (surprisingly good!!) and beer. Good to have some "family time".  Then we continued working on papers until late. I finished mine and just left conclusions and editing for the day before they were due. Whoo!

October 26

On Tuesday, even though we didn't have class, our regular group met for our project on the MS Walk to compare notes and finalize stuff. Because I stayed up late the night before, writing my paper, I was soo tired. Got home at 3pm and made some breakfast, then finished up my part for the group project, made dinner at 11pm, wrote 1,000 words for another paper and did the dishes at 4am and went to sleep.

At 4am, I was the first in the house to get to bed. Jillian and Lina continued studying at home and at the library, respectively, finishing projects that were due the next day. Grad School sucks!

October 25

Didn't leave the house, studied all day!

One interesting thing is that I got a text from Pancakes, randomly. Last I talked to him was our 2nd date and I was kind-of over it, so I never really texted him after that. And he didn't text me, so I assumed the feeling was mutual. So, out of the blue, months later, I get a text. He wants to see me. I told him I'm leaving on Sunday and have no time. He doesn't really take no for an answer, but he has pretty much zero chance, so I tell him that it's weird that I don't talk to him for months and now suddenly he's desperate to see me. He tells me I'm one of the top 3 coolest people he's met in Brisbane and since he's leaving in Jan, he just wants to say goodbye. I don't believe any of that for a second. So I didn't respond. Oh well. At least after January, I'll be able to go back to the TinBilly bar again! Good luck to him and his future playing Hockey for a Euro team...

October 24

On Sunday, I slept til noon (Don't know why I've been staying up til 3-4am and then sleeping til noon lately). Worked on my paper for the afternoon. Flea bombed the house because of Jasper, and washed my sheets, cleaned my room. Then, Gabrielle came over, drank some wine and we discussed Thailand and booked some hotels!

October 23

Saturday, ummm woke up late, studied all day. That is all. Jillian went out and Lina was studying late at the library. I stayed home.

October 22

Friday, woke up and spent the morning organizing my itineraries for upcoming trips! Thailand, USA, Cambodia, Vietnam! Ahh

I realized that I will be on 15 flights in the next four months! What a jetsetter!! I'm beginning to think this is an addiction. Can someone be addicted to travel? Oh well. Then, I didn't really do much until I had to go to the MS Moonlight Walk. It was for a group assignment on Sponsorship at events. So, I went to scope out the sponsors at the event and take pictures, etc. Came home, watched a movie with Jillian and now it's already bedtime!

Photo of the walk, playing around with a slow shutter speed:

October 21

In the states, today is October 20th and GLAAD created a "Spirit Day", asking people to wear purple in support of anti-bullying for Gay/Lesbian people. Even though it is already the 21st in Australia, I wore purple to show my support. I went to campus, picked up some prescriptions at the Pharmacy and then took them to the nurse at the health center so she could inject me with multiple viruses. She said she could only do 4 at a time, so she gave me Tetanus/Diphtheria and FluVax in one arm, Hep A and Typhoid in the other. ugh. I didn't get Polio, so I'll have to go back for that one. Then I went to eat and searched for flights to Cambodia on the computer. Class was pretty boring, but glad I went. Jane was sick so she sat really far away from everyone - good thing, because I don't need her flu with all the other things my immune system is trying to handle right now. Jillian called in class, having a little freak out moment, so I met up with her after class ended and had some coffee. She's been working so hard, holed up in a room for days and days, working on her papers, that she was missing some human interaction. Lina met us, too and we all kinda just stared at each other, blankly, all so tired and stressed and not really talking about much. Finally, Lina and I went home, my arm was hurting like a BITCH from the typhoid, but I stretched it a little which seemed to make it feel a bit better after a while. Lina and I went to the store and got ingredients for salsa and guacamole, then came home and she made those while I searched for cheap flights to Cambodia and Vietnam. We found some, so as soon as Jillian got home from class, we booked them! YAY! We're officially going. Lina says I don't need to get a Polio booster since I've had it as a kid. I looked it up on the internet, and confirmed that it is unnecessary to get it twice in your life! So, I'm not going back for that. Done with shots!!  After dinner, we drove up to the top of Mt. Coot-tha to see the beautiful view of the city at night, under a full moon! Nice to have a little distraction for all of us!

October 20

Well, Because I didn't sleep until 3am, I couldn't wake up for class. Surprise, Surprise! Luckily it was bullshit, so I don't care. I had to go to campus anyway, though because I had a doctor appointment to get medicines for my trip to South East Asia! I arrived almost an hour early, but luckily was seen right away! Unfortunately, I didn't bring any money with me, so I couldn't get the medicines. I'll have to go back tomorrow after I pick up the prescriptions from the pharmacy to get the actual injections! OUCH. She scared me quite a bit with all of the things I can contract in Cambodia, etc!! Mosquitoes that carry fatal diseases, etc!! WTF. Also, I'm getting tons of vaccines! Malaria pills, flu shot, MMR shot for measles and mumps, Japanese encephalitis, Hep A and Hep B, rabies, mengecoccus or something, and typhoid. Lina said typhoid is the WORST because it makes you sore all over your muscles! So I'm pretty nervous about that. I just boosted up on some vitamins so I can hopefully fight off the fluvax! ugh. ANNDD it's expensive!! $110 for all of that shit. We better be going to Cambodia (still need to plan that trip) because I'm not getting all this shit for nothing!

Also, today was the 19th anniversary of the fire that destroyed my home. I can't believe it's been so long. It feels like such a big part of my life and it doesn't seem possible that it was 20 years ago. It still feels like 10 years ago. What a difference 19 years makes, I guess! hah  (Family joke)

October 19

I couldn't go to sleep until late, so I slept in and then went to my weekly group meeting to discuss our topic - the Moonlight Walk for MS. Fun stuff. Boring class with freezing cold A/C as always. Then picked up my assignment on MLB, which I did pretty well on, but there were no comments to say what I could have done better! UGH. Oh well. Not gonna complain. I needed that because the other assignment in that class is the group video which I don't think I did so hot on. Came home and worked on my sponsorship proposal (for the MS group project) and didn't go to sleep until very late again.

October 18

Monday, NO CLASS! Whoooo... But I had to go to campus anyway to attend a meeting about a field study course that I might take during my break in July 2011. It goes to Italy! Whooo. What a great excuse to go back to Italy... And get rid of some credits before my final semester in which I will be dying with my thesis! It seemed like there were a lot of undergrads in the room (it's an undergrad and post-grad course), so who knows if I will go. It is also expensive, and I'm not sure I want to go back and see all of the same sights again. It also takes up a good chunk of my break, which means less time (and $$) to go back home or travel elsewhere! We'll see, though. I put my name on the list, so at least I have a spot and can decline later. The girls and I borrowed Michael's car and did a big grocery store run, then came home to find the entire street blocked off because they are doing construction. It continued into the night, until about 4am. UGHHH

October 17

More study all day. Took a break to take the dogs to the park and throw the Frisbee around for a bit. That's it. No more fun life stories in Australia!

October 16

Saturday,
Oh remember the days when we used to go out and do things!? Nope, not anymore. We were studying all day. Lina decided to take the stitches out of Jasper, because no one was taking him to the vet. So, she got some tweezers and scissors and I held Jasper down. In the process of this, I saw that he had fleas all over. Like ALLL OVER.. Very disgusting. Anyway, we pulled the stitches out and then I immediately stripped and showered. Halfway through the day, we walked to Rosalie with the dogs and got a snack and a couple grocery store things. Lina went to a BBQ at a friend's house and Jillian and I ordered pizza and stayed in studying for the rest of the night, until about 2am.

October 15

studied all day. jasper ran away, had an interesting conversation with Joe about feminism where I took a surprising stance. That's it.

October 14

Thursday I slept in and then went to class, where there was a guest lecturer. He immediately saw that I was the only white person in class and asked if I was Australian. I said NO! I'm from the US!  He told me he lived in San Jose and Oregon for a while. And then during the entire class, kept referring to me and "American culture". UGH! At one point he asked if anyone liked shopping. Most girls raised their hands and he made some sexist comment. Then he asked if we liked shopping for food! Jane and I thought about it and raised our hands. He saw us and told us if we liked shopping for food, we must have no life and must really need a boyfriend!! The entire class laughed at us! GREAT... He was pretty lively, which kept people engaged, but the material he went over was soo basic and boring. Then I walked with some of my classmates over to the Business School building so he could upload a photo from my camera. Then I walked to find Lina studying in the Law library and bought her a Monster drink and headed back home. Made some dinner and then worked on my paper.

October 13

On Wednesday, I headed off to class and saw a father and daughter on the bus. I'd seen them before. The girl is about 4 years old and looks EXACTLY like my cousin's daughter; she's adorable. The father has piercings and paint all over his clothes and a crazy punk hairdo. The first time I saw them, I thought how cute - this punkrock dad is taking care of his daughter. What a cool little crazy pair they are. So, I was delighted to see them again. But this time, it was pretty clear he was out of his mind, high! And like on something bad. Where you zone in and out for a sec. She asked him about the goats that used to be in the park and he said something in response, but it made absolutely no sense, and I saw his head roll back in the middle of his speech. It was scary. At one point on the bus, he stumbled up to the front to ask the busdriver if this bus was still going to go to the valley (he lives around me, surely he knows the bus route by now). And he took a phone call from a friend whom he told to save it for tomorrow and shouted "you're my savior!" to. Very weird. I felt very bad for the little girl, who was dressed in over-sized boy clothes. I hate being one of those bystanders. I hate seeing something you know is wrong and not doing something about it. But what am I supposed to do? A. Am I 100% sure he's high? B. Even if I did want to turn him in, what would happen? The girl gets taken by child services - is that really better for her?! C. I don't have much information to tell authorities (I've only seen him on my bus, I don't know his name or where he lives). It's just frustrating. Anyway, it put me in a bad mood for a while, because I felt like there was something that should be done.

Class was very boring, and then I went to the library to pick up a book for my paper, but ended up staying in the high-use section, writing notes on two books. 2 hours later and 5 pages of hand-written notes, I stumbled out of the library and back home. Lina and Jillian were heading to campus to study, so I had the house to myself. I made some dinner, drank some port, took a relaxing bath, and wrote a letter. More study tomorrow!!

October 12

Tuesday, back to our regularly scheduled group meetings. We discussed the next assignment, divvied up the work and decided on some questions to ask the Walk organizers... Then class, where I found out we could pick up two of our assignments! Ahh. So, after class everyone went to the Learning Center and got our assignments back. On my Audi Sponsorship case study, I didn't do so well. But I passed, so whatever. The other people in my group did better, but only a little bit better. Then we got our group assignment back and got pretty good (Like a B+)... It's so hard to look at the grades here and figure them out. It's on a 7 point scale. Here's the breakdown:

University of Queensland grade scores

UQ Grade	Equivalent	Raw mark range
7	High Distinction (HD)	85-100%
6	Distinction (D)	75-84%
5	Credit (CR)	65-74%
4	Pass (P)	50-64%
3,2,1	Fail (F)	< 50%

So, when I look at my paper, and see that I got a 77%, I'm like Oh what! C?!?!? UGHH.. But really, that's a 6 (or B equivalent!).. So, I always end up thinking I did worse than I actually did.  It's a little confusing. And then there's the whole pass or pass with credit. Ahhh... Anyway, so far I'm passing my classes, but still not doing as great as I had expected. Oh well. Grad School is tougher than I thought! Spent the rest of the evening reading journal articles for an upcoming paper!

October 11

Mondayy, I woke up to POURING rain. Like, monsoon. And it was also very cold. I did NOT want to go to class, but I dragged myself out the door. Lina made me put on her light, water-proof jacket, because it was dumping bucketfuls outside and it's a good thing she did because on the 1 1/2 block walk to the busstop, I was SOAKED. Made it to class and was happy that I made it because she talked a bit about the assignment topic that I'm doing. It was also the last class. She isn't having any more lectures!! Yay, I get Mondays off now! So, we filled out the evaluation. Then I headed to the library to download some resources for my two papers... Ate lunch by myself, and bumped into Andy and Hans. Then, I went to meet my group so we could re-do the video! UGH. Everything seems to be a wild goose chase with this group. We said, OK, let's film Kate's part. But then walked around for almost an hour searching for a place to do it! UGH. Finally we found the perfect spot and it took me a couple of tries to calm down and remember all of my lines!

We finished filming the rest of the parts, and it seems a little bit better now, because it's broken up into parts and is filmed in a few different locations, etc.  Then, we couldn't load it onto the computer, so finally, I just gave one of the girls my SD card, which I should get back on Thurs! Hopefully, it will be OK. Came home, starving and ate, then made some questions for my other group assignment.

Michael came downstairs and told us he is keeping the girl's puppy (roommate moved out, she didn't work out), Jasper and thought about renaming him Henry. We said he doesn't look like a Henry, but were thrilled to have him!

October 10

It rained all day Sunday. Didn't do much except relax from all these group projects and panic about my next couple weeks of school. I have to write like 3 papers in less than 3 weeks. It's pretty intense. Jillian has even more papers to write. She planned out each hour of her day, so she could get the impossible done. We know she has good intentions, but that it's hard for a procrastinator to break the habit, so we told her to stick to her new schedule. We might've said it a few too many times, in a condescending way, so she got a little frustrated with us, ganging up on her. So, she told us to shut up, in Yiddish. It takes a lot for Jillian to snap, and I realized we were kinda coming down on her, making her defensive. But Lina did not like being told to shut it. She thought it was pretty rude. So, she went running and was quite mad for the rest of the day. Thailand is looking sweeter and sweeter. Speaking of which, we tried to research a couple hotels for our trip. We'll see, though.

October 9

Ate cereal and then the girls decided to go to Pando's for breakfast, so I went and had an OK breakfast. I feel like I'm getting pretty good at making it at home, so why would I pay for something that is about the same quality I could make?? Anyway, then we went to the grocery store for a quick run and I came home, rushed to get ready and headed off to campus on a Saturday for more work on my group project.

The room we rented was very small and crappy and looked awful, so we used an empty classroom that I found. Luckily we didn't get kicked out by security or anything. We worked from about 2-6:30, and after a few problems, finally cranked out a decent enough video to turn in. I am very worried that our video is not good enough and will look pretty shoddy compared to other groups. We don't know video editing, so ours is super plain and boring. If I'm bored watching it, why would I expect others to be interested?? Oh well. I can only do so much. I just hope our teacher is an easy grader.

Came home, made some dinner, then Jillian came home with Joe from a Rotary Scholar dinner and we had some great conversations about all kinds of stuff. Everything from in-vitro fertilization for gay couples to old people around the world to naming your kid Hitler/Jesus to the ethics of WalMart!! I really like my roommates and am glad we talk so easily. I hope even when we finish this, we can have dinner parties with these kinds of great discussions...

October 8

Since I went to sleep so early, I woke up at like 6:30 and stayed in bed for a while. Then finally came out and talked to Jillian and Lina who gave me some roommate updates. And somehow we got on the topic of the moment that Lina changed as a person, became less selfish. She told us about when she was in Turkey, working where injured soldiers from Afghanistan were taken and all of the crazy shit she saw that made her think - shit, my life is nothing, Look at these young guys all shot up. Somehow all they care about is each other, and making sure they have their photos and mementos of their families. Of course, I cannot explain it the way she did, but I thought the most interesting point she made was that they were lying there, shot up, and the only thing they wanted, the only thing worth living for in those moments (I guess you could say) was a sense of human connection. To find their photos that would remind them why they needed to fight for life, etc. It was pretty intense. I think she should write it down, I mean I guess there are other people who have similar experiences or stories, but probably most of them never write this shit down. So she should. I think that's why I love Into the Wild so much, because in the end, he realizes that connection is the most important thing. He wanders alone, removing himself from all connections only to realize that's the one thing necessary for life. I guess I like it, because I have loner tendencies, I tend to push people away and have a desire to be so independent, so it helps remind me that this might not be right/good for me.

I made some brekkie and headed to campus to meet for a group project. We met from 12:30-8pm with zero breaks. I didn't even move to go to the bathroom! It was insane. And we still aren't done. Part of me just wants to do the project myself because it's so tedious to do it with a group. Trying to get input is like pulling teeth and then when I do, sometimes it's just wrong and weird. And I get so tired of correcting improper english! UGH. Anyway, we finished up around 8pm and I bussed back to town, in the rain, with flipflops. =( Lina texted me and told me they were at Joe's bar. I said I felt and looked like shit and should probably just go home, but she convinced me to meet up with them for like a bit. So I went and scarfed down some food and had a couple drinks. Jillian and Joe couldn't keep their hands off each other. Wondering when they will realize they can have each other anytime they want and cool it down in public... I guess it's hard not to be jealous because they look pretty darn cute together and are obviously so into each other. Lina was getting hit on pretty hard core by a drunk guy, who smelled awful, so finally, we had to leave to get away from him. We caught the bus, tried to train Jasper (mini-banjo) and then I headed to bed.

Today was the anniversary of my sister's death, but I was so busy that I almost didn't think of it. It wasn't until Lina showed me something on her phone and I saw the date that I was suddenly swept up with an "Oh shit" feeling. But because of the time change, I don't know whether it's appropriate to be sad today or tomorrow or what. I got home and cried about it for a while, missing her and again trying to understand how her mind could be so different from mine, until I exhausted myself and fell asleep. Oh well...

October 7

Slept in for a while after the raucous night and woke up with a slight hang over, despite not drinking very much! UGH. The mysterious man who fell asleep in our red room was gone, and the hole is still there. =( I made the mistake of telling half-stories again which got me into trouble and so I dealt with the fallout from that for the morning, while making a delicious breakfast. Went back to my room brooding about all of this, and then heard some screams from the girls and them call out for Michael! What on earth?! I thought there must be another large spider or something inside. So I came out and asked what the matter was, half expecting to run into something I didn't want to see. But when I got to the main room, I saw it POURING water from the ceiling!! Lina was already in action putting trashcans and towels down. I took the computers out of the room, and then Jillian and I ran upstairs to find out where it was coming from (we already knew it was the laundry machine). We found Michael soaking up a giant puddle of water in the hallway, spilling from the laundry machine!!! We came back downstairs and most of it had stopped, but it was bad! Michael came down to inspect the damage and told us what happened - the groom spewed in the laundry machine and took the hose out of the back, so water just went all over the floor. UGH. Anyway, then I took a shower, but turned around and saw Michael and Ryan walk past the window and I screamed, then quickly finished up.

Already a pretty crazy day, I decided to head to campus early because I needed to do a fantasy draft and get ready for class. I thought the draft was at 1:30, so I thought getting on the noon bus would be extra early! But on the bus, I realized the draft starts at 12:30 instead!! There's no way I could make it to campus sooner than 1pm. So I missed 30 minutes of the draft, 4 draft rounds, and got some pretty shitty players because I had stacked my picks in some crazy order... UGH. I didn't really make up for it, because I was so flustered and not ready, but whatever. I'm not too concerned with winning this year because I know I'll be incommunicado during November and Jan/Feb while in South East Asia. Soo, basically I'm screwed anyway. Oh well.

Then I had class, but was highly distracted and flustered the entire time because my mind was reeling from events of the day. Manuel even asked me what was wrong, because he could tell I was so out of it. After class, I had a group project and we met to discuss our presentation. This group seems a lot more disorganized than my other group. I wish I had the same group, but oh well. After an hour orso, we were hungry and couldn't think straight, so we decided to meet again the next day to finish it up.

I tried to turn my day around on the way home... Some lady asked if I had change and only had a 5, I checked and only had 85 cents. So, I just gave it to her. She was so shocked and I was like, whatever, don't worry about it, it's only 85 cents. Then at the busstop, I helped a guy from Holland who had just arrived in Brisbane and told him what to do here and helped him get off at Rosalie. Two good deeds and I felt a little better about myself.  Jillian made chicken and then I fell asleep at like 8pm! Whoops.

October 6

Woke up really early, at like 6:30am, and decided to exercise. I did some crunches and sit-ups and push-ups for like 30 min, then showered and made breakfast. I ate so early that by the time I went to class, I was already hungry again. =( Oh well. Class was a guest lecture on the 1988 Brisbane World Expo, which I am thinking about doing my large thesis paper on, so I took lots of notes. I came home and made myself a snack and read some articles for my group project... Michael came downstairs and gave us two bottles of Passion Pop and $50 "for more rounds or movies or something" because he is having a Buck's party upstairs tonight (read: bachelor party). So, I guess the money was to hint that we should get lost. He told us that the "entertainment" is coming at 9:30. I assured him we would be gone by then. When Lina came home, she introduced me to the new roommate upstairs (Francesca) and her little dog, Jasper. Jasper looks like a small version of Banjo. He's black and white and soft and has a big head. haha. Anyway, then we sat around and tried to figure out what to do on a Wednesday night. We finally decided to keep it mellow and go bowling! So, we headed to Queen Street Mall and ate some nasty dinner at the Coffee Club and then met up with Jillian. We went bowling at Strike with some old school style nike wannabes instead of cheesy old bowling shoes. I guess Jillian has only bowled a couple times in her life and Lina was part of a bowling league in the Air Force, but luckily was sucking tonight. I wasn't doing much better than Jillian. hah. Anyway, after one round, we were tired and ready to go home, so we caught the last bus home and then tried to sneak into our house.

This proved to be much harder than anticipated. The boys were outside in the Jacuzzi, so we quietly walked up the sidewalk. We saw someone get into a white car to go home, so we literally DOVE behind a neighbor's wall and crouched until they drove by! haha Then of course, we were cracking up at the ridiculousness of it all. We tried once again and made it almost to the top of the hill, and to our driveway, but then someone exited about 20 feet in front of us. No where to hide, we just turned around and started walking back down the hill. I don't think he saw us. Anyway, so a THIRD time, I made use of a large truck that was going by to gain lots of ground and we made it! We snuck past the driveway and down to our house. Almost immediately, we found a giant hole in our wall, foot-sized, like someone had fallen down the stairs and put their foot through the wall. But nothing else was awry. Jillian said, "They better not have gone into my room and taken any underwear or anything!" Lina and I looked at each other and said, "What? Why would they do that?!" Anyway, we tried to be quiet so they didn't know we were here. But we can hear EVERYTHING they do. So we just sat quietly for a while listening to them call at the stripper and her laugh, etc. Around midnight, it sounded like people were dispersing so I headed for bed.

Then Michael came down drunkenly and told us that most people were gone, but there were still a few left and we showed him the hole in the wall. He read an article Jillian was reading and thought she had written it, so proceeded to debate with her about arms control. Then the culprit, Benjamin came downstairs and explained how he thought he was walking into a bathroom, but fell down the stairs. He talked to us for a while. Lina remembered meeting him at the farm. Then he asked if any of us had any love interest in any of Michael's acquaintances. We pretended to not know what he was talking about, until he mentioned a name and then all of us looked at each other with a little bit of panic! Ahhh. Michael!! Anyway, Ben came downstairs, with his pants undone and then laid on our red-room couch and passed out for the rest of the night. Michael explained that there was lots of water displaced in the jacuzzi after people had left, so they needed replacements (us). We reluctantly agreed and 10 min later, we were drinking in the jacuzzi with Michael's friends again. UGH. Luckily this time most of the guys were married or in serious relationships, so no threat.

Around 3am, we crawled out of the jacuzzi and off to bed. However, we scrubbed ourselves in the shower first after learning that their stripper lady couldn't touch the water because she had thrush. But she did stick her legs in. Ew.

October 5

Flew into Melbourne at 5am, it was still dark so I couldn't see the city from the plane. Then waiting in the airport for 4 hours for my transfer flight to Brisbane. I got stopped at security for 15 min, while they searched my entire bag for cuticle clippers. Then sat at the gate, charging my phone. On the way out of Melbourne, I got the one seat on the plane with no window, so I couldn't see the city again! Flew into Brisbane, and caught the train into Roma Station and then the bus home. Showered, missed my group discussion, but made it to my lecture. I forgot that classroom is always freezing, so I was shivering the entire time. I thought a bunch about leaving early, but my group wanted to talk about stuff, so I stayed. Then we sat outside on the grass and maybe chose our topic for our next assignment. Met Jillian on the bus ride home, and made an early dinner because I was starving! Then I made the mistake of sitting in my bed, so of course I fell asleep around 7pm! Whoops. So much for fighting off the jetlag. I'm really not looking forward to the next few assignments I have, and already feel a little behind on them. These next few days I need to concentrate to get a good start on them.

Friday Sept 24 - Monday Oct 04

Mid Semester Break!!!

Friday, Michael took me to the airport and I flew back to LA. Highlights of the week included:
Joy's housewarming party, Glow in Santa Monica, Muse Concert with Andrew and Steven, de Young Museum with my dad, kart racing with my dad, happy hour cocktails with my mom, Dinner with Mike and Patricija and my parents, Dinner out with Linh and Ryan, Linh's Homemade Mac and Cheese, and a day trip to Vegas for a hockey game with Steven (including my first time riding the NY/NY roller coaster and seeing the Bellagio Fountain show).

I flew back on Sunday evening, changed planes in Melbourne at 5am, and made it back just in time for my Tuesday classes. I already miss Mexican food and In-N-Out.