August 19

Tried to sunbathe, but it was too cold. Walked with my two new roommates (Canada and Germany) and went shopping downtown. I bought a skirt, 2 tank tops, a going out top, bandeaus, and gold shoes all for $140. Then I went home and went to go make lunch but saw that my plate got stolen! WTF Right out of my bag!! Like, Ok if you want to use it, but then put it back at least! And I wonder why they didn't take the rest of my dishes, too. Just the plate. Ugh. That means I won’t get $2 back at the end and now I have to use my bowl as my plate. Oh well. Then I studied for a bit, showered, talked to the Canadian about a bunch of things and then went out to Victory with Jillian. But I was supposed to meet all of my classmates. It was really hard trying to mix the friend groups because I didn't know what to talk about. Oh well. My classmates started dancing, so I ended up sneaking out early. 

Roommates: Denmark, Canada and new quiet girl from Japan that doesn't speak much English. 

August 18

Today was a busy day! I turned in a bunch of library books, checked out 4 more. Then I bought a plug, got chai, and went to class. We had a guest lecturer, Ian Patterson. During the break, I helped Antonella who has missed the first several weeks of class. Then, I headed to meet with Jan about the financial aid lady. Christian, Lina and Jillian all met me and we discussed all of the problems for over an hour. It felt really good to get EVERYTHING off our chests and the woman did not seem to have any idea that these things had happened. I really hope that things change for the better and other students don't have to go through what we went through. Then I walked with the girls to the health clinic because Lina needed to see someone and I had an appointment. The doctor I met with wasn't very helpful at all and didn't tell me much about this new birth control I was looking into. Instead she just told me that if I was interested in it, I needed to schedule an appointment with another doctor. So, I did, but I'm really running out of time to get this done if I want to do it in Australia, before I go back. Then, I dropped off the books I borrowed from Roy Ballantyne in his office and he was meeting with someone so I didn't get a chance to talk to him, which is OK because I didn't really need to. Then went home and studied for a bit. Later, I went out to Salsa with girls and Christian and Gerardo and Umberto from Peru.

Roommates: Denmark, Canadian moved in, whoo! And a tall, blonde girl from Germany

August 17

Today was the Ekka holiday. I tried to sunbathe, but it was cold so I went back inside and talked to my boyfriend for a while. Then I studied and was very productive and got quite a bit done.

Roommates: Denmark stayed, English Girls moved out. No one took their place. So, we had the place to ourselves! Whee.

August 16

Today is the day before Ekka, one of Brisbane's biggest holidays. A year ago today is one that I would love to block out in my memory. Haha Oh well. I didn’t go to the TSA meeting since the last one I went to was worthless. I studied for most of the day. Then convinced Lina and Jillian to go to Mexican food!  We went to Guzman y Gomez, then tried Agave for some drinks, across the street. It had some really disgusting Sangria that tasted like watered down cranapple juice. Horrible. Then I went home and met up with Jillian to go out to the bars. Even though it's a Tuesday, everyone goes out because tomorrow is a holiday, so it's really like a Friday! We went to the Victory downtown and then got some pizza and that was about it. Kinda boring. 

Roommates: Denmark and Two English girls

August 15

Sunbathed, studied for most of the day. As usual. 

Roommates: Denmark, plus two English girls moved in. They were nice. One was very organized the other was a little slow. But insisted she wasn’t slow/stupid, just got easily distracted. She seemed a little bit of a space case to me. 

August 14

I studied all day, then went out with Jillian in the evening. We went to get burgers in the South Bank and catch up on life, then got Max Brenner's chocolate chai and walked around the city until late. 

Roommates: Denmark stayed, Taiwainese girl said it was her last night and asked if I could take a photo with her. So I did my standard wannabe Asian Peace Sign. I looked half-asleep in it because I was already in bed when she asked. Oh well. She seemed to be satisfied.  

August 13

Sunbathed for a couple hours, then talked to my mom, then studied a really crappy, slow book all afternoon and evening. Ugh. Boring day.

Roommates: English girl moved out in the morning. Denmark goes out and gets drunk every night. Taiwainese is always asleep from 11pm-10am. I guess she's jetlagged.

August 12

Too cold to sunbathe. I guess I can't complain since it is Winter here in Brisbane! I ended up sitting on internet for most of the day, emailing to schedule a meeting with Jan (the financial aid lady's boss) and lecture Jillian about boys. Then I studied for a while. Friends cancelled on going out again, so I studied in the evening. 

Roommates: Denmark, English Katy and Taiwanese

August 11

Woke up early for class, then bought a chai while I waited.. As I was sitting outside the room, reviewing my presentation notes, I felt something on the back of my neck, so I rubbed it away and when I looked down at my hands, I saw a dead, crumpled spider!!! OMG, It definitely felt like it pricked me, so I felt around on my neck a little. I panicked a bit and when Jane came to class, I asked her to look at my neck. She said it was red, but just looked like I had rubbed it, not like a big spider bite. I watched myself for the rest of class, thinking Ok, just don't pass out before my presentation!! Ack. Anyway, I felt ok. The place of the bite felt a little numb, but it didn't feel like it was affecting my whole body, so I guess it was OK, not one of the deadly spiders... My presentation went well and then I went by the clinic to schedule a doctor's appointment. Not for the bite, but to ask about a new form of birth control that I heard about from the English girl - an implant in your arm that lasts 3 years! After, I went back to the hostel, skyped with my parents and boyfriend, then studied for the rest of the day. I watched a couple movies in the evening and was supposed to go out, but my friends cancelled on me. Oh well. 

Roommates: German moved out. Taiwanese girl moved in. English girl was supposed to move out a couple days ago, but didn’t. So who knows when she’s leaving. I guess Denmark and I are the semi-permanent residents. After 3 days in a row of working at the bar, Denmark quit. She hated it and the booty shorts they made her wear! haha

August 10

I wished my mom a happy birthday because it's the 9th back in the states. Then I laid out in the sun for a bit. I had library books due today, but I decided not to turn them in because it would cost the exact same in bus fare as the late fee would be. I decided my time was more valuable. I studied all day and worked on my presentation for my thesis that is coming up! 

Roommates: All the same. English girl talks to me while I’m trying to study which is a nice break, but also distracting. 

August 9

Money got deposited, Finally!! But I don't care, I'm still going to demand a meeting to get our main contact fired or something. She's totally inept and has screwed up everyone's money from the US... This is war!! Then I had a TSA meeting, which was totally worthless. I have officially transitioned out. I didn't do anything but sit on my phone and send emails during the meeting. I had nothing to contribute. I don't think I'll go again. I studied in library until class, then went for a second, but when the class moved to the computer lab to do something I had already done, I walked the other direction and just went home early to study.

Roommates: All the same. English girl and German are very nice. 

August 8

I woke up at 6am on Clare’s couch with the worst headache of my life and stumbled back to the hostel on the bus. Thought I was going to have to tell the driver to pull over so I could puke outside the bus, but I made it to my stop and then stumbled to bed. After a long shower, I made myself some food and then watched a couple of movies. With no food left and still no Financial Aid money, I went to the store and used my credit card again. I got an email from the financial aid people saying it should be deposited, but no money. Very frustrating. Then, I studied for a bit and got a good night’s rest.

Roommates: Both Germans moved out, Denmark stayed and 1 English girl, Katy moved in, as well as 1 other nice German. Denmark got a job working in the bar of the hostel. She has to work long hours and wear booty shorts. 

August 7

In the morning, I sunbathed for a bit, then studied in the afternoon for a while. The usual routine. Then, I got ready and bussed over to Toowong to meet Clare for dinner. I bought wine at the bottle shop and then walked with Clare to her apartment. We drank the first bottle and then ate dinner that she made. It was Chicken with honey, sesame and mustard, super delicious.. We just talked and talked and talked for hours about everything, mostly serious stuff like my sister and her friend and working hard and getting through hard times. It was refreshing to be able to talk to her about things so candidly. Before I knew it, it was already midnight and so I watched a movie and passed out at her house (no more busses on a Sunday night). Whoops

Roommates: New German moved out, Denmark stayed and other German who lives above me stayed. 

August 6

Today was sunny, so I sunbathed for a while, then studied for the rest of the afternoon. I also wrote a complaint letter to UQ financial department because I still have yet to receive any moneys from them and every semester seems to be a hassle. I'm sick of it. I'm not going to just sit idle until I get my money anymore and then forget about it. I want changes!! In the evening, when I went to make dinner, I discovered that my ravioli had been stolen! WTF. I can't believe someone would steal my whole package of ravioli! So, I ate ramen for dinner because I'm avoiding going to the store until I get money from financial aid. I talked to my boyfriend for a while because he was mad at me for something I did before I knew him and then studied a bit more before bed.

Roommates: Denmark, German and another German. The one with the boyfriend moved out, but another one took her place.

August 5

The girls who went to sleep at 8pm decided to wake up super early and instead of being quiet like most people, they both rifled through a bunch plastic bags with their stuff for a while. WHAT THE HELL... Take it outside, get ready quickly and quietly! Jesus... So, because I was awake, I decided to go catch a few rays of sun on the sun deck. I put on my bikini, took my towel and staked out a prime spot near the pool... Then I made some breakfast and went out to enjoy the sun... Except it was very overcast and gray! UGH. I stayed out there for an hour and this nice Canadian guy who’s been at the hostel for a while sat with me. Then I gave up when it started drizzling and went downstairs to study for the rest of the day.

Ate an early dinner and then went on the internet for a while. Now, I’m back in my room to study a bit more before bed time.

Roommates: Same foursome. Denmark and two loud Germans... I think the German girls are staying for a few days. One is staying for 4 at least until her boyfriend meets her, then they are moving into a private room... They’re OK, as long as they don’t make a lot of noise tomorrow. I just don’t like how messy the room feels. I miss the days when it was just Denmark and me. 

August 4

I tried to sleep in as late as possible, but it just wasn’t working. I had to get up for class. Ugh. So, I dragged myself out of bed and got dressed, not happy about my long day... I turned in a bunch of linbrary books went to class and the professor basically talked the whole time about my meeting with him and MY topic – Dark Tourism, to give examples for the class. Embarrassing. Everyone seems to have some pretty good topics, I’m impressed. Especially ‘cuz mine took a lot of research to develop, but they just came up with awesome topics on their own.

After class was the TSA Welcome Lunch, so I walked down there with my classmates and joined TSA... I ate some cookies right away and mingled with friends. Haha Didn’t really do anything important. Then I ate some free pizza and Christian tried to get a volleyball game started, so I went with him to try to recruit more people. Pretty soon we had about 6 people on either side, so I went back to sit down and text my boyfriend. We packed up a little early and I quickly volunteered to take the volleyballs back to the gym, which meant I didn’t have to do much else! Haha. While I was at the gym, I saw that the entire pool was being dug up so I decided to try and get a refund for my pool credits! They submitted the request – yes! I’ll get that money back.

Then I took the bus down to the South Bank and waited 30 minutes for Jillian and Lina to meet me at the Gallery of Modern Art because Jillian really wanted to see the Surrealism exhibit. I wasn’t in a very good mood because I had sand in my pants from volleyball, the exhibit was $16 and I still don’t have any student loan money from the school.. UGH. Plus it’s Lina’s birthday which means that I would have to shell out money for drinks and dinner, etc. for her. Jillian bought her museum ticket, which left me hanging a little bit... But after the exhibit we decided to go to Max Brenner’s Chocolate Bar for a sweet snack... So, I paid for Lina’s food there. I decided that we were adults and could eat dessert before dinner, but that turned out not to be such a good idea because then we all ended up feeling sick and didn’t want to go out salsa dancing (which is just as well because I was tired anyway). Plus, my boyfriend was already making a big stink about it and my increased involvement in TSA. Ugh.

Roommates: Denmark and I are holding down the fort, but then two separate German girls came in and one was jetlagged, so she decided to go to sleep at 8pm! UGH. So I went to go watch a dumb movie in the hostel’s theatre and then went to bed early. They both have a lot of stuff, so our room feels REALLY full and messy! =(

August 3

I slept in and then went to campus because I had a meeting with my professor about my topic for my thesis. He was able to do what I wanted, which was narrow it down to one topic and work with me on what I need to do in order to find some theoretical underpinnings. We met for an hour and it was good, some confusing, but I really appreciate him and the time he took to discuss with me. Although, he said he was going to call me out and make me say what I learned in class tomorrow. UGH. Then I tried to meet with my old Professor, who I thought had experience in researching this topic, but she wasn’t around, so I emailed her instead. I went home and talked to my boyfriend for a while, made dinner and then researched and read an entire book for my thesis. I gotta get through a bunch of books in not very many days! Ack

Roommates: Denmark girl. 

August 2

Of course the one day I have to wake up semi-early, I don’t get a good night’s sleep. At 1:30am, the one crawled into bed with the one above me and they started talking. And the one (the annoying one) can’t whisper! The other was trying to tell her to whisper, but she wasn’t doing a very good job at it. A couple times, I shushed them, but it was no use, I woke up frequently throughout the night and then again at 5am, when they had to pack up at leave for the train. Hopefully they won’t be coming back...

I went to a TSA meeting in the morning and then was going to stay on campus and study for a few hours until my class at 4pm, but I was just too tired. So I checked out a few books from the library and came back to the hostel to nap. My 4pm class is the online class anyway, so I technically don’t have to go to lectures. Plus it was a guest lecturer anyway. I woke up and it was 2:30pm, right when the kitchen is closed for cleaning, so I watched the last 10 minutes of a movie and the very beginning of Lord of the Rings, then made some food and read a few articles for my Education class. Then I watched the end of Lord of the Rings and made dinner, then read a bit for my thesis and bed!

Roommates: Lesbos moved out, Denmark stayed. 

August 1

Had breakfast and then studied all day for my thesis... Then I watched a couple movies in the evening because I didn’t want to be in my room.

Roommates: The Lesbians came back! WHAT! Of all the rooms they have to come back to mine?! UGH. I thought I was done with them. Denmark girl stayed, so the Lesbos were restricted to the top bunks and one of them (The annoying Chip-eater) is now sick, and chose the bunk above me, of course! They napped ALL day, cuddling with each other, so I avoided my room at all costs. 

July 31

Boring day, just researched for my thesis and then watched movies in the evening. Apparently Jillian told me that she had my GoCard. I have no idea when we exchanged goCards, but apparently we’ve been using each others on the bus system for a while, because I had hers and was using it after she left for California, in June. Ugh. But then apparently I lost hers and she has mine, but somehow doesn’t have my ID and health card, etc. It’s a big mystery which I don’t think we will ever figure out. Haha Anyway, after the movie, I ate a late dinner and then went to bed. Not very exciting.

Roommates: Denmark girl stayed and a British girl moved in for one night. Even though we aren’t supposed to have alcohol in the room, she had two beers, so she offered me the 2^nd and we sat and talked, drinking warm beer on the floor for a bit.