Hey everyone! I know it has been a while since I have updated, but a lot has happened and I have been pretty busy. This past week has been filled with orientation activities ranging from orientation on campus on Tuesday, which consisted of talking about what campus has to offer, safety, and other stuff that I forgot. Later that day there was a scavenger hunt at Weerona and games that the O-Week (O-Week is at Weerona and it is run by students that set up activities for the new residents to participate in) and games.
July 20th
On Wednesday it was cold and there was a little bit of rain and of course an O-Week event was outside. The event consisted of us running around getting sprayed with whip cream and water going through an obstacle course.
For the next event later that day the leaders split up boys and girls and we each went our separate ways. For us boys we played Tug O' War, went for a little run, the leaders made us eat canned beans, vegemite, and other things, and then we held planks with water buckets. Yea.....not that fun at all.
Later that night there was a space themed party so we all met up to go to the bus to take us to where the party was. It was a secret location, but I found out that it was really only at TC's (The Tennis Club right behind Weerona that Weeronians frequent). So we walked over there and made our way to a private room and had a dance party along with some fun games.
Thursday, 21 July
The next morning we played bubble soccer for O-Week!
So it's soccer but you are in these bubbles so you can run and knock people over without getting hurt.
I'm the second from the left.
And this is me trying to get up :) It's really fun if you ever get a chance to play, you should.
Friday, July 22nd
After staying up and watching
Interstellar I was woken up by some screaming and some sort of whistle going off. I laid in bed thinking if someone was screaming or some sort of alarm was going off I should see if I should help. I finally got up and decided to look out to see what was going on and right when I opened my door I saw the O-Week leaders coming upstairs smiling and started yelling "Get your shoes on Noonie!" (Short story: I am called Noonie down hear because there is a girl here named Julia Goonan and together we are Noonie and Goonie). I slammed my door shut immediately and looked at the time, 6 a.m. The leaders started banging on my door and yelling for me to get my shoes on and head out to the lawn beside Weerona. So, reluctantly I changed and got my shoes on and went out to the lawn and found out that we were walking to the beach to watch the sunrise. The leaders got most of the group running, but I was in no mood to run so I kept a good pace to the beach and then made it to the beach in time to get some pictures.
Later there was a scavenger hunt around Wollongong so I just stayed in my walking attire from the morning and waited for the scavenger hunt to start. The scavenger hunt consisted of three stops: UOW, The Beach, and Town Center. We had to do many things like someone had to run into the ocean fully clothed, people had to get waxed (yes, I did get a small portion of my leg waxed), and take photos of certain things. The team I was on, the Yellow Team, came back first but we did not get as many points as some other teams did so we probably got second of third overall I think.
Later that night there was another party at another secret location. I thought this secret location was going to be T.C.'s again but then a party bus showed up and drove us to a club the Weerona had rented out.
Saturday 23 July
I woke up at 6 a.m. once again to walk to UOW and go on a weekend trip to Hunter Valley and Port Stephens. I met a guy from South Korea named Inseok and we stuck together for the weekend. When we got on the bus I fell asleep because I was so tired from not getting enough sleep that past couple nights.
Our first stop was the Reptile park where I feed and pet a kangaroo, pet a koala, among many other animals.
Some Crocs!
Fuzziest little creature
This is me and Inseok in front of the reptile park
The next stop was McGuigan's Winery. We tried an assortment of wines starting with whites and ending with ports.
I enjoyed the wines here so I bought two bottles.
Side Note: I bought a 2016 Harvest white wine and I started thinking "Wait....the harvest hasn't happened yet.." then I realized that the harvest has already happened in Australia.
Third stop for the day was Hunter Beer Co. I thought it was on okay brewery. I didn't really care for too much that I tried there. They did have a couple IPAs which I was happy about because those are hard to find down under.
The last stop for the day was Lindeman's Winery. I heard it was world famous with the world's best selling chardonnay. I liked McGuigan's a lot more because their wines were better and they seemed to treat us a little better.
That night we stayed at the weirdest/coolest hostel I have ever stayed at. It was in the bush so we had to walk through the bush to get to our cabins, bathrooms, and common area. To get an idea of the place imagine like a 1930's jungle outpost. The main office was outside and the desk had different trikets/artifact looking things like Buddhas and totems around. I know I keep relating things to Indiana Jones, but this hostel was like the Indiana Jones line at Disneyland.
Also at the hostel there is a wild kangaroo that comes by that they have named Josephine. I met Josephine and she was very nice and she let me pet her. This sounds like a weird tangent but I wanted to get close and personal with a kangaroo while down here and I did not think I going to be able to do that with a wild one!
After dinner we walked to the beach and star gazed because you could see just about every star in the sky. Inseok and I walked back to the cabin top get my camera and when we returned the moon had come out of nowhere and you could not see as many stars.
After snapping a few photos we went back to the common room and played a few card games then went to bed.
The next day we woke up, had breakfast, then jumped on the bus to go whale watching in Port Stephens.
I know this is a crappy photo but the water was so blue I just had to get a photo of it.
I didn't take many photos on the cruise because it was just the same thing as whale watching at home with Humpback Whales, Dolphins, and Seals.
After the cruise we jumped back on the bus and went to the sand dunes. When we arrived at the dunes we got on a large off-roading vehicle that drove us to the dune. Inseok and and I were lucky enough to sit in the front of the car and it looked like we were in some far off desert.
When we arrived at the dunes we took off our shoes and grabbed a board and headed straight off to race down the dune. We had to sit on the board because people had broken their necks and other bones standing up.
This is Me, Inseok, and Julian
The ride back from the dune to the bus was crazy. We got seats in the very back of the van and started off over the dunes again. Since I was in the back I couldn't hear but all I heard was one of the girls in the front seat talking to a girl behind her saying "Are you ready?" and the other girl responded "Yea!". The vehicle then lurched forward down a steep hill and we were all leaning forward restrained by our seat belts and being bounced off of one another. For the rest of the ride back we were being pushed one way and then jerked another. I have to say it was a little more fun than sand boarding!
After sand boarding we jumped on the bus to head back to Wollongong. On the bus they put on Daddy's Home and we just hung out after until we got back.
When I got back there was another party that Weerona was throwing and the bus stopped closer to the party than Weerona so I went there, dropped all my stuff off behind the bar, and hung out until I was too tired and went back and got ready for bed.
Monday, 26 July
First day of school and I only had one class. Classes here are broken down into two main parts: Lecture and tutorial. Lectures is when every single person who has signed up for the class shows up and listens to a lecture. Tutorials are smaller and I still haven't been to one yet so when my first tutorial happens i'll let you all know what happens. In lectures no one asks questions and just listens, which is a little odd to me because I am used to asking questions, so we will see how that goes!
Side note: At Weerona they have Opossums that run around and go through garbage bins and stuff. Below is a picture of one from the hostel that I was at this weekend. The opossums are different here than at home.
Side Note: I have videos of sand boarding but I am tired and will put them up in a separate post tomorrow hopefully!
