books

so i actually had to buy books this semester. i've only bought 2 so far as the other 1 hasn't gotten in yet. the 2 books cost me almost $200. i'm hoping the one that i'm on the waiting list for isn't all that much. although with one of the books i bought the lecturer had said yesterday that if he knew the book was as much as it was he woulda picked a different one, but he said he was just using the same book and lecture notes from the professor that taught the class last year. i'm just trying to think of what i want to do with the books after the semester as i don't really want to bring them back to the states as it'll just add weight and take up space in my bags. oh well i guess i figure that out when the time comes.

finally got my new student visa today. actually tried to get it yesterday, but didn't take my passport with me, as i thought it was just going to be electronically linked. actually thru the whole application phase of getting a physical, chest x-ray, etc i kinda felt like a mail man as after i had the chest x-ray i had to then take it back to the place taht i got the physical. after a couple of days the hsa (where i got my physical) called and said the results could be picked up and i asked what i was suppose to do with them, and they said to take it to the dimia (Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs) office. anyways i thought they coulda just used the mail instead of me having to go pick it up as where i had to pick it up is like a 30 min bus ride from campus. oh well

saw Bewitched last night. don't know if i'd see it again at least in the theatres, but probably on video. there where some pretty funny parts in it. i think the next movie i'm gonna watch at the theatres is either going to be Batman Begins or Sin City, that is unless another movie comes out that i wanna see or if the group of people i'm going with want to see a different one.

thats about it, laters

Car Rally

on saturday there was an activity put on by the residential service organization (rso) called the car rally. not really sure why its called a car rally as it is a scavenger hunt which involves driving places (kinda like the video scavenger hunt thingy intervarsity has (it is intervarsity who holds it isn't it, sorry ashley)). some of the items we had to get was a receipt for a bottle of coke bought at a petrol (gas) station in tuggeranong (i think thats how you spell it, its a suburb of canberra), a lego man, barbie doll, 21 piece kfc bucket (no chicken just the bucket), and heaps of other random stuff. oooo one of the funniest to do was being cling wrapped to a pole on one of the busiest streets in canberra. one of the people in my group had a friend that lived near the street and while we where at the house trying to find the random stuff, she asked if the scavenger hunt was a reason why she had seen people earlier wrapped to a pole. anyways it was heaps of fun, and i'll be able to give you some ideas of what else to do for the tech one ashley.

played a little bit of soccer yesterday, or at least tried to. my ankle i don't think has completely healed yet. its completely fine as long as i don't try to do any sudden/quick turns or whatnot.

nothing else really is going on, i just am anxious for spring to get here, i'm tired of the cold (that is unless it would snow or something). oh yeah i kinda have a cold as well. its more of just a cough/sore throat. it seems like about 1/3 or more of the people in the ressies have a cold right now. stupid winter, oh well not much you can do about except taking cold pills or whatnot. anyways got some emails to type. laters

Semester 2

ok well today Semester 2 begins. i'm pretty sure i have all my classes worked out and now i just have to go pay the admissions office or whatnot. its fun seeing peoples reactions when i tell them which classes i'm taking. i mean does electronic engineering 2b, engineering management, numerical analysis, and coding theory really sound all that hard??? (i'm a little sarcastic there if you can't tell). oh yeah from last semester i passed all my classes (2 passes and a credit, which i think is like 2 Cs and a B).

this week should be fun, as there are suppose to be lots of events going on. i'm looking forward to thursday night, as it is American Night (the theme of the night, like how in the states we'd have Mexican night or whatnot). mostly i'm glad as i don't have to worry about what to wear costume wise as i can just go as myself. on saturday there's the car rally, not really sure how it got that name, but its more of a scavenger hunt type thing.

my new room is still working out pretty well, although i don't think the hot water works all that well on the floor i'm on. oh well, just having a sink in the room makes up for that. i think i want to get another poster or 2 to put up on my walls, but the shelves they have in there make it so a poster will just barely not fit above or below them. i could always just cut an inch or so off the poster, or i could just not buy anymore posters and save my money for food or something.

somehow that just made me think about how the purpose i came to the computer lab was to check the status of my student visa application, but i forgot to bring my passport number with me so i'm gonna have to come back to the lab some other time, or use a mates computer.

hmmm....what else? i don't think i'm gonna play vball this semester unless its just a muck-around game, as last semester cost like $400 for all the fees (league, insurance, etc) and jersey and such. although it would probably only be 200 for this semester since the insurance fees were for a year and i already have the jersey.

oh yeah, the new exchange students are fun, although i was looking at them and hoping that i wasn't like that at the beginning of last semester. Also, with a couple of them and how they acted it i almost felt like they were making a bad impression of the US. mostly likely than not though i thought that way because i've been here for a while and my mind set has changed a bit (or a lot) and also more likely than not the new exchange students will change heaps while they're here as well.

anyways this is getting kinda long, and since i really haven't had breakfast yet, i'm starting to get hungry and i need to go take care of a couple of things. laters

oh yeah

oh yeah i forgot to mention that one of the new exchange students said that i kinda have an aussie accent. actually he said that i had a northern accent (almost canadian) and something else. i'm hoping its aussie and not irish. do i really sound all that irish though? anyways laters

movie review (i'm running out of title names)

saw Fantastic 4 last night. i didn't think it was all that bad. there were some cheesy parts (like the ending), but for the most part i enjoyed it. although i also tend to be amused easily by movies, as the only movies i think i've ever stopped watching were Groundhog Day and Monsters Ball (i know that was suppose to be a good movie, but i just didn't like it). the next movie i think i'm gonna see is gonna be Batman Begins, that is unless another movie i want to see comes out before then.

today is market day again (where "all" the clubs on campus have a little table out so you can see what all they do to see if you want to join the club). last semester i joined a few too many clubs, and actually i think that membership carries over into this semester so i won't have to pay for anything joining fee or anything (unless i join different ones).

hmm....not much else. i'm trying to decide again if i want to get a hair cut or if i want to just let my hair grow. letting it grow will be cheaper, but i'm not quite sure if i like my hair when it gets kinda long. yup, that's it. laters

battle against boredom

well not much is going on like always. just helping out with the new exchange student orientation as there's nothing else to really do (unless i want to spend money).

last weekend was fun. caught a ride up to sydney with friends (on thurs), stayed the night, caught a train up to newcastle, met a friend and then went up to nelson's bay for a b-day. spent the night there, rode back to newcastle, caught a train back to sydney for another b-day, and caught another ride back to canberra on sunday morning. i spent less money on traveling than i had planned on doing, as i was planning on having to pay for a bus ride from canberra to sydney and back.

gonna be going to the movies tonight as its cheap movie night. i think we're either going to see Batman Begins or Fantastic 4. i wanna see both, so which ever one we go to i'll be fine with.

on thursday going to be going with the new exchange students on the learn to surf trip (like they had at the beginning of last semester). this semester there are only 35 or so exchange students as compared with last semester of there being 70 or so. well i think there's free food soon as its "orientation week" again or something like that, meaning that there's going to be heaps of free bbqs again. laters

moving, sydney, orientation

well i've moved into my new room, not the one that they had first assigned me though. the person that was in it hadn't moved out yet, so i could either wait or move into another room. i really didn't want to wait a couple of days as i had already packed my stuff up (as they didn't let me know that the room wasn't ready until the day i was suppose to move in). i'm still on the same floor that i was going to be on, which is pretty good i suppose.

heading to sydney again later today for a couple of b-days. and i'm actually going to be going to a concert (for free nonetheless). the person (Sarah, i think there's an h in her name) i'm catching a ride up to sydney and staying with said her mom had gotten a couple of tickets for us to go to a concert (i think it's old rock or something, but concerts are always fun). i guess her mom has some connections or whatnot. i wonder where the concert is going to be held in sydney. i'm also hoping the weather is nice this weekend like it has been the last couple of days (except for today as it is rainy again). to me the weather feels more just like fall instead of winter, but that's probably 'cause for me winter involves weather that is below freezing other than just a night every now and then.

i'm hoping i'll be back to canberra to help out with the new exchange student orientation (which happens on the 11th). i just think it'll be heaps of fun, as i can be laughing at them for things they might do, but i'll really be laughing at myself as like i said before i'm sure i did the same things when i first got here. that reminds me, i need to go to the reject shop (store where everything is cheap) and get a couple of things before the new exchange students clear the shop out. at least that's what happened at the beginning of last semester, there was almost nothing left in the store. oh yeah i'm also excited about the new exchange student orientation 'cause Tina and Claire (the coordinators) are doing the learn to surf thing again and said i could go as well. i can't wait, although i'm hoping it's not going to be the same weekend as the back to school festivities. although if it is, i'm pretty sure i'm gonna go surfing (i'm not going to leave australia 'til i know how to surf, or i'll be leaving quite reluctantly).

that's it for now, laters

swimming, moving, and not much else

well i actually got up today and went swimming (tried to go running first, but my ankle is still kinda weak or whatnot). i am quite out of shape. after each lap i had to stop and take a rest (although i think each lap was 50m or so, i know the pool was longer than the thornton rec center one). eventually i'll be in better shape, as i think i might also go and get a pair of cheap rollerblades, but who knows, i just know that i have to entertain myself somehow since i don't have a comp or tv. although it's probably better to be doing tings like rollerblading than just watching tv or surfing the web (that is except for when its raining, like it has for the past week or 2).

i move into my new room on tuesday. i was hoping i'd be able to move sooner as i have a doctors appointment on tuesday as well (have to get a physical or whatnot in order to extend my student visa), but i had not luck in trying to talk them into letting me move earlier. oh well, my appointments in the morning anyways, which is a lot better than if it was in the middle of the day.

i definately can't wait for the weather to stop raining. granted australia needs the rain, as i guess they've been having a drought (did i spell that right?, oh well). i really hope it stops raining at least for next tuesday, although it's not like i have anything that will get ruined by getting wet, so it could rain, it would just be a bit of a pain.

after being in sydney and seeing a lot of it, i'm gonna have to make it up there again when it's warm and attempt to surf (again) at one of the beaches, or maybe i could go further north of sydney to brisbane or whatever is the gold coast or sunshine coast as i think they're suppose to have good surfing spots as well. although i think i would just like to have some small waves at first, until i actually am able to stand on the board.

and that's about all that's going on, expect for trying to find ways to fight boredom as the majority of the people went home for the mid-year break. laters