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

fumigation

i really don't think i spelled that right, but i don't really care about my spelling. anyways, in the ressies i live in they are spraying for pest control today, so they're making us be out of the buildings from 10-2. not too bad i suppose. woulda been better if they sprayed my block yesterday for a couple of reasons. one is that i was still in sydney or on the bus back to canberra. and the second is that tuesdays are cheap movie days so i coulda gone to a movie while they were attempting to kill all of the pests. i really don't think there were any mice or anything in my building but i'm not completely sure on that.

in a way it works out that they're spraying today. it makes me take care of some things that i've been procrastinating on. one of which is i need to get $50 to one of the volleyball people (because of the fundraiser we did, which was saling entertainment books). for those of you who don't know what entertainment books are, you one don't live in a big enough city or 2 you haven't had to do very many fundraisers. i was just surprised that they had entertainment books here as well. oh and for those that are still confused about what entertainment books are, they are a big book of coupons for various things like restaraunts, fast food, amusement parks, etc.

well, all of the other americans/international students have left canberra to either go home or to travel australia before returning home. not to mention that the ressies feel really empty as basically everyone else went home as well for the winter break (they don't actually call it winter break, but it's winter and we're on break, so i'm gonna call it winter break even though there isn't any snow where i'm at). i'm curious for when the new international students get in so i can laugh at them (and myself) for the things they'll do when they get here, as i know i most likely did the same.

speaking of international travel, hope you're having a good time in russia ashley (if you get a chance to use a computer to read this). and then when do you leave for turkey (that's where you're going isn't it) ashli? that brings up something that's kinda fun to ponder. who would have thought last year that with the group i hang out with at Tech, that one of us would be in Australia (me), one in Russia (Ashley), and one in Turkey (Ashli).

well i think i've wasted enough time on a computer (at least for now, as i will most likely be back as there is nobody on campus!!!). hope everyone is doing well and having an awesome summer so far.

sydney

heading to sydney for 5 days, so don't expect any blog entries until june 29 at the earliest. laters

last final exam

so i have my last final for this semester in about 4 hours. i don't think its going to be all that hard. its for my Truth, belief, and science class. for the exam we have to analyse an urban legend (saying what parts make it an urban legend), decide if several arguments are valid or not and explain, and then have paragraph answers on a reading. i think the fact that we are allowed a page of notes and they gave us the reading already is why i'm not all that worried for it.

other than that, nothing much is happening. been rainy/cloudy the last couple of days. oh yeah there was going to be a surprise going away party for john (he's from colorado as well) tonight, but that's 'cause everyone thought his last exam was also today. however his last exam is tomorrow, so it got postponed until tomorrow night, so he'd be able to study and get a good nights sleep for the exam. although tues nights are usually going to the movies (as it's 1/2 price on tues nights), oh well.

well i think i'm gonna go over my notes once more (actually i have time to go over them at least 3 times) just so i won't have to use the cheat sheet all that much.

boo coldness

there's this big stereotype that all of australia is warm all year and i'm telling you now that all parts of australia are not warm throughout the entire year. granted it doesn't snow (so i'm told) except for in the "mountains". the last couple of days it has been cold, well kinda, it's still well above freezing, but i think i had gotten accustomed to the warm weather so it feels cold now. plus its been rainy and windy as well. ok so that's my little complaining for a while.

have one final left which i think shouldn't be too hard. we get to have a sheet of notes (hand written ones) and a dictionary if we want. not sure what good the dictionary would do, unless there's going to be words on the test that we've never seen before.

want to go see batman begins, but i really don't want to pay full price to see it. i guess i'll just have to wait for a cheap movie night (which are tuesday nights).

also can't wait for my foot to be all better. the bruising colors are going away, but it still hurts/aches every now and then. it is starting to be a bit more flexible as well. i should probably go and buy an ankle brace or whatnot instead of just wrapping it up.

oh yeah i have a doctors appointment on july 5 to get a physical type thingy done so i can get another student visa. not sure why they decide that in order to get another visa i have to see a doctor 'cause if i had anything before coming everybody has it already. although they also take a chest x-ray, not really sure why, but whatever.

its kinda sad seeing some of the other international students leave for home or for more traveling around australia. i should probably do more traveling, but i just have fun hanging out with the aussies. during the holiday (break between the semesters) i'll probably see some things as i'm suppose to go to a couple of people's b-day parties.

back to the cold weather, as my brain just though "oooo, coffee sounds good". i'm surprised i have bought any instant coffee mix stuff yet. not really coffee, but mocha or something that is chocolate and has caffeine in it, not to mention that its served warm/hot.

well that's that for now, laters all

study break

i've noticed that i tend to spend about the same amount of time in study breaks as i do in studying. isn't that how you're suppose to study though, so you don't fry your brain? actually i try get myself to study for about an hour and then take like a 30 or 45 min break (although the break i'm on now might be a little longer as all my stuff to study is in my room and i'm at the computer lab). that's really all i've been up to lately.

yesterday was a public holiday (Queen's Birthday). although australia no longer has a queen, and it wasn't even the real (britain's i think) queen's birthday. although fireworks were legal over the weekend (as long as you lit them off after 10pm and before 5am or something like that).

and yup, that's it, so i'm gonna grab something for lunch and then go back to studying.

lovely colors

my foot is now turning lovely colors of blue, purple, and in some small areas greenish. it doesn't hurt as much anymore, but i still have a little bit of a limp when i walk. also i still can't really pivot on it, can only bend the ankle back and forth with little/no pain. i'm just glad that it hasn't even been a week and it is already quite a bit better, still swollen though.

played charades last night. it was pretty entertaining. one of the funniest one's i though was a person had to act out a place (we were using the pictionary cards) which was America, so they pointed at me. the first time i had to act something out my team didn't get. i had to act out a stone. first of all i had no clue how to even start, 'cause how do you try to act out a stone? another funny one was a person on a different team had to act out a bald eagle, but she didn't know what it really was. i just thought it was hilarious 'cause that's one of the animals that all americans learn growing up.

and i'm tired of sitting at a computer right now, plus i have some studying to do. laters

1 down 2 to go

well just got done with my first final. they seem to be pretty strict with the testing. bags have to be either at the front or back of the room (not next to you) and you're not even suppose to have a cell phone on you (even if it is turned off). actually it kinda felt like taking the standardized tests all over again. i can't believe i can't think of the name of the test, i keep thinking they're the A.C.T's (or is that right, i can't think right now). luckly my next final isn't until the 15th.

last night i had a volleyball game again. we ended up losing, but it was against the A team (i'm on the B team). so it really wasn't all that surprising, especially since we barely had 6 people to play. we were going to play with just 5, but they wouldn't let us so our captain (who had rolled his ankle last week) had to change and play. speaking of rolling ankles, i did that as well last night. went up for a block and i either landed on someone else's foot, my foot, or just landed wrong altogether. currently i have it wrapped up but it was still swollen this morning when i woke up for my exam.

and yup thats about the extent of the news that i have. laters

Hog's Breath Cafe

wow its been a while since my last post. well i guess i'll summarize (kinda) whats happened since my last one.

on friday night after the international reception (to say bye to people and get their numbers/addresses) i went with 4 other international students to a restaurant called Hogs Breath Cafe. i guess its a chain and it started in the US, but its Hogs Breath Restaurant in the states. anyways, we were joking around with our waitress (anusha or something like that) and having fun (we got the coloring mat thingies that little kids get, and colored it in for anusha). anyways she asked the 5 of us to meet up with her on saturday night because the hogs breath employees were getting together as a couple people were leaving. i just thought it was weird 'cause to me its usually the group that asks the individual to hang out instead of the other way around (at least when you really don't know each other). i also thought it was funny that on saturday night the international students i was with said it was only like the 3rd or so time they've been into civic at night (about the opposite for me).

on sunday nothing really new happened. had volleyball practice from 1-4. got some bad news i guess on sunday though. for the next v-ball game (on wednesday) my team isn't going to have any centers (taller people that attempt to block spikes) as they are injured. so now the average height of the team i'm on is about 1-2 inches taller than me. this is really going to be wednesdays game interesting, especially since we're playing for 3rd place.

after volleyball practice played soccer for a little over an hour. it was fun 'cause we had about 20 people. i think next time i need to remember to take my cleats with me so i'm not sliding all over the place (although everyone else is as well).

and that's all really. just been studying for my exam on thursday. already had one 2 hour tutorial or whatnot today to help get ready for it and have another one in 45 minutes. at first wasn't sure i knew the stuff all that well, but now i'm thinking i do. yup that's it for now. laters

bump, set, spike into my face

the volleyball games went well last night for only having 6 players (no subs). we ended up playing 8 sets in all. the first game we lost but i think we're going to get the win as the other team wasn't all in uniform and the league is being really uptight about that now. the second game we won the first 2 sets and then the 4th one (barely 26-24). in the first game i really could have gone without being reminded of what it felt like to get the ball spiked in my face. luckily there's no ball prints on the right side of my face this morning/arvo (afternoon). the 4th set of the 2nd game was full of anxiety (not sure if thats the right word). we were losing 12-22 or something like that and then came back to 22-24. they were one point away from winning and had spiked the ball, me and another person on my team went to dig the ball. the other player got there first, hit the ball, the ball somehow went off my knee and deep into the other teams court, therefore giving us the serve. we then ended up winning the game 26-24. i was dead after the games as we had started playing at 6:30 and got done around 9:45.

i guess one of the international coordinators has a fractured pelvis. all i know is that it happened when she was riding to work on her bicycle. don't know any other details other than that. probably know more by tomorrow night, as there is a reception thingy for the international students tomorrow night.

yesterday for one of my classes which was going to be just a review of stuff we should know for the final exam made me kinda angry. the review was more of just 5 tutorials cramed into 1.5 hrs. the lecturer went over tutorial problems, but he went over them very quickly (meaning he read the multiple choice question, the possible answers, and then said the answer). some of us were trying to write down the questions and the answers and he even said that there wasn't time for us to copy it 'cause we had a lot to get thru. personally i would have rather had class/review on tues (the tues class was canceled) and yesterday so we would have had time to write the questions and answers. well thats my ranting for a while.

and once again my stomach is telling me its time to eat, but i can't think of anything else to write anyways. laters

'Roos at 1am

surprising i just realized that the best time to see kangaroos is around 1am (i should have figured this out earlier, but i really don't pay all that much attention to the actual time when i see them). also do you know how freaky it is to be walking on the sidewalk just thinking of what needs to be done the next day and then suddenly realize that you are now within 10 yards of a dozen or so kangaroos (a couple that are even just a couple feet away), all of which that are starring at you. luckily these animals have been on campus so long that they just kind of sit and watch you until you pass them, or just go back to eating the grass.

tonight i have vball games at 6:30 and 8:15, with each game being the best of 5 different matches or whatnot. meaning that i could potentially be playing 10 games if time permits. i think i'm going to be dead after playing. speaking of volleyball i had to buy a pair of navy shorts today because the black shorts weren't good enough anymore (at the beginning, they said that black or navy were fine). i wasn't the only one though that didn't have a navy pair as some people were wearing royal blue shorts to the games. oh well the shorts were only $25, which i was happy about 'cause i was expecting that they'd be over $30.

what else is new??? well i've been trying to go see the international coordinator people to ask a couple questions (one being if either of them would like to buy and entertainment book (a $50 coupon book) as for volleyball everyone is suppose to try and sale one and they're the only non-students i know) but everytime i go they're not in their office. the problem could be that i try to go see them around lunch. i also need to give them my passport number so i can get another CoE code so i can extend my student visa.

well that's it for now

No more assignments!!

well at least for this semester. i finally got all my assignments done (i'm hoping correctly). now all i have to worry about are the finals. one of my finals is worth 55% of my grade, one's worth 40%, and i think the other one is worth 30% or something like that. that's one thing i really don't like is how the final grade of the class rests completely on the final exam (well not so much for 2 of my three classes but still). i liked having 4 or 5 tests thru-out the semester with (depending who's teaching) the lowest one being dropped. oh well, can't really change the system here.

hmm....what else is there. well last week i saw star wars episode 3. it was good although it wasn't as good as i was expecting, although i had built it up in my mind that it was going to be the best movie of the year. but now i want to watch the other episodes again (mostly episodes 4 and 6, since i watched 5 last night). although seeing episodes 1 and 2 wouldn't be all that bad either.

oh yeah, also found one more class that will transfer back to tech, which brings the total up to 3 that i found and am waiting on one more. its called coding theory and to me it sounds like it would be a nice little addition to the other engineering stuff 'cause it somewhat goes over how do pin-point problems and such amongst a lot of other stuff. i'm hoping it will transfer as a technical elective.

a couple other funny things that have happened. on friday night someone asked where i was from and i said america and asked why. he responded with that i sounded irish. do i really sound that irish to everyone? 'cause several people at tech thought i had an irish accent and now an australian thought so as well. i suppose i could have a worse accent or something. oh and the other thing is that the weekends usually involve playing Risk on saturdays and soccer on sundays.

speaking of playing the soccer yesterday was heaps fun. i really wish i coulda seen how high i was off the ground (i kinda went flying after a 1 on 1 with the person playing goalie). anyways they said that i was a good meter or so (3ft) off the ground. i must have jumped or something though 'cause minus just a little bruise on my shin that was the extent of the injuries. i do remember though when i was in the air that i hoped i would land wrong on my shoulder or anything. all in all though it was heaps of fun. i'm trying to decide if i want to wear my cleats next sunday or not though, as the grass is really slippery and my regular shoes don't have that good of traction any more.

anyways i think i'm gonna type some emails to people now. hope everyone is doing well. laters

so i lied again

i figured out i can only sit and type a report without doing something different for about an hour or so. isn't that about how long you're suppose to sit and do anything school related though? 'cause isn't there a study or something that says that every 45 minutes or so you should get up and do something else for 15-30 minutes or am i just inventing studies?

oh yeah, during one of my other breaks from my assignments i finally went and got my hair cut. it was the first time since the end of january that i've had my hair cut. the sides aren't as short as i would like them, but its suppose to be getting colder (i'm waiting for when i actually have to wear a hoodie during the day) so i guess its ok that its a little longer (meaning that the person used a #3 attachment instead of a #2).

well since i'm typing i might as well be typing up my assignment since that's all i really have to do for it (as long as the rest of what i need to type is about 600 words). thats one thing i don't miss though about being in engineering is the stupid word lengths of assignments. oh well after this one i won't have any more word count assignments, at least i hope not. well back to typing, ciao