G'day all! This is going to be a quick one today, as not much happened. I apologize because I don't have any pictures from today either, due to the fact that I spent the majority of the day trapped in the confines of the basement next door in class. Seriously questioning whoever decided to put the classroom in the basement of the building, as the lack of windows, dim lighting, plain white walls, and uncomfortable chairs, make sitting in the classroom for six hours straight extremely difficult, and make you very bad-tempered by the end: especially without a lunch break (but I'll get to that later).
So I got to sleep in, as class doesn't start until 10, and since I figured I'd be off at 12 for lunch, I decided not to have anything too major, and just stuck to a yogurt (what a mistake). We all went down to class (dreading it, really, as it was our first day where we couldn't go out exploring), where we had a lecture on Ned Kelly (my professor's absolute favorite person in the whole universe who she'll defend until her dying days and possibly fight anyone who says he was anything but a hero) and a little bit on the definitions involving travel writing and literature. Then she popped in a movie called The Year My Voice Broke which was filmed in one of the towns we are going to visit. The scenery was gorgeous and barren and foreign, and I can't wait to be able to go out and explore it. The movie itself was not quite so great, and the main character was a total creep in my opinion, stealing girl's underwear and spying on her and such. Not cool, man, not cool. Unfortunately, the professor underestimated just how long the movie was, telling us it was only an hour, when it was, in fact, nearly two hours long. Because we had a guest lecturer coming in at 1, and she didn't start the movie until 11, we had exactly four minutes to eat lunch before the lecturer arrived. Since we're not allowed to eat or drink in the classroom, this was an impossible feat. This is once again proving my theory that Australians never eat lunch, but instead skip it altogether, as this is the third day where they did not give us time for lunch, and assumed we'd all just follow along happily with our stomachs rumbling.
Anywho, this made paying attention to the guest lecturer, who actually had some very interesting things to say about the history of travel writing from the time of Homer until the discovery of Australia by Captain Cook, incredibly difficult to be fully invested in, as all of our stomachs proceeded to rumble for the next three hours as we stared desperately at the clock, waiting for that minute hand to tick by. And on top of that, we were assigned an outrageous amount of homework, including an insane amount of reading due tomorrow, a 1000 word write up, an exercise on memory, and a presentation, all to be completed by tomorrow. So much for trying to go out exploring after class.
Due to our ravenous selves being on the verge of eating anything (or anyone) in sight, we immediately ran upstairs following the end of class at 4 to make stir fry, pizza, noodles, and consume the last of our Tim Tams. Surprisingly, we may be starting to get the hang of using our very useless and unproductive kitchen, so that's a plus! Still not satisfied stomachwise, we had to go for some consolation gelato at the mall nearby, where apparently they give you an extra scoop when it's past 4. Score! Now slightly happier, we ran down to the grocery store to pick up a few things (like laundry detergent, which I kept forgetting to get, and desperately need). Once back, however, it was no more fun time for us as we had to sit down and do our homework, which I've only just finished. We did feel slightly bad (but not completely so) for complaining when the internship kids came back around 7, and had class in an hour. Ooops. But still. I bet they got a lunch break.
Hoping tomorrow will be a little more fun, and that we'll actually get time to eat something. I'm hoping to go out and explore some too. I think the worst thing about coming to Australia in the winter is that the sun sets by five as of now (and will only get earlier), so since we're in class from 10-5 every day, it seriously cuts down on the amount of daylight we have to explore. Luckily we've got those four day weekends then!
So I got to sleep in, as class doesn't start until 10, and since I figured I'd be off at 12 for lunch, I decided not to have anything too major, and just stuck to a yogurt (what a mistake). We all went down to class (dreading it, really, as it was our first day where we couldn't go out exploring), where we had a lecture on Ned Kelly (my professor's absolute favorite person in the whole universe who she'll defend until her dying days and possibly fight anyone who says he was anything but a hero) and a little bit on the definitions involving travel writing and literature. Then she popped in a movie called The Year My Voice Broke which was filmed in one of the towns we are going to visit. The scenery was gorgeous and barren and foreign, and I can't wait to be able to go out and explore it. The movie itself was not quite so great, and the main character was a total creep in my opinion, stealing girl's underwear and spying on her and such. Not cool, man, not cool. Unfortunately, the professor underestimated just how long the movie was, telling us it was only an hour, when it was, in fact, nearly two hours long. Because we had a guest lecturer coming in at 1, and she didn't start the movie until 11, we had exactly four minutes to eat lunch before the lecturer arrived. Since we're not allowed to eat or drink in the classroom, this was an impossible feat. This is once again proving my theory that Australians never eat lunch, but instead skip it altogether, as this is the third day where they did not give us time for lunch, and assumed we'd all just follow along happily with our stomachs rumbling.
Anywho, this made paying attention to the guest lecturer, who actually had some very interesting things to say about the history of travel writing from the time of Homer until the discovery of Australia by Captain Cook, incredibly difficult to be fully invested in, as all of our stomachs proceeded to rumble for the next three hours as we stared desperately at the clock, waiting for that minute hand to tick by. And on top of that, we were assigned an outrageous amount of homework, including an insane amount of reading due tomorrow, a 1000 word write up, an exercise on memory, and a presentation, all to be completed by tomorrow. So much for trying to go out exploring after class.
Due to our ravenous selves being on the verge of eating anything (or anyone) in sight, we immediately ran upstairs following the end of class at 4 to make stir fry, pizza, noodles, and consume the last of our Tim Tams. Surprisingly, we may be starting to get the hang of using our very useless and unproductive kitchen, so that's a plus! Still not satisfied stomachwise, we had to go for some consolation gelato at the mall nearby, where apparently they give you an extra scoop when it's past 4. Score! Now slightly happier, we ran down to the grocery store to pick up a few things (like laundry detergent, which I kept forgetting to get, and desperately need). Once back, however, it was no more fun time for us as we had to sit down and do our homework, which I've only just finished. We did feel slightly bad (but not completely so) for complaining when the internship kids came back around 7, and had class in an hour. Ooops. But still. I bet they got a lunch break.
Hoping tomorrow will be a little more fun, and that we'll actually get time to eat something. I'm hoping to go out and explore some too. I think the worst thing about coming to Australia in the winter is that the sun sets by five as of now (and will only get earlier), so since we're in class from 10-5 every day, it seriously cuts down on the amount of daylight we have to explore. Luckily we've got those four day weekends then!