The holidays are always so much more interesting when you’ve got homework or something else unpleasant to do, because you begin to realise the potential fun in almost any situation; you know, like watching midday soaps, dusting the entire house, and my personal favourite, tuning out from the cruel world and finding inner peace by staring at the wall for a couple of hours.
Of course, none of these activities seem the least bit tempting when you haven’t got anything like study bogging you down. That’s why, in the longest holiday I’ve ever had with nothing to do, I’m surprised I made so much of my time. This last week has been especially packed, though, what with O-Week and the first day of Uni looming ahead to inspire me to make the most of it.
First of all, I joined several clubs during O-Week, namely Photography, Psyche, Bridge, Maths, Musical Theatre and Wind Orchestra (ok so I seem a bit over-zealous now, but most are just social and I can't even go to weekly drinks with psyche because I'm not 18 yet). I already went to a Wind Orchestra practice and welcome barbeque on Friday, and have received emails from others, so I’m looking forward to getting to know some people with the same interests as me, and breaking the ice during the first daunting few weeks.
I thought it would be wise to do a test run of everything, and on Friday I went around the Uni with a friend to find all our classrooms and lecture theatres, so we wouldn’t be awkwardly walking about lost and with our noses stuck in a map on our way to our first class. On Saturday I decided to do a test bike ride from home to uni, and was half hoping something bad would happen so I’d have some interesting material for this blog. Unfortunately (depending on how you view the situation), I made it without so much as a scratch, but that could have been because I had some family members tagging along behind me in a car.
On Saturday night I went to the Mardi Gras, and despite arriving at 9pm managed to scrounge some good seating (standing), albeit purely out of luck. We were offered some buckets to stand on as a couple left, and then the people in front of us presented us with prime positions in the front row as they departed. After the parade had finished, it seemed too early to go home so we headed off to Maroubra beach to soak up some fresh beach air. We must have arrived during a sewerage leak, or the world’s largest fish gutting festival, because the atmosphere was nothing short of vomitrocious and we took that as a sure sign to call it a night.
And now, the literal last few hours before Uni starts and I’m eating some very nostalgic yoghurt covered raisins while watching Bruce Almighty … It was a hard choice but I am such a sucker for Jim Carrey (don’t get me started on Ace Ventura), and though I love a good* crime show, the novelty of watching them has worn off after I managed to convince myself during my Crime Fiction class last year that viewing every single episode was considered homework.
So there you have the last liberal days of an extremely hyped up first year. Wish me luck for my first day! Hopefully it’s B-E-A-utiful.
*Debateable