Day 15 – February 17, 2008

Last night, most of the people who had moved into Howitt went outside for Games and Trivia. The first part involved us splitting up into groups and then had the groups going around to different games stations, doing ice breakers, getting to know each other, and various other silly activities. After that, we broke into new teams for a few hours of trivia. Some of the questions were pretty tough, and my team finished in 5^th place out of I think ten. Following this was an “ice cream supper.” Apparently, supper is not just another word for dinner here. It refers to an after-dinner snack or dessert. I was hoping for an ice cream dinner. After the ice cream, a group of us went into the basement for some card games and stuff. Some of the “stinky freshers” (freshman) came down there too. Also, more of the returning students have also arrived, since some are working for the O-Week, so they came down as well. This morning, the RAs made us pancakes out on the lawn at 10:00. They tasted good, but I could have eaten a few more, except they ran out. The buses to the beach left at 11:00, and as we lined up, they gave us all $10 for lunch and a bottle of water. After spending so much money in the last week or so, it’s nice to finally not have to pay for meals for a few days. As we were getting close to the St. Kilda beach, our bus broke down. We had to walk a little ways to get to the beach, and the sun was hot. I was later told that there was some big wine tour today, so most of the buses had been rented out for that, and we were stuck with the bad ones. When we finally made it to the beach, I put on some sunscreen and went in the water. It wasn’t too cold, but it definitely was refreshing. The water tasted really salty, though. Stayed in the water for a little while, swimming and throwing around some of the balls that had been brought. Eventually, a group of people were going for a walk to get some food, so I went along. We went to a small burger place and I got a chicken sandwich. Here, they are typically called “chicken burgers,” but I think that is odd, because whenever I hear “burger,” I automatically think of beef. They also call it “takeaway” instead of “takeout.” After lunch, we returned to the beach for a little while and went in the ocean and threw around a ball again. A huge jellyfish had washed up on shore, and I almost stepped in it as I went back into the water. A new bus driver picked us up, and we came back to Halls. I just showered and now I’m relaxing in my room. After waking up early and being in the sun all day, I’m pretty tired. At 6:30, they are making us a Mexican dinner. I am interested to see how Australian people do Mexican food. Tonight’s activity is Casino Night, where they set up a casino in the common room and have some pretty sweet prizes to give away.