Rainy Day

Today, I'm listening to Kid Cudi and it makes me miss so many of my friends back home.

Last night was another standard night out on the town. We all had a great time at our favorite club and it was really cool to see so many people out and only wearing one of four colors: white, green, red, or black. It made it easy to find the people you came with and distinguish (for the most part) who lived on Res and who didn't. I always feel like I turn into everyone's mother when we're trying to leave the club. I run around collecting the people from our unit and telling other people I know that we're headed back to Res if they want to catch a taxi with us. Last night, as everyone was loading into our already full Maxi (a 16 passenger van that has been turned into a taxi. Do those exist in the US? Who knows.) I ran a block back down the street to grab Alex, my roommate, who had gotten distracted by some guy from the club. I brought her back to the full cab and hid in the trunk so we could all make it back together. When we got back, we pooled ingredients and I made a feast of grilled cheese, chicken wings, and pasta. One of the guys who came back with us told me he was going to vote for me for Res of the month, which has become my new goal. At this point, it's sometime around 2:30 and we're being quiet in the kitchen. The only words I'm saying are "be quiet" and "shhhhh!" Sure enough, though, Raj--the very strict RA who works the graveyard shift every night--showed up and took everyone's IDs (mine included) and reported us for being loud. I understand his perspective, but don't agree with it. Before he left, I asked him what his favorite food was so that I could make it for him one night when he came to report us and he said he would tell me later.....   One of these days I'll get Raj to try my cooking.

I don't have class today, which is great and spent the morning cleaning the kitchen. It's been raining for the past three days. Here in a little bit I'll go watch the movie for my Australian film class.

Speaking of class, I had my first outdoor education class yesterday and absolutely loved it. My professor is from Canada (the Georgian Bay region to be exact!) and is really nice. I met her a few weeks ago, before school started, and she said she was excited to have me in her class. Both of my recreation classes have been my favorites so far and make me wish that I would've done more outdoorsy things with my dad growing up. Everything is really interesting and appealing to me and I'm starting to wonder why I'm and English major when I could be playing outside. I am definitely my father's son.

We had a break in the rain yesterday. A Chance for a real sunset. 

In true form.

Heard about the storms back home, hope everyone is okay
~Daniel

Mac n' Cheese

This post has nothing to do with macaroni or cheese. I just saw a commercial for it.

There's not a lot going on today. I had a tute today and have another lecture in a little bit. I ran into town and got some errands done. I bought my first piece of Australian clothing. It was a white singlet that looks like something you'd pay $35 for from Urban Outfitters. Except this one was only $10. My back hurts and I'm tired from being up early for my class. I'm glad I was up early though, it mean I was already awake at 8:10 when we had a fire drill. That would have been the worst way to wake up and no one was happy about it.

Anyway, here's an excerpt from the latest project I'm working on--Black Tar--the one about heroin. Hope you enjoy it.

An Excerpt from Black Tar 

Surfing on cloud nine at four in the morning, we were cruising through Cape Girardeau without a care in the world. I always felt like I knew myself better when I was high, like I could access parts of my mind that were otherwise dormant. I felt like the lights came on inside my mind, like I could see in colors that didn’t exist. I felt like my brain was more aware of itself and I could, and would, spend hours inside my head, exploring far away corners and hard to reach places. That night, driving along in that Eldorado at 40 miles an hour, the city lights whispering in my ear, I was deep inside myself when Loz pulled me back into reality. She was whispering, although, to her, I’m sure it felt like she was screaming. She was whispering my name, trying to call me back to her. When I looked over at her I immediately knew she was dying. Her skin was ghost white and I could see the color bra she was wearing through her sweat-soaked white top. Her hair was a mess, painted to her face. Her eyes were closed and, in the shadows, looked as if they ran the length of her face as her eyeliner, mascara, eye shadow, and who knows what else, bled in long smudges down her cheeks. She was slouched in her seat and her head rattled against the window as the car coursed over small cracks in the pavement. At first glance, most people would have thought she was already dead.

The thing most people don’t understand about drug users, recreational and addicts alike, is that they die regularly. I’ve died at least four times. Like, really dead—not breathing, no pulse, dead. I’ve seen the light at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes it’s like you’ve only been asleep and when you wake up and open your eyes, someone tells you that you’ve been dead for the last seven minutes. But sometimes it’s much different. I’ve stepped out of my body and yelled at myself to come back to life. I’ve hovered over my corpse, screaming in vain and cheering on whoever was trying to revive me. When you come back to life, you’re slammed into your body. It’s like a jump. One second you’re staring at your lifeless body, wondering if this is the time you really die, and the next, you’re opening your eyes and you can feel all those human things you wish you couldn’t, like pain—the pain of your cracked sternum from CPR, the pain of a bad trip, the pain of your body decaying. It feels like you’ve injected yourself with a needle full of gasoline and, for a split second, all you want is to be dead again. It feels good to be dead. Dying can be painful and terrifying, but once you’re dead, all the pain is gone, but sometimes the panic stays with you. Coming back to life has been one of the worst experiences of my existence. But if heroin has taught me one definitive thing, it’s that there is, undoubtedly, an afterlife. 

Get amongst it

~Daniel 

Kudzu

Day two of classes: done.

First things first, I posted a new video on my YouTube channel of our incredibly rainy day yesterday.
www.youtube.com/danielernce

Does anyone know if I can make a risotto with normal rice? I mean I really don't see why not unless Arborio rice is something totally different...

Class was good. Every class has two parts, a lecture and a tute (tutorial). I had both the lecture and tute for my Narrative and Text class today and, fortunately, have the lecture instructor as my tute instructor. The class seems like it's going to be something different for me. It focuses on all things "text" which is defined in this class as, anything that can be analyzed. So that includes almost everything from prose to poetry to art to film to music. I'm looking forward to learning about a new side of "narrative and text."

The theme for this weeks "uni night" (the night when all the uni students go out on the town) is colors. First years wear white, second years are blue, third years are red, and fourth years are black. International students are tie-dye. I could really get away with wearing white, blue, or tie-dye but I'll probably just stick with white because everyone I know will be white too.

I'm making plans with my friend in Tasmania to go there in the next few weeks either for the long weekend or St. Patty's Day weekend. Either that, or she'll come up and we'll explore Melbourne for the long weekend.

I'm having a good time. But I miss my brother. He got a puppy and named it Cash.

Cheers
~Daniel

I Just Might Just...

I've got this beat stuck in my head from Between the Lines, by Atmosphere. It grooves so well.

I've been making friends here. That's nice, right? I'm happy about it and it's paying off! Last night I went over to one of my new friend's house--Emma--and cooked for her and nine of her friends! I made Italian stuffed peppers (which I decided wasn't anything to write home about) and, after learning that Emma was allergic to mushrooms, opted for a tomato-basil risotto as opposed to the mushroom risotto I had originally planned. The risotto was incredible and definitely made it into my recipe book. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of it. What was I thinking?? Through the night, I had a wonderful time, and not just because I got to cook heaps of delicious food for heaps of new people. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and spent several hours after dinner getting to know some new blokes--Maca, Pitsy, and Coya. I'm sure those aren't their real names, but it's how I was introduced to them and what I rolled with. They called me "Springfield" all night. "Springfield? Seriously? Like the Simpsons?"

Earlier this week I devastated a girl when I told her that Springfield was nothing like how it's portrayed in the Simpsons. No tire fire. No nuclear power plant. No yellow people. No Quik-E-Mart. No Krusty-Burger.

Last night, I was introduced to the first bit of Australian music that I REALLY enjoyed. Check it out. It's definitely worth your time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipem2SFtBEI

I had my first class this morning--fundamental movements of PE--which I was admittedly nervous about. However, the class was great and I found everything really interesting. I had been worried that after a two month hiatus from learning, I'd be out of step and it would be hard for me to get back into the university groove. But no! I was a sponge and absolutely loved learning, which was odd, but enjoyable. I can only hope my zeal for learning sustains longer than just one class.



It's rainy here, which is nice. It keeps things cool.

I drink a lot of ice water here.

That is all.

Cheers!
~Springfield

Kangaroo Room

Today, after not going on the Great Ocean Road, I talked to my parents, then made a late lunch of an omelet with BACON, sauted onions, and cheese. Then I made toast. And more bacon.

I spent a few hours looking online at some rather ritzy restaurants in Melbourne and planning a trip for St. Patty's day (either to Melbourne or Tasmania).

Then I watched tv.

Then Will, one of my roommates, told me there were kangaroos outside!!!!! I ran downstairs, opened my windows and BAM!!!! Three joeys, just hanging out. Hoppin around. WHOOP!!!! I'm such a tourist.

Then I made bangers and mash for dinner. Tasty. I'm still working on getting my sauted potatoes down pat. It'll come around soon. Right now I'm blaming the stove. Because it's electric. And I'm really bitter toward electric stoves. 

Anyway, here's a link to a restaurant I'm fixed on going to. It had the most impressive (and most expensive) menu out of all the places I looked. But the menu is SO solid. Check it! 

http://comme.com.au/menu/

Cheers! 

~D

Great Ocean Road

Remember that time I was supposed to go on a trip to the Great Ocean Road? Well here's how it went.

It didn't.

I received an email yesterday saying that it was the last chance to sign up and that 9 more slots had to be filled or the trip would be off. This morning, I woke up early and checked all of my emails to find no confirmation that the trip was on. An hour or so later, Mauro calls me and asks if I was still coming. Says they were all on the bus and that, apparently, no email, is a good email. And then they left. Needless to say I'm fairly upset about not getting to go as well as hugely frustrated with the gap in communication that often seems to occur here.

Last night was nothing special. I was cooking and away from my phone and missed the text saying when and where to meet up to go into Melbourne for the footie game. Bummer. I made soup out of the leftover stock with I had used the night prior to braise the kangaroo in. Seeing as most everyone went back home for the weekend, I hung out in our sister unit, played uno, and watched The Inbetweeners, which is a British film and very funny.

I've blown off most everything today and have just sat in my room being disappointed about not making the various trips this weekend.

Classes start Monday. That's that.

Cheers!

~Daniel

Kangaroo Wellington

I looked online for a kangaroo wellington recipe and couldn't find any. So I made my own. But we'll get to that.

Last night was the biggest pub crawl in the southern AU region. I had a good time and met some good people. Although, this morning, it was quite the challenge to try and wash pink zinc oxide off of me thanks to one of my room mates who thought it would be funny to decorate me. We missed the bus into town, which was a bummer, but thankfully a nice lady from the school was heading in with a 15 passenger van and took everyone who was left behind. The crawl was broken down into color groups and I was in the black group, which meant I had to wear all black. That was entirely fine with me and, after I got dress, I realized I was wearing all H&M. Cute right? Still, I had a great night. I met up with several people from my unit at the end of the night but we all got separated coming home. A story was recounted to me that one of my mates was found sitting alone by the taxi stop and said "America left me!" to which my other roommate replied, "It's okay, he went home to cook." And, of course, when they came home, I had a full on meal cooked (And no, mom, it wasn't all my food/ingredients, everyone pitched in and it was just fine).

Today, I didn't do much. I bummed around with my mates and met some new people from BG (Bella Gruin, the other campus of Res units where Mauro and the other Americans live), until I decided to go into town and get groceries for tonight. Kangaroo.

It was Mauro's 21st birthday yesterday and today I decided to make him a Kangaroo dinner for his belated birthday dinner.

I got about a kilo of Kangaroo fillets (about 2 lbs) which was fairly cheap, after coming up with several different recipes to try. I made one batch of pan-seared fillets, marinated in my classic and secret marinade which I use, most commonly, on my Italian rack of lamb. Those fillets turned out perfect and Mauro said he liked them the most. The second batch of fillets was braised in a beef stock with onion, garlic, spices, and mushrooms. Though the flavor was spot on, I overcooked these fillets, seeing as Kangaroo meat is INCREDIBLY lean and I have never successfully braised anything before. Finally, the last round of 'Roo meat, I turned into Kangaroo Wellington. Oh. My. Goodness. This was by far my favorite dish and felt that it turned out nearly perfectly. By the way, I didn't have a meat thermometer and had to make the duxelle sauce without a food processor, which meant GRATING the mushrooms and onion by hand, which was uber tedious. Still, the effort was worth it and the dish was a success! Also, I introduced my RA, as well as a few people from BG (which is where we ended up cooking off the wellingtons) to kangaroo. Imagine that! An American introducing Australians to kangaroo!

As the night wound down, I made friends with a few more RA's (Claire and Loz) who I cooked dinner for, as they had not had the opportunity to have tea tonight, due to other priorities and responsibilities. After trying the dish I whipped up (a pasta with bolognese sauce, and deglazed with red wine), Loz told me that it was fate that we met and she invited me to go to a footie game with her in Melbourne tomorrow! I hope I get to go and am very excited about it! By the way, "Melbourne" is pronounced "Melbin."

As a concluding note, the Great Ocean Road trip that I mentioned in an earlier post is not next weekend but THIS weekend. So, come Saturday night, I should have some gorgeous photos for you all. Until then, here's some kangaroo meat!

This is pan-seared Kangaroo, marinated in and Italian lamb marinade, deglazed in red wine. Very good. 

I didn't know you could overcook something you braised, but this is that. 

mini Roo Wellingtons!!!

The biggest wellington! So good! 

The color was pretty good for not having an instant read meat thermometer! This one's for my grandpa Larry. 

Thanks for reading guys. Cheers!
~Daniel

Scalp

Nothing much happened at all yesterday. In fact, really nothing at all happened yesterday. I woke up, ate breakfast, ate lunch, listened to a book for a few hours, had a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon while I wrote for a few hours. Went to tea. Listened to Atmosphere's, To All My Friends, Blood Makes the Blade Holy, listened to another hour or so of that book--American Psycho--made an omelet, did my laundry, and went to bed.

Interesting right? So here's a few thoughts I've been having. A few odds and ends to my life at the moment.

On March 3rd I'm taking a trip with the school up the Great Ocean Road. It'll be about an 11 hour day full of quaint little restaurants, swimming in the ocean, and lots of winding roads with the most beautiful scenery you've ever seen. I'm looking forward to it.

I mentioned above that I'm listening to a book. If you know me, you know I can't read to save my life. It doesn't hold my attention and I get bored and fall asleep all too fast. So I downloaded American Psycho, by Bret Easton Ellis, and a few novels by Chuck Palahniuk--author of Fight Club. The thing about listening to the book is I don't get bored with it and can do other things while I'm listening, like cook or clean. The other thing about it is that it helps me write, not necessarily any specific project I'm working on, but just in general. When I'm done listening, everything I do has a narrative voice behind it. I narrate my life or what I see in my head. It's like practice. It helps me hear my authorial voice again, remember what it sounds like. So all that's good, yeah?

There must be something in the water here. I have the craziest, most vivid dreams every night. They're always completely outrageous and almost whimsical. But if the dream isn't completely absurd, I'm  having dreams about being back home, hanging out with my brother, getting tattooed, telling people stories about my time in AU. I wonder when my subconscious will accept this place as home and I'll have dreams about things here and not wake up with an aching to go home and see my friends.

My sunburn is peeling today. It's peeling on my face--across my forehead and my nose. That would all be fine, just another part of life, but tonight is the big going out night. Like, the BIG going out night. Big, like just shy of a world record big. I don't know what all that entails, but I'm assuming it's going to be a good time. My ticket is white, not blue, green, pink, red, orange, or any of the other colors. Whatever color your ticket is, is the color of your group and the color you're supposed to wear. They told me a white ticket means you dress in black. Okay. I really don't know what to expect tonight, but I'm hoping it's a good time. I mean, I know it's going to be a good time. I'm looking forward to it.

I may have mentioned before that no one in my unit really talks to each other, which was true. But we've warmed up to each other. We talk, hang out, muck up, all those good things. They usually call me America and brag on me to our sister unit about how good of a cook I am, but I really haven't made anything impressive yet.

I eat breakfast here. I never ate breakfast at home. I eat a lot of toast here. I never ate toast at home. I have yet to try Vegemite but I'm sure it'll happen soon.

Tickets from Kryal and for tonight.

Stamped at Kryal. The next morning. 

One year, my grandma gave me this picture of a sunset at our old place in Canada for my birthday. I'm glad I brought it here with me. 

That's all for now. Thanks for reading guys!

~America

A Brilliant Night of Firsts

Yesterday was another good day. But first, check me out on YouTube for videos. www.youtube.com/danielernce

I didn't do much during the day. It was cold and overcast all day. I went into town briefly to take care of some banking business and spent a few hours reading and working on Black Tar. I'm really enjoying writing again and I'm especially enjoying working on Black Tar.

One of the big events on campus today was signing up for clubs and activities. All the clubs and organizations set up booths on the quad and there was a free barbecue for lunch. I signed up for a club called Stonecutters and bought tickets to the two main social events this week. Stonecutters is the "social club." It was that booth that had a bunch of big muscly guys in tank tops or polos with their collar's popped, wearing sunglasses when it was dark out. Immediately after signing up I wondered, "what did I just get myself into?" But then I remembered what every RA and Res Life representative had been drilling into our heads for the past week:  take every opportunity, make the most of everything, don't pass up anything, go out of your comfort zone, and get amongst it.

Go out of your comfort zone.

The main event for the evening was something called "Kryal Castle," which is, well, a castle. Buses ran heaps of students every half hour to a venue about 20 minutes away. Upon arriving, there it was, a castle. But not in the traditional Disney sort of way. It was really only a stone wall with a few turrets and a moat.

Once inside (which was still outside, the venue was outdoors), there were several different areas set up. Live music played with different bands and DJs and there were a couple places to purchase overpriced alcohol. And what sort of festival would it be without a silent disco? A silent disco (a new concept to me) is basically the same thing as any other dance club except, when you walk in, you trade your ID for a pair of wireless headphones. Slip the headphones on and you've got a disco in your ears. Take the headphones off, and it looks like everyone is awkwardly dancing and singing to nothing. Here's the catch, there are three different channels of music playing. You could be dancing to one beat, but the person next to you is dancing to something totally different. Now the trick becomes finding the other people that have the same beat in their ears, and congregating. Heaps of fun! Now, if you know me, you know I don't dance and that I am far too white to dance. But was I going to pass up the chance to say I've been to a silent disco, was I going to see any of those people again? No.  Was I in Australia, thousands of miles away from my friends who might have seen it and laughed? Yes. So I went for it, got in line with a cute girl named Emma who I had met during "speed dating" a few days before on Res (turns out those childish games were good for something). Also, turns out, I had a blast. But the night was still young.

After meeting up with Mauro and the girls from NY, chatting up a cute girl from Lithuania, the general consensus from nearly everyone at the castle was "we're going to Blue Stone." So on the bus we went and headed off to Blue Stone. Blue Stone is (as far as I know) the only club in Ballarat or, at least, the only one worth going to. Again, more dancing. After a few minutes (which was probably more like an hour) of wandering around and trying to look like I was doing something and/or trying to find a cute girl to talk to, I gave up on it, checked my inhibitions at the door, found my mates, and kept dancing. Turns out, I had a lot of fun. Again.

Around 1:30, we (mates from my unit/sister unit:  Alex, Teish, Ash, Berry, Will, and myself) all left and caught a taxi home and I told everyone I would cook for them when we got back, of course. Having a few drinks in them, they all started calling me "America" which I was totally fine with. Once we got back (around 2), I worked up a "boss" meal that was "top shelf" and got "heaps" of compliments on it. Throughout the cooking process, Ash and I had to keep reminding the girls that it was 2 a.m. and to be quiet and, at the end, I had to tell Teish to go to bed so she wouldn't keep being loud and get us all in trouble. I then sent everyone else off to bed, did dishes, and went to bed myself and dreamed of being back home with my brother getting tattoos. This morning, Alex thanked me for making her pasta last night. "Thanks for making me food last night, apparently you made me pasta and it was really delicious."

I had a hugely successful night and had heaps of fun and new experiences and met lots of new people. It was a night of firsts:  first time to a silent disco, first time dancing, first time clubbing, first time in a taxi. And I'm glad it all happened here, in Ballarat.

Thanks for reading
~Daniel

The Best Day Thus Far

I loved today. All the way through.
I woke up at 6, showered, made coffee, ate breakfast, and discovered I would NOT be joining the rest of Res on their trip into town and would instead be home alone until 1:30 when I would go to the zoo with the rest of the internationals. Perfect. I downloaded several audio books including, American Psycho, a phenomenal book by Easton Ellis. I then listened to the book for several hours while I cleaned around the unit, made a lunch of a bacon, cheese, garlic, and herb stuffed omelet, followed by toast and coffee. I then worked more on Black Tar for about an hour and made some very satisfying progress. It was amazing not to be herded around and to have freedom to do whatever I wanted. I had a hugely productive morning.

At the zoo, I got to pet tons of Kangaroos, a Koala, and see crocodiles get fed! The zoo was really cool because there were no enclosures. Animals simply roamed around as they pleased and you were free to pet and feed them as you wanted.

Coming home, we stopped off at the top of an inactive volcano and took a scenic look at Ballarat. I then came back to the unit, made dinner (which impressed many of my mates because most of them don't know how to cook and have never lived on their own before) and, to put the cherry on top of the PERFECT day, I got to talk to my brother for about 30 minutes. I've missed him a lot and I was hugely happy to hear from him.


 

I'm trying to upload a video of my dorm here, but I'm not sure if it's working. I'll keep trying to come up with a solution for you guys.

Hope you enjoy the photos (and video if it worked). I'm off to show my mates how to work the stove...

~Daniel

New Writing

I took a break from writing for a while. This whole experience--getting ready to leave, leaving, arriving, and settling in--has been really good for me in the sense that it has started me writing again. This is the first page of a project tonight and something I've been wanting to write for a little while now. It's about heroin. Unfortunately, I've had a handful of people around me deal with heroin addiction and it sparked something inside me I had to write about. If you don't want to read this, I won't be offended. But if you're interested, if you've been an avid follower of what I produce, here's a preview. 

Black Tar

Hero or Villain.

No one ever thinks they’ll turn out to be a heroin addict. No mother would ever look at her child and consider, even for the briefest moment, that they would grow up to be a junkie. No kindergarten teacher ever looks at a single one of their students and envisions them 15 years later, on bloody hands and knees, with sweat running from every pour, as they comb a dirty kitchen floor in search of a used needle so that they can shoot black tar into their median cubital vein and watch the poison race down their arm. No one ever thinks they’ll become the villain in their own story. But the fact of the matter is most people are only still the hero of their story by default; they are only still the hero by definition—because it is their story. If the story were told from any other perspective, most people would find that they are undoubtedly and undeniably the antagonist—the villain. No one ever thinks they’ll wake up one morning on the living room floor with a dirty needle still hanging from their arm with no recollection of how long they’ve been strung out except for the pile of mail crammed through the slot in the door. But sometimes, that happens. It happens more often than you, or I, or any other part of society might want to admit. My name is Kris Watson, and it happened to me.

“…and I’m addicted to heroin.”

It was a long road into hell and an even longer road back out. I didn’t just pick up a syringe full of junk one day and become an addict. There was never a morning where I woke up and thought to myself “I’d like to try heroin today.” It was sort of a long process, but in many other ways, it took me over so quickly, so suddenly, and so violently, that I never stood a chance.

Hope you enjoyed. 

I'll post something a little more cheery tomorrow. 

~Daniel  

Too Bright to See, Too Loud to Hear

Today started off with breakfast at 8:00 sharp followed by hours and hours of outdoor games at "the oval," (the uni's footie/cricket field). No one realized how long we would be outside and, by the time we came back for lunch around 12:30, we were all VERY sunburned. The lower half of the fresh tattoos on my arm got burned, so I have that to look forward to in days to come. After a few hours in the dorms (when our internet thankfully began to work) we all showered up and I tracked down the iron so we could "suit up" to go to dinner.

Now, don't get me wrong, I looked good--shirt, tie, shoes, the works--but some of these Aussie guys know how to dress! I was struggling to keep up in some cases. We walked down to the uni's main theater and listened to several more speeches about Res life and all got our picture taken with our units. From there, we headed to "tea" which took far too long for my taste. It was pretty fun, though. Throughout the dinner, different songs would play and when your Res section's song came on (Bella-Greuin, North, South, and City are the different Res areas), you had to get up and do a specific dance. There were other songs that required all the guys to get up and find a girl to use a cheesy pick up line on, and a song for girls to do the same. It kept things interesting. However, somehow, no one in my dorm is good at making conversation, so we spent most of the evening sitting at the table in awkward silence. Maybe it's just because we don't know each other very well yet.

Tomorrow should be fun and interesting. We have to be up for breakfast at seven (which no one is excited about) and then will head into town for a day of indoor soccer, go-carts, laser tag, and movies. The thing I'm wondering about is that international students are supposed to go to the zoo in the afternoon and I don't think any of the RA's have taken that into account. On the other hand, I'm not sure I still want to go to the zoo or if I would rather spend my day in town. Time will tell, but if I head to the zoo you can expect pictures.

Pictures. I HAVE actually taken pictures. It's just...I'm not a girl and I'm not conditioned to take pictures of every little thing. So I probably have about...6 pictures on my camera. But when I get some worthwhile photos, I'll figure out how to post them here.

I Skyped my parents for the first time today and got to see them and my dog (who could've cared less) which was nice. I tried to call my brother today but his phone is fried. I was bummed not to get to talk to him. I also talked to my friend in Tasmania, briefly. It was nice to have some contact with someone else going through the same things as me.

Aside from the sunburn, I'm doing well and have been looking up kangaroo recipes! Watch out now.

~Daniel

Tim Tam Slam

Today was the first day of orientation. It was dull. That's all I have to say about that. We register for classes tomorrow, which will surely be interesting. I'm hoping everything works out that way I hope, or better.

After orientation, I went into town with Mauro and the NY girls and hunted down things for s'mores. We also visited a liquor store the size of Walmart--way cool. Alcohol was a little cheaper there, but not by much. Their wine selection was outrageous. The cheapest bottle of wine I found was $2.80. But we all decided we would go back later and each buy our own box of wine for $10. We're actually not supposed to be drinking on campus until the 27--a week after school has started. Because that makes a lot of sense...

On the way to the supermarket, I discovered that pedestrians DO NOT have the right of way. That was scary. At the market, we discovered that Kangaroo is actually very healthy for you and is reasonably priced (in comparison with all other meats in AU).  We decided that within the next few weeks, we would have a Kangaroo dinner night. I'm already working up various recipes in my head to try on the meat.

After dinner and s'mores with our roommies, we met our final temporary roommate--Amir. He's from Iran. The introduction went something like this. "Hi, I'm Amir. Where are you all from?"  "United States. You?"  "Iran."  "Oh....sorry."  But things have been going well. Everyone is very talkative and having a good time. It gets rather loud in the kitchen. It's like living in a party house again:)

The highlight of my trip thus far came tonight in the form of a tim-tam-slam. A Tim-Tam is a chocolate covered wafer cookie that you bite opposite corners off of, and then slurp hot chocolate through it until it falls apart in your hand (which happens almost instantly) you then pop the whole thing in your mouth and indulge in the overwhelming medley of rich, chocolate flavors. DELICIOUS!!!! Definitely something I'll have to try and bring back to the states.

Cheers
~Daniel

Adventure Thyme

On this lovely Valentine's morning, I awoke at 8:51 and felt great. I woke up, mulled around and greeted one of the cute girls from NY with "happy Valentine's Day." 

After an hour or so of getting my internet set up, writing, reading, and blogging, Mauro and I began our adventure into town by missing the first bus. After arriving in Ballarat's city center (oh and we got a free ride in by saying we only had large cash bills, blah blah blah, the people of AU really don't care about anything) we stopped at the bank and worked out my account, the technology store to buy prepaid AU phones (which I'm still not sure if mine is working or not), the Big W (a downgrade from Walmart), to get some essentials which we didn't pack, McDonald's for a cheap lunch, a tattoo shop, and coles for groceries. 

The tattoo shop was quite the adventure. I entered into a hole-in-the-wall sort of place smaller than my bedroom and a haggered old woman gimped out from a back room. I asked to see a portfolio, so she took me into where I suppose her station would be and pointed to various pictures on the wall while telling me of all the awards she had won over the years for "best this" and "best that." She then told me she was the most awarded female artist in the lower hemisphere. Impressive yeah? No. The more I began to look at her work (which she showed me on her phone) the more I began to be less and less impressed. She liked my work and asked where I had it done. I asked if she used stencils and she said no. Immediately I knew this woman wouldn't be working on me. Some of her work looked alright, but none of it made me stop and say "wow, I bet this lady is the most celebrated artist in the lower hemisphere." Finally, securing her fate as never tattooing on me, she told me that all the other shops in town were "backed by the banditos." You can take that however you might. 

Grocery shopping was an adventure all in its own. Everything is quite pricey and the only protein I bought was a carton of eggs for 2.80. I tried to find ingredients for s'mores (nearly all our non-american roommates hadn't heard of them) but found that the store didn't sell marshmallows. We wrapped up our shopping spree by stopping through the liquor section and each buying a $5 bottle of wine, as everything was astronomically expensive. After checking out, we carried far too many sacks of heavy groceries 6-8 blocks in search of our bus stop.

Overall, we had a very successful trip to the city. 

Frozen pizza and a bottle of wine followed for dinner. Following dinner was a talk, lasting over an hour, with myself, Mauro, Paul (of Canada), and Tommy (of China). We talked about life and tattoos and religion and parents and how we were raised. It was incredibly interesting to see the different walks of life. 

The evening rounded out with a rowdy game of spoons with several of the roommates (tonight I met Sarah from AU and Paul from France). Orientation starts in the morning, which will hopefully give us all some clarity, direction, and structure. 

All is well and I'm really starting to enjoy the people around me. It's a shame we'll be split up in just a few days. 

~Daniel 

The Arrival

Stepping off every flight, I listened to "The Arrival" by Atmosphere just to put me in that aggressive mode you NEED to be in for those international airports. You can't think too hard about what you're doing or you'll get overwhelmed. Slug helped me through it.

Everything connected perfectly, I slept a ton and sat next to a cool Asian dude from Adelaide. Flying into Sydney was by far the most beautiful experience I've had in many years. Everything was beyond picturesque. I got picked up at the airport without a problem, got some money changed, and made it to the "uni" without a hitch. It's the strangest thing, though, I'm still completely on my own. There was no welcome wagon, no tour of the campus, no "this is what to do next," no "here is where you can get food tonight," nothing. I'm in a dorm (which is really more like a house) with about 8 other international students. We all feel the same, like we're fending for ourselves. But we're all looking out for each other. Some have been here a few days longer than others and have a better grasp of how to handle things. My roommates are as follows:  Mauro (from Netherlands), Taylor and Claire (from New York), Rachel (a Kiwi), Gabby and Morry (two girls from AU), a Chinese guy who keeps to himself and is trying to learn English, and a French guy named Paul who I have yet to meet. There's another Canadian named Paul who hangs out a lot and brought a game last night that we played until about 10:15 when we all went to bed....who goes to bed at 10:15? Oh, jet-lagged international students. We all had a good time, good laughs, and got to know each other a little better.

Today, I'm supposed to head into town with Mauro to get a few essentials taken care of (Australian phone, bank account, groceries, and other essentials). Mauro is a cool guy and we've had some good time together. We both arrived yesterday and, after talking with the NY girls for an hour or so,went out to explore the campus and try and hunt down some food. We found the cafeteria, which had about 50 high school students eating at it who were there touring the campus. So, being hungry international students, we acted like we were supposed to be there, walked in, stood in line, got food, sat down, made smooth conversation and batted our eyes at the high school girls at the table, ate, and left. Free meal. No questions asked. That was my adventure for yesterday and Mauro remarked that it was good to start off our first day with a good story. I agree.

Nothing is as I expected. The wildlife is...eccentric. I caught a lizard in our kitchen yesterday. The birds are loud and angry sounding. The campus is small and quaint and rather old looking. And the city of Ballarat, it's...small. It's very different from what I thought it would be. It reminds me a lot of Perry Sound, Canada. Only, if you aged it a few more years, and added a splash of Florida and Africa to it. It's just small. The shops are small. The "mall" is small. And everything looks like it needs a face life. But this is home, and I'll learn to love it more and more every day.

I slept well last night, I was lucky enough to get the nicest room with a double bed and my own bathroom attached (although we're all moving to different accommodations with new roommates and in new locations at the end of the week ((it makes no sense but whatever))). I woke up before my alarm at 8:50 and showered, shaved, and ate my last granola bar. I could hear Taylor through our paper thin walls Skyping her mom. It made me miss my family but I'm sure I'll talk to them soon. Also, she just said her computer battery is having problems and it could be from the power converters and such. So that'll be another thing to work out today--how to make sure I don't fry my electronics.

Until next time.
~Daniel

A New Blog For a New Adventure

Even though I have yet to leave for Australia, this is the blog that I will (ideally) use while abroad to keep all of you updated on my happenings. I hope you find my adventures and experiences exciting and provoking.