In my haste to tell you about the fun activities we have all been taking part in for the past week I forgot to explain my current surroundings, silly me!!
The dining area is about a 2 and a half minute walk from my room, past the filtered water sink where we are actually supposed to fill up our water bottles and through the office. It opens every day at 7:30 for breakfast and closes at 10:30 then again from 12-2 and then 5:30-7:30. They are prompt. If you haven't gotten your food before about 20 mins before they start to close you're left with scrapings from the bottom of the food trays. Their food is very interesting compared to the American food we are used to. I can honestly say that since I have been here I haven't had any meat from the dining commons, I can feel myself becoming a vegetarian and as much as I want and need to fight against it, the picky person that lives deep inside of me is not allowing any of the meat served here to pass my lips, probably a gift and a curse, you'd agree if you saw the faces and heard some of the things people from the states have been saying about it. But for all you health nuts out there who may be worried about me for my lack of protein, fret not! I have been eating eggs for breakfast everyday, except today, and I had a delicious albeit forbidden McDonald's cheeseburger the other night during the pub crawl. Healthy right? =D For dinners I've literally been living off of potatoes and sweet potatoes, with some bread mixed in, and maybe some rice, at least I'm getting my energy from the carbs right?? :-/ There's an inside place to eat with maybe 10 round tables and an outside place to eat with probably 5 tables. Surprisingly, especially for those of you who have enjoyed food at Berk and know the terrible time it is to find a table during peak hours, we are always able to find a table. Knock on wood....great I probably just jinxed myself for tonight's dinner..oye. The routine for meals is, you get to the room and put your stuff down on a table claiming a seat, then get in line to enter the cafeteria place, for lack of a better word, you walk through a turnstile and grab a plate and utensils, which you always take too many of, so far every single time I've taken a knife and a fork and have only used the fork, I should probably learn to just take a fork but I know that its going to be the one time I don't take a knife that I actually need one and have to make a scene of getting up and going back into the place just to get a knife, I'll have to apologize to the hunger crazed people who think I'm cutting them that I only want a knife and I would never dream of cutting them. Then I'll have to explain to the lady who takes our cards (and money) that I was just getting a knife and I'm not stealing food, just a hassle you see? I'll just keep taking a knife in case. So then you walk past all the food debating what you want, if you want to try the green stuff or the yellow stuff that they are claiming is chicken with pesto sauce, or beef with...a yellow sauce, or kangaroo with.....haha just kidding they haven't served us kangaroo.....yet. Then it's on to the vegetables, the safest bet for sure. Load up your plate with some veggies, go to the salad station for, you guessed it, more veggies, maybe grab an apple to bring to your room and then get in line to pay. You never know how much they are going to charge you for your food and you only have 600$ on your card, which if you do the math roughly comes to about 5$ a day, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner...nice! You hand them your card and watch as they start pushing buttons to charge for what you have on your plate, lucky for me in my vegetarian state my dinners usually come to about 2.50. But some people is have been known to spend 5$ on dinner alone. It's kind of funny to watch people try to outsmart the card lady by hiding things underneath other foods, it never works but its definitely funny to watch haha. Then you eat like normal, then clear your plates, easy pie. But then there is always the inevitable question...do you want ice cream?? You're sitting there panting in the hot, hot, HOT air and its just calling your name, but wait! Ice cream is 1.50 for two scoops...can you work that into your budget? Who cares! You jump up and ask everyone else if they're down...they usually are, then you repeat the process except heading right to the ice cream freezer. In case anyone is wondering...the ice cream is always worth it!
This past week we went to campus to get our ID cards and to have a short orientation. Campus is a short 10 min bus ride away, and it is absolutely gorgeous! You get off the bus and walk into what looks like a rain forest with a few buildings in it. The place is so green and colorful with plants your eyes never get tired of looking around and there is always some shady spot to sit in. The campus is also huge. And the buildings are numbered which is another huge difference from Umass where everything has a name, kinda makes things easier to remember. We went back to campus after the orientation to find all our classes and it was quite the ordeal, being here is definitely like being a freshman again...DANG! I already did my time!! I'm still going to be lost when I go to class so I've already devised a plan to go about 45 mins early so I can find my way around and not be late, yes I will still be the lost person with my face pressed up against my campus map wondering aimlessly and walking back and forth but hey, we all gotta do it right? We start classes tomorrow and I'm actually excited, I'll probably be kicking myself for looking forward to this later but I'm happy to have a schedule and I'm excited to meet the people in my classes and see how things go around here. Plus it's also kinda fun to get all new pens and notebooks and be all organized again (for the first week =p we'll see how long it lasts =D)
I just got back from a night walk on the beach and it was amazing! The beach is just about as perfect as you could imagine. After being stifling hot all day, the sand was cool and the breeze was nice. The waves were just as blue in the cloudy sunset as they are in the bright blue sky. We walked for about an hour down and back and I just wanted to keep going. We also saw a dead pufferfish! Sad that it was dead and had had its eyes eaten out by other animals but totally awesome to see! Maybe I'll see one when I go scuba diving, which I hope to do asap! I can't wait to get in this water and see what it has to offer, it's pretty much the only thing I really want to do! So when I finally do it be prepared for an extra long blog. I know you're probably all like "LONGER THAN THESE???? HOLY COW!" but ya it will be so ya keep reading! :) o and if any of you feel like mailing me things, which is always fun getting cards in the mail and pictures and stuff, especially pictures because my walls are starting to look like prison walls, my mailing address is:
Antonia Gunion
Campus East
PO Box 219
FAIRY MEADOW NSW 2519 AUSTRALIA
Thanks for reading! Keep on coming back! :)
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