Sweet and sour

August 14, 2011

Now that school is picking up I am limiting myself to one entry per week. As I have settled into a routine, my life isn’t nearly as exciting anyway, and once Jane started her blog, The Great Wardrobe Challenge (http://thegreatwardrobechallenge.tumblr.com/), I decided mine paled in comparison--but for the sake of anyone still interested, here is my past week in review.

Monday I ran into the guy from Ecuador who asked me for help finding his way around my first week here. I don’t know whether I was more surprised that he recognised me or that I recognised him! At this point he seemed much more comfortable with the campus, which makes sense because I am too. Sometimes I wonder how it ever took me 45 minutes to find the International Student Centre.

They take a long time to bake but it's worth the wait!

Wednesday I had my environmental science lab, which was even more confusing than the first. Among other things, we had to draw a map to scale with virtually no instruction using a really poor photocopy and then label the "important features" using another photocopy from a phone book. Even though the instructor told us to come to her if we had any questions, when I asked her if I did my math right, she rolled her eyes and responded, "No, you have to multiply it.” As I walked away, I heard her tell the instructor sitting next to her, "I swear I learned this in Grade 10." This led to a discussion between the two of them about how stupid university students are these days and that people who don't graduate from high school are so dumb they all end up in prison. I tried to ignore them, but when I let her look over my work as I was turning it in, she told me I’d done it wrong and the other instructor laughed at me. I was so humiliated I literally ran out of the room crying.

Thursday was better because after class I hung out with Jane, who was so on top of it that she brought me a sign she made for my door and vegan sausage rolls for lunch. I was scared to go to my geology lab because I was still traumatised from the day before, but the worst thing that happened there was that we had to leave early and complete it on our own when the fire alarm went off toward the end.

These are the first tasmanian devils I've seen in Australia.

Today, besides going to the Farmers’ Market as usual, I got a dress from one of Jane’s favourite clothing stores, left my room key in the dressing room, thanked Holly a million times for driving me back right away to get it, went for a walk with Stephanie, spent way too much time on Facebook, and Skyped two of my friends back home. Hopefully this week will be more successful when it comes to schoolwork...

Lesson 15
>Pronunciation: I say ah-kwa; Aussies say ack-wa

>Vocabulary: I say yield; Aussies say give way