O-Week

Monday, February 25th

A pretty lazy day. The highlight was a dinner provided by Arcadia at the Congo Bar in Darling Harbour. It was right on the water, so beautiful. And, the food was so yummy. After hanging out there a bit, a group of my friends went with some Arcadia kids who go to Macquire University to Pancakes on the Rocks, which is also in Darling Harbour. It was AMAZING. Its pancakes, ice cream, and various toppings. If you ever come to Sydney, you must eat here!

Tuesday, February 26th

Today was an action-packed day. I went to the beach for the first time since I have been here. There are a good amount of beaches around Sydney. I went to Coogee, the closet to where I live. I was not there less than two hours. It was nice to get to the beach, but the waves were much more powerful than I expected. I was also terrified that I would be strung by something and possibly dies. So after getting knocked over by waves twice and dragged cross the floor, I decided to get out. Not soon after I left as I had to make it back to St. John’s for matriculation mass and dinner.

The events for the college’s freshers and their parents began around 5:30 PM, Obviously, the Americans were parent-less. Mass was mass, and dinner was pretty good. I sat by an RA, a mom, and two new freshers. They all were very lovely. We talked about St. Johns, US politics, and just got to know each other a bit. During dinner all the freshers had to sign the St. John’s book, which has the details and signatures of all college’s members since the it’s inception. After dinner, there was coffee and tea in the library. My favorite comment/question of the night: I told an Aussie father that I was from Ohio, and he just assumed that my parents were farmers. The same man also thought school shootings happen on a daily basis…he was an interesting and nice guy.

After a bit of mingling, the seniors came in to announce it was time for “fresher activities.” They began with making us wear this very large, very ugly orange shirt, with cattle tags as our nametags (these shirts were not to be washed the entire week…). The next step was teaching us when and how to do a “fresher cockroach.” Whenever they blew a whistle, we had to get on our backs, kick our legs in the air, and wave our arms. We ran around out in public, stopping every so often to do a cockroach (sometimes freshers were in the middle of road and oddly enough drivers did not mind that people were stopping traffic), and finally made our way to the pub across from St. John’s for a night of fun.

Wednesday, February 27th

Today began bright and early at 7 AM. We awakened to the sounds of blow horns and whistles. The first event of the day was to learn some of the college’s songs (which you can tell this use to be an all boys college as the songs are quite inappropriate). Then, we went to the official welcome by the university, had more singing practice, and later had a pool party at John’s with all the other colleges. For dinner, we went to the college next door to meet more freshers. Later in the evening people mingled in the Dail (the college’s or dorm’s bar) and went to the Grose (the pub across the street and our official sponsor). I find it very interesting that the college has a pub as the official sponsor and even has its own pub inside the dorm.

Thursday, February 28th

Breakfast for the Jets (the girls of St. John’s) was at Andrews, an all boys college. There was a tennis theme for the meal, but for some reason we went in togas. I had no idea why. After breakfast, there was more singing practice (they are big on their songs). In the afternoon, we headed to King Street’s second-hand stores to find outfits for our “bad-taste harbor cruise.” We had to walk through downtown Sydney in our outfits and got some very interesting stares. That was humorous. The cruise had some amazing views and was a pretty good time.

Friday, February 29th

The seniors began blowing their whistles and blow horns at 6 AM. My roommate and I ignored them. We missed out on a morning run and swim, among other activities that I am not sad I missed. When we finally got up around 10, I went with a group of Americans to fix our class registration at the International Office. I finally have the classes I want (Intermediate Macroeconomics, Australian Politics, Brain and Behavior, and Making the Australian Landscape). I skipped the rest of O-Week activities, called the Mom and Dad, and just enjoyed some alone time.

Saturday, March 1

We had breakfast at Sancta (the all girls college next door) and other various activities during the day. Most of these I skipped as I began to lose the love for O-Week.

In the evening, I went with some American friends to go to the Opera House to see “As You Like It” by Bell Shakespeare. It was a more modern version, for which I am thankful. It was OK. I like musicals more than plays, but the other girls really enjoyed it. I am just happy I can say I have seen a show at the Sydney Opera House.

After the show, we went to the original Pancakes on the Rocks…delicious. The service was not so great. It is nice not having to tip, but it takes some of the customer’s power away, which I do not like. Had I had to tip, this waitress would not have gotten a good one. Asking her for a glass of water was like asking her to cure cancer. Also, learned a good lesson – stay away from the trains late at night. One, the end around 1 AM, and two, classy people do not really ride them. We made it home safely though.

Sunday, March 2nd

Today was a lazy day. I went to the office supply store to get some notebooks for classes which start tomorrow :( And, went to the BBQ. Other than that, not a lot happened.