Rain, Rain Go Away...

How does four months feel like 10 years and two weeks at the same time? I remember thinking, "I have more time," and by the time the thought had processed, I was eight days from flying home. 

I'm not ready. 

I wasn't fully prepared for the ways that Australia would change me. I am no longer the same girl who I was when I left Chicago on February 16th. I sometimes think about all of the things I have done and marvel at the fact that I did them. I don't believe that I can put together words in a way to describe the way that Australia has made me feel and grow, so I won't try. I will have to keep this piece of me close to my heart and just always know that it's there.

Sarah left. 

We packed up her room and put it in her mum's car and they drove away.

Jacinta left.

Not completely...

but she is on placement in Cobden for two weeks so she's been staying there.

Kitchens 3 has been rather lonely...and quiet. 

Because of exams, it has been "quiet period" here on res (ha...). 

But we've found ways to make our own fun. 

Intense games of Farkel, putting bras on Aiden, and headstands.

While writing in my journal about how much I love it here 

and listening to my Band of Horses Pandora station, 

I finish writing and look at what song was playing, 

and it just coincidentally had to be Australia by The Shins. 

Fitting. 

After finishing my one and only exam, I got caught up on the second half of Teen Wolf season 3 which shattered my little heart to pieces.

Drunk selfies are inevitable. 

It was recently Friday the 13th, my favourite day, although not many others like it. Quiet period=Dry period, so we watched some "horror" movies in the common room at NRAS. Despite my suggestions to watch Insidious or A Haunting in Connecticut, we started off with Fright Night 2 whose only redeeming quality were the beautiful eyes of the protagonist. After that, by some twist of fate, we watched Teeth. If you've never seen it, don't watch it. Those are images that I can't un-see.

Last night, my friend, Dom's, band played at the Loft and we all went to support him. I wasn't positive of the music genre of his band, and was surprised to find out that it was a 1950's sound, reminiscent of The Notebook. The night was amazing. We were all dancing around like fools, feeling like we were back in the days of saddle shoes and polka-dot dresses. 

We eventually made our rounds to the Shan and the Gal and were in our beds by 3:30 am. 

After such a killer night, the fact that I have to leave hurts that much more.

WARNING: If I were you, I would just listen to the videos and not watch because at one point I just started dancing while recording and the camera was flailing everywhere...and will probably make you nauseous. :)

idle thoughts.

Have you ever just wondered, what am I doing wrong? Why is nothing I ever do good enough? Well I do constantly. I wonder why I have never been "the best" at anything. I wonder how someone can be so completely average. I realised just recently that it was because I was trying to fit myself into this Alix-shaped box that everyone had of me...or was it an Alix-shaped box that I had of myself? I had to stop classifying myself as one thing or another. For my whole life, I've always been the type to gauge things from one extreme to another. Either I was extraordinary at something or I was terrible at it, and since I wasn't extraordinary at anything, my default setting was to think I was terrible at it. I realise now that I have spent more than half my life hating myself for things out of my control. I have held myself back from life changing opportunities based solely on my fears. I recently read a quote that struck a chord somewhere deep inside me. 

"But what if I fall?"

"Oh but my darling, what if you fly?" 

I am not entirely sure what it was about this that affected me so much...it just seemed as though this unknown person was speaking directly to me. I'm not going to spew cliches like "life's too short..." or "you've only got one life," but I will say this: Think about how old you are now. Most of you are probably around 20 or so. On average, that's about a fourth or so of your life. You've only got 3/4 of your life left to do everything you've dreamt of doing. Why waste that time afraid and resenting yourself for it?

Here are some videos from the concert the other night. I won't try and explain the quality, you can hear that for yourselves.

Patrick James. Facebook. Twitter. Insta @patrickjamesmusic

Boy & Bear. Website. Facebook. Twitter. YouTube Insta @boyandbear. 

Voices like a Mixture of Fergie and Jesus

So my mind was blown on Wednesday when I heard everyone sing at the open mic night. Have a listen:

#PartyAnimal #Not

Here are just a couple glimpses into what's been going on here in Warrnambool for the last week since I've returned from Perth. Some pretty gosh darn exciting stuff if I do say so myself. Gosh, I'm such a party animal. That's me; the outroverted socialite...

Lunar eclipse!!! I got some pretty shit photos, but you get the gist. (No, I wasn't able to see the solar eclipse, it was stormy that day).

Sarah and Jacinta sometimes think that they are artists and I would have to agree with them on that. Anyone who can turn me into butterfly, Princess Jasmine, AND a mermaid must be an artistic genius.

Just before heading off to Perth, we had a Res Dodgeball tournament. Dodgeball was my specialty back in the day. When I walked into the gym and the balls were set up on the line, I knew that it was going to be a good day. It was every house for themselves...and only Jacinta and I had shown up for our house. We recruited Rhoe, so it would at least be 3 on 6. We proved that we don't need more than 3 people on our team and beat 3 (?) teams on our own. I even ended one game triumphantly with a (all luck) double play by catching Jake's ball and hitting Evan on the back. At least dodgeball can be the one thing that I'm good at...

Also before Perth, we had a themed "party" night called "Tradies and Ladies." Here in Aus, they call construction workers, plumbers, gardeners, etc. tradies (tradesmen). You were supposed to dress as either a tradie or a lady...and I chose a tradie because I'm probably the least lady-like lady that you'll ever meet. Some guys decided to go the lady route, like Aiden in his beautiful black dress and Grub, who went all out with pigtails and wearing Georgia's jellies.

Sarah and I had another "town/date day," and got chips and thickshakes at Figsellers (effing delicious), and spent longer than intended in the bookstore. 

So many words.

 So many pages. 

Books > Shoes

 Also, coming into my room and getting in my bed must be a roommate thing (TARA)? Because, Jacinta and Sarah seem to do that often. Not that I mind...as long as Jacinta doesn't make that creepy smiling face anymore...

They also love their gifts that my mom sent them :D

Who knew that the DUSA bookstore sold the Clap? If you don't have it yet, rush to the bookstore and you can now buy your VERY OWN clap microbe.

Siri, being the thoughtful lady she is, wished me good luck on my Aquatic Ecology test the other day. How did I ever get so lucky?

Hopkins Falls is not far from res and Sarah and I had never been there, so her friend, Ash, took us there between rain storms. The falls were very picturesque with the cows roaming in the background, not giving any ffffss. I was even delightfully surprised by a rainbow appearing in the background of some of the photos.

Pictured below: Kettle and a Kettle. Which one is which? The world may never know... (God, I'm such a freak).

"That was just a burp..." 

Movie night! Charli, Sarah, Paige, Ash, and I all went to see The Other Woman last week and it was actually hilarious. I have always loved Cameron Diaz and Kate Upton was not as bad as I thought she might be. Definitely 10/10 would recommend.

We also had a humorous run in with the police on the way home. They were doing standard breathalyser tests on the way home because of the May Races, so we had to pull over so Paige could get breathalysed.  So she blows in the apparatus, and the cop says, "Hmmm...you're going to have to do it again because either you didn't blow hard enough or you sucked." After that, none of us could keep it in and the whole car was cracking up, while the cop was trying his hardest not to laugh. After we drove away, we could see him and all the other cops giggling about what had happened. It took everything in our power not to make any crude jokes while the cop was still there.

The next night was May Races night/#BenWatson's birthday/Gabby's birthday so I had to go all out right? 

**Birthday Princess Gabby**

Saturday, Jacinta played netball at the new courts on res, so Sarah and I decided to go support her...too bad there was a torrential downpour happening at the same time as their game. We bundle up and braved the walk to the courts, where Cinta had parked her car so we could watch in the dryness. 

We saw a mushroom fairy ring on the way home=good luck!!

The weather here has been pretty shit lately. Unexpected rain showers and storms, and in the case of the other night, some pretty nasty hail.

I broke out my henna a couple nights ago and doodled all over myself, Jacinta, and Sarah. So that was fun.

This is what happens when studying gets the best of you, you give up:

Disregard the absolutely disgusting, close-up picture of me and focus on the fact that a spider/bug of some sort decided that my eyebrow would be a great place to have a snack.

Saw this ugly thing in the gas station last night. What? You shouldn't be here. 

"Put that thing back where it came from, so help me, so help me, and CUT!" -sang in the voice of Mike Wasowski.

Watched some basketball last night. Felt like I was in high school again. It's so much more interesting when you know who's playing. All that NBA and NCAA crap is boring. 

Blair throwin' that ish up.

Jack free-throwing like a BAMF.

Rhoe guarding and shit.

Jacinta going HAM.

Meng (aka KOBE) juking the mullet man.

Jimmy's so fast you can't even see his long blonde hair flowing in the wind.

Jacinta and Sarah decided to note-bomb my room last night while I was in the shower. I may say I hated it, but I really loved it. <3