The Finest Weekend

It has been so long since I last wrote! Various things have happened in this past week that have been very hectic. First, while shopping at Cole's, the local grocery store, we noticed this huge balloon arch meant to be celebrating their 100th anniversary, but it also just so happened to be during VEISHEA week back home, and in my school's colours. Although I won't go into the topic of the goings-on during VEISHEA, I will say that I was very disappointed and saddened to hear how ill behaved everybody was. They completely ruined it for everyone else, and it wasn't "cool," it was appalling and I'm ashamed to admit that I go there now.

So much studying has also been going on (told you dad!!). Sarah, Jacinta, and I decided to push the couches together and cuddle-study...it's the most effective way, right?

Last Wednesday, we had a spirited game of Res Footy. The different houses on res were split into two teams (white and black) and we played footy against each other! It was my first time playing footy and honestly, I just wanted to tackle someone. I didn't get to tackle anyone during the actual game, but I got a free shot at #BenWatson afterwards. Naturally, my team won. 

Jaxson caught a pretty fascinating looking fish the other day. His original plan was to cook it and eat it...until he found out that the spikes were poisonous...that made him change his plans quickly.

Presenting photos with some of my favourites:

On Saturday, I took the train from here in Warnie to Melbourne to visit my housemate, Sarah. After the longest train ride of my entire life, I had finally made it to Ringwood where Sarah's charming house is located. Her lovely mother and her picked me up from the train station and we went back to hers. Her parents were very hospitable and so generous to let me stay there. We had chinese takeout for dinner (per the request of Sarah who hadn't shut up about chinese food for the entire week before). Then we spent the rest of the night cuddling with her two kitties, Misty and Zedicus, and I possibly could have turned the waterworks on full force at the end of Marley & Me. 

The next day, Sarah and I took a stroll over to the shopping centre. On the walk there, we had quite the view of Mount Dandenong near her house. As well as some of the most quaint little houses I've ever seen.

While at the shopping centre, I ran into some of my boyfriend's photos on the wall...

We also stumbled upon a little farmer-esque market in the middle of the shopping centre with the most vividly coloured flowers. We ended up getting the white japanese lily in the bottom photo for her mother, who definitely deserved it for her generosity.

That afternoon, Sarah, her mom, and I drove into the city to go to the Queen Vic Market, which was just as fantastically overwhelming as the last time I was there. It was bursting with souvenirs, discounted clothes, and other bits and bobs.

 

 After the market and before we had to catch the train back to Warni, we walked to Degraves Street for dinner. The street was no bigger than an alley, but was packed full of local cafes and tapas bars. It was an excellent conclusion to a wonderful 36 hours, before having to ride the train four hours back home.

Last night (yes, it was a Monday...) we celebrated the 21st birthday of one of my first and most cherished friend here, Stacey!! It was also my bby Aiden's birthday as well. The night started off with some tequila shots with Gabby, Stace, Kirby, and Rhoe. Afterwards, we walked over to the Flying Horse for a semi-fancy birthday dinner, before walking back to NRAS and having an epic dance party to celebrate the births of the greatest.

We Must Take Adventures to Know Where We Truly Belong.

"Some people think that they were born in the wrong era, I think you were born in the wrong area."

-Something Sarah said to me yesterday that struck me.

After graduating high school and moving off to uni for a few years, "home" can be a very hard concept to grasp. If you're like me, you have lived your whole life in the same room, same house, same town, with the same people. When it came time to move to uni, "home" was supposed to become my dorm room...but that absolutely did not feel like home. The strangest part was, that when I did go home-home, it didn't feel like home either. I was in the place that I had always called home, but I was living out of a suitcase...it didn't add up.

I always had expected everything to be the same as I left it when I came home from uni; my high school, the people in the community, the businesses around the county, but they weren't. They were foreign and this really confused me. How could I feel so alien in a place that I had always called my home? 

But to be honest, I had always felt out of place there. I had always felt as if I should be somewhere else, as if I was "born in the wrong area." Ever since I can remember, and I honestly couldn't tell you when this obsession started, I have been in love with the ocean. Everything about it seemed so fascinating to me. My room was ocean themed, and I wrote pseudo-research papers about dolphins when I was 12. 

This obsession with the ocean quickly started to include an obsession with surfing as well. I made my mom bring home the Bethany Hamilton poster from the high school when I was in junior high. I worshipped Mick Fanning and claimed Creatures of Leisure was my favourite surf team. Because of this I was made fun of a lot. People would say things like, "Have you ever even surfed?," and "You're from Iowa, act like it."

This made the feeling of home become even more foreign to me. All I have ever wanted is to live in a beach house in a beach town, with a cat and an Alaskan Malamute, with tons of house plants, a bike, and a surf board with a job that I don't have to look fancy for. 

I guess what I'm trying to say, is that I have never been somewhere that feels more like "home" than here in Australia. As crazy as it sounds, it almost feels like I belong here. I feel more myself than I ever have before. I used to try to fit myself into different molds and never really knew who "I" was. I was so terrified of being judged and being abnormal, that I never let people see who I really was on the inside. Here in Aus, I am finally living the life that I've always dreamed of living. 

Yes, I do miss all of my family and my friends from back home with every fiber of my being, and I would never be able to survive without them in my life. But if it weren't for them, I would never leave here. I think I've finally found "home."

What the hell are netball and footy?

(View of the Hopkins River from the jetty)

So the last week has been relatively hectic and most of my downtime was spent either sleeping, studying, or hanging out with my friends. I hadn't realised how long it had been since I had written until I read back through my blog, something that I often enjoy doing to remind myself that I am actually here in this magnificent place.  Recently it has been raining quite a bit, and after every rain a rainbow always shines. (This statement can be taken metaphorically or literally, your choice). My housemate, Sarah, and I have also taken up yoga. Just wanting to clear our chakras, namaste. ✌ 

 I recently purchased a set of Tarot cards because I have always found them quite interesting but never was able to find them anywhere. If you think that witchcraft is easy, you have another thing coming. I also may have gotten immensely bored in Marine Biodiversity class and decided to draw instead...oopsies.

Nights like these are definitely something that I will miss when I return home. Being able to just walk over to NRAS and hang out with my friends is so nice and I wouldn't trade it for anything. They're absolutely the type of people that you just want to surround yourself with all the time.

On Friday, we took a field trip for Marine Biodiversity to where the river empties into the ocean at the Merri Marine Sanctuary. We collected nekton and benthic samples from the river and recorded the organisms that we found after sifting through the sediment. It was a great example of the kinds of hands-on experiences that I can get here that I would never be able to get back in Iowa.

This Saturday, my housemate and a lot of my friends played netball and footy against East Warrnambool. Our team, the Deakin Sharks, definitely kicked major ass in most of the games. 

Because they ended up winning, the netball team got to do the "Shark Shuffle." Just a "Remember the Titans"-esque ritual. 

The Footy boys did extremely well in the first game, stomping them 100-something to 30-something. They were able to do the "Shark Shuffle" as well.

Today I had grand privilege of taking my first test here at Uni. I mean, I would have used another word to describe it, but this is a positive blog... It wasn't as difficult as I was expecting it to be and my worrying was all for not. Afterwards, we got to show off our swag during the prac.

Sarah and I then went into town for a "girls" day of sorts, although I think that term is extremely pretentious. I found a Diet Coke in a glass bottle, which, of course, I kept. I also kept getting followed by this extremely handsome guy in a only a towel, creepy or no?

We finished the day by going to the local aquarium store and pining over the cutest little fishies and one single adorable ray.