Pride and Prejudice and such.

SO. I just finished this amazing web series. It's called the Lizzie Bennet Diaries and it's amazing. It's a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice through vlogging. GO WATCH, All of them.

Anyways. Since I was now in the spirit, I watched Pride and Prejudice (Kiera Knightly version). One of my favorite movies anyways, the hankering was too strong. And Yes did I pop an entire bowl of popcorn and eat it ALONE. I may have shed a tear as well, hypothetically. Next to read the book? (Well, I did go get it for my kindle....) SO COOL RIGHT! STUDY ABROAD>> A PARTY!

Anyways in other news, the boys and girls footy teams are both going to the Finals! Yay. And this time there is evidence of my gassy sitting and color bearing. (Thanks Glen)

I was also wearing two collared shirts... HAWKWARD. Never thought I would reach this level of preppy...system failing...overload...

But really, get me some sperrys and ship me to Boston already. But we won and I joined boys poker night... and I didn't LOOSE! WOO, I mean, I wasn't the first out. But now I owe somebody a goon sack (a box of wine).

Well, home stretch for this one. After June 17 all my assessments are done. I have some ideas for how to spend that remaining time here. And let me tell you it involves Penguins.

Oh and I almost forgot. Hen's and Bucks. What a night. For all you American Newbies, Hen's and Bucks is the australian version of a Bachelor/ Bachelorette party. So the party consisted of separating the girls and the boys and sending them each to their respective strip clubs. For the sake of St. Marks lore, I will end it at that. It was a lot more fun than I expected. I even got a lap dance for .5 seconds. Cheers!

They close the sandwich bars REALLY early here (really Australia, shouldn't be impossible to get a sandwich at 2pm...why close the sandwich bar anyways? especially when the establishment is open for 2 more hours,)


Also , I found a really catchy Australian band. They're from Melbourne... enjoy. Also get the new Kate Nash album Girl Talk... it's fantastic

Aussie Boots

To add to my assimilation to australian culture, I have finally got my own pair of boots! RM Williams

 Very exciting! Add to this I got them thrift and it pretty much perfect condition. Only 25$ (they're usually like 280$). Checking out I was told I "had to keep them polished" and how the sole is made. I think it was one of the greatest arguments for aussie culture. For context, they're usually reserved for country folk. The cowboy boots of australia is how I would relate them. But I'm determined to bring the country chic to the city. :) Turns out my boots are more of a "dress boot" anyway (whatever that means...)

Hens and Bucks this weekend. (Pretty much a bachelor/bachlorette party)

**
We had girls footy last weekend! Was fun per usual and we won... per usual. Got to pick up my footy gursey (not a typo) to really get into it :)

RED ROCK DELI

No don't get all excited that I finally found a deli here (THERE ARE NO BAGELS IN THIS COUNTRY!) But a spectacular brand of chip that just got better. Sea Salt and Balsamic Vinegar... we're going to become good friends in these next two months. I don't know why I didn't venture to your beautiful purple package (I mean purple is my favorite color - should be obvious). But I was too scared, to committed to plain ole sea salt that I'd tasted in the Hilton with my parents. Sea Salt, fraid we're donzo. Onto greater and more vinegary things.

 

Abel Tasman and Auckland

Well Thought I should finish up my postings about New Zealand.

In Nelson, we went to Abel Tasman National Park. It was amazing. We hiked to this isolated patch of beach.

We even saw the sunset, but none of the pictures do it justice. 

We then accidentally pulled into the one winery Rachel knew someone to ask for directions. They gave us a free tour of the winery, which was actually pretty cool. Did you know red wine actually comes out white? It's the grape skins and the leaking of Co2 in the holding tank that does it?

We then boarded the ferry from Picton to Wellington.

We only spent a couple hours in Wellington. We did find bagels though (which was VERY EXCITING... no bagels in Australia.) and walked around. The airport had a giant Gollum sculpture 

We then flew to Auckland. We walked around, went up the space needle (they had a section where the floor was clear), went to Silo Park, visited a pitzer kid.

Jenae and I went to Waiheke Island for the last day.

That's it for New Zealand!

Old Colls Footy

So last sunday we had Old Cols Footy (Australian Rules Football). It's when former collegians come out and play the current team. We also had a scratch match for the girls footy against Lincoln College.   It was a great day, good weather, free beer (and CIDER gotta love Australia). The matches started at 11:30, and as mentioned in the dining hall the previous day (for the players) NO DRINKING UNTIL AFTER HALFTIME, so we can actually see how were doing. This sounded like an event I had to get to. So donning our colors once more (we even have a tent/shade with the St. Marks crest/motto.... a bit pretentious? nawwwww) We took the gassy over there (I even got to sit on the roof, check that one off the list.)

Anyways we had sausages per usual (PUTTING THE SNAGS ON THE BARRRRBBBBIIIE... jk) and all got pleasantly tipsy, watching footy for the afternoon. Then a bunch of us came back an watched Rocky Horror. Thanks Glen for the Pictures

Not in this one. But I joined the crew up here.

The Gassy (a 1920s gas truck) with a matching barbecue. Fun fact it is only one of two other gas trucks for that era in Australia. The other one is in a museum.

The girls getting at it.

I took this one! from my seat for a bit. 

Australian Accents and Sketch Books and life

So Masel Tov in an Australian accent has got to be one of the funniest/most exciting things to happen to yiddish. The tonality is a lot more chipper to say the least. An Australian slang/lingo post is definitely in the making (but reserved for when I have more time to dedicate to it.)

On another note, I bought a sketch book today. I'VE NEVER FELT SO FREE! Seriously, who knew that the lines were holding me back. So I've been playing with colored pencils all night. Couple this with a "twitter poem"(poems under 150 characters) assignment for tomorrow. thus Sketchbook poems. Think I've had some success. I realize they're backwards

(above picture 1) When I was a child I used to dip my hand in rainbows

(above picture 2) And smudge my senses until everything looked rosy

These Lines. Do they fill me with woe? Will they lead my to my path? Just a wrinkle on my conscious 

ALSO

I got to attend my first Australian protest! I do love a good protest. So today was "Budget Day". The current government (from what I could gather) is cutting tertiary aid plus general cuts to fund high schools and professional schools. Which doesn't really make sense. Plus they want to change the aid the've already given into loans these disadvantaged students have to pay back. 

It was a bit different than American ones I've been to. For one they actually had media there and read out live statements from other unions. But also, just how posh it was. Sort of reminded me of parliament. Instead of the crowd yelling whoever/whatever to F itself or some variation of that, they yelled SHAME! Very classy guys. I also got to hang out with some of the people I've met at uni, whom it is sufficient to say are quite different than the climate of St. Marks. Most notably being for labor. And willing to discuss, social issues and well, Liberal arts stuff.   

REPORTS:

Unfortunately we only 2nd in Men's netball and 3rd in girls netball. It was still a good night. Everybody showed up in their colors and we had a great turn out. And a great celebration afterwards. Here's us in our colors

Pancake Rocks

So on the way to Nelson, we stopped at the Pancake Rocks. So going in I thought, you know, there would be THE pancake rock. Couldn't be more wrong. They were everywhere. And they were very cool. It was some combination of pressure, sediment and the ocean hitting the rocks.