17. Mai

So, first of all, gum trees are coniferous so do not shed their leaves. Also, I got sick this week (for surprisingly the first time since I've been here) and have had not much of a voice the past few days, which made customer service at work interesting. I had a very lovely weekend, and you are going to hear about it! I went to work from 10-1 on Firday and after my shift I took a walk. I walked along the road by the water and went and found the botanical gardens, they are absolutely gorgeous! I spent a while there cause it was just lovely, the weather was perfect and there were only a few people there. After walking around there for a while I headed back down to the water where they have a swimming area built into the ocean; there's a restaurant there too. I walked back and caught the bus back to school where I did a little more interneting, then rode my bike home. That night it poured rain, the whole night (and next day), I was home alone watching TV when a little brown mouse came out from under the couch! It startled me the first time so I did a sharp intake of breath and it ran back under the couch. It did this a few times before it got the courage up to run along the wall to the holes in the wall over by the TV (I thought I heard something scratching around in those holes a month or so ago). It came in and out of the hole a few times during the night, it almost felt like a little pet that was playing around while I was watching TV. I saw another one later do the same thing. I didn't really mind (they're pretty cute!) but it was a little unnerving at the same time. Later on in the evening I saw one in the kitchen, which then ran back towards my room (or that general direction)that was a bit creepy, cause there was one by the hole and in the kitchen at the same time and I felt a bit like I was surrounded. Later that night I thought I heard some moving in my room, but it was ok. Oh, I also caught the last part of a Norwegian movie (how fitting cause the next day was the 17. Mai), it was really weird and grotesque.
I got Preben's phone number from Ingrid (both are international students from Norway) and so he said he'd call me in the morning and they would come get me to go to Melbourne with them. So I got up and got ready, two of them, Marla (from Canada) and Henning (from Norway) picked me up and we drove to the train station. Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention they were going to a footy game (they got a bunch of free passes when we were in Lorne and so had a bunch of extras and so gave me one). So, we caught the 11:30 AM train into Melbourne, I got to talk Norsk with Preben and some of the Swedish guys, it was nice (all together we had 3 Norwegians, 3 Canadians, 2 Swedes, 7 Americans [including me] and 1 Hollander). A lot of these people are also in soccer with me by the way. :) We were met by another 4 Americans after a while at the game. I ate some really salty, yet good in a way fries, and a really gross hot dog, but I was hungry. Watching of the game was on and off, there was a lot of talking involved too of course. Henning, from Norway, is so funny! Anyway, the game was Geelong vs. Richmond (a district in Melbourne, the one we were in) and Geelong won 99 to 69! They were losing at first, but came ahead in the end. Alan, from Canada, doesn't like Geelong and so was rooting against them and he got crap from us afterwards when they won. ;P We then took a tram to Flinder's street station, then caught a taxi to the place where the party was. It was raining this whole time by the way. There were Norwegians everywhere, it was great! Before we ate we had some people do some introductions and then we all sang the Norwegian national anthem, "Ja, vi elsker". They sold raffle tickets too, one of the prizes was a viking helmet ;P. All of the money goes towards orphans in Thailand. We then got a starter plate of laks (Salmon), which was delicious, later Chicken and squash came, also delicious, then creme boule (not very Norwegian, but it was ok, pretty sweet though). An of course there was free bar, so beer, champagne, and red/white wine. I actually had a few beers! (I don't like beer). I was a bit of a light weight, and so felt tipsy pretty quick. I caught myself though, I started not really taking in what was going on anymore, and I really wanted to take everything in and remember that night, so I drank some water. I kept drinking, but paced it more. they played all Norwegian music, which I happily danced to, they even had some Odd Nordstoga (one of my favorite singers, I have all of his music on my computer)!! I was ecstatic! I got to talk a lot of Norwegian that night, it was awesome. One of the girls I go to school with, Henrietta, she was really drunk, but kept telling me what a great girl I was and how my Norwegian was awesome and that she loved that I talked dialect... It was funny. I met a Danish guy who's girlfriend was sitting at our table (they came late so couldn't sit together) and we danced to Odd Nordstoga's "Heim till Mor." It was fun. I danced a lot with Matt, one of our group from NJ, he's a nice guy, we talked for a while too cause we sat next to each other at the table. I danced with him a few times, and I did a really nice jitterbug with one of the Swedish guys, he's pretty good, and he thought I was too. :) I talked so much, mainly norsk, and had to talk over music the latter part of the evening that my voice was REALLY suffering by the end. I could barely speak when we got there! So, needless to say, I can't talk much today. Heath and Sam (my room mates) were laughing at me talking to them this morning. ;P They had an after party, but 4 of us from my group decided to split cause the last train into Geelong was at 1 AM, and it was 11:30. So, we caught another taxi to the Southern Cross Train Station. When we got back to Geelong we caught another taxi home, along with this other lady who paid almost our whole fare! She said she remembers what it's like to be a student, it was very nice of her. I got home just a little before 3 AM.