Halloween and more

Well I didn't go to any spectacular destinations this weekend, but it was still full of adventures. Friday I only have one class, but spent the afternoon doing homework. I started to transcribe a 60 minute interview that is due on Tuesday. This may not sound like much, but 10,256 words (16 pages) and about 15 hours later, I'm finally done. Now if I had really concentrated on it I probably could have been done in 10 but the task was seriously mind numbing. I needed AIM and facebook to keep me sane. Back to Friday...the students visiting from Cairns made us a traditional aboriginal dinner and did some cultural dances for us. I ate kangaroo! Australia is the only country that legally kills the animal on its national seal. Tasted a lot better than I was expecting, very similar to beef. Definitely tasted better than the lamb they usually feed us.

Students dancing

Friday was also my friend Mia's 25th birthday. Since it was Halloween and we all planned on going out anyway, we got dressed up and went to a tapas restaurant. Everyone looked at us like we were nuts walking in. Halloween is recognized here, just not nearly as popular as in the States. There were a few kids trick or treating in the afternoon, none out at night. The only people in costume were in the bars that had Halloween parties. One big difference between Halloween here and back home: they actually dress scary here. People wear masks and actual costumes, not "sexy (insert profession here)" The party was a great time, I'm glad I decided to dress up and go out.

Marica, myself and Helena out for Mia's birthday

Saturday I slept in until brunch and spent the entire afternoon transcribing the interview. At 5pm all the study abroad students hopped on a bus and got to go on a cruise of Sydney Harbour. The bus dropped us off at Mosman Bay and we cruised from 6-10. The boat had two levels with outdoor decks on the front and back, a bar on the first floor, and two dancefloors and DJs. It was awesome to be sailing around as the sun set. It was a little chilly but inside the boat it didn't matter. Everyone had a great time putting the stressful week of midterms behind us and just hanging out for the night. As time went on there were dance parties and dance offs, it was quite the sight. They gave us the option of getting off in Darling Harbour if we wanted to stay in the city. I left with a group of seven other Americans. We went to Cargo in Darling Harbour and a few places in Kings Cross before taking a taxi back to Manly. Kings Cross is known as the party place of the city, a lot of bars and strip clubs... we found a few decent places, but it was a bit much for me. I enjoyed the night though, it was good to go out with some different people.

City at night

Today was a homework day. It was cloudy and windy again so I had no temptation to go outside. A bunch of people got together for the Texas Tech vs University of Texas football game, but we couldn't figure out how to get the live game on and ended up just listening to it. I had very little interest in the game and was surrounded by girls from Texas Tech who were decked out in school colors cheering like crazy. I never realized how seriously Texans take their football. At halftime I decided to finish transcribing my interview and get my reading done for the week. I was really productive for a change. At 10 I stopped to go watch The Office in Deborah's room. It's becoming our weekly Sunday night routine.

I might have sky diving pictures to put up the next time I blog. So excited for sky diving on Tuesday:) I put a ton of pictures up on my Flickr site, feel free to check them out. Hope everyone had a great weekend!