some education

i think aunt joan would be proud because i finally went to my first art gallery this week. i know it only took me thee months but i finally got to one. my art history class had out tutorial for the day in an art gallery. so i used the public transportation is get around sydney and to the art gallery. it was very cool, but quite small. definitely nothing like the met or moma or something. but yes it was quite nice. it was cool to see the actual paintings we had been talking about. they also had an AWESOME modern section. we didn't spend too much time there because we haven't gone over it, but it was seriously really cool. i'm definitely really into modern and pop art type stuff. speaking of, in the next class we talked of cristo, the guy who wrapped those islands in colorful sheets and did the gates. the whole class was saying that it wasn't really art and blah blah blah because he wasn't the one to actually make his art but i explained to the class that once you've actually seen it, you'll probably have a very different feel. i definitely remember visiting the gates, they were magnificent. and i definitely credit the artist because he was the one behind the plan. that was an awesome day, and a great way to spend a birthday.

what comes before part b?

well there are now only two more weeks left of the semester, i've been here for three months already, and this is all making me a little upset. but lets not dwell on that because i still have a little over a month here in australia. because the term is coming to an end john's has many social activities and parties planned for the next couple of weeks. the seniors are itching to get out and the rest of us are just looking to have some fun. last week sort of started the festivities. it was our formal and recovery day. the formal was great, everyone was dressed to impress, i was able to bring a friend from outside of john's and the best part there were bumper cars!! that was really cool. they call them dodge 'em cars here. lots of dancing and good food and maybe a drink or two even! definitely a lot of fun. recovery was awesome too. music was playing starting at 7am to get everyone down to the quad, although my friends and i didn't make it out until 10 (7 is just too early for me! lol). this was a day of just relaxing and hanging out with everyone from john's. there was a big lunch outside, a moonbounce (which they call a jumping castle), kite flying, races, and just some good old fun. then everyone was so tired from the past two nights that john's was silent by about 8pm. good times. can't wait for more upcoming events. (unfortunately i only have one good picture from the day, my friend hasn't put up her pics yet so just hold on! sorry mom!)

"we're sydney softball girlies!"

if you are reading this, then you know a member of the best college softball team in australia.

yes, you read that right. this past week we had spring break and i joined the softball team for a trip up to the gold coast where we got to play softball for a week. a competition between 44 different universities bringing in 7,000 students, and the softball team came out on top. now i must admit there were only 4 softball teams including us and they all pretty much sucked BUT it was still very cool to win the gold and call myself, an american, one of the best softballers in australia. pretty cool. while there we also got to relax on the beach, meet a bunch of new people (some from softball and others just from sydney uni), go out at night, and of course kick some butt during softball. i even pitched a game and we still won ( for those of you who don't know, i haven't pitched since i was about the age of 9, so that's a big accomplishment!). some nights had themes to them that we dressed up for to go out in like bright and tight or super heros or bogen (which is like their country style theme). it was pretty cool. other wise we wore our team shirts that you can see in the photos. it was an amazing trip. it was great to have a break from school, yes i do go to classes (sometimes jk mom i haven't missed one yet!), and to get to relax a little by getting out sydney and playing some ball. it was a great weekend. the girls i met were awesome and we're already thinking of reunions, very cool. i've invited them all to come visit me in america (sorry again mom!). it was really a great time. it was quite different from my regular spring break that happens at trinity, which was also kind of nice. it's good to be able to switch things up a bit. and now it's tuesday and we are in week 10 of school out of 13. insane that school is almost over, that this trip is almost over....but SHHHHHH we don't like to talk about it!!!!!