Friday, March 28, 2014

Comedy Festival: Marcel Lucont

I got my first taste of blood on my spoon.....I have officially made my first ever kill in the game of Assassins! A sad feat to be proud of you say? I think NOT! I am a terrible liar and manipulator; I could never play poker or BS. Today, I hashed the perfect plan! A group, including my target, were going to the Comedy Festival tonight. I used this information against him (for a while his alias had been Elmo; I didn't make it up, Krshna did). I asked those in the group that were going, which ironically enough I got this information about who was going FROM my target, if they would participate in my plot and inform me where they were meeting and at what time. Then, at the right time, they would back away (the rule was anyone could be killed if there weren't in arms length of anyone else playing the game).

I even used his own joke against him! Phil, by the way is the name of my target. Phil from Cyprus (he was also in the Turkish military), likes that I don't like the nickname Han. And if you don't know Australians, they like names to be as short as possible. If you think it is impossible for them to shorten your name because it is one syllable, they will shorten to one letter just to prove you wrong! So, of course mine would be Han. Anyway, I don't prefer being called this because it can be mistakenly heard as Ham. He ergo wanted to nickname me Hammah! And he said he couldn't wait for me to say, "Stop! Hammah time!" Well guess, what? I "killed" him, which means I found the perfect moment to say, "Na na na na chi chi na na chi chi na na CAN'T TOUCH THIS!" It was the highlight of my day!

Moving on from my public internet gloating....I was reluctant to go, but I agreed to go see Marcel Lucont, the comedian with the group that night. I was not disappointed.

Before we got to the show, though, the most amazing thing happened at the bus station. After as certain hour of the day, there are more security guards around areas like the train station. One of the guards comes up to Paula, one of the members of our group, and asks her "Is that a spoon in your pocket? And if so, WHY do you have a spoon in your pocket?" We ended up having to explain to him that our Hall is playing a game of assassins where in order to "kill" someone you must tap him with a spoon! He had a grand chuckle over this. So did we.

The comedian's character (I won't say the comedian himself, because most comedians put on a facade when they perform to add to the humor; I know for a fact Marcel in particular emphasizes his French accent) is the most indifferent, pompous, self centered Frenchman. He read to us poetry, sang, and told stories about his childhood, and most of it somehow would end up in some sort of sexual reference. He has an espcially special place in his heart for talking about woman's breasts (note the sarcasm in that sentence). I wasn't expecting the room to be so small and easily interactive, but there were probably only 40 people in the room. It was a studio in the "Tuxedo Cat" called the Puffer Fish. Each of the rooms had random animal names. As a result of such an intimate setting, I actually ended up being a participant in his act. When he asked if there were any internationals, our entire row was the only row that raised our hands. And of course he asks, Where from? He ends up with a joke about Brazilian versus Californian waxes, because Paula is from Brazil, and leads on to joke about Phil because what do you expect a Cyprus wax to look like, a tree?

After the show, we walked around for a while, got a pitcher of Sangria and a pitcher of some sort of other Cocktail at an unusual Japanese themed bar, and walked around some more. It was a well worth the night out, full of kicks and giggles.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Weekend Plans

Last Friday, I meet with a Professor about taking up some hours each week to do some research on one of his projects. The only reason I knew to meet him in the first place was because of my fluke meeting with the Professor from Penn State at the Wine tour! The lesson here is be prepared to network with people ANYWHERE!

I haven't confirmed my standing yet, since I have also talked with my Professor whose project is more related to what I am interested. He hasn't been very prompt about replying back, though. I will give him the weekend, but come Monday, I will speak to him after class again.

Starting on Wednesday, the hall has been playing a game of assassins. It is pure chaos here! Friends become enemies, acquaintances become allies, and everyone is either hiding out in the shadows of the save zones or clinging to the buddy system. I signed up to play, but that was before I knew I had an exam AND a presentation on Thursday. It's only week 4! Well, I made sure to post that I wouldn't continue to play unless it was determined that the Study Lounge was a save zone, too.

Just a random note, the other night I went to the Nott, and Richardson students like to hang out in the Moose room to do some predrinking. Well, tonight there was some perfect comedic timing! A guy named Krshna, from Canada, was wearing his underwear on the outside of his pants because a new rule for the day was if you were wearing underwear visibly, you were safe from assassination. Well, these particular boxers (that said It's party time) were too large from him, but the elastic held them up. He swore another person could easily fit into them. Well.....someone took him up on the offer to try it out. Jack, a British man with no shame or modesty, got into Krshna's underpants while he was still wearing them. As they were standing there facing each other and began to pretend to get intimate with each other, one of the security guards for the building walks in on us. His face was priceless; all he did was shake his head, as if to ask what has happened to this generation?, and walks back out. Oh, and Jack couldn't help but take this moment to say, "It's pretty easy to get into Krshna's pants!"

The test and presentation went alright. I was glad my group volunteered to be the first to present because it was 2 hours of presentations and seeing that I was getting bored, I assume the Professors were, too. As for the exam, I don't think I have ever taken a Thermodynamics exam where I was able to complete it in the allotted time that they gave us. And I knew how to answer the last question, I just didn't have an opportunity to get to the exact answer, so I did the next best thing and explained stepwise what I was planning to do in order to reach the right answer.

This weekend is going to be quite busy for me. I hope in between all of the events I still have time to get stuff ready and lined up for next week, because I don't think my weeks are going to let up from now on. I plan to go Opt shopping tomorrow morning. That's what they call thrift stores here because opt stands for opportunity. I am looking for pieces of my costume I want to wear for the cosplay festival that is happening in a few weeks! I have never been to a cosplay festival but I have always had the desire to have the experience.

I have never been to a city where in under a few weeks  I have gone downtown to a variety of festivals! I have been there to White Night, Food and Wine Festival, two FREE concerts in one night, and now I am going to the Comedy Festival either tonight or tomorrow night, or both, depending on how I feel I have time for. Then of course there's Supanova, the cosplay fest I mentioned in the paragraph above! I am really getting my taste of every aspect of Australian culture, and I picked the perfect location to do it!

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Wholefoods Free Food Mondays

Monday is normally Corinne's cooking night. She gave us advanced notice that she couldn't cook for us this Monday, so we could plan accordingly.

I had been meaning to try the Free Food Mondays at Wholefoods just to see what it was like.

The people were spicy and well seasoned, the food was bland.

I started a conversation with two guys ahead of me in line when one of them, Calin, I think it was (Calvin without the 'v,' he said), was giving an impression to his friend of a British accent from some movie I had never heard of. I ended up talking about all of the American stereo types and debunking almost everyone of them. I never thought about it this way until I spoke with them: as an American I am at a severe disadvantage culturally. American pop culture is world renowned, but Australian's pop culture is something I have to learn as I go.

It was good fun, but when we got our food and sat down to take our first bite, we discovered that though it was a simple spaghetti and tomato sauce dish it was the most bland spaghetti I have ever tasted. The only reason I knew I was even eating was because I felt the texture of the noodles in my mouth. I know it's free food, but how much does it cost to add a little salt, something to make it "tastable."

At least I enjoyed good company.

Food and Wine Festival

Wallaby tastes like meatloaf.

Be Brave and SHAVE!

I don't know what it is about Australia, but I have definitely gotten bolder since I have been here. I think it's because I realize that I have nothing to lose, especially since I have such a limited span of time to achieve what I want out of my experience abroad.

Last Thursday I voluntarily participated on shaving my head, not to the point of bald, but close enough for me. It's for a program called "The World's Greatest Shave;" they raise money for blood cancer research. Their motto is be brave and shave.

  There are some days I look in the mirror and ask myself, "What have I done?," yet the majority of the time I look in the mirror and feel pride for what I have achieved as a result of that hair cut. I raised money in person as well as online. My guess is it was over my goal of $1000, but I cannot honestly say whether this is correct because the only number I can see is the one that's online. I feel like such a rebel. One of the first observations I had when I came to Monash was the majority of women adorning pixie cuts were over the age of 40. I think I have only met one girl in the halls with a short hair cut, and another randomly in my class (and she realized she was in the wrong classroom soon after we began conversing). I am definitely the only woman on campus with an almost rocker hair style! I almost feel as though I should chuck my old wardrobe out the door, and start from scratch. Yesterday, I bought the cheapest leather jacket from a woman whose company is called "Recycle Queen" at the Monash Market. It was a good investment. Now all I need is some heavy black eye makeup. I am kidding.....or am I?

To my parents, I promise I won't come back Gothic. I am just enjoying teasing with the idea because I feel like a Bohemian now (we have been discussing Australian Bohemians in my Australian Idol unit).

So many people approached me since the "deed" was done with varying reactions of surprise and support. I especially enjoyed the comments and reactions of those who were their during my shave. A lot of them expected me to cry, I suppose. All I did was smile embarrassingly, since MRS made a big deal (they called it the grand finale) about it and so many were watching, while jamming out to the music they had playing. I think the worst part was when the razor's batteries died, causing a gap (an intermission so to speak) in the process.

I also liked how some people who'd met me already that weren't at the shave and the 30 second span that it took for them to realize it was me!

Check out the first half of my shave:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZswqmkKlyk&list=UUSVsxxm3Ne8g_5QFeZpbkYw

If anyone else want to support a great cause, please submit any small amount to the following:
http://my.leukaemiafoundation.org.au/seehannahshorthairforacause

Thursday, March 13, 2014

The Beach

Last Sunday I was supposed to call my sister.....I ditched her for a last minute invite to the beach. I am a TERRIBLE sister. I am glad she puts up with me because it is wonderful having confrontations with her. We may have a short tiff, but we will both walk away, and return with nothing more to say about it, so we will just get on with our day as if it never happened. Anyway, props to you girl for being a GREAT BIG SIS!

So....the BEACH! How was it you ask? Well, let's first have a mini geography lesson of Victoria, Australia. It's a bay. There ya go. That sums it up pretty well. Almost all of the coast of Victoria is a bay. I have never swam much in bay beaches. And I became the stupid American that asked, "why aren't there any waves?"

The water was a lovely temperature of just-cold-enough while the sun remained constantly hot. It was perfect. And of course, even with the protection of sunscreen, I got burnt that day. It's pretty inevitable. I don't think I have gone a day without at least looking at my upper chest and seeing red. Sunscreen must be applied every 15 minutes after being in the water just to work effectively in Australia. I have to say, that day, a little burn was worth the day away from campus. I hope to head to the city again tomorrow (Saturday 14th) for the Food festival. We'll see.

Most of the day went by without me even realizing it. However, we did get to the beach later than expected because there weren't enough people with cars to carpool the entire group, so Tali, David and I stayed behind. That was okay with me, in earnest, since Tali had knocked on my door at 11:15am while I was still sleeping off staying up late the night before. I ended up only having 15 minutes to get ready, so a little wait didn't hurt. It gave Tali some time to share with me the pride and joy that is Rhonda and the BIG AD! If you are in America, you know there are those advertisements that everyone, I mean EVERY-SINGLE-PERSON-YOU-TALK-TO-ON-THE-STREET knows about! Well, it's not that different over here. And Tali was exposing me to the commercial culture of Australia. And most of the....were for beer.

Later that week we had another fruitful conversation about how Australia cops with drought, flooding and bush fires.

Back to what happened when we got to the beach. This was only the third time I had carpooled in someone's car here, and it wouldn't be the last. It was Alex's car with Dexter riding shot gun. They had actually gotten lost coming back for us, because what was supposed be a 30min wait for them turned into an hour. We jammed to some oldies tunes on the radio. Supposedly there aren't many radio station options that are good.

When we arrived, we dropped off our stuff at the beach. Soon after we headed to the town's main strip to get some grub. I had fish and chips. Someone observed that wasn't the best choice to be having for lunch at the beach when everything else was already so salty. I had no regrets. Those were really good fish and chips. Before we got lunch, though, Tali gave me a true Australian christening. She doused me with lots and lots of sea water. My hair felt like I had grew dreadlocks overnight. I got back at her later.

I got in the water after a few bits of food. Almost my entire time in the water we played a game of monkey in the middle with a Frisbee. I realize now, Tali was never monkey in the middle. It was such a rush to not think about anything but the present.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

The Other Night I had a Nightmare

So, not last night, but the night before I had a dream.

I had to write it down. I won't use this blog as a dream journal often, because for me to recall a dream is an infrequent occurrence.

The dream starts set on a plane whose captain has just announced that he is about to land. To land, though, the plane must go through a tunnel (much like some roller coaster ride). The captain's fair warning didn't give me enough time to put everything back in my backpack, under my seat in time, so I ended up having in hand my book, phone, and camera.

On the way down, the setting began to slowly change. We were now rolling in a hollow sphere with holes, like the Pirates of the Caribbean scene on the Island of carnivorous natives. I yelled to my Dad, who had been siting next to me on the plane. I told him, I was going to lose hold of my camera. Eventually, I did.

When we ended up at home, I got extremely enraged at losing all of the photographed memories from our trip. I began throwing a tantrum of F bombs, and tears flowed freely.

For some reason my teeth had caps and seals made from circuit boards and other covers that were pealing. I started obsessing over brushing my teeth to take my mind off all of the photos I had lost with my camera and to fix my teeth in the process.

It was a bad dream. If you want to try and interpret it, go ahead, but I have never had a fear of flying or been afraid of the dentist.

You know You are in Australia When...

Ladies and gentlemen! I will be making this post a continuously edited one in which I will attempt to add funny facts that I have learned and experienced overall. It will be henceforth called: You Know You Are In Australia When.....

...your professor talks about hurdles in all frankness.

...things are not just "required," they are "compulsory."

...someone offers you goon. (Goon of Fortune)

...if you need to ask any questions that means you have "quiries," not "inquires."

...jelly isn't jam, it's jello.

...this XXXX is NOT Quadruple X; it's Four X.

...all foreigners must be informed that there is such a thing as a drop bear, and you must be vigilant of the tree tops.

...talking politics means talking smack about Tony Abbot.

...you have tried a dessert called Pavlova, made from whipped egg whites (tastes like really sweet marshmallow fluff).

...possums hang from the pipes on the ceiling, and trees are wrapped in metal sometimes to prevent them from climbing the protected trees.

....you think someone is cooking a BBQ at 11pm and then you realize you are smelling a bushfire (for the first time for me was 19th March).

...you know that it is okay to pick fun at the Tazzies by asking them to show you their scar where their second head was removed, and they retort with a reminder about their extra toes.

....if you don't think it's possible for you to have a nickname, you are proven wrong. If your last name is Campbell you are sure as hell going to be called tomato soup at some point. Your teacher gives you nicknames, and you call them by theirs.

...fruit punch is cordial and lemonade tastes like Sprite.

...you know who Rhonda is.

...it's a BIG ad we're in.

...."how many do you do?" isn't an offensive or dirty question to ask.

...someone asks you what you have been up to this arvo.

....you hold the door open for someone, and they say "Cheers," in response.

...you discover there are five seasons, spring, summer, autumn, winter, and F*** it which can happen any time of the year it likes.

...you side with your teachers over which footy team you like even if you don't like that team because if you don't, it will bite you in the arse.

...they ask you to repeat a word because that it amuses them how you pronounce a word with your American accent, or even better, they don't understand your thick American accent.

...if you remember some of the lyrics of the second verse of the national anthem, you're normal, if you remember all of the lyrics of the second verse of the national anthem, you're a show off, if you remember any of the lyrics to the third verse of the national anthem, you're lying.

...the grass is always greener in the 'Bush'.....or is it?

...."No actual MALTESERS where hurt during the making of this bunny."

....in the local people's opinion the music on the radio is sh**. There is only one good radio station, and the rest are oldies or country.

...you know what piss up at my place means.

...your favorite television show always airs at least a week after it airs everywhere else.

...see a cop car, flash your lights to warn drivers coming the other direction is common courtesy.

...when you have to wait for the water to get cold from the tap.

...Tim Minchin is everyone's hero and a LOT better than Weird Al.

...you get a thong tan line and its no where near your rear end.

...their candy is better than American candy (which is sickeningly sweet).

....they talk about pies, but they mean meat pies, not dessert pies.

...a dollop of ice cream goes well on pancakes.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Showers

I will never get used to the showers. There is only scalding and freezing. I cannot ever find the porridge that is just right. There signs everywhere in the bathrooms and showers reminding you to be conscious of your water use. Even if I didn't care and wanted to take a shower longer than four minutes, I wouldn't.

I have this routine where I turn on the hot, wet my hair and body quick then turn it off to cool down while I lather. Rinse and repeat. No pun intended. Well....maybe. The other option is to just grin and bare it and just taking really cold showers, even when all I want to do is wind down, not wake up.

I feel like I am playing a never ending game of chicken with the hot water heater. Who can last longer? The water heater will win every time....

TOGA


26th: This day started out with an early morning and a slow, compulsory engineering orientation that lasted from 8 am to 3 pm! Not much of it was worth my time. Most of the compulsory tutorials I have attended were meant for the benefit of freshman engineers more that focusing towards the needs of study abroad students.

The day got much better from there! This was Toga Night!

Toga Night is the one annual, hall-run event that granted the permission to socially drink during the event. But first we had Souvlaki for dinner. I have never had traditional Greek food. I never realized that until tonight. It was a pretty decent meal. It was a wrap with onions, some sort of stuffing base, tomatoes, lettuce, etc. I didn't prefer the after taste, but I took two more from the veggie platter because there aren't many of use, and I would have it for leftovers. Me and leftovers from free food events have become good friends!

I got ready. Most people wore white sheets. I heard one year in the past that because most of the other halls have a similar event some of the local stores ran out of sheets from all the purchases. I personally didn't want to purchase anything I was going to only use once (unless it's food). I planned ahead and bought a purple sarong. 

The group I went with was almost every color of the rainbow, unlike the majority of everyone else. Yvonne wore green, Alice was in blue, Saffron had a black and white design, Tali adorned her white sheet with a red sash and Amy adorned hers with a leafy, golden necklace.

We were allowed three standard drinks, and we had to log them in for security reasons, since this was hall run. I was entirely sober, though I did try my dad's going away present an hour earlier, during dinner. It was a bottle of Rekorderlig and the flavor was strawberry lime. As soon as I opened it I knew I would like it. It smelt of strawberries! The only sad part is I will most likely not be purchasing that one again, since it is on the expensive side, which is saying something since all alcohol in Australia is pricy.

I let loose after the crowd started to flow, and when a group formed a circle, I even jumped in the middle a few times to get "Whoops" from the surrounding crowd. I even got a couple of the girls to do the 1900's tap and kick routine some!

The strobe lights created a great affect slowing everything down. And the music was a combination of raw, bar music and pop culture favorites with a twist. I found out a friend of mine, Ben, had never heard of "The Fresh Prince of Bel Aire" when the theme song came on. I remedied that a few days later by showing him a Youtube video of one of the episodes. 

I left early after my feet began to tire, and my mouth began to thirst for water. However, I knew it would do me no good if I tried going to bed while the party was still going on, so I chatted with Icha and Nad from the bowling night,  Gabriel and Clarissa (yes, Big sister! I have met the rarity that is a Clarissa!). We talked the maturity that occurs with just a few years, since Gabriel is probably the oldest of all of us (25), and he expressed that he would prefer going to eat and chatting over a few drinks than dancing around. I do agree with him for the most part, but Toga night was a much more positive experience than the Abroad Orientation Evening Event to Cheers.

Drop Bears and other Rumors

I had to have a post singularly on the topic of drop bears. See, Australians have this lovely myth that they like to tease foreigners, such as myself, with. They like to tell how in order to avoid getting attacked by drop bears you must cover yourself in toothpaste every night before bed, or there is on that is similar but with Vegemite.

There is a whole website on them. http://australianmuseum.net.au/drop-bear

It amuses them to speak these obvious falsehoods as if they are fact. It is a hoax. I promise. Drop bears are just a colloquial term for koalas, and the fear that surrounds some people who have never seen them that they drop from the trees and gouge people's eyes out.

Someone somewhere believes; that is a fact. 

I have also heard some interesting things about how America is believed to think Australian children ride kangaroos to school. And Americans don't see fresh vegetables at their groceries: everything is frozen or canned in "preservatives" isle.

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Classes have Started

Well, yesterday (3rd of March) was my first day of class! I am slightly proud of myself for being able to pick up on navigating through campus. It has taken me less time to get the layout of the land at Clayton Campus than my own campus at home. Then, this campus is less spread out than NCSU because there are less roads than run through the buildings. I can reach the end of campus in maybe 15 minutes.

I am a little less proud of myself, though, when it comes to trying to meet people in class. It is not 100% my fault. Since, Richardson is such a tight knit community, every class that there is at least one of the residence I have already met in the first two weeks in all of my classes. You in particular is in all of my CHE classes, and she has introduced me to friends she has met from Korea and China. What I am getting at is I have barely talked to a single Australian in any of my classes. I have begun some conversations with the locals that were cut short by class commencing once or twice, but overall I have ended up hanging out with other exchange students. Don't get me wrong, I am very happy to meet people from China, Korea, and a back packer from Canada named Chantal. I just think of it as this: "Why would you go to Australia just for you NOT interact with the local Australians?"

I have time. Tomorrow is only Wednesday, I just need to let my exchange friends know that I want to talk with some other people to can expand my network, for not only the class studies but for future endeavors in my life.

As for my classes, so far they have been basic review, just as it would be in the USA. Nothing new: introductions, outlines of the syllabus (or unit guide), the works and of course a review of previous courses, just to refresh everyone's memories. I am a little worried that these classes are going to be exactly the same as the ones I took last semester, though, instead of continuations (or part II) of the classes I took before I got here. The reason for my concern is because the books are exactly the same ones I used last year. I am hopeful that I won't fall behind. We never completed the book, so maybe it's just us focusing on the second half, or the book is written and looks exactly the same by the design of the cover, but it isn't the same. I think the latter is the case, because I started reading the online book and I don't remember reading these problems (even if it is just review). I am confident that my NCSU contact who took the same classes in the same stretch of time during her CHE major wouldn't lead me astray about which classes she took for the equivalent of our CHE major, class requirements.

Once again, I have bad luck with which professor I can tell I will like and which one I like but won't prefer as much. My Transport Processes and Separations Professor is approachable and tries very had to keep everyone engaged. My Thermodynamics II Professor is soft spoken and has a thick Chinese accent and terrible handwriting (yet instead of typed slides he writes as he goes), and I am fully aware that I struggle with thermodynamics. I have to give him props; my Chinese Professor is conscious of his accent, so he stated a reminder that all lectures are recorded for online perusal outside of lectures.

My nanoscience elective class has got me frustrated and not the material! The Professor initially cancelled classes for this week because they were going to absent. Then, there was a correction because another Professor had volunteered to sub for them. He never showed. Gissele, Caio, and I waited half an hour out of an hour lecture for him to show.

Finally, I am frustrated by the new, sensitive fire alarm system! It has gone of FOUR TIMES this semester, two of which went off today. They had warned us that there was a new system in place, and to be conscious of it by not hanging anything from the pipes, or boiling/toasting anything in our rooms. It must be a trial and error thing, because they are so sensitive that one of the instances was the result of my RA taking a shower this morning. The bathroom door is right next to the sensor, and the door doesn't go all the way up to the wall (there is a gap at the top). The have now sealed it up, but there is a small possibility that my RA will have to pay a $2000 fine to the fire department for the trouble it costs them to come out to a false alarm for TAKING A SHOWER! That's ridiculous! Best case scenario, MRS pays for it. That alarm woke me up 5 minutes before my alarm and almost made me late for class. The other one today happened while I was finally sitting down to read for my Contemporary Australia class in my room (because the common room is too distracting). I was pissed! The other incidences were over a game of BS, ironically, and 1am on White Night. Some people today, though were already hanging outside of my room because a possum was hanging out the stairway door on the pipes on the ceiling in the evening (unusual to see them before dark) when the alarm went off. I blame him for it even if this incident was from the conjoining Hall, Roberts. All you could see was his tale hanging down like a cat's white booted patterned paw (except for the curl at the end), and his face winking down at us from between the pipes. I am pretty sure he regretted his hang out choice, not only because of the human disturbances, but the loud BEEP BEEP BEEP followed by the WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP of the fire alarm!

Bowling & Laser Tag

24th:

Today was host scheme night, which was something that MSA (Monash Student Association) hosted, but you had to buy tickets and the other option was BOWLING! I don't know how long it had been since I had went bowling!

We actually walked over to go to bowling, but I couldn't tell you where it was because I wasn't paying much attention to what direction we went. This night was free to Residence. We each received three free tickets to either play one game of bowling or one game of laser tag per ticket. And we got 5 coins to use on arcade games such as wack-a-mole earning us tickets to get junk or table hockey.

Since residence from all of the halls were invited, the line was out the door, and no one knew which line was for what. I was so excited and full of adrenaline. I had never played laser tag until today. I liked how all of the vests/laser guns had names. I picked Thor. I did a terrible job, but I didn't care. I had a lot of fun. My friend Talli got the highest score! She's a bit of a pro though.

We took a break after getting out of breath from all of our dodging and shooting. I ended up with a discounted ice cream on a stick. It was already melted. I regretted that move, but I was so thirsty I slurped it up in the wrapper.

Talli urged me into a round of table hockey with her. After, an initial reluctance, we ended up being well matched. It seemed that ever other shot was hit by the other. She one by one point. It was a good game. We shook hands.

Talli refused to play a round of bowling, but I spoke with Icha, Nad, and Muku. Icha and Nad are from Malaysia and Muku from South Africa. Muku didn't want to play, yet I know she left their having had fun, even if her score ended up being the lowest of the four.

I personally was scoring terribly at first. I didn't hit a single pin on the first round. Then, a trend began were about every three terrible hands I would get a STRIKE! Even though my overall score was bad, I don't think I have ever scored three strikes in one game before.