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Published: October 12th 2010
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On 6th Street
Georg, me, Louise, Steve and Jonathan I've been reminded that I haven't added a blog for quite a while, I guess because it's harder to decide when to write one when i've been staying in the same place all this time.
Mainly the past couple of weeks I've been doing uni work- we are about half way through semester and there are a lot of assignments and tests. Every sunday I go to the Alamo Drafthouse, a cinema which shows the latest episodes of mad men the night that they come out. Jonathan, the New Zealander and Dan, my Australian next door neighbour, are both obsessed with mad men as well, so it's a nice outing. Also, the Alamo has the best vanilla milkshakes I've ever tasted.
I spend a lot of my time alternating between hanging out at the co-op and going out with my 'international friends'. It's a great balance, and it's really great to know that whenever you're bored, there's always someone to hang out with.
Some of the things I've been doing with my 'international friends' include: a quote-along screening of Napoleon Dynamite (at the same place that did the Willy Wonka one), watching the AFL grand final at a
Tailgating
Go longhorns! special screening at a hotel, going tailgating, going to longhorn football games (they are truly a spectacle!!), $1 bowling and going out to 6th street.
For a while the co-op was in total party mode, and there was lots of fun stuff going on there too. For example, we had a party which was themed '80s glitter ball prom'. The commons was decked out as a total prom (with voting for prom king and queen and a place to take pictures with your 'date'). Everyone was wearing hideous 80s dresses and suits, and the music was killer! A very fun night. Also, last weekend our suite had a bonding excursion and went and saw the bats at congress (there are millions of bats that live under the bridge that come out at dusk)- the bats were a bit of a let down, but it's nice that our suite is so close- it's like one big family here.
Most of the time though, parties will just entail a keg and a couple of bands playing- not that there's anything wrong with that. Last night was one of the biggest parties of the year: suite-to-suite. I'm not sure if I
mentioned the layout of the co-op, but basically all the rooms are broken up into 10 suites, which have 10 people in it- 5 on the top level and 5 on the lower level. For suite-to-suite, every suite has to come up with a theme and provide a drink that corresponds with the theme- enough so that everybody in the co-op can have a drink. Then the co-op meets up and goes suite to suite as a group, trying to pack everybody into the lounge room, with the aim of getting to every suite within an hour. Our suite's theme was crocodile dundee, so we had a some classic Australian music playing, an Australian flag hanging from the doorway, and a game set up of 'pin the shrimp on the barbie' with a giant poster of barbie's head. Some other great suite themes included: Jersey Shore (a very popular reality TV show here), Helen Keller's wine cellar and Mexico. Some of the suites were really decked out with bubble machines and flashing lights. It was a lot of fun!
The Friday and Saturday before that I went to Austin City Limits- probably the second biggest music festival in Austin
after south by southwest. It was an exhausting 2 days seeing act after act but probably one of the best music festivals I've been to- the acts were really fun, and I discovered a lot of bands I didn't know before that I'd like to get into. I met James Drury from LCD sound system and Angus and Julia Stone (Julia said I had very pretty eyes- wow!). I couldn't even really name one act that I thought was the best, because it was all so fun. One the second day especially my legs were killing me, because I think I must of spent at least 3 hours straight dancing (seeing LCD sound system then Matt & Kim, then MIA, then Muse). Other highlights included The Very Best, the XXs, silversun pickups, angus and julia stone, blues traveler and vampire weekend. I'm glad I got to finally see the strokes live as well, but I think they lacked energy.
The night before that was Thursday- the first Thursday of the month- which means that a lot of the shops on south congress were open til midnight and there were markets set up. We (Emma, Steve, Georg, Jonathan and I)
After the game
We found this really cool pickup truck! went to a beer garden and listened to a fantastic jazz band, then a band made up of a bunch of 8 year old kids who were playing country songs (surprisingly good!) We wandered around the markets, and got some delicious chocolates from the candy store (I got this thing called Elvis Bark- which was chocolate with peanut butter, jelly, and bacon in it. Not quite the taste sensation).
This week is one of my closest friend at the co-op's 18th birthday, so I'm going to try my best to bake a pavlova (wish me luck!) Then this weekend is the camping trip that has been organised by Planet Longhorn- the uni society for exchange students. I'm very excited about it- I miss camping!
And there's plenty more to keep me occupied after that: the next weekend is labour holiday and every year the co-op uses the weekend to do a big project- this year we're making a woodfire pizza oven. Weekend after that is halloween! Also one of my Australian friends is in the rowing team here and her regatta is the day before, as is a midnight screening of Rocky Horror that I'm trying to get
Napoleon Dynamite
They had free glamour shots before the movie. Pretty cool! a group together for. Weekend after that is Fun Fun Fun Fest- another music festival where MGMT and Devo are playing! So that, together with a whole bunch of uni work explains my lack of blog writing if I don't happen to get around to it, but I will try my best!
Anyway, I really really love it here in Austin. I've made great friends and am having a fantastic time. I really don't know how I'm going to leave! I asked Sydney Uni if they would let me extend my exchange another semester (I found out I have to do some fine arts subjects to be eligible for master of teaching/ school counselling because you need to have a curriculum specialty for the teaching part and I figure I'll become and art teacher). Unfortunately they said all the spaces had already been given out. Next week though I'm going to talk to the international office and see how much it would cost for to enrol at UT just as an international student. I predict its too much money- but it's worth trying, because staying in Austin for another semester would be an absolute dream. Not that I complain- it mean if I'm not in Austin I'm in West Africa/ Mediterranean Europe. Not a bad life!
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