First day of Uni!

Well, I've done it- I've become one of those people I hate, people who have personal webdiaries and then never update them. My apologies!!
Okay. first day of school (btw~ You don't say you're going to school, you say you're going to uni. School is 1-12 grades ;-))! I had typed all this up earlier and lost it while at Uni, so this might be a shorter abridged version. First, let me catch up withwhat I've been doing since I last posted on Thursday.
Thursday

Babysat for the friend's of Lauren's. They live in Isaacs, a suburb about 10 minutes from Lauren. What a wonderful family. Their house is adorable, with the biggest backyard I've ever seen- it wraps around 3/4 of the house with amazing cubbyhouses and trampolines and gardens. Perfect place to grow up! The kids were fantastic too. The girl is about 10, and the boy is about 13. Ryan just started learning about cells in school so he and I had a good chat about different parts of the cell. Sad thing is (Sara, you'll appreciate this) he knew almost as much as I did. But the best thing about the night was their dog... A golden retriever!!!! So at least I got my dog fix ;-) After the kids went to bed, Lauren and I watched Ned Kelly. If you ever get the chance to rent it, do. It never came out in theatres in the US, but it has Heath Ledger, Orlando Bloom, Naomi Watts and Geoffrey Rush in it. If you dont know, Ned Kelly is Australia's equivalent of Billy the Kid, etc. He was an outlaw back in the 1870s who killed a fair number of people and stole a lot of money from banks. He and his brothers rampaged the country side of Victoria until they were caught. This is very typical of Australia- even though he wasn't really a good guy, they've made him a national icon and hero. Next time you go to the Outback Steakhouse, look at the paintings. They often have replicas of Sid Nolan's Ned Kelly series. Click here and here for examples. He's famous for the self made armour that he wore at the Glenrowan seige. That's what's pictures in all the paintings, is his helmet. It's a really good movie.
Friday
Friday was a bit slower. It's was Mr. Sander's birthday. Lauren worked in the evening, and so after dropping her off at the mall where she works (Tuggeranong, pronounced Tog-er-nong) we went to the other shopping centre (Woden) to look for wedding outfits. Lauren's brother David is getting married in Adelaide in April. We just did a quick breeze through shopping trip, so she could point out which stores were worth going into, etc. I saw a lot of things I liked though, so thats a good sign! Then we met up with Lauren's dad and had subway for 'tea'. (Aussie lesson ofthe day: Breakfast= brekky, dinner=tea, coffee/biscuits(that is, cookies) before bed= supper). Then it was off to her parent's bible study. While this isn't usually my 'thing' I wanted to go to meet some of the people involved because I had met them in 2002 and also because they will be at the wedding. It was really fun actually, even though I was the youngin'. Everyone was incredibly friendly! One of the members is from South America and had just gotten back from 5 weeks in Hong Kong. I'm not 100%sure what he does for a living, but you should have heard the story he told about his trip! Basically he was supposed to be securing $750,000USD worth of gold for a smelting company in Hong Kong. His supplier in Africa basically disappeared after extracting almost $100,000 of his personal money in "taxes" etc. It sounds like the plot of the next Hollywood movie. We all just sat in disbelief. I didn't know people really had lives like that!
Saturday
We went to Old Parliament house for afternoon tea. Really yummy, bad service. Later that night we went to a BBQ at Lauren's friend Tonya's house. I had met all these people before, but there was still a little anxiety. It's hard being the outsider in a group that big. Tonya's house is amazing though. It's hard to describe, but really, it's the coolest decorating I've ever seen! And she's an amazing cook, it was such good food.
Sunday
Lauren worked again, so her parents and I went to the US embassy to try and register me. The embassies are all so cool looking, they are all built to look like a building from their home country. Our embassy is a big brick colonial mansion complete with over a dozen fireplaces and surrounded by a huge fence. I'm sure they thought we were crazies because we kept circling the property trying to find someone to ask about registering. But no one was around, only the security personel. The embassy is where President Bush stayed when he visited Canberra a couple months ago (side note, if you want to hear a funny story about W's visit to Canberra, ask me ;-) ). After this unsuccessful trip we went to the National Gallery of Australia. This was so amazing. We had a private tour of the gallery because no one else showed up for the tour. The guide really tailored her program to me and explained a lot about Aboriginal art. I'd never been able to really "see" art before, although I could appreciate it, but this visit really opened my eyes. I still don't like most of the abstract/modernism paintings, but some of them, especially the aboriginal pieces were just fascinating. If you want to know more, ask me. I've been learning a lot about Aboriginal history, because evidently the Aussies treated them much as we treated our native americans, maybe even worse. It's a very sad period of history, but very important to Australia.
Monday
Okay! Finally caught up! I need to be better about this! Monday started bright and early at 6:45. My body hated me instantly. We caught the bus at 8:04 into Civic. It's all a bit confusing, as to which bus to take, but I'm slowly starting to get it. I was SO nervous on the bus, felt like a little kid on the first day of school. We got to civic around 8:45, and had about a 10 minute walk over to the far end of campus for a 9:05 Australian Wildlife class. I think I will really love this class- and a bonus- my friend Brian from Australearn is in it! Whew! It's so nice to see a familiar face! Already though I have a huge essay due, and a proposal for it due in two weeks. Grrrrr. So much for the holidays! After Wildlife I walked with Lauren to Manning Clark (a big building with 6 lecture theatres in it) for her Biological Basis of Behaviour class (VT kids:read Psych nervous systems and behaviour). She has it with Anna and Katie from Australearn, so it was nice to talk to them even though I felt like a random in there. After this we had a little break, and then Lauren had Administrative Law and I had Physiology of the Nervous System. I've basically taken this class when I took the Psych nervous systems class last semester, but I'm getting credit for it for Bio now, so I won't complain. It looks like a lot of material though! But I think it will be good. The lecturer is from Eastern Europe though, so that ought to be itneresting trying to understand her. At least we'll be in the same boat. A side note about Lauren's program. In Australia they don't have to go law school after undergrad. When Lauren graduates in 2007 she'll be able to practice law after she passes her bars. So she's basically in law school right now and it appears to be a killer course!!! Poor girl! After I finished I had an hour or so to spare because Lauren's class is 2 hours, so i went to Chifley Library to check email. Thiru, Lauren's boyfriend, found me there and we hung out while we waited for Lauren. So, that was mainly day 1- we got a ride home with Thiru and avoided the bus ;-) I was a tired "little vegemite" that night (Again, Aussie- if you want to feel like an Australian, try a vegemite sandwich- they sell it in the stores in the peanut butter aisle! Yum!)
Today
Again, early morning. Lauren loves me tons and tons and came with me even though she didnt have a class until 3. I had a 2 hour developmental psych class at 9:05. This may sound killer, but it's the only time the lecture meets for the week so its bearable. Also, Anna and Katie are in that class with me so it won't be too too bad. Again a big essay assignment- that makes three so far! I talked to Katie a little after the lecture- it felt SO nice to catch up with an American. I hadn't been able to talk to her since the orientation besides saying hello yesterday. After this I went to my 12 o'clock Wildlife class. The lecture went SO fast through all the material, but luckily it was mostly a review of stuff we covered in evolutionary bio at home. Brian and I had a chat afterwards. He's from Laramie Wyoming and he's so funny! He's really adaptingwell to the Aussie lifestyle, but we were whinging (whining) about some of the little things, like how they will ONLY walk on the left side of the path, whether or not it's clear. Afterthis I met up with Lauren and Thiru and we sat in Union Court in the sun. Literally 25 minutes later we all had a nice sunburn to show for it. They weren't kidding when they said its the skin cancer capital of Australia. Yikes! I have gotten SO tan in two weeks, it's almost ridiculous. I'll need to be better about using some sunscreen;-)
Okay kids, I'm sure I left out a TON, but I've been typing for over an hour and my fingers are breaking off. Plus Tabitha (the cat) is curled up on my bed and making it look quite inviting! Tomorrow I only have an 11 o'clock lecture (Physiology, I believe, but don't quote me on this!).
Thanks to everyone for all the emails- you have no idea how much it makes my day!!!!