Hair in the drain. :/

Hi everyone!

I feel like I've been starting off every post like this but... I'm sorry I haven't blogged in forever! I've been getting fairly busy with homework, and also haven't had tons of exciting stuff to talk about... But here I am. AND GET READY TO READ A LONG POST!!!

Okay I'll start by answering the question that EVERYONE has been asking: How are classes going??

My favorite class is English. It's a creative writing class and I'm learning... well, how to write creatively. In under two weeks, I have read more than I have since AP testing. To those who will understand this reference, it's harder than the last month of Berman's class. Yeah, seriously. Although it's rough and heavy, I've already learned so much and since I'm a primary education major, it's gonna help me teach young ones how to write. :) Drawback: I have a paper due in two weeks about which I have no idea what to write. This quarter is a research report, but what I'm really drooling for is the short story assignment that will be due next quarter. I've already started writing it... Gah.

Next is psychology. Slightly less heavy of a workload, but still a lot of stuff to learn. The lectures consist mostly of taking notes, and we have only had one tutorial as they are fortnightly and it's only week 3. I'm enjoying it and it's interesting to hear how learning happens and all that jazz. BUT there's a very similar drawback to this class: the research report. I've started doing some research already but I have to read psychology journals and that kind of thing and they are so dense and tedious to read...

Third is linguistics. A little bit on the boring side, just in the way that it's taught, but otherwise the material is pretty interesting. I've always been interested in languages and how accents happen and why American speak differently from English people and that type of thing, and that's exactly what I'm learning about!

Lastly is maths... If you read my last blog, you know all about this class already :| the topic material is getting a little bit tougher... This week we learned about basic geometry and the concept behind logs (how when you multiply two numbers you add the exponents) and that kind of thing. Getting tougher, but still very much on the easy side for me.

OKAY. Now that all that is out of the way, here's the exciting news: I'm finally making some friends and getting totally settled into my dorm room. Andrew and I finally went to Big W (Australia Target/Walmart) and got my pictures printed so every one of my friends is up on my wall smiling at me. I feel a little closer to home :) I've also worked out the laundry in my building (huge pain in my butt).

One thing that sucks about being here right now though: Not being 18! October fifth couldn't come faster. I can't go to any events here that are in clubs or bars or anything. :( for example, my hall has a beer pong tournament, and tonight was the championships and they had them at a nightclub and even though (for mom and dad!) I probably wouldn't drink anyways, it'd be fun to be able to go and hang out with my new friends and try and socialize a little bit more. People keep saying that I need to just get a fake ID but I don't want one because I want to wait and let the excitement build up for a few months before I go out and enjoy the Adelaide nightlife. Plus, it'd suck to get caught and risk losing my visa or anything like that.

I'm learning little tricks to save time, space, and money:
1) An apple and a glass of water DOES count for breakfast.
2) Tap water is just as good and usually better than bottled water.
3) When you oversleep and don't have time to wash, blowdry, and style your hair in the morning, put baby powder in your hair! It soaks up all the oil and gets rid of those icky greasy roots.
4) Save all ggrocery bags and cardboard boxes! They make great storage space and trash bags!
5) Buy hooks for your dorm room (thank you Katie McDonald!!) because there is never enough space! And if you don't, you just end up throwing your jacket and purse in the corner when you get home from somewhere. And let me tell you: your dorm room will probably be half the size of your current room, so a purse and a jacket can quickly turn into a chaotic pile that seems larger than Mt. Everest. You won't have any floor space to spare, so utilize the walls!!! Plus, not having a rack to hang your towels on can quickly turn into a big, stinky problem.
6) Bring a power strip if you aren't sure if your dorm room will already have one. I only have 2 outlets in my room and with a laptop charger, a phone charger, a heater, a heating blanket, and hair stuff to plug in, 2 just is not enough.
7) BRING A BATHROBE. My mother tried to tell me this one, but did I listen? Nooo I did not. I regret that. The bathrooms here are just a stall with part of it curtained off, but the whole floor gets wet. So it sucks having to put on any sort of shorts or pants with nasty wet shower feet, thus, a bathrobe is optimal.

Shoutout to the best friend Katie McDonald! She had surgery this week and is making a swift recovery and I'm so proud of her for being such a toughie! I love you Banaters and I'm sending you lots of hugs from down here :) xoxo

BATHROOM UPDATE: All is well in the Hall bathrooms. This will conclude my weekly updates on the lavatory. The only thing there is that's worth telling is the grossest thing ever is HAIR IN THE DRAIN!!! It literally makes me want to barf a little, especially because it gets all matted up and it looks like a big hairy bug or something. I'm even scared to stand near the drain because it's so horrifying and I feel like I'm going to get eaten alive. SOOO I have started wearing flip flops in the shower.

Not much else to tell! Shoutout to all my friends who move out/start school next week :) exciting and nerve-racking and heart-wrenching all in one!

I love and miss you all :) xoxo

QUICKLY: you don't have to have a profile to comment! Just comment as 'anonymous' but sign your name!

Word of the day:
Salads. At Subway here, they don't ask you what types of vegetables you want on your sandwich/wrap. They ask you what kind of SALADS you want. Wtf?? Also, they call bell peppers capsicums and they pronounce the 'h' in herb. Also, continuing with my Subway rant, they were OUT OF MEATBALLS today... What?? Andrew was all excited about his double-meatball-sub until he found out he had to order turkey instead. Poor baby :(

Cheers and good morning to those just waking up :) I'm off to bed! As always, thank you for reading :)

Love,
Shannon <3