Thursday night we played drinking games at Shrey’s. Perhaps you will be unsurprised to learn that most drinking games and their red solo cup counterparts are decidedly American inventions. I think [Italian] Rebecca and [Aussie] Tim enjoyed their first Circle of Death experience. Everyone was quite tickled by Richard’s continuous shoe compliments – “Those are some pretty sweet shoes you have there” – a drinking rule I established on a lucky kings draw.

I thought Clipper was all over but my manager texted me to work Friday, so I did so for 9 hours straight. I was on my feet nearly the entire time, but not to fret – I got to snack during slow times. I made bank, but quickly and achingly retreated to the floor of my room, where I lay for hours on my back with my feet elevated on the bed. Slept real easy that night.

Rich, Clo and I walked to the Fish Market Saturday. It’s exactly as you may imagine: hustling, bustling Asian fish sellers among piles of oysters, lobsters, crabs – some alive, some half-alive, some just plain dead – all stacked on mountains of crushed ice. There’s a wharf outside where you can sit amongst the seagulls and suntanned fisherman and enjoy your meal of incomparably fresh fish n chips. Rich and I opted for the $3 sweet chili marinated tuna kebabs, grilled to medium rare perfection on the spot.

We also checked out the Maritime Museum (free!) but lacked the patience to thoroughly explore the exhibits, even though the United States of America one instinctively piqued our interest. Then we met Casey at Paddy’s, where I got “a free apple for the pretty lady” (free!)  and $5 “sunnies”.

I met my dive instructor, Robert the ex-navy diver, at 7:30 am at Central on Sunday morning. He took me diving at Camp Cove/Watson’s Bay/Southhead aka the spot Josh and Jordan took me to see the sunset the first day I met them. Being that we were a mere 20 minutes from Darling Harbor, the CBD etc etc, there wasn’t much on the seafloor as far as coral goes. However, we did get to see an octopus, brittle star, neat camouflaging cuttlefish, and a seahorse. I passed my refresher, thanked Robert profusely, and was off to babysit in Glebe. Did that for four sleepy sleepy hours and met up with Casey as she had finished running her half marathon.

Last night was dinner with the Serniks. Jordan picked me up and we met his parents at a Mauritian (?) restaurant around the corner from their house in Double Bay. The food included Indian-themed curries, chicken tikka, naan, etc, but I ate slower than ever as Janis and Michael engaged me in conversations ranging from the sensual nature of throwing on the pottery wheel to the awkward femininity of the male skinny jean trend. Jordan sat quietly nearby, fidgeting, that is, until the skinny jeans topic came up. A debate of design v expression v fads v architecture ensued until Michael, with his straight face and dry sense of humor, cut it all off, pronouncing the “should-men-wear-skinny-jeans” argument the absolute dumbest thing ever.

Today, I followed Kate and Shelby to Saint Andrew’s, the college in which Kate resides, for lunch. A college is a big, fancy, Hogwartsy residence hall in which some 300 or so male and female students live, eat, and play. There are about 7 colleges on the Sydney Uni campus. Although there was something vaguely fratty about the guys and the girls gave off a bit of that sorority vibe, colleges fall somewhere between American college Greek life and freshman dorm life, as each one has its own intramural sports team, parties, and meal plan.

A meal plan that I eagerly and illegally enjoyed today, along with my first sample of Milo. A quintessential Australian foodstuff, Milo is Nesquick’s crunchy, anti-dissolving cousin. The logic behind it, I was told, is that it DOESN’T dissolve into your milk. Apparently everyone eats their Milo differently, but I’ve noticed it’s quite popular to make your Milo-to-milk ratio about 2:3.

Since then and until I leave for Brisbane on Thursday I need to focus on finishing up my lab reports for both Psyc and Bio so I can fly off to Brisbane, then Cairns, carefree and ready for adventure. Probably won’t have internet access for the 10 days. Farewell until October 2nd!