Finally adjusting...

Today's program was very settled. For the first night since I got here I slept through till 7.30am (ah bliss!)...I think I may even be getting used to life on-campus.

The new family that lives outside my door!

Last night's Poker Night was great! Whilst it's fun to win, it's not so bad when you lose a whole heap of fake money. After pooling our resources, Tom and I became a bit reckless and bet $4,500 on one hand of poker...yes, we lost it all! But after the generosity of Jake, somehow I single-handedly made $2000 turn into $10000 from about six games of two-up. I've never played before, so maybe next Anzac Day I should have a go for real (no bets above $5 :D ). At the end of the night, we were able to use our fake money in an auction to buy real prizes. Things like mystery prizes from EB Games, $200 dresses, china platters and 3 months worth of sausages went under the hammer. Being in catered residences meant that most of these items weren't of much use to us all (in total Butler A accumulated about $55,000). The sausages went for about 2 million, so hopefully the people that won them have a few decent freezers.

The notorious HILL!! It's so much bigger in real life!

We started the day of info sessions this morning at the very respectable time of 10am, with a lecture on academic writing and Student Services. They're all available when you need help with assignments, the language barrier and subjects in general. This session actually finished early, which gave me time to head back over the hill (I think I will either never get used to it or develop calves of steel) and have a quick bite for lunch and a phone call home before the next one. All of us girls had to go to a "Health and Well-being" lecture separate from the boys. The presenter was great, an ex cop with 18 years experience giving talks to both girls and guys about sexual assault, in particular Date Rape and all the laws surrounding it (although the term "rape" isn't actually part of the NSW Law). Sure, it's all a bit of a shock to hear the statistics, but it's definately something that we should all be aware of. Now that we're all very much equipped with this essential knowledge, it must be said that we girls were given instructions on how to play with the opposite sex's minds...so watch out!

Common Room wind-down time

That was the end of the day's lectures. We just kicked back this arvo and checked out the ping pong facilities in the gym. At the moment, the sound, lighting and TV crew are setting up for tonight's pool party. I'm not sure whether other campuses have this, but O Week TV is hilarious! The TV degree students put together a new episode every day that is shown at the nighttime events. Yesterday's antics included George's entire room floor being covered by little plastic cups of water whilst he was unawares enjoying his breakfast. RA Carly had told him the IT people were coming to fix his internet! So check out http://www.oweektv.com/ (not sure if there's an "au" on the end or not) it's well worth having a look at.

I'll be back tomorrow :)

Butler Hall Block A