Sweet-as

"Sweet-as": a slang term Aussies use instead of "cool" or "awesome." I've also heard the phrase "cool-as," which I assume means the same. The first time I heard it, I thought the person said "sweet ass," which would have been completely inappropriate.

Professor: "The school is going to pay for our trip to Brambuk, so you guys don't need to worry about transportation costs or anything."
Classmate: "That is sweet-as!"

Yesterday was the first night I've gone to the bar in a month. May has mostly been a month filled with procrastination and last-minute cramming (and still is, I'm sad to say). This upcoming week will be my last week at school, and then I have a week off to study. Luckily, I only have my zoology final to cram for, because I just have papers to write for my sports, philosophy and aboriginal history class (perhaps I'm not as lucky as I thought...) Anyway, last night was a third of a series of bar-hopping events Evan and I dubbed, "Birthday night." I'm not sure if I've discussed the significance of 21sts in Australia in my previous posts, but I'll do a quick run-through in case I haven't. See, in Australia, turning 21 is a huge deal. In the past, it would be the American equivalent of a debutante. Nowadays, it's just a super-fancy party in which everyone dresses extremely nice and rent out a hotel ballroom or something. Being the mischievous girls we are, Evan and I thought we'd try this thing where we'd don party hats, bar-hop and yell that it's one of our 21st birthdays. The ultimate aim is to score free drinks. Unfortunately, I missed the previous 2 birthday nights, but was finally able to make it to the third one (I almost ended up staying home to do my paper instead). We went to this bar in Fitzroy called Bimbo's, in which the main decorative component was naked baby dolls. It was kind of creepy, to say the least, but still interesting. We decided that it would be Evan's birthday and managed to score a couple of beers for her. It was fun, but my mind was still stressing out over my papers. >_<

Tonight I had my first home-cooked meal in a long time. My roommate's mom (mum?) came to stay with us for a couple of days and made dinner for a bunch of my roommates' friends and me. It was absolutely delicious and made me wish my mom had culinary skills as well. That's it, when I come back home, I'm going to practice my cooking so I can make delicious home-cooked meals for myself/future family.

I've stopped working at Il Carretto, mainly because my boss got irritated when I told him that I was going to be gone for a week in June. The loss of income has hit me hard. Thailand is unrealistic now, sadly enough. It's okay, that just means I'll have more time to tour Australia (if I can scrape up the money in time). There so much I still want to see and experience. I never did understand the people who didn't like traveling or exploring. Sure, I understand how one would become attached to their home. I enjoy my creature comforts as well; my clean house, my couch in front of the tv, my soft blankets and bed. However, even that's nothing compared to the horizon and all its possibilities. I want to see new sights, blaze trails through unexplored territory, taste exotic foods, talk to different people and absorb their cultures. I want to live a life of adventure and thrills, just like the heroines in my fantasy novels. Perhaps that is what my wanderlust really amounts to - the desire to escape to somewhere better. I'm perpetually looking for that white rabbit to lead me down a tunnel to a new world of possibilities. It's not a surprise, since my future doesn't seem top desirable right now: 2 years of preparatory JC classes and 3 years in an accelerated nursing program, and that's if I'm lucky.

Damnit all, I don't want to leave Australia. If only I could stay. Well, back to papering.