DAY 9: MORE WORK AND MORE PLAY

I had another exhilarating day at work. I worked on the same excel spreadsheet that I did the first day. I have now worked on that thing for about 12 hours total and have just passed the halfway point. It is just so much fun I can hardly stand it. In high school I was on newspaper staff and brainstorming for a new issue was always a dreaded activity. My teacher would often threaten to gauge her eyes out with a dull pencil and we could tell by the look on her face. I’d imagine I have the exact same look on my face when working on this project.

In related news, I took some pictures of the University and will post them a little later (I am at the café and don’t have my camera with me). It is a neat University. Lots of hills and wildlife – a completely different feel than what I am used to.

Needless to say, I was ready for a night out after spending eight hours staring at a computer screen. Making plans with a large group is painful. Everybody has different ideas and then nobody can make a decision on ONE idea. Our group of Purdue students proves this on a nightly basis. After debating on where to go for about half an hour we hopped on a bus and head to “The Rocks” - a neat little suburb in Sydney. Well, we did some (read: a lot of) wandering around and (finally) ended up at a bar called the Art Gallery Hotel. Apparently the bars used to call themselves hotels because it was easier to get a liquor license. Now, a lot of them have kept the hotel name, which complicates things at times. You should have seen the look I got at the front desk of the Marriott when I tried ordering a drink. In all seriousness, though the bar was very cool. It was super nice and had a little bit of everything including a restaurant and lounge upstairs. The music was good and the drinks were good (and expensive, like everything). Our group pretty much took over the dance floor and had a great time.

The best news of the day. I signed up for a surf trip next weekend and a trip to Cairns later in the program. The trip to Cairns includes Scuba Diving the Great Barrier Reef, a tour of the Rainforest and an option to sky dive or bungee jump. I can't wait. Until next time...

Cheers!