Currently Playing Smells Like Teen Spirit By Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit see related

Today is my last full day in Fremantle!   I can't believe this semester has gone by so fast!  I want to stay in Australia, I don't want to leave yet!  But on the other hand, I do want to go home so I can see all my friends/family again as well as ND (of course).  I'm going to miss this place so much.  Tonight is one last hurrah before we all leave Port Lodge this weekend.  A group of us will be in Sydney for a few days before we go back to the States, and lots of people are on the Monday flight home, so we still have some time left to be together, but this semester is basically over   This has been an absolutely amazing semester filled with awesome people and exciting new experiences. 

So many fun/new things that I got to do this semester and I'm going to miss all of them!  Vacationing in Bali, white water rafting in the middle of an Indonesian jungle (with people riding elephants nearby), learning to surf (both on waves and sand), Monday night dodgeball, Tuesday night karaoke @ H-side, Thursday nights at Rosie O's, petting/feeding/seeing loads of aussie animals at an awesome wildlife park with a cool group of people, random poker nights, chilling in Suburbia, Tim Tam Iced Chocolates (and anything relating to Tim Tams ), biking around Rotto, petting quokkas, seeing dolphins, teaching Lacy to dive while standing on a bouy in the Indian Ocean/riding a banana boat/snorkeling around various Indonesian islands, riding a camel on the beach at sunset, making spears and boomerangs and learning how to throw both of them, Theory & Practice of Acting II class w/Janny, going to the market and buying fresh fruits/veggies and crepes, trying my first felafel, playing/diving in Esplanade Park in a downpour, going to all the beaches, going to Freo Docker games, the beautiful rainbow that was right outside my window yesterday, Coldstone, Fast Eddies, frequent trips to Cole's, visiting the Freo Prison/Gaol (yes that is how they spelled it), community dinners (mainly the Wednesday night ones), all the adventures/excitement/drama that happened inside Port Lodge, having aussies try to teach me their accent (and vice versa), the most amusing theo class I've ever been in (plus our 'tutorials' which were movies ), being able to have/use one fork at every meal (only makes sense to Port Lodgers, but oh well).....and I could go on and on for ages but I have my last final as a junior in just under one hour, so I better get going    I'm going to miss you Oz!

Currently Playing Rent By VARIOUS ARTISTS Seasons of Love see related

Ok, I really need to study for Aussie History/Society, but I really wanted to give a quick update about the adventure we had yesterday b/c it was so much fun!!!  7 of us (Kelly, Lacy, Pete, Catlin, Fickey, Chelsea, me) went to Caversham Wildlife Park roughly 2 hours north of here and had one hell of an aussie experience   While at the park, we saw: loads of kangaroos, quokkas, wombats, dingos, possums, tasmanian devils, koalas, flying foxes, emus, black swans, camels, wallabies, echidnas, loads of different birds, and the standard petting zoo slew of rabbits, baby lambs, goats, deer, calf, alpacha, rams, sheep, baby chicks, a donkey (named Harry), a pig (named Kevin), etc.

When we got to the kangaroo portion, we could walk right in and pet the 'roos and little joeys, feed them, take pictures with them.  There were loads of kangaroos and almost as many little baby joeys!  They were so cute when they were poking their little heads out of the pouches.  There was one little joey in a pouch (sort of) - both hind legs and the majority of his tail were sticking straight out of the pouch b/c he was so big that he didn't really fit in the pouch anymore.  We say grey kangaroos, white kangaroos, and of course the infamous red kangaroos (those are the huge ones).  And no, the roos didn't kick us, they were pretty calm.  If they got nervous, they just hopped away.  So yes, that was so much fun---we got lots of pictures of all of us petting different kangaroos (seriously, there was a swarm of roos!)

Then we went over to the koalas where we could walk right in and pet them while they were eating (they're so cute and soft!)  My favorite koala was called "Buddha" b/c when he was little, he had a huge round belly.  Then we saw the wombats and one of the wildlife park workers brought out a wombat for us and we each took a turn at holding the big guy (he was HUGE!  Roughly 70 pounds).  Wombats aren't very friendly/nice in general, but I think this wombat was half asleep b/c he didn't put up any fuss at all and he was passed around to over a dozen people.  It was hilarious though, he was huge!

We also saw flying foxes which really look like kind of big bats (they don't look like foxes at all)  Most of them were sleeping since they're nocturnal, but there were two flying foxes that were wide awake.  The male was definitely trying to mate but the female would have none of it so they were being awfully noisy.  That was definitely an interesting exhibit to look at...

The dingos were pretty cool too, they look like a cross between a dog and a fox.  For a while there they were howling so loud, it sounded like a pack of coyotes were inside their little range.

The kangaroo area was by far my favorite part, I got to pet and feed so many kangaroos.  One time I was feeding one of the roos some pellet food and two others came right up b/c they wanted pellets too!  all three roos were within about 6 inches of where I was sitting.  I think we all wanted to take one (or many) home with us, they were so much fun!!! 

Ok, that's all for now, must go study more Australian History/Society---I'm focusing on the ANZACs and the White Australia Policy---not exactly the proudest or most successful moments, but oh well.  I'll be back in the states in 5.5 days!  G'day!

Currently Playing Rent By VARIOUS ARTISTS see related

I am very close to being done with school for the year!  Only 2 more finals to go, and I don't think either should be too difficult.  Finished Moral Philo on Friday morning (sooooooooooooooooooooo glad to be done with that class!). 

I went to see Monique in Les Mis yesterday.  It was a very......interesting.....production.  Keep in mind that it is basically a low low low low low low low budget community theatre production.....here are some of my thoughts on the show...

Marius = very high pitched/feminine voice with a lisp...not quite ideal for the role (cough cough), couldn't feel any emotion coming through in 'empty chairs at empty tables'  (that tends to be my favorite song in the whole lot and I grimaced through the entire thing.  think of someone with a high falsetto singing "empty chairths at empty tableths".  I don't mean to be rude, I'm sure he was trying very hard, I just don't think that the role fit him very well)

Valjean = pretty good, improved as the show went on.  One slight problem---in his scene with Fantine in the hospital, she is laying in the bed singing (he is offstage)---he came on stage about 2 minutes too early, started to sing his part, then stopped, walked backwards off stage, and then stood directly behind a curtain leg ---at least half the audience could still clearly see him even though he was supposed to be completely off stage.  He later came on at the correct time

Javert = ummmm, well the actor immigrated from Holland less than 2 years ago, so the accent was all over the place.  Definitely was not impressed with how they did his suicide, but it was pretty low budget and in a less than ideal venue, so there weren't a whole lot of options

Young Cosette = impressed, good voice, pretty good acting, enjoyed Castle on a Cloud

Cosette = good voice, did a wonderful job, especially towards the end

Fantine = amazing voice, if I had to pick a favorite out of the whole lot, it would probably be her (in this production)

Chorus = pretty good, better in 'master of the house'

barricade = definitely was impressed with it considering the rest of the set, the deaths of the leader of the students (forgot his name) and Gavroche was better than expected

leader of the students (forgot his name) = good voice and acting, kind of surprised he wasn't chosen for Marius, I think he would have been better suited for the role (at least in comparison to the person that was chosen), although he did remind me an awful lot of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast (without the evil/mean personality)---kind of the ideal charming Disney character, like when they smile the little star pops up on their teeth.

sound/lights = wow....where to begin.  Ummm, all sound/music came from 4 people and a tape deck (yes, that was the entire pit)---from what I could tell, they had two pianos, a sax, a drum, and the tape deck (tape deck used for gun shot sound effects-----really did not like that).  Lights were also a bit rough to say the least.  Several times throughout the show, there was a spot on one person, and then suddenly it went to a full stage white wash (for no reason) and then back to the spot about 2 seconds later when (apparently) the lights crew realized that yes, 'I Dreamed a Dream' (among others) is a solo and the spot should stay on---no white wash!  I don't know if their timing was just way off or if they were confused, but cues were skipped at least half a dozen times (ie: going to full on white wash when it should have stayed a spot, staying in spot when it should go to full stage lights, etc)

audience = it was a cabaret type setting (people sitting around tables) along with a BYO snacks/meal/drinks  (the group behind us certainly brought a lot of the latter and were having a grand old time).  Overall, pretty good crowd, everyone really enjoyed 'master of the house', clapping along and everything, but I about died when the majority of the audience started clapping to the beat at the very end of Les Mis, when everyone slowly comes out and starts to softly sing 'do you hear the people sing' right after "...to love another person is to see the face of God".  Seriously, people were clapping/tapping their feet in time to the music.  Maybe they didn't realize that Valjean just died or something, I really don't know why they started clapping happily to the beat instantly, it was nuts. 

ANYWAY!  After the show, Monique came out to get me b/c some of her friends wanted to meet a real live american, so I went over and was introduced to them and here is how the conversation went from there

Gary (who is even more feminine than the person who played Marius): So you're from America?

Me: Yes

Gary: So do you, like, have an accent?

Me: Yes

Gary: *gasp* Could you please say hamburger for me? Just say hamburger!

Me: Hamburger

Gary: *grabs my arm* oh my gosh that was sooooooooo cute! Say it again!

Me: Hamburger

Gary: *grabs my arm again* That is so cute!  (to somebody else) Did you hear her say hamburger??  So do you have a phone number in the US?

Me: Yes

Gary: What is it? (I give him a weird look b/c I really don't know if I want to answer that question...)  Oh no no no, I just want to know if it starts with '555' just like the Simpsons.

Me: Oh, hahahaha, nope, it doesn't start 555

Gary: How about 'KL5' like Seinfeld?

Me: Nope, it starts '277'

Gary: That is so weird!  Say hamburger again!

Me: Hamburger

Gary: *grabs my arm again* That is sooooooooo cute!

So yeah....it was an interesting night   Despite some of the rough/awkward parts of the show, I'm really glad I got to go see it and it was fun to meet some new Aussies (even if they were insanely excited just to hear me say hamburger)   Ok, I better go get ready---it's my last Saturday night in Freo!!!   I can't believe it.