Southern Style Praying Mantis

Wow I'm not even going to try to apologize for how long it's been since I last posted...

Things: 

• Certain Aussie phrases and things are fun for my American brain to fiddle with but nothing has been more brain-fiddling than the imperative "Get amongst it!" Used in a sentence, "Yeah cricket is good fun at Queen's. Get amongst it, Geoff Tam!" It's kind of like a firm but gentle push to have fun, try new things and let go of your worries. To me at least. 
• Along the same lines, Aussies also use the word "keen" to describe a sort of willingness to participate. Example, "yeah I just talked to him; he's keen to wrestle some crocodiles." Probably the most heart-rending sentence I've heard anyone say during my time here was, "No one was keen..."
• The length of the shorts here on males is maybe HALF the length of what a guy in the States might wear. I'm tempted to "get amongst it" but my pale man thigh is convincing me otherwise.
• For some reason, when people talk about American football here it's referred to as "Gridiron" and they only know a handful of teams which invariably includes the Patriots. There are also a lot of Celtics fans here for some reason. I've seen more Boston gear than Yankees and Lakers put together which is just another reason I'm sure I've come to the right place. 
• I played cricket. It was like golf-baseball. One thing that's impressive about cricket players is that they bare-hand all their catches and groundballs and whatever. Only the wicket keeper has gloves on the fielding side. 
• Another sports note: Victoria is the Aussie Rules Football capital of Australia and thus the world. A lot of these Victorian guys can punt an AFL ball with the precision that guys back home can toss a football except they can do it with either foot. Maybe let's ask Tom Brady to toss a TD with his left hand and see what happens?

Maybe he's a lefty...maybe he's a ball-kicking genius

• All the toilets have two flush options: half and full. Instead of urinals you usually get these giant communal "troughs" that don't offer much in terms of splash protection.
• It's taken me a month, but I finally attended church for the first time since I landed on Aussie soil. The church is called City on a Hill and the morning service that I went to is actually held in a movie theater on the top floor of a shopping mall. Comfy. 
• I might be trying to get onto the second team for Queen's rowing. So far my technique on the ergo leaves much to be desired. 

Lots of things have happened since I last posted, so I'll just do some random and patchy summarizing. 

Classes (referred to as "subjects" here):

So far there have been two weeks of classes, enough time for me to attend all my various lectures and tutorials and also have a highly stressful scheduling crisis! Basically, I was mistakenly allowed into a master's seminar on Policy Design and then pulled out of it forcibly with only two days to find a suitable replacement. Awesomely, these two days also coincided with a turnover in my academic adviser, so I lost the first day because she was in training and couldn't talk to me. The second day I was sent on a wild goose chase to obtain permission for the master's seminar at the School of Social and Political Sciences but was flatly turned away by a very un-charming woman who proceeded to explain to me in repetitive detail that I was only an undergraduate and post-graduates had "earned the right" to not have to take classes with me. I'm twisting her words but only a little bit and only because she was mean to me. 

What's that? You don't have a Bachelor's yet? 

On the whole, I'm really enjoying my lectures. My lecturers are really engaging and polished and they present the information in ways that are organized, well-paced, and interesting. I really liked the master's seminar in policy design and am kicking myself for not earning the right to be in the class ("Geoffrey, that subject is a compulsory class for students in the masters of public policy. Are you in the master of public policy program? Well there you go. Geoffrey, all those students have earned their bachelor's degrees and usually with honors. Do you have your bachelor's degree yet?). 

Memorable moment from Policy Design:

Lecturer: "Were you going to ask a question?"

Masters Student in Public Policy: "No I was just inhaling."

Formal Dinner:

Every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday the men and women of Queen's College attend a formal dinner in our dining hall. This means we don't wear flip flops and we do wear $90 academic gowns. At least until the Master has said the Latin grace. No dinner was more formal than last Wednesday's Commencement Dinner. This is the meal that kicks off the year officially for some reason and a bunch of posh Wyverns are invited and scholarships are also handed out to first-years who earned them. It's altogether a somewhat arduous process that is made easier by the fact that we all have "coffee parties" beforehand and we have free wine during. Our table's drinking game was to drink when the Master said the word "scholarship." 80 scholarships later, we were feeling ok about ourselves. 

Fight Club

I didn't really attend a fight club but rather a drinking ritual at Queen's that reminded me a lot of fight club. The game is called "Matchbox" and there are three rules to matchbox:

1. You can only play Matchbox after you've spent the day playing cricket.
2. You can never tell any of the girls or other male Queeners who haven't been to Matchbox about the rules of Matchbox
3. You can never practice Matchbox. 

There was lots of alcohol...

It was like this but with more beer

General Meeting

This is a time when everyone in the college gathers up in a room and the General Committee (the student leaders) and the Master as well as the Vice Master tell us what's going on in the life of the college and we make important decisions. It went from 8pm to 12am and was a mix of good fun and terrifyingly real and in your face boredom. 

Throughout the proceedings (what do we want to do about our coin-operated laundry system guys?) there were certain students whose job it was to liven things up by pulling people out of the audience and giving them cold showers and letting them partake in cheap boxed wine. They also had the authority to confiscate snacks and eat them in your face and make you wear swimming flippers or put your underwear on the outside of your pants...It only slightly undermined the goings-on of the General Committee...only slightly. 

At halftime there was also a keg-kill, a chili-eating contest and a few birthday boys had to scull whole pitchers of beer. 

Christian Union

This is the biggest Jesus group on campus. I actually see them everywhere and they seem to have a big presence. So far I've attended a Bible study and a large group meeting and both seemed to be somewhat promising. I'll be going to their retreat that's coming up next weekend, so I'll definitely let you know how that goes! 

Story Involving Lincoln Smith

One rainy Saturday morning, the internet was down across the College and there was nothing to do so three strapping young men set off to the mall to buy electronic goods. On the way back, the rain picked up and this was problematic since Lincoln had decided to put a chunk of his hard earned cash toward a tv for his room. Needless to say he was concerned for its well-being in the downpour. At one point he was seen running, 32" in hand, without his shirt, which he had taken off in a feeble effort to shield the box from the deluge. Turning back toward us, all he could say was, "Do I look like I've just robbed it?" Yes. Yes he did.

Story Involving wildlife

One stirring, crisp evening I was about to head off to a reunion of my Melbourne Welcome group when I turned to find my phone and lo and behold, a praying mantis was making his merry way up my wall behind my pillow. Needless to say, I was super keen. I took his picture ten or twenty times and then went on my way.

Real Casual

A bit bolder here with the flash

Later that night, I finally was able to head to bed after our first General Meeting, and just before I put my head down I remembered my friend the mantis. Where could he be? After a brief lookabout, I found him happily perched atop my giant red bulletin board. "Aww how cute," I thought to myself, and took his picture ten or twenty more times. "He can be my little buddy" I mused to myself as I went to bed. HOW NAIVE I WAS. 

No flash

         
FLASH!

And no flash again just because

As I gently slipped off to sleep, crossing my fingers for dreams of lollipops and balloons and scratch-and-sniff stickers, I felt something gently plop atop my head. 

MANTIS ATTACK! 

Yes, he jumped on my head as I was trying to sleep for some reason. I also threw him out a second story window, so I think our friendship might be over...

Conclusions

It's been a fun few weeks here in Melbourne, and I'm definitely hitting more of the routine that I've been seeking. Hopefully now my timetable is all settled, and I'll be able to start establishing a nice rhythm. 

Thanks for reading! I'll try to get something more like a weekly or twice-weekly update going.

Cheers!
Geoff