Country Bumpkin

I've happily back at Whitley for a week now, still without a computer but thanks to Dad I now have access to my bank account again. I actually had a rather enjoyable week of being poor mooching off of free barbecues and the generosity of my friends (thanks for the free dinners Antonio!). Thursday night was College Day at Whitley, which was much like Fall Frolic at Bryn Mawr in that it consisted of sumo suits and later Hell Week-eque festivities followed by a drunken "Poor Taste" CRD. Thursday day was "Spring on the Lawn" at Melbourne Uni aka random May Day like event, complete with barbecue, beer, and live reggae music. So, I've basically had a week of Bryn Mawr activities with an Australian twist.

Friday night was the Melbourne Welcome reunion. It was really great to see people again, especially my friends from Queens. We ended the night at Cherry Bar on AC/DC Lane, where I think I may be having my 21st. Much rocking out to the classics, complete with head banging and air guitar.

The real highlight of this week though, was Ripper's 21st at his home in the country about three hours from Whitley. Due to a lack of space in Cheese's car, I ended up driving out with Ripper at 11 in the morning and spending the day with his family on the farm. His family runs a dairy farm right near the town of Stratford (which is located, coincidentally enough, upon the river Avon). I spend the day feeding calves, playing with border collies, and stepping in cow poop. And eating heaps of home cooked food. It was pretty much the greatest day ever. Ripper's family is lovely, especially his mom, who made sure that I had a bed to sleep in last night and plenty of food in my stomach. Despite my being there only a short while, I had a really hard time leaving the farm this morning to come back to the city. As strange as it may be, I could definitely see myself living on a farm for some duration of time in my life. Which completely comes into conflict with my other desire to be a metropolitan academic. In Australia, it's easy enough to do both, but who knows what will happen when I get back home.

I ended up getting a ride home with Payne, Fraser, and Fraser's girlfriend. It was a rather amusing adventure- we had multiple car swaps, ran out of gas and had to refill the car using an empty two liter soft drink bottle, and had a minor casualty of Brawnwynn smashing her finger in the car door. As usual, I have documentation which I will post in some massive picture-filled entry once Pete McNamara decides it's time to fix my computer.

So, to recap: I want to live on a farm and play with puppies all day while taking mid-day breaks to research random things while reading modern literature and listening to classic rock and eating good food. Preferably with access to a functional computer and single Australian men.