Last weekend I went to Baw Baw National Park in Gippsland and went hiking, which ended with me moderately hurting my leg. There was about a foot of snow on the ground and I was wearing sneakers. It was also really cold. It was sort of cool to go camping and schlepping the equivalent weight of another human being on my back through the snow, although I'm not entirely positive that I will ever do it again. Here are some pictures, however, to prove that I actually did brave a mountain covered in snow and lived to tell the tale:
So this past week I turned 21. My birthday lasted for about three days: the crazy foam party day, the nice dinner outing day, and the "I'm going to be a bum and not get out of bed" day. As I mentioned, the gang made me a Vegemite cake. Here is a photo of me eating said cake:
Friday night was the last Cafe at Whitley. I somehow managed, despite the intense busyness of my life, to organize an acapella group. We put on a rendition of Billy Joel's "The Longest Time" (sadly not the Hebrew version I have come to love). It actually went really well, and I feel as though once Mikio and Alex leave and I inevitably have to run Chaverim I'll actually do okay. Here's a shot of the group during performance:
This weekend was pretty quiet actually. Most of Whitley is studying and generally prepping for exams, so nobody actually felt like hanging out with me (I only have essays to write and I can't be bothered doing it yet). I therefore spent the weekend with Antonio and Sneha. Saturday we went to the Royal Botanical Gardens and had a lovely afternoon stroll. The weather has been really gorgeous these last couple of days- sadly it's supposed to be rainy and cold again this week. Saturday night we rented "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" and "Casanova." I really do enjoy spending time with the two of them and will miss the time we've been spending together lately. I'm really happy about the fact I'm spending my last month essentially traveling with Antonio and that I'll be able to visit Sneha at UPenn once we get home. Here are some photos from the garden:
Alright, so now that I'm finished putting up my obligatory photos, I need to rant a bit. Sadly I can't rant as fully as I would like to do to the fact much of Whitley now reads my blog. I'll put it this way: I'm not entirely pleased with a certain situation involving myself and another person. I'm feeling moderately alienated, but I can't really point this out because it will not be taken well. It also doesn't really matter since I'm leaving Whitley in about three weeks. It's just sort of an unpleasant situation and I'm rather tired of dealing with it.
Otherwise, I am still madly in love with Melbourne, although I do look more and more forward to going home. It would have been really nice to be with everyone for my birthday. I know as soon as I get home I will want to come straight back here, but a weekend at home would be really, really nice. A job would be really nice too- I hate being entirely dependent on mom and dad for money while I'm over here because I know I'm becoming somewhat of a burden to them, but it's hard to justify not doing things just because I can't pay for them myself. My time here is really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity- even if I do eventually come back to Australia the situation will never again present itself in the same way it has now. I am enjoying myself, probably too much, but I figure after twenty-one years of trying to please everyone else and be on top of everything, it's time I live a little. And I've definitely never been this alive.
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