28 July - Botanical Gardens

Today I woke up at 6 am from my cough and couldnt go back to sleep.  I had a class at 9 am but it only lasted for a total of ten minutes.  A wasted walk to campus if you ask me... and even more tragically, in those ten minutes I managed to leave my camelback water bottle on the floor of the lecture hall.  It has yet to be recovered. :(  But after class I met Marisa and Jessica at the "Bean Scene" on a little strip of shops about 5 minutes from our dorm.  After coffee Marisa and I went grocery shopping at the local "Coles" AND I bought a roll of butcher paper from a little news stand on the corner.  More on that later.  But we also bought a baguette of French bread and some Australian Brie.

This became lunch after we made our way downtown to the Botanical Gardens.  They were really beautiful and actually very diverse.  There was a mangrove stand on the bank of the river that we got to walk through and these really pretty orange flowers. (see picture :) ) There was also a group of school children in adorable uniforms complete with sun hats!  I took a few pictures of them too.  But on our way back to campus we took some artsy photos and then met Tara back on campus.

I had secretly (or not so secretly) saved some of the baguette for the walk back to the dorms.  We had to walk past our lakes and I wanted to feed the birds.  I got one of the crazy red headed birds and three different ducks to eat from my hand.  All the rest were scaredy cats and didnt get any of the wonderful bread.

But tonight was also our first formal dinner.  Funniest/weirdest experience of my life.  I wore a Harry Potter robe and met in the dining hall with my mates all dressed the same.  Our tables were set for three courses and had nice linens and everything.  Once we were all sitting around at our tables a procession of our principal (clearly Dumbledore) followed by our dean (a white haired lady... McGonagall obviously) and then all the wing leaders (prefects...).  The student dean (head boy) spoke before dinner.  And we only sat after they sat down.  Then we ate a mediocre meal with a crappy dessert and had to wait for all of the "head table" people to disperse before we could sit back down or walk out.  I honestly was waiting for the girls in blue capes and the crazy russian boys to storm through the main doors and challenge us all to a battle for the cup.  I do regret to report that there were no floating candles nor mail delivered by owl... but Ill keep you updated!

Oh and the butcher paper... I hung it up the whole way around my room and went to town with my crayons on a mural.  I despise the color the walls are painted here so I am fixing that.  Ill keep you updated on that too. (Suggestions on names for the birds are welcome...)