Grades, Hairspray, Weird Pizza and Good Friday

This has been a BIG week!  On Monday, I got to skype my parents in the morning.  It was so great to see them… I love our weekly chatsJ.  After that I headed to class where I got my first paper back.  I got a D.  Well, a “distinction”.  The grades are different here and they don’t really equate to grades in the States, except that I know I passed, which is all I needJ.  It’s funny, though, because I feel like I’m in grade school again where I could get an “S” or an “E” or an “N” (satisfactory, excellent, needs improvement).  It makes me laughJ.  After class, I went to sign up for a role in my Middle East Politics simulation.  My professor had originally advised that we choose roles that would challenge us either because we were unfamiliar with our character or disagreed with their views.  When I got to her office, she asked me to play Barack Obama.  She needed someone to fill that role and she thought I’d be good.  It won’t be a huge stretch, but it should be fun and really interesting!  After a couple more classes, I headed home for the evening, ate dinner and watched Shrek with Camille and Stefanie.  It was a fun night!  On Tuesday, I woke up early and headed to the city to a Christian bookstore to get a travel bible and then went to Chadstone (a huge mall) to make some returns.  I also got my computer battery fixed at the Apple store.  I LOVE Apple.  They make everything so easy.  My computer is working great now! J.  After hurrying back from the mall, I made a quick lunch and headed to campus for my afternoon classes.  After class, I tried to go play the piano, but the guy who unlocks the building for me wasn’t there, so I just came home.  I’m really excited to come home and have a piano available whenever I want to play.  Holli and I spent a lot of time brainstorming things we LOVE about Australia and things we LOVE about home while she was here.  Piano is definitely on my list of things I LOVE about homeJ.  Since piano didn’t end up working out, I decided to run instead.  It was short, but good.  Tuesday evening, was filled with homework, but was productiveJ.  Also, I tried my bacon cheetos – yes, BACON cheetos.  They were very strange, but pretty delicious if you’re craving some serious junk food.  On Wednesday, I woke up and went to class then worked on some homework.  Then I decided that Nutella was my new favorite thingJ.  In the afternoon, I went back to campus to do a presentation for my 100-level Australian history class.  I had struggled to get the presentation done on time because my interest in the topic was seriously limited, but alas, I finished it and did a great jobJ.  My professor told me that I did excellent and she was giving me high marks, although, I don’t know how much that says when she was legitimately impressed that I had emailed the presentation to myself so I could open it on the computer to project my slides while I spoke.  She asked if I had done that before and when I told her yes, she said, “oh well, you are part of this technologically minded generation.  You all just know how stuff like that works.  It’s incredible.”  It was really funny.  I might have gotten bonus points just for opening my presentationJ.  Also, after I finished, one of the girls in my class said, “not only was your information great, your slides were SO pretty.”  I used a template from PowerPoint so I wasn’t exactly sure what to say.  But, regardless, my presentation went well, and I was SO happy that it was over.  After class, I walked home and changed quickly and then met some friends at the tram to head into the city.  Annie, Marisa and I went to Hairspray (the musical) downtown.  It was SOOOOOOO good.  I couldn’t stop smiling and laughing and just loving every minute.  When we left, we were all so excited about life and were laughing, singing and dancing the whole way homeJ.  It made me wish my life were a musical.  Thursday was another good day.  I woke up early and got some homework done and then had class in the afternoon.  After class, I went to Richmond with Camille to get some weird pizza.  The restaurant is called Mojo’s Weird Pizza and it was SO good.  They have the most ridiculous combinations of toppings and some seriously WEIRD pizza.  There was one that was essentially nachos on a pizza, and one with banana.  I got one with peppers, salami, and jalapenos.  Camille’s had prosciutto ham, parsley and pears.  It was so fun and a delicious dinner!  After dinner we headed into the city to go to the skydeck (floor 88 of a very tall building).  We were about 2 minutes away and it started pouring rain!  By the time we got there, the clouds were so low that we wouldn’t have been able to see anything, so we just turned around and headed home.  I was bummed – rained out again!  I’ll get there at some point.  Today (Friday) was a really good day, although slightly different than I’d planned.  I woke up early to do laundry so I could pack for my trip and then headed to church for Good Friday.  It was such an excellent service!  The sermon was great and I got to see all my church friends againJ.  After church I was planning to head to Richmond to do some errands and then check out a fun café I’d seen from the train, but it’s Good Friday, and apparently that’s a big deal here!  It’s a public holiday and there is actually a trade ban.  Everything is closed on Good Friday… EVERYTHING.  There is more closed today than on Easter or Christmas.  It is so crazy, but actually pretty cool.  It’s just strange to be in a country with religious holidays – I didn’t even think about.  Since my busy day of fun in the city was altered by the holiday, I decided to just go home and ended up watching a movie and having a lazy afternoon – not a bad alternativeJ.  I leave tomorrow morning for my Easter break trip to New Zealand.  I’m SO excited!!!!  It’s going to be a great trip.  I will blog and provide pictures when I get backJ.  I’m still loving Australia and starting to feel like a local.  It’s really fun!  Life is so good.