The Melbourne Takeover: We Are the Camels!

Hello, hello everyone! It's been a while since I posted. So sorry! I just got finished with orientation week (or "O-week" as it's officially called) for my hall. But to make up for it, I'm going to do two posts...one now on O-week, one on my fabulous trip to Melbourne Sanctuary :)

Before I begin, I've been reading Travel Writing: A Guide to Research, Writing, and Selling by L. Peat O'Neil. After reading the first chapter, "Getting Started," I've determined that this is a personal experience blog. I've noticed fellow bloggers, Loyola and beyond, have a specific style and voice, specific subjects and everything, so it was nice to finally put a label on mine, I guess.

Anywho, back to O-Week. It was held throughout the residential halls for first-years to "uni" (one of several slang terms that Aussieland has) as well as those who are new to each specific hall. I am on the best floor of the best building of all of the residential halls: Floor 3 of Howitt Hall (Yes, our dorm has our own website. We're just that cool.) Every hall has its own mascot and we are the Camels (hence the title of this post). The past week was filled with different events, outings, and memories that will honestly last a lifetime!

My new friends, Jacki and Veronica, plus me!

I'm not going to give you a complete play by play of what we did each day. That would just be way too long, so I'll give you the gist of Howitt. One, THE PEOPLE ARE AMAZING! I've found that Australians are generally very friendly, and it was no different in Howitt. I got to know my floormates, as well as so many others during Howitt. O-Week is the best, because you can just walk up to random people, introduce yourself and strike up a conversation without it being awkward. I'm a pretty outgoing person, so I got the chance to meet and talk to a lot of people. Over the week, it was clear that we are a family (Go Camels!). My floor especially is the best because we have so many outgoing people and we have a lot of fun times, especially in the kitchen, which is our unofficial common room since no floor has one.

RA George dealing at the blackjack table

The week was filled with so many events. One of the first events I went to was Casino Night, where we gambled our lives away (with fake money of course). Games included bingo, poker, roulette, and blackjack, which is where I stayed basically all night. I got about $80 over my original amount. Granted, someone slid me a $50 bill on the side, but whatever. At the end of the night, each floor of Howitt gathered up their money and bid on different items. Floor 3 won an Ipod Dock...which I think we kind of share with Floor 5, but it's locked away in our kitchen so we're keeping our mouths shut about it :-)

There was also a Pajama Party with a live DJ, and we partied the night away. We had a limbo contest which my friend Ben (also of Floor 3) won, as well as a modeling contest, which I won for the girls! Go me! :-) We also had trips off campus--going to see Black Swan at a nearby movie theater, traveling to City to Luna Park, an amusement park downtown, as well as to St. Kilda Beach for a day in the sun.

I was kind of sad that it was over. It means classes are here, and fun time is over. Well, I shouldn't say that. Being a part of Howitt, the fun is really just beginning :-) By the way, I have applied to become the International/Study Abroad Representive for the Howitt Hall Society. Society is overall responsible for planning events for the hall and keeping us all up to date with what's happening. As Study Abroad Rep, I will be responsible for making sure the Study Abroad students are ok, as well as helping out with anything the Executive Board needs me to do. Hopefully, I'll get it. I came up with a rap and everything for it. The voting is Wednesday, so I'll probably have a video for you all. Check out some pics below!