Kangaroo? check. Surfing? check. Aussie Rules? check. Gigs? check.Tractor? check

Hey folks,
it has been a while since my last post and a lot has been accomplished. I have a list of things to do while I am here complete with a wildlife section and I have managed to check some of things off. I need to be more diligent with my posts I think because I run the risk of overlooking something.

For the purpose of covering all my bases I'm going to go with a point-form style.

- I have seen two gigs and have tickets to a third. I can't stress enough how sick the music scene is here. I saw a band called Yves Klein Blue who were opened by Cloud Control and then I saw Edward Sharpe and Magnetic Zeroes earlier on this week. Both were great shows. ES played the entire album pretty much start to finish and for their second encore came out, invited a bunch of people up on stage and sat everyone down in the venue on the floor because it was "story time". They played a ballad to us with just guitar and the lead singer. I managed to clamber up on stage and grab a spot right by them sitting on an amp. It was a fantastic show.

- I went home for the weekend with my friend Richie to his farm in Leongatha. I stayed at his farmhouse and got toured around all of their dairy farms. I fed the cows, drove the tractor and tested out their ATV four-wheeler. It was good to have some home cooked meals and check out the locals only beaches. We went and checked out some caves at a local spot as well as the swells were coming in. One beach we went to is known as a squeaky beach. Basically the sand is so fine that as you walk in it you can here it squeak as your feet push the grains against each other.
I managed to try out surfing but the conditions weren't great and we were using a really short board, something that you usually move up to once you have mastered using a long board. I didn't manage to catch any waves but it was sick to just be out there.

- While I was at Richie's place he took me to one of their paddocks at about 8 as the sun was just going down. We opened the gate and crept along in their truck with lights off. When Richie suddenly flicked on the high beams, about 10 kangaroos all turned and stared at the truck before all taking off in unison. Richie gunned it after them and we chased them all over the paddock, hanging out the windows. It was unreal! Something that most people wouldn't get to do while here that's for sure.

-Last night I was taken to an AFL Aussie Rules Footie game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground by my friend Josh and his Dad. The stadium holds 100 thousand and was almost full. It was the opening game of the season between Richmond Tigers and Carlton Blues. It was great as we had seats right behind the posts in the members area and were right amongst the die-hard fans of both teams.

As far as classes go, things are picking up. I have an Easter break coming up next week with assignments due the next week. I am thinking about going to Tasmania for the break as flights go pretty cheap. I heard earlier on in the week that I was chosen as the recipient of a scholarship to Carleton called the Carl Gillis Memorial Scholarship for leadership and community involvement at Carleton while maintaining good academic standing. I was pretty pleased to be given the nod and it will definitely help out with the finances come fourth year in September. On the flip-side, I didn't get the position of Head Facil for frosh week as I had hoped. I am pretty disappointed in the decision and maybe a little baffled that I didn't get the position. From the sounds of things it confused a lot of people so I have been getting a lot of people from home saying they were surprised I didn't get the position. But alas, this is life. You are going to come up against people and situations that don't go your way whether you can help it or not. There is not a lot I can do about it now as an assistant head except express that I feel I was overlooked and have the credentials to be a great head facilitator because I love frosh week.

Right, well, I'm going to take off now since I have to pack for my surf trip to Phillip Island. Check out my pics on my facebook profile of all my shenanigans in the past couple of weeks. Hope everyone is safe and well and give me a buzz sometime to catch up.

Love,
D