St. Patricks Day/BridgeWalk/Solitaire

So its been a while since I've posted. I've been doing the important things, like going to class and playing solitaire(which is a great time killer and surprisingly addicting.) Classes are going well. Still difficult to get used to the lecture/tutorial style. The lectures seem pretty pointless most days because they just recap what you read (or should have read) and then the tutorials are much more in depth. The class material is okay. Study abroad, is supposed to be about finding your self and experiencing other cultures. Most classes deal with Australian culture in a world perspective, so being from another part of the world creates some great discussions. The Australians are a very proud country. They don't bash American content like Grey's Anatomy and Heroes, but they do strongly embrace and back Australian content. Which is very interesting? My philosophy class and sociology class seem to be asking a lot of questions with very few answers. I left Philosophy yesterday truly believing that I had no free will. That didn't last long when I decided to not think about it any more.

St. Patrick's Day here was exciting. We got up early (10am) and headed to an Irish pub in Bondi Junction. Had some irish breakfast (no corned beef hash though) and a Guiness or two. Then we spent the day bouncing around from place to place and eventually made it back to our place. Meet a lot of native Irish folks which was cool and found some really cool pubs to go back and visit.

Sunday was the 75th Anniversary of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. They had festivals and stuff all day and they closed the bridge to traffic and you could walk from the north side into the city. (Not over the top, but I still want to do that too) It was a really cool experience because we were walking with 10's of 1000s of people. We even saw 4 or 5 people in wheelchairs that had signs saying "I walked in 1932, I wheeled in 2007." So to think that there were people that were alive and walked the bridge when it opened, and again 75 years later was pretty inspiring. I wonder if there is anything in my life that I experienced that I will be able to appreciate in 75 years.

Other than that I've been playing in a few poker tournaments. I won a free meal the past two mondays (which is always good) and I actually one the whole tournament last week. I got a whopping $20 and a trip to a $1000 game the end of April. I've been behaving myself besides the free poker games and have yet to travel to the Casino and spend money so thats a good thing.

Gould's you will be proud to know that the past three nights we have spent playing card games such as FanTan, Knock, and Spoons. It's nice to be able to spread a little 'culture' to people over here as well. A couple of them will come up to me randomly and be like "hey can we play that 7's game?"

Tonight I am going to the sneak preview of 300. I know its been the top seller at the Box Office in the states for the past two weekends so it will be good to see it here. Movies aren't as far behind as I thought. Some come out farely soon after and others are a few months behind. After the movie we go to Friend in Hand Pub on Wednesday's nights for Hermit Crab racing. (Mom you thought the greyhound racing was bad). You buy and name your hermit crab and the top 6 from each heat get a t-shirt. It's great mid week fun.

Having a great time. Missing you guys. Waiting for news of my newest cousin.

Currently Listening to: Bruce Springsteen Nebraska
PS All you Bruce Springsteen fans, Bruce is currently in Atlanta recording with members of the E-Street Band. The recording should be complete by May and a full band tour is expected in September. Anyone willing I would like to attend 15 shows. They can count as 22nd birthday, Christmas, Graduation, and 23rd Birthday Presents