the last two days of orientation (thurs and fri) were basically tents of clubs to sign up for at the uni. being the proud canto that i am....i signed up for HK student association. did i mention that we have to pay membership fees? yeah, that's never heard of at Rutgers. Anyways, signing up for the HK student association cost me 12 bucks, but i got a free aloe drink and a free make up cream (eye serum). there are lots of clubs, but every single one costs money! :( there is a CCF here...which actually stands for Cantonese Christian Fellowship. i really want to check this group out, cuz the girl that i met was really nice. unfortunately, my timetable conflicts with the meeting time! :( at least the christian clubs did not make me pay just to sign up for things. phew!

during the orientation, a lot of clubs have been hosting bbq. BBQ here literally means 2 people grilling sausages or burgers and a table of bread and ketchup. oh, aussies dont use hotdog buns or hamburger buns, so they use slices of bread to eat their sausages and burgers! i miss having hot dog buns!! anyways, they dont even have soda or lettuce. we were lucky if they served us onions (and if the burger is actually cooked)! and a lot of them are not vegetarian friendly! poor kruti, she's vegetarian. we always line up together and she ends up eating only the bread! but yeah, bbq in america is definitely different! a lot more food - for sure!

i've succumbed to the student union -- "the cult on uni," as we like to call it. basically, if you are a member of student union you get a lot of discounts or free stuff. BUT we have to pay a fee for that. $17/month! as a member, i got to chill in the members' only lounge in the union house, access to free printing...?, discounts on books and such...free bbq? yeah. it's rather exclusive. i hated it before i joined, cuz as a member of student union...you get to get food first! WHAT! its kinda ridiculous, but for the sake of 'getting the most out of studying abroad,' i joined. so i enjoyed a free meal on friday, which was....BBQ again - the australian kind.

since i have gotten here in melbourne, i've picked up the habit of napping! well, i nap a lot at home too! but i find it hard to even stay awake for one day without a nap! it's really bad, because classes are actually starting this week and i won't have time to nap!! ;(

friday night was my first clubbing experience. little did i know that i had to pay to enter. ha, what was i thinking? could anything in the world be FREE? yeah, right! anyways, i hit up F4 with 5 other girls (all american students studying abroad). since it was my first time, i didnt quite know what to expect, but i guess all clubbing consists of music, dance, and drinks. that night i also had my first alcoholic drink in australia. (dont worry, the legal age here is 18!) and no, i didnt pass out. anyways, we girls chilled and danced for like a good 2 hours. my feet were already killing me 30 mins in! i am never going to a club with heels! we missed the last tram back home, so we had to walk back home. the club was not far from where i live, but after 2 hours of dancing with heels...it was a painful journey! nonetheless, it was a very fun experience. :)

o, did i mention that i gambled as well? at the crown casino. it's one of the most famous casino in melbourne. apparently, melbourne is known for gambling! (again, legal age of gambling here is 18) and i only tried the slot machine...yeah, didn't win anything.

saturday, joyce and i met up with one of her hs friends. she has a car!! o, i miss having my own car and just drive to wherever and whenever!! so she took us to this richer area to window shop and eat brunch! yeah, shopping here in melbourne isn't so good! compare to america, everything is a little expensive and they sell a lot of the same stuff as america...i mean style or whatever. so i'm definitely not going to do a lot of shopping here. besides, i dont have room in my suitcases to bring them back. and i need to save up for traveling.

sunday. joyce and i were picked up by Josh. this guy from CCCV, he lives 2 mins from us, but he had to be at church super early! ;( (so, weather.com said it was going to be 80 degrees, so i dressed light...like a summer dress and did not bring any jacket, cuz i didnt want to hold it if its going to be hot! and it turned out to be KINDA CHILLY TODAY! what the heck? i bring my jacket out all the other days and i never wear it! ugh) anyways, we met another girl who goes to melbourne uni. we went to asian gourmet for lunch! so apparently all the people that i've become friends with at the church are graduated, working, either married for 1 or 2 years, or about to get engaged! wah. i felt like a baby hanging out with them! but they are still really nice and act goofy! the young couples are so cute!! they are very comfortable to be around with! there's a girl whom graduated couple years ago, married, and is actually recording her own cd! we went to visit her house today and she has a whole studio set up in her house!! i havent heard her stuff yet, but i know it's on myspace! clara rhoden. if anyone is curious!

2nd sunday service. at orientation there was a booth called PlanetShakers City Church. i heard about them from last sunday, because we sang some of their songs at worship. so PlanetShakers is a band and it has a church as well (imagine Hillsong). so joyce and i signed up for more info on friday at orientation. since then, they've been calling us CRAZY about sunday services!!! it seemed a little bit like harassing, but i think they are just trying to be friendly :) we were supposed to meet at Hungry Jack's (an Australian version of Burger King...similar logo) in the city at 4:30pm for their 5pm service. BUT joyce and i got lost on the tram so we ended up getting there quite late. o MAN! when i first walked into the service...i felt like i was at urbana06! WHAT THE HECK!!! it was a HUGE church! 6 or 7 people up there singing with a band in the back with TWO keyboards! everyone at the bottom with their hands raised. it was just WOW!! but at the same time...i was slightly freaked out when the worship lady yelled "HEAL HEAL HEAL..." in a prayerful way..but powerful! everyone was really excited and enthusiastic about worshiping God. and...i felt like an outsider. sitting through the service was not so bad. the speaker was very entertaining. He spoke about how God does not see what we see but He sees what's inside and he went on about other things too. (can't remember at the moment) i'm not sure if i could attend this type of church regularly! it seems a bit too much, but i wouldn't mind attending this once in awhile. i just really admire the fire that all the people have for God there. it was really encouraging and it was a good reminder that i, too, should have that passion for God! BE EXCITED FOR GOD!

there was a welcome dinner after the service in the city. a bunch of malaysian students welcomed joyce and i. some of them have been in Melbourne for a year or two. some just got to melbourne. they are all international students. they are really friendly and too many of them! i couldn't keep track of their names (and i'm usually really good with names and faces)!!! there were at least 20 of them walking with us together to the city. when we got to the little japanese restaurant, we filled up the entire 2nd floor like 40-50 people! of course, joyce and i were not the only new people! ive never really met malaysian people...at least not in large quantity like this! oh, some of them are Singaporeans! so at first, it was a little hard to understand their english :( they invited us to their Urban Life, which i'm guessing is like Small Group, on Tuesday. yeah, why not? give everything a try, right? we will see how it goes.

classes officially begins tomorrow for me. FINALLY a goodbye to my LONG LONG winter break. good night, loves!