July 15

Today was dull and dreary and depressing. I had planned on going to the mall today to buy a few things, and also on going running. But it turns out it was drizzly and raining all day, so I decided not to go. I found out this morning also that the leak in the roof that I was told about wasn't completely fixed, as there was a small amount of water dripping in the corner of my room. Fortunately it's right in the corner, where there is nothing important, and it is also a very small volume of water, so it dried up pretty quick.

I spent much of the day on the computer, where I played some video games, and went browsing websites and shopping online. I found that on eastbay I could order my shoes on sale for $69.99, and then pay $30 shipping to have them shipped over here. They're normally $89.99 in the U.S., and they are regularly priced at $199.99 here in Australia. So, after the currency conversion, it would be WAY cheaper for me to just order them online and have them shipped here than to buy them here. I need to check and make sure that I can receive packages here (I'm sure I can), and I have to see if there will be any issue with customs, as that might technically qualify as "importing". (The Eastbay website said to check with local customs). Hopefully it wouldn't count, since it would be just one pair of shoes. My old shoes are still working for now, so in the meantime I'm not going to worry about it.

This afternoon I spent some time hanging out with Sam and his friend Shawn from Sydney. We sat in the common room for a while watching a rugby union game (Australia versus South Africa), and then went out to the green room where a 21st birthday party was going on. We played a game of snooker, which is a billiard game that uses a HUGE table, and has a lot of red balls and some colored balls. The red balls are each worth one point, and the colored ones worth different amounts depending on the color. You must sink a red ball before you can take a shot at a colored ball. If you aim for a colored ball worth 6 points, and completely miss hitting the ball, then the other team gets 6 points. Also, if you get a foul (i.e. white ball goes in the pocket), the other team gets 4 points. So it's pretty cool, because those penalties keep you guessing who's going to win up until the end of the game.

There was actually a mechanical bull at the party, and we all tried riding it a couple of times. Out of three tries, my best one ended up being 11 seconds. I'm not too good at it. He kinda went easy on me at first that time, which is why I stayed on so long. For a few hours we ended up just hanging out down there, and talking with each other and the occasional other person. Not a real exciting day, but it was alright. Hopefully tomorrow will be a bit less rainy. Enjoy the photos of Australian money!