On Girls
“Girls, girls, girls, girls
Girls, I do adore
Put your number on this paper cause I would love to date ya
Holla at ya when I come off tour
I love girls, girls, girls, girls
Girls all over the globe
I come scoop you in that Coupe, sittin on deuce-zeroes
Fix your hair in the mirror, let’s roll”
~Jay-Z, “Girls, Girls, Girls”
In the last few months before I left, I remember being so pumped for Australia. It felt like a dream, something that wasn’t actually gonna happen. I couldn’t believe I was actually gonna be living in one of the world’s greatest cities, Sydney, for 5 months. So much to do, such great weather, and a complete sea change!
These were all things to be pumped for, but in all honesty I was especially excited for the girls. The common refrain in the dingy, dark, cave-like Corvallis apartment was, “Duuude, you’re gonna get so many girls! ” (but with much more crude and demeaning language). Apparently all that mattered to the girls, we thought, was that I was American, and they would just LOVE my accent! I forgot who said it, but somebody mentioned that this is one of the only instances where I will have a leg-up on Aussie guys, so I better use it. I remember saying and thinking, “Man, if I don’t get girls in Australia, I should just hang it up.”
Well, maybe I should start hanging it up. Haha. I got here all hopped up on confidence, and I think it kinda made me look stupid in a few instances. The first week or so I was VERY jovial and outgoing with girls. Probably too much so, if that’s a possibility. I’m already pretty outgoing, but it was like hunting season! I was in the land of the rabbit-proof fence and these bunnies were cornered!
One of my first instances of this almost blind outgoing-ness was in a T2, a tea shop. I had headed in there to buy my Russian room mates some tea and a tea pot, and a nice and talkative female Sydneysider attended to me. We talked a bit about America, Sydney, and school, and I was getting along very well with her. I remember asking, “Do you have a Facebook? Of course she did! I said, “Well, I’m Peter, and my last name is that” pointing to her credit card-swiping machine. St. George is the name of a bank here, and it really has helped in telling people my last name in order for them to find me on Facebook. I was lucky T2 banked with St. George! We talked a bit more, and I ended up giving her my phone number. We said goodbye with all smiles, and I walked away giddily. Over a month later and no Facebook friend or call.
On the first day I arrived here we stopped off at the International Housing office and I met the absolute cutest girl I’ve ever seen. (I’ve said that many a time, its an expression at this point.) I really felt the urge to go and talk to her and see if there was some way that I could get us into a situation where we could chill and talk. (I’m very confident, even cocky with my one-on-one communication skills. I feel as though if I get most any girl in a situation where we can just talk, that I have a good chance at establishing some kind of positive relationship with her. Although I don’t really have all that much success to base that cockiness off of…) I talked to an Aussie female friend about how I should go about it, and she said to play up the angle of “American foreigner who doesn’t know any Aussies.” So I worked up the courage, and when I had an excuse to go down there, I went with a plan.
I saw her behind the desk and waited until she was free. I approached her and turned in the apartment checklist, then asked a question. Before I left, I said I had one more question. “I haven’t really met any Australians yet, and-”
“When classes start there will be many more on campus, ” she replied, totally not understanding what I was getting at.
“Oh, nice!” I said, trying to recover. “Well, I was kinda wondering if maybe you would be interested in getting coffee and talking or something…” My heart was pounding and I was flushed, just trying to not look stupid, but casual…chill, like a Don. She just kind of blankly stared back, then looked surprised, and said, “Me?!”
“Yeah”!
She kind of looked around, lowered her voice and said, “I really don’t think we’re supposed to do that while we’re at work.”
”Oh”, I replied, trying to brush it off as nothing, and asked her if I could give her my number. She said that probably wouldn’t be ok either.
“I’m a student here, tho, so I’ll probably see you on campus,” she explained, as if trying to give me a hint.
I saw her a few times after that, and it wasn’t weird at all, which was a good thing. Also saw her in the Macquarie Shopping Center…I wanted to ask her if what she told me was an excuse or the truth, but it didn’t really work out. If I see her again I think I will. (Watch her not remember me and then it be totally awkward.) Whatever, I’m over it/her now. It was just kinda funny. (Not towel-caliber tho…)
I have met many girls, beautiful girls, as school has started. Mona and I met on the first day of Bio, and that friendship has become really cool. She has that M.I.A.-like beauty about her. It was a real disappointment when I found out that she had a boyfriend, but I think that fact has made our friendship stronger; there is no real thought or opportunity of anything going there, no alterior motives, so all of our interactions are just carefree, chill and fun.
It’s kind of funny how most of my Aussie friends here are 18 and 19. I’m in mostly first-year classes, so many of my interactions are with 1st years (they don’t know what freshman are here). That has made things a little weird in the beyond-friend relationship area, but its all good. Met some cool girls at Ultimate as well, but the one that I was interested in has a boyfriend, as do most of the girls my age here.
I have a cool friendship with Dulce, though. I have talked about her a bit before. She’s a 21-year old from Mexico City studying to become a type of engineer (Big Red, I need your help. She’s interested in working with assembly-line stuff, making them more efficient. What is that?), and loves math. It was her dream to come here, and I can tell that she is having a great time. She lives in Darling Harbour, which is downtown, about an hour’s bus drive away. We have hung out a bit, and are talking about possibly going to Melbourne and the Blue Mountains. She is awesome, and we have a pretty cool thing going.
So, as you can see, being an American doesn’t really make it all that much easier to ‘get girls’ here. It gives you an ‘in’ in conversations, they dig the way the accent sounds, but thats pretty much it. It’s been a good experience, and I’ve had a lot of fun meeting many Australian girls, as well as other girls, but its not what my room mates and I built it up to be. Which is ok. Really!
Housing Fiascos, 50mm’s, Neuters and Spays OH MY!
A few notable things have happened within the last few days. I pretty much have confirmed my living arrangements, which I wrote about previousy, as being in the Balaclava apts. I am so relieved about this, and especially that I got a single…I can have some privacy. The housing application was quite chaotic…I applied a month or two ago, and last Wednesday I got an e-mail that begain with “Regards, Macquarie Housing and Dining Services”. I opened the attachment, and it told me that the housing offer would expire on the 12th of Jan, and to email if I had any questions. I emailed them, and they didnt get back to me. I started freaking out that friday, cause the following Monday was the deadline. I couldnt call them that Friday because it was Saturday their time…pretty much, it all worked out in the end, but it was hella sketch. And freakin expensive. I feel bad about that in regards to my parents.
Last week I got a new issue of Pop. Photography, and in it they had this article on the Nikon 50mm 1.4, a lens I’ve lusted after for a while. The article made it quite apparent in my mind I needed that lens for Australia. (For those of you that don’t know, the 1.4 number is the aperature value, or the f/ value. The smaller the number is, the wider the aperature opens, giving you the option of having a much faster shutter speed. This allows you to shoot in darker situations without getting blur. There is only one lens lower than 1.4, and thats 1.2…and its crazy expensive.) I asked my parents if they would split it with me (It’s $300, inexpensive for a lens of its caliber, but still a wad of cash) and they shut me down. So I took matters into my own hands and sold my bunk bed…now I’m gonna go up to CORV with Nik to pick up my paycheck, and I think I may buy it…I’m pretty pumped!
I’ve been kinda nervous about going to AUS alone, without knowing anybody, but a girl from OSU, Courtney Lynn, messaged me on facebook to let me kno that she’s going to the University of Sydney. I’m super pumped about that, I’ll have somebody to chill with and talk to stuff, should be swell! Her school is quite a ways away from mine, but it IS in Sydney. Kinda jealous of her, i think she’s near the harbor.
This is unrelated to AUS, but kinda because of it. Because I have been chillin in EUG I decided to see if I could volunteer at Bush Animal Hospital. I know the owner and one of the vets from the Oregon basketball games, we’ve sat together for over 10 years. I’m volunteering on M T TR, and it has been incredible. Mondays are days where Dr. Boggs sees clients/patients, and Tues and Thurs are surgery days. It was very cool to see Dr. Boggs interact with patients and their owners.
Tuesday, though, was a crazy milestone for me. I’ve had a fear of being squeamish around surgery, so I was quite nervous. The first surgery was on a small dog, and was a neuter. WARNING, THE REMAINDER OF THIS POST WILL BE GRAPHIC! It was pretty chill, and I did well. First off, scalpels are now rarely used-in its stead is a laser, which cauterizes the incisions, dramatically reducing blood. (But it does smell like burning hair-ugh.) He made an incision above the testicles, and pulled the testicles out of the scrotum, severing them with the laser. He then sutured it back up, and the deed was done. This took a total time of 12 minutes…incredibly fast.
This is me after my first surgery...the neuter.
Jamie is the awesome vet tech that I've been trailing/trying to help. Here she is attempting to wake up the doggie that just got neutered from is anesthesia.
After that was a spay with a HUGE dog, a mastiff puppy that will prolly get to be about 140 pounds, at least. Along with the spay, however, Dr. Boggs also performed a gastroplexy. Dogs like mastiffs are at risk for something called bloat, where the stomach tangles with other organs. A gastroplexy is where the stomach gets tacked to the wall of the body cavity. Dr. Boggs made an incision that was about 6 inches, and started on the ovariohysterectomy, or spay. He showed me the uterine horns, as well as the ovaries. IT WAS CRAZY! He removed the uterine horns, and then located the stomach. He sewed it to the inside of the body cavity, which was crazy to watch. Think about it…he was sewing the stomach!! Terrible things would have happened if he peirced it. But he didnt!
Because of my familiarity with Dr. Boggs I was very comfortable talking to him during this, and asking questions. I got to look inside the body cavity, and saw organs and vessels throbbing with each heart beat, which was crazyinsane. One of the coolest things was seeing the diaphragm, which was a purplish color. The heart was directly behind it, so I could see the diaphragm kinda moving. He was doing this intense stuff, and we were just talking casually, he answering my questions and everything.
I made one feax pas tho. There was a bit of fat that was removed and layed over the drapes, and I asked a question about it. While I was asking a question I kinda had my finger pointing to it, over it, over the drapes. Dr. Boggs said, “Oh, you’re in the field!”. I backed off, and he explained that i was contaminated, and he wasnt, and that you can’t even be in the air above the drapes, which are near the surgery location. That kinda embarassed me, but he didnt tell me about it before. Also, it really made me appreciate how careful they are about everything.
This whole surgery lasted 1 hour 31 minutes…mannnn!
This is Kelly, a vet tech, with the mastiff puppy that was spayed and had the gastroplexy. She was the sweetest dog ever! (Other than Beau, but that goes with out saying...)
As I’ve been at Bush for the past week I’ve kinda come to the conclusion that I DO want to be a vet. I really enjoy working with the people and animals, and it is very exciting and intense. I am a little conflicted tho…I have a lot of fun with it, but sometimes I wonder if it would be making as big as an impact on the community/world that I should have. Is it making that much of a difference? My question is this: Should one choose a job based solely on what they enjoy, or how they can best utilize their skills? I would LOVE to hear answers, Please comment to this post with answers, i would greatly appreciate it!!! Alright, this incredibly long post is now finished…things will get more interesting, as well as having more Australia stuff in it. I PROMISE!!!
