A Rainy Week

So it rained every day this week. Monday, it rained a month's worth of rain in one day, which turns out to be 98 mm (only 3.86 inches). But all of those 98 mm seemed to fall on the walk between the end of my statistics lecture and the door to Fig Tree Hall...

I've been calling the upcoming break "spring break," as have most of the people I've talked to lately. It comprises the week of April 21st - April 27th, so it's just a delayed version of what we have in the states. But in fact, it's not spring here at all, it's autumn. So I've run across a few Australians already who have understood what I mean by "spring break" but who have politely reminded me that it doesn't make any sense.

The weekend was great. Casual and relaxed, home-based. I had a gig playing on the rooftop! Ahmad, the RF for level 2, is tasked with interviewing all members of Fig Tree who live on level 2. During my interview, I mentioned that I'd just bought the Guinness guitar, and played about a five second riff for him to demonstrate how good it sounded, particularly for $50. Apparently he brought it up to all of the other RFs that I was a great guitar player, and they specifically requested that I play on Saturday night at an event they were planning. It was a barbecue that would take place from 19:30 - 21:30, where the hour of 20:30 - 21:30 is "Earth hour." Earth hour was started in Sydney as an effort to show ecological consciousness, and is a time when the entire city is supposed to shut off its lights. Since it started only five or so years ago, it's spread across the globe. So my gig was to play acoustic music during Earth hour while everyone chillaxed at our barbecue!

And I must say, it went quite well. I started with Home by Phillip Phillips, and followed with Bonfire Heart by James Blunt. But instead of chatting and relaxing, people were all turned facing me, sitting silently and listening. They even applauded after each song. So what was supposed to be a casual gig turned into a concert. I asked if anyone wanted to sing with me, and after some coaxing, two other guys came up to join me, a guy from Germany and another from the University of Maryland. So for the rest of the night, the three of us sang and I played, and I really liked the spirit of community that was there. 'Twas quite nice.

But alas, I have my first exam tomorrow morning, in fluid and particle mechanics. I'm not worried in the slightest, actually, it seems to be my easiest class. I finished a math assignment this weekend as well, and did a bit of philosophy reading in preparation for my mid-semester essay assignment (on the "logical problem of evil," which I'm sure I'll later address).

So it was a relaxed weekend, something a bit more similar to what you might see at Michigan. But it wasn't at Michigan. It was in Sydney!

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