Tropfest + School Starts

Day 20-23: 2/20, 2/21, 2/22, 2/23

I woke up at 6:30am today and couldn’t fall back asleep. I decided to take advantage of the morning, catch up on my blogs, and take care of a few tasks. I had some coffee and watched the sun rise besides the UTS Tower building from our rooftop, which provides a spectacular view of the city (pictured). As I waited for my laundry to finish (at an outrageous $3 per load and $3 per dry cycle), I managed to FINALLY catch up on my blogs. By the time I had completed all the items on my list it was nearly noon and time to get ready for O-Fest (a live DJ show put on every year in the Alumni Green behind the UTS Tower). We stayed for a while, but the show ended at 8pm so we all went back to UniLodge and hung out on the roof for the remainder of the evening. The Canadian girls (from before) met us, we played some cards and we had some drinks until it was time for the roof to close.
The following morning we decided to find a park to play disc golf and discovered one that was located in Olympic Park where the 2000 Sydney Olympics were held. Chuck, Chris, and I boarded a train at central station and took it out to Olympic Park. During the ride, we were witness to one of the funnier bickering matches I’ve heard in a while. An Irishman and an Australian lady, with two of the most incomprehensible accents I’ve ever heard, were yelling at each other for about 20 minutes straight and I could maybe understand every tenth word. The Irish man would occasionally utter loud noises in the form of grunts, and something I can only compare to Damon Wayans in “Blankman”, between his name-calling which included ‘f*ing dog’ and ‘bushie’. They both got off at the same stop and continued as the train pulled away from the station. When we got to Olympic Park it was completely empty. We checked a map to figure out where the course was and couldn’t find it, so we asked a guide at the station. He pointed out a spot on the map that seemed relatively far, but told us it shouldn’t be any more than about a 10 minute walk. One hour later, after some additional help from the locals, we found the small green hut that rents/hires discs. This wasn’t the first time an Australian had misquoted walking time – the lady that directed us to the RTA to get our Aussie ID’s told us it was about 15 minutes from the building we were at and it took about 45 minutes. Anyways, we played nine holes and started back to the station. Interesting to note is how empty Olympic Park is now. It kind of reminded us of zombie movies where a whole major city has been abandoned. The remnants of the old stadiums and facilities still stood (location of many large concerts and shows in Sydney), but there were hardly anybody to be seen. By the time we were leaving, more people had shown up, but it was fascinating to think about how packed this place once was and the revenue it must have generated. That night we took another trip out to Bondi Beach for the after party of an international skate competition that had occurred earlier that day. We met up with the Canadian girls and my friend Danielle (and her friends who had arrived about a week earlier) from back home, and hung out until about 2:30am before heading home.
The next day (Sunday) was a large independent film festival called Tropfest. It is a free event where you bring your own food and beverages, and enjoy the screening of several independent short films, along with some other music and entertainment. We took the bus out to Circular Quay at the Sydney Harbour and made our way to the Botanical Gardens where the festival was being hosted. In the center of the park was a large, three-sided monitor supported above a stage. The gates opened at 3pm and the show ran all the way until 11pm. We set up camp and enjoyed our picnic for a few hours – after that, Luke and I found some open space and tossed a Frisbee around for a while as some bands and DJs performed. At dusk the films began to play, and after they were done, some prizes were presented. One of the awards for the “best actress” was $3000 donated by Nicole Kidman, who is a large supporter of the festival, and in the past, celebrities including Russell Crowe have served as judges for the competition. Every year there are two Tropfests: one in Sydney and one in New York, so it’s a pretty respectable event.
Monday was the first day of classes for me and also the Academy Awards. Every year our family and friends get together and vote for who we think will win each category. The person with the most correct guesses gets the prize of all the money from the entry fees, which goes up $1 every year. I joined in via Skype, but was unable to figure out who won because I had to leave for class before it was over. I don’t think I did because I haven’t gotten any e-mails from my brother yet, who’s responsible for the details of the event. I am currently writing this blog, will be working out soon, and calling it an early night, as tomorrow is a big day for me. I have class pretty much all day from 9am-6pm with a two hour break at 2pm. I also need to take care of a few payments and emails for the clubs I have just recently joined, including: the Outdoors Club, DOUTS (Dive Organization of UTS), and Ultimate Frisbee. Also, new pictures will be added to my blogs soon. Cheers!