Well, the end of the appreciated break is coming to an end. Class intensives start back Tuesday and we start a new chapter here at Hillsong. We are no longer the same bewildered students wandering around in hallways trying to find classes, but a more mature and knowledgeable group that knows a little bit more of what to expect in the months to come. The only thing is, we only have four months to write, shoot and edit our short films. We will also have twice as many test and exams on top of being active in positions of higher responsibility.
Ok, so to recap the break....
The first week I took off to just recover from conference. I slept in and ran in the morning and in the later afternoon I would go visit and spend time with some friends. At one point we went to the city and we decided to take the ferry back but we ended up in the middle in boonies around midnight with a 45 minute walk to the nearest train station.
This week I had planned a road trip to Melbourne ( 539 miles south from Sydney in the state of Victoria). However, part of the plan fell through when one of the drivers bailed t the last minute, so a friend and I had to make a quick call to take a train there instead and meeting up with the rest of our friends (who had a car) when we got to the city. All these plans were hastily researched and put together at a party the night before. I had just enough time to go home throw some clothes in my backpack, get about two hours of sleep and meet my friend at the bus stop. When we got to train station we were told that most people book the tickets in advance and we were probably not going to get on. We found the ticket register and asked anyway and turned out there were two seats unclaimed. We bought the tickets with only minutes to spare before departure. It wasn't long after I sat down that I pulled my cap over my eyes and slept away the first few hours of the 11 hour train ride.
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| I fell asleep in a concrete jungle and woke up to this. |
When we met up with the rest of our gang in Melbourne took some time to stroll around and get a feel for the city. I found it was a city that appreciates and incorporates more art into it's streets than Sydney does. Every where we went there was a sculpture here, some abstract art there. An entire back alley was completely devoted to showcasing local street art.
A friend of ours from college, who lived 45 minutes outside downtown, had opened up her house to us while we were in town. This came as a relief not only because it was going to help out with our funds, but I had made no plans (or even looked at) any places to stay while I was there.
The next day was spent doing more exploring around the city. We went to a museum, an ancient cathedral, a massive library, and a few shops here and there. That night we went bowling at a strange club/arcade place. It reminded me the time my dad took me to Dave & Busters when I was a kid. When we returned to the bus stop, we found it completely locked down and abandoned by everyone except a handful of janitors who laughed and told us the trains had stopped running an hours ago and wouldn't be running again till 5am the next morning. At a lost for what to do, we huddled together and shot ideas back and forth. A security guard felt sorry for us and told us we could hide out in a nearby open lounge as long as we didn't fall asleep. However, we managed to make a deal with some cab drives to take us home on a flat rate.
The next day we decided to take the car into town so as not to get left behind again by the trains. We spent a few hours driving around just looking for parking. The going rate was $20.00 and hour in most places. Ironically, the best parking we could find was in one of the city's larger casinos. On the way back, the iphone we were using to guide us back died, so we were forced to use our boyscout skills and buy a map at a gas station. After many turn arounds and mix ups, we finally made it back to the ous in wee hours of the morning.
Once again, I got a few hours of sleep, (over the past few weeks, I have gotten pretty good at waking up quickly and getting on the go) rolled my clothes into tight little bundles and stuffed them back in back pack. Once again we found ourselves at the ticket office of the train station, only this time we had booked our tickets, we just had to pick them up. As he handed us our tickets, the clerk looked up at the clock and told us we had 4 minutes to board the train on platform 1...the only thing was I had no idea where platform 1 was and this particular station had multiple crowed levels. After doing a brisk running through the station we manged to find our train and be the last travelers to board as they shut the doors behind us. The train sluggishly lurched forward before we even made it to our seats.
Band of Horses makes great train riding music....
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