That's right, I have a blog!!

Juuuuuuuuust kidding, I didn't forget about you guys, it's just that I've literally done nothing but schoolwork for the past month (or so it seems), and so I haven't had anything too exciting to report.  They really don't warn you about all the work you're going to have to do while you're here, but I guess it's always good to learn things while you're in school. :P  Like I said, there have only been a few noteworthy things that have happened since the last time I posted, so I'll give you all the rundown of those.  A couple weekends ago, a group of us went to the local aquarium for the day.  We'll just say it was unlike any aquarium that I've ever been to.  I won't go into detail about the types of creatures they had there, because anyone who's interested can always go on facebook and see pictures, which will be MUCH more interesting I'm sure.  One thing they did have at this aquarium that was really cool was a moving sidewalk thing that went around in a circle, with only a glass tube separating us from every kind of aquatic critter you could think of.  We literally had sharks swimming within inches of our faces, and giant rays flying right over our heads!  The aquarium also had a really cool gift shop, where I bought an authentic Aboriginal boomerang as a souvenir.  A short walk down the boardwalk, there were shops and restaurants that we visited during lunch time, and a number of us got burritos, in honor of it being cinco de mayo.  The day after the aquarium, a group of guys from Notre Dame, the University of Portland and Saint John's went to the local course here in Fremantle for an afternoon of golf.  There was rain in the forecast, and we weren't sure if we were going to be able to get a round in, but we ended up having some extremely nice weather, and everyone seemed to have a really good time.  This past weekend turned out to be a pretty enjoyable one as well.  For starters, it was the first weekend in a long time (for a lot of us anyway) that we didn't have giant assignments due the next week, so we FINALLY had the opportunity to relax.  On Saturday, six of us went out with our Australian History professor (who happens to be a well-renowned archaeologist) to one of his excavation sites.  Apparently, it was an area that had been occupied by at least 500 British settlers when the west coast of Australia was first colonized in 1829.  For this reason, he expected us to have a lot of success finding artifacts, and we were definitely not disappointed.  We were constantly pulling things out of the site throughout the day, including clothing buttons, game pieces, shoe leather, gun flints, musket balls, and a number of partially intact glass bottles.  It was my expectation coming into the experience that an exciting day at an archaeological site would involve coming across one or two loosely distinguishable artifacts.  For this reason, I was blown away by how much we were finding, and it really made for a fantastic experience for all of us.  For lunch, we walked to a restaurant just down the street and got burgers.  I ordered one with "the works", which ended up including egg, beetroot, tomato, lettuce, bacon, and ketchup.  It was absolutely delicious.  After we were done for the day, Shane (our professor) asked us if we were in any hurry to get back to Fremantle, to which we all responded that we were not.  He then proceeded to take us to a local pub and buy us all drinks as a thank you for helping him out for the day.  This was a really strange concept for me at first, as I haven't come across any professors that I would do this with back home, but before long we were all talking and laughing like we had known each other for years.  Saturday was a really great day.  As great as Saturday was, however, Sunday definitely gave it a run for its money.  On Sunday, a big group of us caught the train to the local Australian rules football stadium and watched the Fremantle Dockers take on the Port Adelaide Power.  It turns out that "footy", as it is known here in Australia, is an extremely entertaining sport to watch.  There were over 30,000 people at the game, and it made me miss going to Twins games back home (even though the Twins suck this year).  We sat in the third row at field level, so we had a great view of what was happening on the field.  At one point, there was even a streaker that got tackled by the security officers.  Apparently, some things are the same in Australia as they are at home.  Ultimately, our boys from Fremantle proved too much for Port Adelaide to handle, and the Dockers won the game 87-47.  All things considered, this past weekend may have been one of the best I've had since I started this trip, which is really saying something.  Now it looks as though I'll have a couple of relaxing weeks before I have a couple papers due, and then I'll need to start studying for finals.  A group of us are planning on sticking around Perth for study week and seeing the things in the area that we haven't seen since we've been here, so I'll be sure to let you all know how that goes.  Other than that, I can't promise too many more blog posts, mostly because I'll be home before you know it!  I believe we have somewhere between five and six weeks left now, and my goal the rest of the way is to make the most of the time we have here, because I honestly don't know if I'll ever be back (which is a little bit sad).  That being said, I'm SO excited to get home and see my family and friends, and I even get to go straight from Australia to the annual Pekarna family vacation in Wisconsin!  The fun just never ends!  Until next time, a quote that I plan to live by for the rest of my time here, and something to think about in all of our lives:

"Much may be done in those little shreds and patches of time which every day produces, and which most men throw away."~ Charles Caleb Colton