Anna's

Did I mention it's getting cold here?? This is as cold as it EVER gets in Perth... AT NIGHT! I'm not cut out for this stuff... damn it's cold. My nose is freezing off and my hands are red, not to mention those ears that are in pain!

The sad thing is it's only October.

My first murderous thoughts came soon after I arrived at Purdue one sunny afternoon, when the band woke me from my peaceful nap with their practice sessions on the oval right outside my dorm... and the thoughts haven't stopped since! I'm sorry to say that they practice every other day it seems, and everyday on homegame weeks. I can appreciate that it is a difficult task trying to maintain spirits and enthusiasm, especially now that the weather is getting cold at a football game, but why do they have to do it OUTSIDE MY DORM??!!!

The band consists of hundreds of brass players, not to include the flag wavers, the baton throwers and yes ofcourse the cheerleaders. On top of that there are people playing the biggest drum ever! It makes one hell of a noise that's for sure. It's actually quite a sight watching the band practice, not only do they have to play their music, they also have to dance and shake their thing while it's going. They're not only musicians, but entertainers, cheerleaders and dancers... The roads surrounding my dorm are frequently blocked due to parades by the band, seemingly for no particular reason other than a show of force.

I'm informed by an insider that on game day the band has to play pre game concerts, during the game, and after the game concert, which often stretch to 7 hour days. I admire their diligence, on hot summer days they're stuck in that ridiculous uniform of theirs, and on cold and rainy days they are still out there...

Although you couldn't pay me a million bucks to wear that ridiculous uniform of theirs!

And yes it's just like the movies!

October break is perhaps not quite as legendary as Spring Break, but since I don't have the pleasure of experiencing the hype of spring break for myself, me and Christine thought we'd make most of our pitiful few days off and go to Miami!!

I never thought I'd appreciate the warmer weather nor the beach quite so much, but damn I MISS THE BEACH! It was so nice just hanging out at the beach for hours each day. Sure it doesn't quite compare to Cottesloe or Scarborough beach, but there was something impressive about the condos that lined south beach, or the knowledge that the Versace mansion was only a block away!

Apart from the beach the days weren't too exciting, wondering around the shops in South Beach was about the highlight. They have some pretty cool shops, too bad it wasn't quite within my budget, and some of the styles were a bit too risque for me, it was still fun to wonder around though.

The nights were fun! We checked out a couple of the clubs in Miami, the most impressive would have to be the Mansion. This huge yet unassuming place from the outside was gorgeous on the inside. As you can guess, the whole place consissted of a mansion theme, with a staircase, chandelier and an armoured knight greeting you at the entrance! The dance rooms were filled with beautiful couches, roses, vines, limestone arches, stain glass window bars etc etc. It was a sight to been seen, and we felt like we were truly in Miami! The girls were beautiful and well dressed, although the same can't be said for the calibre of guys, it was still an impressive crowd.

Miami was fun! But there's something about Purdue that feels like home now...

Procrastinating has its highlights, finding 'Ask Anna' has to be one of them. It's an automated service from IKEA that is highly amusing, located at the bottom left hand corner of this page: 

http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/

Try asking questions like 'Do you want to date me', 'I hate these chairs' etc etc and see what response you get out of her... very funny...

Eg. 'I don't like your name'

Automated service Anna: 'That's entirely up to you, I don't really have an opinion on that either way.'

'*insult'

ASA: 'I am not designed to understand or feel insults, although my knowledge will surely improve after this conversation. What would you like to know about IKEA?'

Try it, better than studying guaranteed.

Two weekends ago was my first experience at football game and breakfast club, and I have to say it was crazier than I ever thought it was possible!

First I must explain breakfast club. This is when students dress up in crazy costumes and hit the bars from 6am until when the game starts at 1pm. Everything from a marshmallow to a turkey to a guy in diapers and a bib is done... it's a sight that needs to be seen to be believed. The bars are blacked out so one thinks it's the middle of the night until you go outside and the sun's shining in your eye! Great fun, but totally bizarre.

So about midday we headed over to the football match. I don't think I watched or followed much of it. Hollis was nice enough to try and explain it to me, but the sheer number of stop starts was much too confusing, then you have little people running around with two flags indicating where they are now and where they should go to... Aussie rules is so much more entertaining (GO EAGLES!). However the atmosphere was unbelievable. Cheerleaders were tossed up into the air like in 'Bring it on', the band danced and did their thing at every possible moment, flags were going off everywhere, and the people went crazy. The students had chants for when they had a touchdown, jingled their keys for another occassion, tooted on another... totally confusing. And nobody sat down, instead we all stood on the benches, waving and screaming like mad men.

This weekend's homecoming game, should be more interesting and crazy. Although I'm not sure if we'll make it to the football match since we're taking breakfast club seriously this time and hitting the bars at 7am.