Day Thirteen in Oz

To my minimal readership:

I started this blog to inform my friends of my daily adventures here in Australia but I have no idea who actually reads this blog. The goal of it really is to minimize repeating my stories over and over. Everyone knows that when I tell a story more than once, I get a little more excited and thus a little more exaggerated. It's a flaw of mine but it makes for good comedy.

Speaking of comedy, my first day of school happened yesterday! I only had one class to attend but I was rather nervous about the whole ordeal. I remember my first day of kindergarden, high school and, yes, university. While they were not particularly exciting in any direction, I am always enveloped by two emotions: absolute paranoia and euphoria. It's a bit of a contradiction, yeah?

Yesterday was an above average day. My paranoia was nicely balanced with euphoria (like a fine wine you could say) so I was pretty much a happy zombie. I found my class early, went to the bathroom to wipe the sweat dripping down my temple (30+ heat guys) and made it in time to meet Adrian. How do I describe Adrian? Here are the basics: He's from Jamaica and he's a student here at Newcastle. He looks to be about 35 and has dreads that are almost down to his knees. He's got a gnarly goatee and a booming voice. You ask him to whisper and you've got a dull roar coming from his throat.

Here are the not-so-basic details about Adrian: I could be wrong but I think he uses a lot of drugs. He's obviously Rastafarian (no big deal) but he's got the cocaine pinky fingernail going on. Forgive me if that serves for more purposes than cutting coke-- I feel so white and naive right now-- but either way, it's disturbing. That's not even the big deal. Adrian has a strange but charming personality (this could be the drugs too). He's very loud, as I've mentioned, but he acts as though he's always on a soapbox. I first encountered him at an International Student Orientation and he shouted at the Dean of the University about his ideology on thinking. 'Just stood up in front of hundreds and said, "Mista! You say we should ask questions! Well, I've got a question for youuu! How come you don' let us ask more questions!? You say we should ask questions but you've ignored my question this whole time!" (He turns to the audience) "My friends! My classmates! We need to ask more questions! MORE QUESTIONS!"

The Dean had to backpedal a lot of what his speech was about to accommodate Adrian's frank outburst. And while I admired Adrian's boldness, I also recoiled into an extra quiet and tentative listener to the rest of the speeches. I'm a wimp, what can I say...

Anyway, Adrian is in my Philosophy class, Democracy, Economy and Global Warming. This would be the class I started my first day off with. I told you I found the room early, went to the washroom and came back to see a man wearing the kind of jester hat you'd win at The Ex. It was bright green and yellow with "Australia" written across it. He had a matching outfit (I have no idea where he shops) and had two different pairs of shoes on. He approached me and asked, "I'm Adrian Fire--- (I couldn't catch it)... What your name?" I said, "MacKenzie." He smiled and turned to the nervous girl beside me and asked her for her name. She said, "Sarah." He burst into a very loud compliment about every single Sarah he had met. He said they were so lovely and pretty and nice. She moved closer to me and nervously nodded every now and then. It didn't seem to phase him because he kept asking her questions about the name, "Sarah."

About this time, a prof came out to ask Adrian to quiet down. He turned to her, made some kind of nod or gesture and turned right back to Sarah in his usual speaking tone. Several people around us just stood to see this Rastafarian Jester seduce a frightened law student named "Sarah."

Luckily, we got to go into class despite the fact that the prof had yet to show up. With no time, Adrian got up on the prof's podium and went onto his computer. He spent several minutes clicking buttons, making grunt noises and searching for something. I was casually watching him and talking to a girl sitting beside me when something like a bomb went off in my ears. Adrian had gone on to youtube to play this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yjd6yBAdKr4

You have to understand that the volume was so loud that my desk was rattling next to my classmate's desk. It didn't seem to phase Adrian though because he started rocking back and forth to the music, shouting, "My friends! Freedom! Love yourself! This Prof is amazing! He'll teach you many things! Freedom! Have a good time!" As he gained momentum, he started really dancing in front of the class. About this time, a few Profs from other lecture rooms came in to yell at him. They were trying to talk him down from the podium when my professor walked in. He saw Adrian dancing and yelling and about three men and one woman trying to reason with him or yell at him.

About the time the video was done, Adrian was ending his mayhem. My prof kind of burst out laughing and said, "Welcome back, Adrian. I think you've pissed off this entire floor." Adrian just replied, "I'm here for a good time!" Beautifully, my prof picked up Adrian's line and started his lecture with, "Well, the funny thing is is that there is a direct correlation between 'having a good time' and Global Warming... Why might that be?"

I felt as though I was in a Terry Zwigoff film or a Daniel Clowes comic. Even I couldn't exaggerate such characters or capture such a weird moment in reality. I live for these moments.

I have to thank Adrian for making my university experience absolutely fantastic so far. I hope to see more shit go down throughout the year...

Please send me a message about your life. I do want to know how you are ... and if you respond on this page, I know that my blog is not an exercise of echoing stories back to myself. :)

I hope the youtube video works. I'm not exactly tech-savvy, so let me know.

Love,

Kenzie