Fires and Fairs

If you hate being woken up in the middle of the night, then you would not have wanted to be in my shoes last night. It was 4 in the morning when I heard the worst sound ever: the fire alarm. If you've heard a fire alarm go off before, you would know it's not one of the most pleasant of experiences - your heart sinks into your stomach, and every cell in your brain screams at every nerve and muscle in your body to get up and run. So, still dazed from sleep, I pulled on a sweatshirt and walked out into the parking lot, barefeet and all. The other residents were already gathered there, and more came pouring out of the building, all wondering what was going on. We were allowed back into the building after about 10 minutes of standing around in the cold dark night. I was really happy and relieved that it wasn't a real emergency, and I went back to sleep.

So imagine how pissed off I was when the fire alarm went off again, about an hour later. The sound of the fire alarm was just plain unnerving, and it was announced over the PA system that we were to leave the building. At that point in time, it went through my mind that it must have been some prank or other, or the faulty alarm system (as had been announced previously), so I just stayed where I was and waited for the cacophony to subside. It finally did after about 5 minutes, and I went back to sleep.

I only woke up at 11 something, and at lunch (we had leftover pasta from last night's dinner, yummy!) I asked around and found out that it wasn't a prank. Apparently smoke had been detected, but the cause of it was still unknown. Another announcement over the PA system informed us that there had been some intruders (or something like that) that had vandalised the front of the building, and we were warned not to let anyone in with our keys (it's all automated, so if we hold the doors open, people behind us can follow us into the building). They also said there was a Mardi Gras fair of sorts going on in Victoria Park just opposite the IH building, and that there might be strangers walking around and stuff and to be careful and alert.

Scary stuff, I'm sure you'll agree.

Well, with that horrible experience behind us, some of decided to go to Broadway (again!), and after that we walked through Victoria Park to look at the stalls and stuff. Mardi Gras in Sydney is a gay and lesbian festival, so as we strolled around it was not unusual to see guys kissing guys, and girls holding hands with each other and stuff. Unusual back home, but not here in Sydney, nope. It was crowded and all, and decorated with so many colours and characters. There was this whole festive atmosphere, and apparently there was some dog show because there were many people holding leashes and walking really beautiful dogs around. I saw some German Shepherds, a couple of Pugs and Pitbulls, and even the occasional Chihuahua! Beautiful beautiful dogs!

Dinner today was roast beef and roasted vegetables and peas, and I also helped myself to some melon, shredded carrot and a slice of really nice cake (tasted faintly of coffee). After that I went to the computer lab (we have one with about 8 or 9 computers conveniently located in our building) and managed to log onto Facebook quite easily. I'm thinking I might have to use the computer lab from now on if I'm ever to upload anymore pictures on my blog. As I've mentioned previously, the connection is just too weak and/or unstable from my room, and it's just plain frustrating to have to wait for 2 hours just to upload a single picture (that's if it's even successful, mostly it's just a very successful waste of time). So that's it for today. Tomorrow I think I've got a free day, as my faculty only has events for the undergraduates. Tuesday will be my enrolment, and I'm kinda worried about that. So bye people, and cheers!