Sarah the Nomad: Hey Hey Hey Day

I guess I'll start writing... It's the best method of procrastination... I'm in the middle of what Penn calls 'Reading Days' - though I haven't done much reading. It's basically SWOTVAC or however it's spelt. I have papers due, and, yes, that's right kids, MY FIRST EXAM IN MY ENTIRE UNIVERSITY CAREER! Uh huh! My first exam EVER! So excited/anxious/can't be bothered studying even though i know i really should.... oh well.

Well, they were right when they said that spring semester in the best to come on exchange at Penn. Actually, the people at Melbourne Uni's Study Abroad office didn't say that - they had no clue. The people I meet here, they first told me that this is THE best time to come, and that when people study abroad, they always make sure to travel in the fall. I mean autumn. I hope my accent hasn't changed that much. Oh god. Please please don't hold it against me! I live with them! I'm friends with them! I can't help being completely surrounded by Americans! Arghhhh!

So, why is spring the best semester at Penn? Well, the transition from the absolutely freeeezing cold to lovely sunny and warm spring days is always a pleasure to experience. But so what? The season's change all over the world...
Well, this semester contains Spring Break, Spring Fling, and Hey Day. Now, you've seen the great pics from both Spring Break and Fling (and now my parents think I'm an alchoholic!) and so here are the photos from Hey Day....

What's Hey day, you ask? I have no idea where the name comes from, but it's a great excuse to get drunk (again) and have a food fight. What? What's the point in that? (And now I'm really sounding like an alcoholic!) It's a hazing process for the juniors (third year uni students) and through it they become seniors (fourth-years/graduating students..like me). I cheated, since I'm a senior, but I'm an international student, so I can get away with anything!

Hey Day juniors buy red tee shirts and styrofoam hats and canes and have a big picnic in one of the fields on campus. There is free food/barbecue, and music for those who want to dance. In the morning I went to a friend's champagne breakfast, where we dined on pancakes, fruit, pina coladas and mojitos. Love it. But my aussie friends and I (Amma and Maija and I) saw that we weren't dressed appropriately (we were dressed nicely.. boy was that going to be a mistake). We were urged to go down to the picnic and buy a red t-shirt and then go home and change into our worst clothing and take off all jewellery, watches, and we were even recommended to buy disposable cameras so as not to damage our good digital snappers. Uh oh! After I went home and changed, I went to another party held in Anna's (another editor of FIrst Call) room. There I was convinced by my mexican friend Krystal to share some of her tequila... Uh oh......

That's Krystal and Lauren (the exec editor of First Call)...

That's me having a shot of tequila by myself in the corner... by the time I had arrived at Anna's, everyone had already been drinking for an hour... I had to catch up....

Then Krystal and I decided to go to a mexican restaurant Mad 4 Mex for some Margeritas and Nachos. And that put me away for the afternoon... whoa. Mad4 has these margerita's called Big Azz margeritas.... mmm and they are huge! Filled with a lot of tequila as well... If it wasn't for those drinks, however, I don't know how I would have stood for being covered in crap during the Hey Day procession down the main thoroughfare of campus.. But I'll get to that soon....

So these are some fabulous photos I took with my disposable camera at the Hey Day picnic. I'll label them at the bottom...