Week seventeen: Hallowe'en and library crazies.

This week has been the polar opposite of last week. It started off with a bang in the form of a Hallowe'en party at the house on the hill. Being hosted by Americans, the theme was general fancy dress, rather than exclusively scary outfits. Liz, Kirst, Roseanna and I went as the four seasons (not the hotel chain) - we were Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, respectively. The costumes were fun: as Spring, Liz wore a floral dress, with a giant, fluorescent green butterfly on her back and flowers in her hair; Kirsty went as a Summer strawberry; Roseanna stuck homemade autumnal leaves in her hair, and wore a dress patterned with leaves. I drew snowflakes onto a white top with glitter glue, and wore a white broderie anglais skirt. I covered myself in white glitter and turned a silver tree decoration into a headband... It worked fairly well, though a week later, I am still finding glitter everywhere... There were some pretty impressive themes at the party. The full cast of the Incredibles turned out; they were joined by a Rainbow fish, a discoball, a censored nudist, Robin Hood, a Zombie prostitute.... I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

Spring-Summer-Autumn-Winter

She's purdy.

Rainbow fish! Such a good costume!

Strawberry eating a pear...

Human disco ball and a Robin Hood Mummy

Oh golly gosh.

Snow White, you're so pretty!

Tuesday began the trend for the week to come. Far removed from the antics of the night before, the day was spent trying to work in quiet despair.In the afternoon, a group of us escaped campus for Church Street, where Dom cooked some amazing Leek soup, we sweet-talked our way into a free box of german cookies from the soon-to-open restaurant down the street, and Anna, James and Nathan sang at the Great Northern open mic night. It was a pretty nice, chilled way to end a stressful day.

Wednesday was - quelle surprise - a library day.
Thursday was - can you guess? - a library day.
Friday was... well, you get the gist of it.

Friday evening was the date of the Beach Party, which we had planned in a fit of coursework-induced library rage several weeks prior. Though the initials invitations extended to some 40 people, word spread and by the evening, over 100 people had clicked 'attending' on the facebook event - with another 50 or so yet to commit. 7pm came and went, and there less than 10 people there. It seemed to be doomed to fail. However, at some point the crowds descended and by midnight there must have been close to 100 people sat on Newcastle Beach. It wasn't particularly rowdy, it was just a really nice way to chill after the hellishly repetitive library days preceding.

Happy beachy times!

Saturday was spent, once again, in the library. One thing I have noticed about Newcastle is the lack of library users during exam season. When coursework deadlines were looming, the libraries - whilst not as full as UEA library gets - were packed with a reasonable amount of people. Any UEA-ers reading this will, I'm sure, have experienced the frantic hunt for a spare desk/computer/carrel/patch of floor which ensues if you arrive at the library during revision time, after about 9am. The libraries here are deserted. On Saturday, Liz and I were each able to take up an entire booth, and the desks were all but empty. It was a ghost town.

In the evening, Nathan cooked fried rice, and Liz and I walked to MarketTown to buy chocolate and cider (ever the classy girls) for our camping trip. Ten of us piled into cars and headed for Glenrock state conservation reserve. There, we found a clifftop with panoramic views over a deserted beach. It was gorgeous! We lit up a bonfire and some incense, baked some potatoes and Nathan played the guitar. It was fun! We all snuggled down in sleeping bags under the stars, and slept surprisingly well, considering we were on a slope... In the morning, Liz poked me awake as the sun rose. It was so pretty! We all looked a little dazed, but the sky was every shade of pink and orange and blue. At 7am, Liz and I walked the 6km back to Church Street, as she had work and I had revision. Siiiigh.

Hahaha oh Lizzie...

6am sunrise over the South Pacific :)

So pretty!

Wakey wakey

Today has been, yet again, a library day. I am currently counting down the days - something I hate doing, but it is the only way to keep myself in the library, reading up on platyhelminthes and lophotrochozoa, when the mercury is hitting 32 degrees and the sky is a cloudless blue... 3 days until I finish exams. One week til I hand in my last paper. Three weeks til Melbourne.

The summer is so close I can almost taste it. Three days-One week-Three weeks-43 days.