Another gorgeous day! Threatening rain clouds have been looming over Sydney the past few days. Today, however, is so nice and sunny! I'm considering taking my books out onto the lawn of the Great Hall to enjoy the weather for a bit.

I am stuck in Fisher Library for much of the day. I arrived on campus at about 8:15 this morning. I took the L23 rather than the 423, and I'm really not impressed with the amount of time it took to get here. The "L" buses are limited stops buses, but I guess morning traffic is the ultimate decider of the length of time the commute takes. I wasn't late for anything, so no need to whinge on about it!

My treat to myself for tomorrow is going to be a trip to The State Library of New South Wales. I have a reader's card for the collections, so I'm going to go through their education resources to see what sorts of stats or referential material they have on first-generation university students in NSW. As it stands now, I'll pack my lunch and have it in the Botanical Gardens just down Macquarie Street from the library. In the evening, before I catch the bus back to Undercliffe, I'll take a bit of a break by going to the Museum of Contemporary Art at Circular Quay. I've yet to make it through all the collections there!

I am going to take a little trip to Macquarie University soon to have a look at their archival material on university students from the 1980s. They have a repository of interviews that my supervisor and I reckon would make for some great comparative material. I can't wait to have a look at it!

I rang the president of the Five Dock Rotary Club this morning. He was a very nice guy (and another fan of Judith's/served as her secretary when she was DG) who put me in touch with another gentleman to schedule my speaking engagement. The second guy is planning to check the calendar and put me down to speak to their club soon. He asked if I could come on April 23rd, but I'm already scheduled to speak at the Marrickville club on that day. Either way, he was keen to get me on the list---which is VERY reassuring! I was worried that folks wouldn't want to hear my presentation, as there are two other American scholars in this same district. In fact, we all go to the same university! I didn't think I would be the only American scholar based in Sydney. It's just a bit odd that three of us are in the same city!
I also tried to ring a lady in the West Wollongong club, too. She wasn't in, but I plan to try to ring her again at 4 p.m. I was told that would be the best time to get hold of her. Hopefully I will be able to schedule a speaking engagement with them soon! We shall see...
Alina says she figures if I go to Wollongong for an evening meeting they would surely invite me to spend the night there, as it's an hour or two by train. I don't mind either way---I'm not going to expect anyone to put me up. In fact, I think it would be nice to have a night ride back on the train!

Oh! Scary story time... There was a huge huntsman spider on the ceiling of my room the other morning! It was the biggest spider I've actually seen in person. I didn't know what kind it was at first, and I wasn't about to try to coax it down without knowing what it was capable of. Besides, I HATE spiders, and I didn't want to get near it at all. I sat at my desk for almost two hours and just watched it. It was in no hurry to move, which is good. When Desiree woke up and came stumbling through the hall I yelled for her to come have a look. She said it was a huntsman and that they are very fast and can jump. That made me glad I hadn't poked at it with a broom!
She had her coffee before attempting to get it out of my room. Ultimately, she used my trash can to catch it. That spider was so fast! It scurried across the wall an she finally pinned it in the trash can, but when she tried to move it the spider got free and jumped onto my desk. It landed in my organizer tray. Luckily for us, the tray is right in front of my then open window. She got out on the balcony and lifted the tray out of the window and got the spider out and over the balcony.
I thought that was the day I would die---particularly of a heart attack!

Well...that's it for now! I have taken a long enough break, and there really isn't much else to go on about just yet.

Until next time...