day-light saving ends....winter is here?!

because the majority of australians live along the coast (there are nothing but desert and ayres rock inland), there is this common misconception amongst aussies, that only the cities close to the borders are livable. this was evident when i tried to promote exchange to the US at the expo last week. i sat behind this desk, which was covered mostly with pamphlets and photos of UIUC and various other universities in the US. throughout the whole 4 hours i was there, every single person that came my way would ask,
"could you tell me more about exchange to UCLA?" or
"i'm thinking about going to NYU..."
they had just about inquired about every single university around the border of the US!!
being loyal and an orange-and-blue fan that i am, i tried to promote UIUC to everyone i talked to. The question that followed would be
"Where's Univ. of Illinois?"
"Well, it's sort of midwest..", I'd explain as I showed them my hand drawn map of the US with a big dot to represent Urbana Champaign.
"It's MIDwest? like, in the MIDDLE of the country?!?!" was the most common bewildered response.
what could i say?!
i usually resort to asking them what they study. If they say, for example, accounting, engineering or psych etc., i would go onto telling them that Uof I has this great program for their degree. but then, i got accused several times of trying to hard to promote my exchange university. Eeeeeek.
so by the end of the day, i was sad and disappointed that i did not get to share about that amazing piece of cornfield with others. but wait! there was light at the end of the tunnel.
this guy came up to my desk and said "Wow, Univ. of Illinois? Home of the Fighting Illini?! Wow, the basketball game last year was awesome! Tell me more!!"
yay! 1 point, illinois! :D

my friend nao has finaly left for home (hiroshima) after 6 weeks in sydney! she said she thinks her english deteriorated after this trip and she doens't know why. must be aussie english or something. anyway, shes' my first friend made on the plane! i met her on the trip back to sydney around 6 weeks ago...pretty amazing huh! she taught me a bit of japanese but my brain isn't as spongy as it once was....i dont remember much actually. i am looking forward to visiting her one day in japan!!

ooooh yeah, i've finally caught up to season 4 now for 24 :) this season's plotline does not seem to have the suspicions of the previous and also there is seriously a lack of mystery!! i'm a bit disappointed because i didn't find myself thinking "I can't believe that just happened!!!". but, nevertheless, it is still my favourite show ever ...so happy that Almeida and Michelle are still on the show! looking forward to season 5..I hear it's the best season ever! been wanting to download 24 CTU's ringtone on my mobile phone...but I think my model is too old or something...doesn't seem to work. boooooo. but good that i'm not crazy enough to change my mobile so i could get the ringtone :)