Dear London Ontario,

You were once a far off and foreign city, but for the last four months we have called you our home away from home on this strange new side of the world. Each time we see you, you reveal another corner of yourself - another intricate detail that can only be seen through the light of your people. And what amazing people you have given to us. Friends that only now we realise how important have been to us in our times of need. When we feel like we can’t fit one more thing into our suitcase, or when we desperately need help getting death couch into the basement. When we’re broken and tired, when we’re sore and ill from longing for familiar sunshine you and the angels of your city are there for us. Please thank these - your people - for everything they have done for us. The laughter, the fun, the embrace of family and friends when everything in the world is unfamiliar. The words to express these things to you and your people too often escape us, so we leave it to you to pass on our thanks and our wishes and all of our love.

Always yours,
Brady

It’s been a very intense few days. With exams all finished up on Monday, we spent the rest of the week relaxing and slowly packing the endless piles of ’stuff’ we have accumulated. When Friday arrived we were ready for a party - which is what we did! We had a great night. Michael, Kenny, Vicksan, Tom, Hussein, Yemisi, Danielle, Andrew, Grayson, Frank, Meaghan, Andrej, Christine, Katie, Dan, Sid, Victoria, Jenn and a bunch of people I know I’ve forgot. It was very special that all of you came to see us off. And the police (or the fuzz as Frankie called them) only came once!

We spent all day today (Saturday) packing, moving furniture, recovering from hangovers and just wasting time bascially - but we had good company. Michael, Kenny, Yemisi, Tom and Grayson couldn’t stay away for long so they were back today to help us. Here are some photos..

It was a blast. We’ll be very sad to say goodbye to our home for the past four months. =(

So three exams down, one to go! This week has been horrid. Sick all week. Psych and Life in the City exam on Friday were not too bad. Had a drink with Michael Friday night at the Spoke, stole some caution tape from the PrideWestern closet. Studied all day Saturday, still a bit sick. Today (Sunday) I had another sociology exam which was a bit trickier, but hopefully I should pass. So down to Dante tomorrow. I’ve gone OK with the last two exams from that course, so this one shouldn’t be too hard. Then it’s all over but the laughing. Aaaand the drinking.

Wow, I don’t even know where the last week has gone. I’m quite sick at the moment, so this post might seem a bit random. I was fine until Saturday night. Everyone else was sick was me, so I was like Captain Immunity! But I woke up Sunday morning with that prophetic little irritation in my throat and it’s been downhill since then. But not to worry. It only got really bad last night, and after sleeping all day today (Monday) I’m feeling a bit better.

So on with the official news. Classes have ended. Now we’re heading towards some hateful exams. I have two on Friday, one on Sunday (for shame!) and the last one on Monday. So I’m trying to force myself to read and read and study and study.

On Wednesday, after our final Dante class, we had a Dante party at Professor Miller’s house. It was excellent! James was making some mean martinis (Dantinis), we met his infamous dog Manfred, there was some t-shirts given out for the people in the class that had completed three of the four Dante classes in the cycle and we met some cool people! Here are some photos…

Here is James with the hat he created for this semester. He has one each semester that reflects parts of the cantica we’re studying. You can’t really see it here, but he even included our very own Southern Cross constellation in the stars for Trudy and I.

Some girls from my class and I - Lauren, me, Danielle, Maggie and Vanessa.

In other news we had a relatively quiet week. I got my hair cut, went and saw Lucky Number Slevin with Tom, and on Saturday Michael took Kenny, Casey and I to Toronto where we did some clubbing. I can now say I’ve been to Woody’s and Babylon from QAF. Although Babylon is actually called Fly. Woodies was really fun. We also went to this other club called 5ive where the air conditioning was broken and we met Frankie and Grayson. After standing in a confined space with about 500 other people for an hour, the Canadians were ready to die (we were having flashbacks of some oppressive Australian summers). We stayed at this really nice hotel too, and Michael and Kenny gave us a foot-tour of Toronto on Sunday. Unfortunately everything was closed because it was Easter Sunday, but there were still a few things going on so we were quite entertained. Photos from Toronto soon.

Not long until home time now. But first, I shall focus on exams. I hope everyone is well!

Another busy weekend. Thursday night was the last pridewestern coffeehouse, so we went and had a few drinks with the crew. We’ve been there almost every thursday night since we’ve been here, and it was such a great way to meet people and get involved with Uni. Then Friday night we had a bunch of people around again for spaghetti bolognase - Kenny, Michael, Vicksan, Frank, Megan, Grayson and Hussein. It was quite fun. We played a series of card games that involved drinking and truth or dare which included Michael having to make a friend from our playstation playing next-door-neighbours apparetment, and Hussein putting on all the coats in our coat cupboard.

Saturday night we went to Michael’s to drop off the salad bowl he brought to the party the night before and then onto Jamies for some tasty goodness and some more drinks. We met some new people and saw some people we hadn’t seen in a while. Alas, we’re getting closer and closer to the time where we’ll be leaving. It’s going to be very sad to leave Canada. We’ve made alot of great friends, some of whom will hopefully come down and visit us back home in the not too distant future.

How cool are these little tickers that count down to things..

In other news, it was a big weekend! Friday Trudy and I went and saw V for Vandetta. One of the best movies I’ve seen in quite a while. VERY effective and powerful. Trudy cried the whole way through.. but it wasn’t a sad movie as such, just very powerful. Then that night we went to Vicksan’s surprise party! It was very fun. She got quite the surprise! Then we headed into town and went to this cool club called tantra I think, but it was a bit wanky. Then Saturday slept in until 3, got up and headed off to Grayson’s ‘fantasia’ birthday party which was.. educational. Then off to 181 to wait for like twenty minutes in the line to get a drink. Blast!

Sunday again was spent in bed, sleeping through the dreaded hangover which was now building up after two big nights. But wait, there’s more! Off to the PrideWestern end of year dinner at this funky italian place called Fellini Koolini’s where all these bottles were hanging from the roof. That was fun. Lots of people there I knew too. Then we went back to Michael’s with Kenny and Hussein to watch the Simpsons, but we ended up playing the old ‘philosophical question’ game. So in conclusion, big weekend. Caught up with heaps of people and met some new people too.