#i’m from the US but i studied abroad in australia!

[notyouraryang0dd3ss]

Hii the aussie anon back to show you the link!!!

https://www.tiktok.com /@jesustaylorsversion/video /7352252448838307104

(i broke it up because i wanna remain anon)

Also quick question, what country are you form?(Don't need to answer)

😭

[ssprayberrythings]

home is a person | OP81

oscar piastri x student!female reader / smau fic

fc: maude apatow 

pov: you’re a student studying abroad in australia and during this time there, you realize home isn’t always a place but rather a person. in your case you find your home with mclaren's f1 driver, oscar piastri. 

warnings: mention of alcohol (beer bong too), other than that just emotional fluff !!

i already have plans for a part two but please let me know your thoughts !!!

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yourusername posted on their story

📍melbourne, australia 

caption: i’ll miss my child while im travelling 

yourusername posted on their instagram  

liked by friend1, yourbestfriend, yourmom, friend2 & others liked 

summer adventures 🔆 

view all comments 

friend1: youre so cute 

friend2: y/n we miss you 

╰ yourusername: i’ll be back soon. i promise 

yourmom: my sunshine child 

╰ liked by yourusername 

yourbestfriend posted on their story

📍sydney, australia 

caption: haven’t seen her in weeks and she brings a book to our lunch ☹️ 

╰ yourusername: i was only reading it until you got to the restaurant 

-

friend2 posted on their story

📍melbourne, australia 

caption: don’t be fooled, she’s actually happy to be home 

╰ yourusername: sure, whatever you say 

You loved all your friends but you had only been back in Melbourne for not even 48 hours and they were already dragging you to a BBQ party when all you wanted was to be in your apartment curled up with your cat, Timmy while reading a book. 

“I promise if within an hour you really aren’t enjoying yourself, you are more than welcome to leave. I’ll even promise to order the uber” your friend told you “Deal” you agreed. You enjoyed your parties but you also enjoyed some peace and quiet, right now you wanted the latter. 

You arrived at the party and made your way to the backyard with your friend. You had brought a pack of coolers with you, being raised never to show up empty handed to someones house. “I’m gonna go put these with the rest of the alcohol, Im sure I’ll see you around” you told the friend you had arrived with and then set off to find the alcohol table, mostly to put the coolers down but to also get yourself a drink, you needed one if you were planning on seeing this through. 

You found the booze table and put the coolers down, then scanned what other alcohol they had. You opted for making a vodka, lemonade. Once you had a red solo cup in your cup, another friend of yours passed by and asked if you wanted to come play beer pong. You just shrugged and said “sure”, you didn’t mind a good game every once and awhile. 

When the two of you got to the beer pong table, two boys stood at the one end. You had to admit they were both good looking, however the blonde one had caught your eye. “Is it us against you two or how are we doing this?” your friend asked, both boys shared a look “We can split up” the brunette boy suggested “I’ll be your partner” he added referring to your friend 

“Are you okay with that?” your friend asked turning to you “Fine by me” you said as you walked to the other end of the table where the blonde boy stood “Just don’t be mad when we beat you” you added looking at your friend chuckling slightly “Oh you're on” she laughed. 

“I’m Oscar” the blonde boy introduced himself “I’m Y/N” you offered him a smile, he seemed familiar but you couldn’t tell from where “Are you good at this?” you asked taking a sip of your drink while your friend and his friend introduced themselves to each other “Eh I’m decent” he answered your question, laughing slightly “We can win with decent” you joked making him laugh again. 

One game of beer pong later, you and Oscar had won against your friend and his friend “Yes!” you exclaimed as the last ball went in, indicating you had won “Good job” Oscar told you holding his hand up for a high five which you gladly gave to him “We make a good team” you said as a small blush appeared on his face “We do” Oscar agreed with you. 

From that point on, the two of you spent the rest of the party together getting to know each other, playing a few more games of beer pong, dancing a bit, overall having a great time together.

When the night was coming to a close and you were walking to meet your friend to go home, Oscar was right by your side “Is there any way I could get your number?” he asked scratching the back of his neck “Yeah but under one condition” you started “You have to take me on a date” he blushed but chuckled “I can definitely do that”. 

Once your numbers were exchanged and you shared a quick hug goodbye, you were in your uber with your friend “Aren’t you glad I made you come” she smirked looking at you, you just rolled your eyes. The both of you knowing she was right but there was no need to say it aloud. 

-

yourusername posted on their story

📍melbourne, australia 

caption: planned or candid? guess we’ll never know 🤭

╰ yourbestfriend: MISS Y/N WHO TOOK THIS 

╰ yourusername: i’ll tell you after the date 

╰ yourbestfriend: DATE!!! FACETIME ME WHEN YOU GET HOME, I NEED ALL THE DETAILS !!

more replies…

╰ friend1: happy to see oscar took you somewhere nice 

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yourusername posted on their instagram 

📍australia  

liked by yourbestfriend, oscarpiastri, friend1 & others liked 

perks of being home 📸🐨🌅

tagged: oscarpiastri 

view all comments 

yourbestfriend: THIS IS HIM 

╰ yourusername: 🤦🏻‍♀️

oscarpiastri: cant tell whose cuter; the koala bear or the person who took the picture of the koala bear 

╰ yourusername: i vote the koala bear 

╰ oscarpiastri: i have to disagree ;)

╰ yourusername: guess we can agree to disagree ;) 

oscarpiastri posted on their instagram

📍melbourne, australia  

liked by landonorris, yourusername, yourbestfriend & others liked 

im definitely enjoying this time off from racing 

tagged: yourusername

view all comments 

yourusername: still never getting over how you casually said you were an f1 driver 

╰ oscarpiastri: 🤷🏼‍♂️

landonorris: now i know why you’ve been taking forever to answer my texts 

╰ oscarpiastri: i’ve had other things to do

piastrixnorris: WAIT DOES OSCAR HAVE A GF !?

f1fan_: OSCAR PIASTRI, ARE YOU A TAKEN MAN ?? 

wagupdates_: we’ll solve the mystery. its our duty 😎

-

yourusername posted on their instagram   

liked by yourbestfriend, oscarpiastri, friend1, yourmom & others liked 

limit of happiness exceeded 🧡 

tagged: oscarpiastri 

view all comments 

oscarpiastri: my happy place 

╰ yourusername: 🥰🥹😘

oscarpiastri: timmy my adopted son 

╰ yourusername: he loves you, maybe more than me 

╰ oscarpiastri: that was my goal this whole time 😏

friend1: i’m taking a nap on the freeway tonight 

╰ friend2: im joining you 

yourbestfriend: he still needs the best friend stamp of approval 

╰ yourusername: we’ll come to sydney before his break is over, i promise 

╰ liked by yourbestfriend 

oscarpiastri posted on their instagram   

liked by yourusername, landonorris, alex_albon, yourbestfriend & others liked 

my happy place is next to you 

tagged: yourusername 

view all comments 

f1fan: AWE 

user4: THEY’RE DEF DATING 

user81: SHES SO PRETTY 

piastripastry: OSCAR UR GF IS STUNNING FR 

╰ liked by oscarpiastri

wagupdates_: GUESS WE HAVE A NEW WAG ADDED TO THE LIST 

yourusername: thats so funny, my happy place is next to you, what are the chances 

╰ oscarpiastri: no way, we must be made for each other or something 😉

╰ yourusername: seems that way 😏

user20: im silently sobbing at their comments to each other

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yourusername posted on their instagram  

liked by yourbestfriend, oscarpiastri, friend1 & others liked 

for anyone wondering: f1 drivers make the best bfs 

tagged: oscarpiastri 

view all comments 

yourbestfriend: he gets the best friend stamp of approval now 

╰ yourusername: YAY 

oscarpiastri: girls named y/n make the best gfs 

╰ yourusername: ur so cheesy, keep it going 

╰ oscarpiastri: for you, anything 

friend1: does he have any single f1 friends ??? 

╰ yourusername: let me get back to you on that 

╰ friend2: i’m wondering this too

╰ yourusername: 😅

oscarpiastri posted on their story  

caption: my adopted son timmy & his mother 👨‍👩‍👦 @yourusername 

╰ yourusername: we love you 😘

more replies: 

╰ user12: ok cuteness overload 

╰ user14: this is too cute 

╰ user2: oscar you're killing us

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yourbestfriend posted on their story  

caption: cuties @yourusername @oscarpiastri

╰ yourusername: oh my..you’re the worst 

╰ yourbestfriend: you love me though 

oscarpiastri posted on their story 

📍 sydney, australia  

caption: boat days ⛵️ @yourusername

╰ yourusername: ❤️

-

yourusername posted on their instagram 

📍 sydney, australia  

liked by oscarpiastri, yourbestfriend, friend1 & others liked 

i’ve become one with the sea 🩵

view all comments 

yourbestfriend: today was so fun! the four of us need to hangout together more ! 

╰ liked by yourusername & oscarpiastri

friend1: youre the cutest 

╰ yourusername: 🥰

oscarpiastri: i wonder who took these photos of you 🤔

╰ yourusername: some australian man who tagged along with us🤷🏻‍♀️

╰ oscarpiastri: hmm..hes a good photographer

╰ yourusername: hes alright..;) 

-

Things between you and Oscar had been going so smoothly. Obviously he had to get back to racing pretty soon which was why you were making the most with the time you had, not that either of you minded spending pretty much everyday together. 

Right now you were sitting on your balcony, enjoying the morning breeze, while Oscar was still sleeping. He had spent the night because yesterday you had gone to Sydney for a boat day with your best friend and her boyfriend and by the time you got back, it was pretty late.

You didn’t want Oscar driving back to his place so you offered for him to stay which he gladly accepted and you were able to fall asleep cuddled up together. 

Your cat was curled up in your lap while you read a book. You were so engaged with your book, you didn’t notice Oscar walking out of your room and coming into the kitchen, seeing you on the balcony. He didn’t want to startle you so he walked over to the door, tapping on the side to get your attention before speaking 

“Morning” he smiled at you “Morning, did you sleep well?” you asked as you put your bookmark in your book and shut it. He nodded while a yawn escaped his lips “Do you want a coffee? or I can make us breakfast” you suggested as you picked your cat up and got up walking to the door. 

Oscar moved to the side to let you in and shut the door behind you “Why don’t we go out for breakfast” he offered “This way you can just rest” he explained as he walked over to where you stood by your kitchen counter, where you had put your book down, gently putting a hand on your lower back. “Sure, I like that idea” you told him as you smiled looking up at him “I just need a few minutes to get ready and we can go, I actually know the perfect place” “Sounds good, also I was wondering if you had a spare toothbrush” he asked laughing slightly.

You laughed with him and nodded your head “Follow me” you instructed and brought Oscar to your bathroom to show him where you kept spare toiletries incase anyone ever needed anything while they were here. 

“Thanks” he told you once he had a toothbrush in his hand “Anytime, when you’re done just make yourself at home and I’ll be ready soon” you told him.

As you turned to walk away to get ready, Oscar grabbed your wrist causing you to stay in place, he leant down giving you a quick peck on the lips “Sorry Ive just been wanting to do that since I woke up” he told you blushing. 

You had a small blush on your own cheeks, he truly was the cutest person you knew “No need to apologize, you're welcome to do that whenever you want” you told him causing him to blush even more but then he broke into a boyish grin and stepped closer, putting his hands on your cheeks and kissing you properly.

It didn’t matter to either of you if you both had morning breath, all you cared about was each other and getting to do this as much as you could before Oscar left to get back into the world of F1. 

yourusername posted on their story  

caption: my favourite breakfast spot + my favourite boy 🧡 

╰ oscarpiastri: ❤️

-

yourusername posted on their instagram        

liked by yourbestfriend, oscarpiastri, friend2, landonorris & others liked 

got my film developed..finally 🫡

tagged: yourbestfriend, oscarpiastri, friend1, friend2 

view all comments 

friend1: omg these are so cute

╰ liked by yourusername 

yourbestfriend: wait that pic of me is actually so cute, can you send me it 🥹

╰ yourusername: already did ❤️

oscarpiastri: im so lucky 🥰😍

╰ yourusername: brb blushing 

╰ landonorris: who knew oscar had riz

╰ oscarpiastri: who let you here 

╰ landonorris: y/n accepted my follow request..finally 

╰ yourusername: sorry, takes me forever to do things 😆

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yourusername posted on their story 

caption: my favourite view 😏 @oscarpiastri

╰ oscarpiastri: youre my favourite everything 😏

╰ yourusername: real smooth..😆 

oscarpiastri posted on their story  

caption: i’ll miss you more than australia’s sunsets @yourusername 

╰ yourusername: dont remind me that youre leaving soon 

╰ yourusername: i need these next couple days not to fly by..

╰ oscarpiastri: i know :( 

-

It was the day you and Oscar were most dreading, the day he had to leave Melbourne to get back to work. You had told him you would drive him to the airport, wanting to spend every minute you could with him before he left. 

You made casual conversation on the drive over, not wanting to think about the fact you’d be doing long distance, not sure when you’d get to see each other next. You were going into your final year of your degree and would be in classes which meant you probably wouldn’t be able to attend the races. 

Unfortunately you arrived at the airport faster than you hoped you would. You parked in the parking lot and got out of the vehicle once you turned the car off. You went to help Oscar with his bags “I got it” he told you, putting his backup on and then grabbing his suitcase handle with his one hand “Just hold my hand” he told you smiling and reaching to intertwine your fingers. 

The two of you walked hand in hand towards the entrance. Because Oscar had some fame to his name, you were able to stay with him until he had to start boarding and then security would safely escort you back to your car, per request of Oscar himself. Luckily due to the time of day, there weren’t any fans that he could see but he didn’t want to risk it. 

You sat in the waiting area for his flight to be called, you had your head resting on his shoulder “I’m gonna miss you so much” you told him softly “I know, I’m gonna miss you too” he expressed the same mutual feeling. 

“I’ll be cheering you on from home for every race though” you added lifting your head up and looking at him, he smiled at your comment “Knowing youre watching is all the incentive I need to make sure I do good. I gotta make my girl proud” he said lifting your intertwined hands and giving them a kiss.

He could be such a hopeless romantic at times and it always made your stomach do cartwheels, you didn’t know how you got so lucky with Oscar. 

Some time passed before his flight was called causing the two of you stand, forced to look at each other not wanting to say goodbye but knowing you had to.

“Go be a brilliant F1 driver” you told him, not wanting to say anything more or else you might cry “Come here” he said opening his arms, knowing you were doing your best not to cry. 

It could be alot dating someone in Oscar’s field constantly having to say goodbye and not knowing when you’d be able to see each other next. You walked into his arms wrapping your arms around his waist as he wrapped his around you.

A moment passed before you pulled away, if he didn’t leave now, he’d miss his flight. “Text me when you land, I don’t care about the time difference” you told him “Of course” he told you as he picked up his backpack and you made your way to the doors to the plane. 

After he gave you one final kiss on the lips, he turned and made his way through the doors heading for the plane. He wanted to turn around and see you one more time but he knew he’d never leave if he did so he kept walking straight. 

You got walked back to your car, being sure to thank the security before you got in and put your keys in the engine. You waited till you were back home and wearing one of his hoodies to let a few tears fall.

It was crazy to you that someone you had only met a couple weeks prior had become someone so important to you and now you were crying over them leaving. 

You didn’t know why you were reacting this way, you had been able to pack up and move across the world for school saying goodbye to family and friends. You had travelled, always making friends then saying goodbye. Goodbyes were something you had plenty of experience with, yet saying goodbye to Oscar was another level of difficult.

The more you thought about it, you realized he had become something you didn’t realize you were looking for, he had become your home and for the first time in your whole life, you were missing your home.

It was in this moment that you knew you didn't want to go another day without Oscar by your side. You knew you had to finish school but once you had your diploma, you'd be flying to Oscar and never leaving his side from there.

-

ahh i've been working on this one for awhile now so i hope you like it !! once again feel free to reblog or comment ur thoughts !! other than those notes, enjoy and talk soon ❤️

[resident-gay-bitch]

Modern au where the girls meet in college and get assigned random roommate and they’ve never met before because they are all study abroad students spending a year in the US. Lily from England is with Dorcas from an African country ( I don’t know which one to choose if I don’t choose mine lol so I’ll leave that to you). Mary ( not sure which country but I’m getting middle eastern vibes) is with Pandora ( I kind of want to give her mythology roots like Greek yk ? ). Marlene ( I want to give her Indonesia what do you think ?) with Alice ( definitely Europe vibes here )

Anyway they meet and bond about discovering American culture and how ridiculous some of the stuff is and they do make American friends but they keep coming back to each other and they become closer and closer but also the time comes that they each have to go back to their countries and you have a really tearful/angsty goodbye

Just feel like giving them really different backgrounds because it’s women history month and women from all around the world should be celebrated and also people from a lot of different countries are just really cool as a friend group

Anyway some head cannon for this au

Each of their dorm is fully decorated to the point you can see their personality when you enter the room

Mary is the kind to stay up to do homework and Pandora wakes up really early which creates some funny situations between them

All of them fight over who has the best cultural food ( Lily is not allowed to participate she is British/lh)

They do the American college thing to the full extent like going to football games, having parties and stuff and still aces their classes somehow

That was really long but oh well here are my two cents lol hope you like it <3 I really like your writing btw

Hi hi!!! Sorry for taking so long to respond to this, I saw it a few days ago and was too tired to respond and I’ve just been in a state of brain mush ever since.

Okay, I love this idea SO SO much! Especially them all coming together to be confused about American culture lol, I think that’s so funny.

I 100% agree with all of these ethnicities for them as well, I can see it all clearly (the Pandora being from Greece just makes sense idk why more people don’t HC this).

One headcannon I’ve been having lately is that Marlene is Australian because like, she is literally the definition of an Aussie bogan in my head (if you’ve never heard of Amyl and The Sniffers go check out their music because I think they’re SO Marlene Band Au coded).

And any Aussie out there will know this well and true, but for some reason all aussies just dip to Indonesia (specifically Bali) every winter to escape the cold, like it’s actually amusing how many just disappear over there. SO many of my friends have gone on Bali trips it’s ridiculous.

Anyway, you suggesting Marlene be from Indonesia just popped the best idea in my head where like her dad is Australian and took a trip with his mates to Bali. I’m thinking they would frequent the bar next to their hotel and get drunk there every night and he fell in love with one of the bartenders that snuck him free drinks every time he complimented her and then they hooked up one night and she got pregnant without realising and then he went home and she freaked out. Luckily she got his number because they fell in love and then like she moved to Australia to raise Marlene. I think that’s such a funny cute way to tie our headcannons together.

And yes Mary is 100% the type to stay up so late where as Pandoras in bed by nine and up with the sun.

Their rooms would be the swankiest rooms you’ve ever seen.

They would 100% all bully Lily for her comfort meal, which is beans straight out the can, and would all shove their fav foods down her throat. She’d love it though and pretend to complain about it all the time so all her friends would keep making her all these amazing snacks and meals.

They definitely would get involved with the whole American college experience but no one is prepared for how Marlene acts at the college football games. She’d spend one third of the game complaining about how this isn’t real football (Insert AFL which she grew up watching with her dad - footy), a second third of the game skulling beer and challanging random college boys to drink offs and shoeies (idk how to spell it, when you drink out of a shoe), and the last third screaming so hard when their team gets a point or goal or however it works and going balisic and booing the opposition and screaming about the unfair umpiring, and she’d 1000% be the loudest there.

Sorry, I’m passionate about Marlene.

But yessss this is such a good idea lol I love it! Thanks for sending in the ask, I really appreciate hearing about the girls <3

[umichenginabroad]

The Markets and the Grill (Week 13)

Back in Coogee! After over a week of traveling, it was time to rest. Classes continued as normal and everyone’s desire to fervently enjoy our home, Coogee beach and Sydney, returned. Tuesday was marked by trivia at the Coogee Bay Hotel. Our 3rd place finish granted us a $25 gift card split six ways, so we were practically swimming in our winnings. On Wednesday I went exploring with Lauren and, like usual, we came across more of Sydney’s hidden gems such as Hyde Park and the neighboring Cathedral. St Mary’s Cathedral might as well be located in the winding streets of Spain with how much it resembles the cathedrals scattered throughout Europe. Just take a look for yourself!

On Saturday, a few of us market-lovers headed off to the Glebe Markets where incredible artisans and undiscovered chefs celebrate their passions by selling their work at stalls. I was personally more than happy to celebrate with a Turkish Gozleme full of chicken, spinach, and mushrooms. From Glebe, we made our way to the Paddington Markets which displayed more of the same. This time, I celebrated with two of the yummiest falafel pitas! I was particularly interested in a booth containing black-and-white photos of Sydney’s eastern suburbs from the 1900s. Having spent my limited time here, it was mesmerizing to see how much Coogee has changed in the last hundred years. The most notable change being the removal of a massive dock splitting the beach right in half. I was also surprised to see that the beach was just as packed back then as it is now!

Conveniently, nearby there was someone selling copies of their artwork portraying different neighborhoods of Sydney, so I made sure to get one of Coogee to commemorate my time living there. The Glebe and Paddington Markets are just two of several that Sydney showcases on a weekly basis. If you ever find yourself in town, make sure to visit at least one of them! 

On Sunday, we woke up and claimed one of the public grills on the grass just above the beach! Scattered around the beaches and parks, Sydney has conveniently located free-to-use public grills which are always full of families or groups of friends picnicking, grilling, and clearly enjoying themselves. It was only a matter of time before we could make it happen. It was food galore. We had corn, burgers, veggie skewers, hotdogs, career salad, toasted buns, chicken skewers, watermelon, a chocolate pastry, and more I’m sure I’m forgetting. Between the grilling, the food, the beautiful weather, the beachside view, and the company, we were really living the dream. Better yet, we followed up with a game of volleyball on the beach, and then a dip and rock scramble in the rock pools. The day simply could not have gone any better, and I have the hostel to thank for that. Living with a group of 18 other students studying abroad, eager to get out there and have fun has truly made my time here. I can’t wait for our remaining adventures together as our final month approaches. Cheers!

David Bayer

Biomedical Engineering

University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia

[weve-en-moa]

Fallen | 6. The Memories

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1,337

Previous | Masterlist | Next

A part of you knew that it was inevitable that you would return to your hometown at some point in your life. You just didn’t expect it to happen the way it did.

You focused on student athletes in university for the first two years of running your blog. It was a success, but you also felt that it was becoming repetitive, and you wanted to do something more. When Jungwon suggested to come down to your hometown and check out some of the high school athletes that trained at the dojang he worked at, you were excited for a potential new story.

But you also remembered that your hometown was the one place you no longer wanted to go back to.

Now in his fourth year of studies, Jake was on clinical rotations and barely had any time to sleep. So you made the journey home by yourself, letting your dad know that you would be home for a month, and setting up interviews at other schools in the area.

After setting all your bags down in your old room, the first thing you did was visit your mother’s grave. You wondered if anyone had visited since your brother went off to college, and you were caught by surprise when there were fresh flowers sitting on her grave.

There was something oddly familiar about the flowers, but you didn’t know why, and you had a sense of deja vu of the summer after your first year.

You put down the flower that you brought for her next to the ones already there, sitting down on the grass.

“Hi mom, I’m sorry I’m late.”

You spent about three hours just relaying the last six years of your life to your mom, how you found your passion in sports journalism, your engagement, and everything in between. You were so lost in your stories that you didn’t notice the tall dark figure hiding behind a tree only a few feet away from you. And you wouldn’t find out for at least another few years.

Your first few days back home were busy, scouting new athletes with Jungwon’s help, and setting a plan for where their stories might find a place on your blog. You were also ensuring that your actual job wasn’t being neglected, constantly checking news in the area and keeping an eye on your email and phone.

When you weren’t meeting different athletes, you spent time at Jay’s cafe, which he opened after returning from his year abroad.

“Did you know Jake used to drag us fishing every weekend when we first became friends?” Jay asked you one particularly quiet day, while handing you an iced latte.

You took a moment to digest that information, “I didn’t even know he liked fishing.”

Jay looked surprised at the information you gave him, while you were surprised by his information. You waved it off thinking maybe his interests had changed throughout the years, as most peoples’ do.

When you returned home, you only had about a week before Jake left for his externship in Australia for six weeks. Not that the week mattered, as Jake had messed up his planning and was on rotations until the day before his flight, and you were in the office, in and out of meetings in between finalizing your editorials.

You could feel that your relationship was starting to crumble, but you didn’t want to accept it. Since getting engaged, you had no time to spend together. You had your bi-weekly dates at the beginning of your engagement, but over time, it became forgotten about, and you couldn’t even remember the last time you had more than 10 minutes of waking time together. On top of that, fishing wasn’t the only information Jay had shared that you weren’t aware of, making you question many parts of your relationship.

And now that you had stayed apart for nearly eleven weeks, including the week that you were technically in the same house, just not at the same time, you started to question your feelings.

Even if you had been together as long as you had, you didn’t think it was normal to not feel empty from being apart from your partner for several weeks.

And on your first Christmas as an engaged couple, you had your first major fight.

“I just think I should’ve known that you were hoping to stay permanently after your externship,” you tried to explain diplomatically.

To his credit, Jake tried to calmly explain his perspective, “I thought you would have known when I told you that I was planning on completing international externships.”

“We’re supposed to be getting married, Jake. Shouldn’t I be included in the conversation if you’re planning to move halfway across the world?”

“I didn’t know they would offer me the job. I didn’t want to have a conversation around something that wasn’t even certain yet.”

And to an extent, you understood his perspective, not wanting to worry each other unnecessarily, or to enter into panic mode for something that hadn’t even happened yet.

The two of you avoided the topic for weeks, which eventually turned into months. The conversations between the two of you became limited, and on many days, your only exchange was a simple “Have a nice day”.

It was inevitable what ended up happening.

In July, your eight year long relationship came to an end, and you didn’t know how to explain the emotion you felt. You didn’t feel sad or nostalgic or even melancholic like you had when your friendship with Sunghoon ended, but almost indifferent to the situation. It was like the fire had burnt out, leaving behind nothing in its wake.

Jake left your shared apartment first, heading to Australia three weeks earlier than he had initially planned, claiming that he wanted to get settled in before he officially starts, though you were fully aware that his initial move-in date would allow him one week for jet lag, moving and anything else he might need before starting.

In two week’s time, it was your turn to leave, standing at the door with your last suitcase, your phone in your hand as you stared at Jake’s contact information, debating whether to send your last words or not.

In the end, you decided not to send your final message, like all the other times that you deleted the exact same sentence, albeit it was to a different person this time.

“If I knew that you would slip away so easily, I would never have let you go.”

You deleted the text, turned your phone off and walked out the door, not once looking back as you made your way to your new journey.

  3 Years Later…

If anyone had asked ten years ago if you would ever return permanently to your hometown, you would’ve said no.

But standing in front of your childhood home that had been empty for the past year since your father moved into a smaller apartment, you felt at home, even though you hadn’t considered this place your home for quite a few years now.

Though the house was completely void of any furniture and had collected dust over the months, it felt like home.

Jungwon, Sunoo and Niki had offered to help you move back in, and Hyeseul even came down to help you map out the furniture. After graduation, Hyeseul had found a new passion in interior design and became successful pretty quickly.

Your brother and his finacé even visited, and you ran into the biggest surprise of your life while showing your soon to be brother-in-law around your hometown.

You weren’t sure who was more shocked: Sunghoon or you, as you stood in front of each other at the graveyard, a baby in Sunghoon’s arms, and your brother’s fiancé by your side with a hand on your shoulder.

The two of you stared at each other in complete silence as the world spun around you, and everything other than each other disappeared from your minds.

[peerbear]

Cinematography Class - Exercise 1 - A Sense of Home

Am I Really Home Again?

Over the years I’ve lived in Australia, Germany and Brazil for different periods of time, but Scotland has always been a place to come back to. This is the place where I grew up. It is the place I have always called home. It is the place where I was born, but I don’t have any Scottish heritage. My parents are German and Brazilian. If you are born and grow up in a country where you are not originally from it gives you a different sense of belonging and idenitity. Because you belong to all of the cultures that you have grown up with, but at the same time you don’t belong to any of them. It can be lonely when you are unable to find comfort in a single one of them. But when you do it is very special. This sense of feelling at home and a stranger in my country and my identity is something I have always been aware of. It is always on my mind.

Home is a very emotional concept. For a long time I’ve said home is not the place but the people. Last semster I went to study abroad in Canada and since then I’ve come back to my definition of the word. Home is not a place or the people, there are always great people wherever you go. For me home is a personal feeling of comfort and belonging. I have also come to the conclusion that home can also be a lonely ‘metaphorical place’ or even state of mind and this like everything else is always subject to change. It is not something that you always share with other people, often it is something that you have to create or build on your own. Saying this right now feels dramatic as I have moved back into my family home for the time being while I wait for the flat Eva and I have lined up to hopefully move into soon. You would think this is home and that living in my parents flat, a place I have always called home my whole life would be my home still. But I don’t know that this is the case for me anymore. I adore my parents and they are wonderful to be around, but I don’t want to live in this flat anymore, that part of my life feels like its been done. I don’t feel that this is my home, it will always be a base to come back to, but the meaning of this place has changed for me. I found this so interesting as initially when I heard the brief to take photos/footage that demonstrate a sense of home, I thought I would revert to older thoughts and take photos of this space. I didnt take a single photo in the house because it just didn’t feel right.

This weekend I brought some of my close friends to my favourite beach for the first time, its called Tyninghame. I’ve been going there with my family since I can remember and its always been my favourite place. Whenever I go there I feel at ease and inspired. The ocean calms me, bodies of water ground me. For me I feel at home when I’m there in the nature. I feel like I belong. The photos I took were an exploration of me and my friends in this space where I feel at home. Here they are in greater detail:

Article from ASC:

Total Immersion for Avatar: The Way of Water

I chose this article because I am obsessed with water and I am keen to specialise in water cinematography for film. I know that is very specific, but it is something I have wanted to do since making Bodies of Water last year. As I said before water is a happy safe space for me and I feel it would be great to work in a place that offers me this kind of tranquility. Sadly, I believe this film doesn’t really offer that kind of tranquility that I am talking about. Although I have not yet seen it from what I have gathered its very much about destruction and unrest within this beautiful ocean world. The Avatar sequel is filmed by a different cinematographer to the first one, this time it is filmed by Russell Carpenter.

The article went into great detail describing lots of equipment that Carpenter used for the film, a lot of which I have not heard of. From what I gathered it mainly demonstrates how complex and difficult this film was to film. It was filmed with many cameras, mostly of two groups which were live action and 3D virtual cameras that needed to match up perfectly as moving images for the CGI animation to work.

For some of the water scenes they struggled a lot with reflections. The way Carpenter dealt with this was by using clear plastic beads layered together on top of the water to stop light from coming through this way there were no unwanted reflections. For me I would not want to hide reflections in water, I think its one of its many and most beautiful attributes that mesmerise me. I am aware that this is done to control as much of the lighting in the film as possible. However, I would find it hard to manipulate it this way. Carpenter himself says “The light should be a living and breathing expression of the life of Pandora.” From the stills I have seen he has achieved this.

Something to note is that although this film is highly technically skilled and moving the film industry forward with new technology, it is important to acknowledge that there are problems with the story - which culturally appropriates indegenious people and makes money off of a screening (eventually streaming) that is based on colonialism. This is something that the director of the film argues aganist, however, it is literally what happens in the film.

The film is supposed to be about belonging and finding where you fit in the world, which I find fitting, in spite of the plot, as this correlates to the home aspect in the first part of this exercise.

Message of the week: I have promised myself that I will be reading more this year and that I will actually contribute a lot more to my blog. This is something that in previous years I found very difficult, but while writing this post I have realised it is more fun and even therapeutic than I remember.

Stay tuned for some queer content.

[educational-travel-blogs]

Be a Global Citizen: Achieve the UN SDGs While Studying Abroad

Ah, studying abroad—the ultimate adventure where you pack your bags, hop on a plane, and immerse yourself in a new culture, all while pretending that you're going to "learn" something. But what if I told you that your semester of living off instant noodles and trying not to get lost in a foreign country could also help save the world? Enter the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs)—17 global goals designed to make the world a better place by 2030. And guess what? Your study abroad program might just be the key to achieving them.

That’s right: while you're out there trying to figure out how to ask for directions in French or marveling at how cheap street food is in Thailand, you could also be contributing to global peace, prosperity, and environmental sustainability (and no, I’m not kidding).

Sustainability goals study abroad programs: https://authentica.com/sustainability/

What Are the UN SDGs?

First things first: what are these Sustainable Development Goals? In 2015, the United Nations came up with 17 goals to tackle global challenges like poverty, inequality, and climate change. Think of them as the world's to-do list, except instead of "buy milk" and "do laundry," we’ve got "end world hunger" and "achieve gender equality." No pressure, right?

The goals cover everything from quality education to clean water, and while they sound like something for governments and NGOs to deal with, you—yes, you, future globetrotter—can totally help out. Because when you study abroad, you're not just earning credits; you're learning how to be a global citizen. And that, my friend, can make a real difference.

How Your Study Abroad Program Aligns with the SDGs

So, how does your semester abroad align with these world-saving goals? Let’s break it down in a way that doesn’t sound like a UN press briefing.

Arts and humanities: https://authentica.com/disciplines/arts-and-humanities/

1. No Poverty (Goal 1)

Sure, you’re probably going to be living on a tight budget while studying abroad, but you can still make a difference. Many study abroad programs offer opportunities to volunteer with local communities. Imagine spending your weekends helping local businesses thrive or participating in community projects—because nothing says "I'm cultured" like making the world a better place while trying not to max out your credit card.

2. Quality Education (Goal 4)

You’re literally contributing to this one by just being there! Studying abroad exposes you to different education systems, teaching methods, and perspectives. You’ll gain a deeper understanding of global issues, and you might even help local students learn about your home country. Plus, you’ll finally have an answer when someone asks, “What did you actually learn during that semester in Spain?”

Business study abroad programs: https://authentica.com/disciplines/business-study-abroad/

3. Gender Equality (Goal 5)

Studying abroad is a powerful way to explore how gender equality plays out in different cultures. You might participate in programs or organizations that focus on women’s empowerment or gender rights. Plus, you’ll learn to appreciate how far we’ve come (or still have to go) in achieving gender parity across the globe. Who knew that your debates over coffee in a Parisian café could help foster gender equality?

4. Climate Action (Goal 13)

Okay, so flying halfway across the world isn’t exactly eco-friendly, but hear me out. Many study abroad programs emphasize sustainability, offering chances to learn about local environmental challenges and solutions. Whether you're studying ocean conservation in Australia or sustainable agriculture in Costa Rica, your experiences abroad can make you an eco-warrior in training.

And hey, packing light and using public transportation abroad? That’s practically saving the planet, right?

Educational programs: https://authentica.com/disciplines/short-term-educational-programs/

5. Reduced Inequalities (Goal 10)

Studying abroad opens your eyes to the vast inequalities that exist in the world, whether it’s economic, racial, or social. By immersing yourself in another culture, you’re not only learning but also challenging your own biases. Plus, many programs offer the chance to engage with marginalized communities, giving you firsthand insight into efforts to reduce inequality. Now, that’s what we call “making the world a smaller, fairer place”—one awkward cultural misunderstanding at a time.

6. Decent Work and Economic Growth (Goal 8)

You know how study abroad programs always have those internship opportunities? Well, those are more than just a fancy bullet point on your résumé. Interning abroad helps you understand global economies, labor markets, and industries in ways that textbooks can’t. You’ll be contributing to economic growth, even if most of your paycheck goes toward souvenirs and late-night snacks.

Healthcare study abroad programs: https://authentica.com/disciplines/healthcare-study-abroad/

7. Partnerships for the Goals (Goal 17)

Here’s the kicker: studying abroad is all about forming connections. You’re building relationships with people from all over the world, collaborating on projects, and fostering intercultural understanding. These global partnerships are essential for achieving the SDGs, because—spoiler alert—no one country or individual can do it alone. So, while you’re sipping tea in a Moroccan café with classmates from three different continents, you’re also contributing to international cooperation.

FAQs: Your Study Abroad and SDGs Cheat Sheet

1. Can my study abroad program really help achieve the SDGs?

Absolutely! By participating in a study abroad program, you're contributing to global education, fostering cross-cultural understanding, and potentially engaging in volunteer or internship opportunities that directly support the SDGs.

2. How can I make a bigger impact while studying abroad?

Get involved! Volunteer, intern, or participate in local projects that align with the SDGs. Even small actions, like supporting local businesses or learning about sustainable practices, can make a difference.

3. Which SDGs align most with studying abroad?

Education (Goal 4), reduced inequalities (Goal 10), and partnerships (Goal 17) are the big ones. But depending on your program, you could also contribute to goals like climate action (Goal 13) or gender equality (Goal 5).

4. Isn't flying bad for the environment?

Yes, air travel has a carbon footprint, but many programs are now offering ways to offset emissions or focus on sustainability once you’re on the ground. Look for eco-friendly options while abroad, like public transportation or sustainable housing.

5. Can I really make a difference as just one person?

Yes! While you won’t single-handedly solve world hunger, your actions—whether it’s volunteering, learning, or building global partnerships—can contribute to the larger effort of achieving the SDGs.

6. How can I find study abroad programs that focus on the SDGs?

Look for programs that mention sustainability, global citizenship, or community engagement. Many universities now offer SDG-focused study abroad opportunities!

7. Will my study abroad experience really look good on my résumé?

Yes, especially if you can link it to global challenges like the SDGs. Employers love candidates who are globally minded and can think critically about issues like sustainability and inequality.

8. What if I just want to have fun while studying abroad?

That’s totally fine! But remember, even while having fun, you’re gaining experiences that contribute to personal growth and global understanding—key elements of the SDGs.

9. How does cultural immersion tie into the SDGs?

Cultural immersion helps you develop empathy, cultural competence, and a broader worldview—all essential for tackling issues like inequality, education, and global partnerships.

10. What’s the best part of connecting study abroad with the SDGs?

You get to travel, learn, and make a difference—all at the same time. It’s like being a superhero, but with fewer capes and more plane tickets.

Stem study abroad programs: https://authentica.com/disciplines/stem-study-abroad-programs/

Authentica: https://authentica.com/

Contacts Us: https://authentica.com/contact-us/

[p0rkbun]

Nah cuz I’m not broke or rich, so I’m probably in the middle too. My mom is pretty strict too, but she also always says it’s our own responsibility. Sometimes it’s also good when parents are a bit strict about it.

Girl I’ve had two girlfriends (both long distance though and with long distance I mean like across the world😭). One of them lasted for like 6 months (the one I was talking about). But you’re right about the not a great experience part💀 I don’t wanna rant to you😭 but let’s just say neither one of them was a good experience. I did learn from it though, cuz I don’t wanna online date anymore. (Unless it Dior of course🙄🙏) but like I do have a type tho😭 and it’s not girls from my country💀

I’m almost 18, so I’m almost legal to have a sugar mommy🤭 I want a milf tho. I’d love to study abroad! Where do you want to study?

Nah fr Andrew better back off my girl🙄

Me too! I'd like to date someone who's not from my country 😭 sorry for how your exes treated you, you deserve better 😤 online date is not a very good idea, cuz you don't really know the person at all. I know because my bestfriend used to date this guy who's from another country, let's just say he wasn't very good when I knew about it.

I wanted to study in Australia! I actually want to continue high school there but I don't have enough money lol

[thegirlwhodownunder]

Vlog 15: Docklands and AFL

Good day everyone!!! Happy Friday, how are you guys today? Happy May to everyone as to what April showers bring May flowers. Today will be the last blog for a while as I get ready for finals here in Australia. At Susquehanna, I know a bunch of people are getting ready for final exams, presentations, and papers. So for today final vlog I will share my experiences in the Docklands and tell you a bit about the AFL.

So on Sunday, I knew I wanted to take a bit of a break from doing an essay from one of my classes so I decided to explore the Docklands for the first time. The duration of me getting there by tram took a hour which wasn’t bad as I got to see the city and the beautiful view with the pier in the background. The first stop I went to was their monthly market which happens every Sunday of each month. The market was really cute where there were little companies selling jewelry, stickers, food, etc. What I got are some really fun stickers that I put on my laptop or my IPad and a ring for my mom for Mother Day’s/Birthday Gift. After that I mostly just explore the mall. The mall was pretty empty that day when I went there, so I left after I finished fairly quickly and went back to exploring the docklands. There is a Ferris wheel at the Docklands which I was excited to go and possibly ride, but it closed permanently but I still think you should see the Ferris wheel, it is pretty cool. After seeing the Ferris wheel, I went to a restaurant just to eat a quick lunch while also enjoying the view of the wharf. I recommended that you get lunch by the water because the view is so pretty to look at while enjoying your lunch. 

Another thing that I try is Australia Football. Australian Football is a popular sport here in Australia where it reminds me of soccer but instead of using primarily your feet, you're using your hands. I went to a clinic a few days ago and I had so much fun. The Australian Football team taught us some of the skills and rules of the game. Even though this was my first time playing the sport, I felt I did pretty well since I used to play soccer which helped me be aggressive to other players and swim where I have my endurances which is great when I’m running or tackling another player. It felt great to be playing a sport again, even though I exercise I’m a huge sport-fan and it felt great to be playing a new sport but also learning a part of Australian culture at the same time. Fun Fact tomorrow I'm going to my first Australian Football League game (AFL) at Marvel Stadium. On Sunday, I saw the North Melbourne Kangaroo versus St Kilda. So that it for the final blog of my study abroad and thank you for reading my blogs I hope you had fun reading them as I go explore Australia, and maybe you hear from me again someday.

[robertlaskarzewski]

Second week

Hi, my name is Robert Laskarzewski, and I am currently a sophomore at the Darla Moore School of Business studying International Business and Marketing. I’m a part of the International Business Responsible International Leadership (RIL) program and will spend the Spring and Fall semesters at the ESSEC Cergy campus. I was born and raised in California, about an hour away from San Francisco. I chose to attend the University of South Carolina specifically because of the RIL program and the amount of time abroad that was offered. Once I was accepted, it was an easy choice to choose to pursue my studies there.

This week was my first full week of classes at ESSEC Cergy, of which include “People & Organizations” (about company structures and business principles), “European Kaleidoscope” (EU history course), ��Entrepreneurship 2” (principles behind starting a new business), French language class (taught in French), French Culture class (taught in English), “Responsible Leadership” (business principles class), and “Responsible Marketing” (changing business to become more sustainable). Its too soon to say which is my favorite but the class structure in France is completely different compared to the United States. Although some teachers are beginning to change methods to a more “Anglo-Saxon” school of thought, many remain quite traditional in their approach to teaching. For example, in the US there is a strong focus on involvement between instructors and students (be it through student involvement during or outside class). However, in France involvement between the two parties is put on the back burner and there is a stronger focus on the teacher’s knowledge.

That being said, I have not met a group of students more disrespectful than French students. Every class, there is a constant drone of noise that comes from the French students throughout the class. My classes are generally between 40-60 people so they’re not big enough for a teacher to need a microphone but with students talking it becomes very difficult to both listen and focus on the lecture. Overall, I’ve been a bit disappointed with the French students’ overall demeanor during class and their attitude towards school. On the other hand, I have found many (if not all) of the students in my classes to be extremely fluent in English. Despite my gripe with the French students, I find other international students (Morocco, China, Thailand, just to name a few) to be very focused in their studies and respectful of the school faculty.

On the 12th of January, I had a class about everything regarding French culture: how to eat, how to speak, how to travel, and everything else you could possibly think of. Looking at the syllabus I realized that one of our sessions involves a field trip to Paris for an afternoon, a welcome surprise. On this day, I also had my French language class with a teacher who previously worked in International Business and Export, a field that interests me in the future (she also had taught French in Australia many years ago). I also had my Responsible Leadership class which totaled to 7 hours of classes in one day. Although I find these long classes to be tedious, it allows us to have every Monday off which is very nice.

I’ve continued to try and spend as much time possible keeping myself busy by visiting Paris whenever I have the time. Sometime during next week, I hope to sign up for a gym membership as ESSEC doesn’t (yet) have its own dedicated sports center/gym. As far as I know the nearest gym is in the mall about 10 minutes from where I live. Now the only other housekeeping agenda I have is to acquire a French bank account (in fact, I will need one before signing up for a gym membership because a French bank account routing number is required for some reason).

[ninacarstairss]

yayyy!!! i’m so happy you’re done with work!!! it sounds almost impossible!! of course there’s still a lot to do but at least no more horrible shifts and no more work stress!!! yayyy!!!

that’s good then! it must have been stressful but it’s good that it worked out in the end. and honestly, yes!!! you should totally plan a trip to disneyland when you’re in the uk!!! paris is close enough for a weekend out and you just have to see disneyland!!! also who the hell scrapped a disney park in favor of a shopping mall?? i wanna have words

WHAAAT???? SO LITTLE TIME??? oh my god nero i am so excited and scared and anxious and happy and proud and so many more things for you!!! since i’m so late to reply, you probably have like a week til you fly out?? maybe even less?? so, are you ready??? gosh i swear i am so happy!!! i feel like i’m living this adventure with you and i couldn’t be happier because i really need a little adventure abroad now!!! also, wasia project??? ARE YOU SERIOUS??? when??? i’m so jealous now!!! please take me with you, i’ll fly to london this very minute to see them!!!

i do hope you have enough money left to travel around a bit 😂 there’s a lot to see in europe and one of the perks of this continent is that you can get almost anywhere with a short two hours flight (still absolutely wild to me, but i knew some people from the us and australia who were studying here in italy and they used to tell me how it can take forever to just travel to another state, while here it’s just a two hours flight and you’re in a different country! totally revolutionized my perspective on travel time lol with me never having left the continent i genuinely thought two hours on a plane was really a long time) so it’s perfect even if you wanna have just a weekend out!! i still hope you can find a way to get to italy because you need to try the pasta here, otherwise i’ll just have to bring it to you in the uk :))

sometimes i forget how long you’d been at that job for 🥲 but i am seriously so happy that you’re done now because it was draining you way too much!!! and i’m sure you’ll find something better when you return, but that’s a problem for another time. you can just enjoy the freedom for now and spend all the money you’ve earned in all these years. from experience, i can tell you that this semester will definitely get you bankrupt but that’s the beauty of it lol

that would be so much easier 😂 but that’s great nero, it’s really really great!!! i hope the holiday plan works out, can you imagine how amazing it would be if you could travel around europe together?? it already sounds like the perfect romcom plot

yesss!!! oh it’s gonna be so cool!!! also pleaseeee keep me updated on english weather or share some pictures because i have an obsession with how the uk looks like in these months, or any month to be honest. that chilly air and the mist, i don’t know i just really miss that aesthetic from when i was in ireland

i’m sharing this cozy blanket with you and giving you a hug <3 i hope the packing stress isn’t too much and if it is, i’m giving you a cup of tea hoping it can help for a bit <333

NERO MY BELOVED SOULMATE BESTIE!!!!

i’m back!!! i took a few weeks off because life has been a lot and i felt like i needed a little break from everything 🥲

how are you?? what have you been up to in these last few weeks?? i missed you so much!! and i have stories to tell!!

so, i went to paris for a week back in october. i don’t know if you knew this, but paris has been plagued by a bug infestation lately, and the week before me and my friend were supposed to leave they also started having bomb alarms around the city. like the day before we left versailles had been evacuated for a bomb (it was a false alarm in the end) so we were kinda scared and worried. but the city was okay and we didn’t have much of a choice so we went. it was amazing!!! the first two days were perfect, the weather was absolutely amazing, freezing but always sunny, and we walked around the classic spots of the city. we had lots of macarons and croissants too. that was always the best part of the day. then on day three we’d booked versailles. on the day before it had been evacuated again for a false alarm so i thought it would be safe, they checked the night before, but well… after we’d been inside one hour the guards started to talk hurriedly to each other and they led us to the exits, we got evacuated. it looked like they were trying not to cause a panic but it didn’t work, also because there were way too many people inside!! it was crazy and scary, but luckily we were okay and we got safely out. and it was another false alarm, luckily. we decided not to let it ruin the whole trip so that night we went to the eiffel tower and had a nice dinner and dessert. then day four was disneyland!!! it was SPECTACULAR!!! nero have you ever been to a disneyland park?? it is everything you could ever hope it to be. it is pure magic, pure happiness. my friend and i felt like we were outside of the universe, it felt like nothing could touch us, like no problem could reach us. we were kids again. we were singing along to all the songs from our childhood and riding all the attractions and posing with princesses and cartoon animals and we bought so many little souvenirs to keep the magic with us. i got a cheshire cat plushie which is now my favorite thing i own. i have absolutely no regrets even if it costed 30 euros. same goes for my minnie’s ears which had a unicorn horn and a rainbow veil (see attached photograph) another 30 bucks, i have worn them only once, and i love them to pieces 😂 anyways, now is where the fun part really starts. we walked out of disneyland at 11pm after the night show (made me cry for 30 minutes straight, totally would recommend) and we had to take a train to get to the underground. well obviously there was a suspicious backpack at the station so it was closed for about 30 minutes to figure out what it was. it was late and our phones were almost dead so we tried to look for a taxi or bus and they’d put up a special bus service to take us to the closest train station, but as you can imagine it was absolutely packed and when we got off my friend noticed that her bag was open and her wallet was gone. we rushed back to the park to see if they’d had it in the last shop where she bought something but nothing, then we rushed back home to call the police and block all the cards, but of course we only got to the champs-elysées and then they kicked us out of the underground because it was closing. again our phones were out of battery so we didn’t even know if the buses were still running or not or how to call a cab, but luckily a cab passed by like two minutes later and we managed to get back to the hotel. and well, the 24h hotel door was closed. we panicked for about 10 minutes and ringed the bell a thousand times before anyone came to open the door. they were “just in the back for a minute” and i mean, fair enough, but on top of everything it was just the last drop.

anyways, the next morning we went to the police and got all the documents we needed to get back to italy and it was okay, it was just a very long wait for a two seconds job so it pissed me off a bit, but still we had a whole day and a half left so we enjoyed it. we had the louvre planned for that afternoon and it was so beautiful. and it was very heartstopping. pun intended 😂 we actually went and looked for every room we saw in the show and stayed about five hours in each one. this is where elle and tao kiss for the first time, it’s the exact place. can you guess how much i cried??

the only thing we couldn’t find was the painting on the stairs where nick talks to elle. i was very upset about that :( but anyways, the next day we came home and all i can say for this trip is wow. it felt like a five months trip somehow 😂 it was tiring and stressful and it tested my anxiety a lot, but honestly it was kind of perfect. this friend i was with is my opposite and my half in a lot of things and somehow we managed to laugh it all off whenever something crazy happened and we still had one of the absolute best trips of my life. i am so happy, i actually am getting a tattoo for our day at disneyland because it feels necessary hehe

and speaking of tattoos, i have a new one to show you!!! i finally got another heartstopper tattoo!!! and it is perfect and my favorite ever ♥️ i’ve wanted this vignette on my skin forever, and every time i see it it reminds me of everything about this story and it makes me so happy

anyways, enough about me!!! i’ve been away from this hellsite for so long, so how are you?? how is life?? i am very eager to catch up!!

i’m sending you a macaron because i am craving them again now (i’ve tried the marie antoniette macaron and i swear to god it feels like drinking a cup of tea, it’s unreal) and a warm tea to drink as you read because i’ve written so damn much, i can’t tell a simple story i missed you so so so much nero <3333

HELLO CECE MY BELOVED SOULMATE BESTIE!!!

it is so wonderful to hear from you!! i missed you so so much!! i was wondering how your trip went!! tbh i have been very on and off this website just because life is so exhausting :') i'm very excited to catch up with what's been happening with you!!

yes! i did hear about the bedbug thing! i had a few friends in paris around the same time and it was also all over the news here (funny that...) but i did not hear about the bomb alarms, that must have been so scary!! oh i can only imagine how lovely the macarons and the croissants were. nothing would be better than the original! i'm glad it was a false alarm and that you all got out safe. that must have been terrifying. AND DISNEYLAND?! cece i have never ever been to a disneyland but it has always been a dream of mine! i think the closest disneyland to me is japan or singapore 😭😭😭 but that's so wonderful to hear that you had such a lovely time!!! what was your favourite ride? any snacks you would recommend?? i would love to see the cheshire cat plushy, it sounds adorable! and the minnie ears!!! i'm obsessed and you're right: buying ears at disneyland is essential, it doesn't matter if you only wear them for the day! and what an end to a good day 😂😂 that sounds so anxiety-inducing, i audibly gasped as i was reading 😂

literally!!! government documents and officials make you wait so long for something that takes so little time!!! it's so fucking frustrating >:( the louvre!!! that would have been so cool, and it would have had extra meaning because of the show!! and i think i would have died a little, looking at the exact spot elle and tao had their first kiss! i don't blame you for crying at all 😂😂

a positive is that you got to see every other painting and iconic place from heartstopper and that's all that matters!! the trip sounded like so much fun, but yes, very draining with all those things not going to plan!! and i'm so glad you went with a friend who would laugh it all off with you and still make sure you guys had a good time!! that would have been so lovely! oh and absolutely you need to get a disneyland tattoo!! that would be perfect!

speaking of perfect, your new tattoo is so cute!!!! i love that panel too and it's just such a good representation of nick and charlie's relationship throughout the series!! and a really good placement too. ugh you always get the best tattoos!

as for me, i've been doing okay!! i have finished university for the year, and i am currently preparing for my exchange (i go to the uk NEXT MONTH! cece that is so crazy) a part of preparing for my exchange is unfortunately working a lot, but i have been rostered every single public holiday coming up so i should be getting a good amount of money before i leave!

and you'll be happy to know that after the christmas/new year's period, i'm going to stop working and have a few weeks of rest before i go!! i'm planning on just catching up with friends before i leave, packing and just actually getting a good night's sleep 😂😂

oh, also! i know you wanted little updates about what was going on in my love life, sooooooo... in the time you've been gone, i managed to get a girlfriend!!! i'm very happy and i have no clue what i am doing at all times, but it's good :)

i'm going to send you a little pavlova (a meringue like dessert australians typically have around christmas time, loaded with fruit and cream) and a little iced tea to go with, because my god, is it hot in australia right now. miss you heaps!!! <3

[heliocharis]

Left My Friend’s Body Outside the Mithraeum: One New Zealander’s account of the New Zealand stuff in Nona the Ninth

A few points before we begin:

I’ve quoted everything out of context, but probably don’t read this if you don’t want to be spoiled for the book.

I’m just one person (a Pākehā North Islander millennial, for context), but hopefully I caught most of it. Please tell me if you see anything I missed!

If you see something and think, ‘Tumblr user junozeta, why have you included this piece of information when it is very easily Google-able,’ it’s for the sake of completeness.

Kia ora!

Dramatis personae

Stop It, name assumed, lies under counter at dairy, red colour, big sized, four legs

Dairy: A corner store.

John 20:8

Dilworth. Otago. Auckland. Overseas to Corpus. (She likes the word corpus; it sounds nice and fat.) Then another year abroad, where he got the grant and met the men who would make things happen. Special pleading with the New Zealand government and Asia-Pacific Environmental, at his suggestion, then back to the facility outside Greytown.

Here John is reciting his credentials. Dilworth is a private boys’ boarding school in Auckland. (ETA: Please see this reblog by sixth-light for better context.) Auckland and Otago will be referring to the universities, which are notably the only two in NZ with medical schools. I will add that having studied more in NZ than overseas does not afford you a lot of prestige.

Greytown is a small town (population 2,720 as of 2021) in the lower North Island, near Wellington. (I note here that Trentham, the presumptive namesake of the Second House’s Trentham, is also near Wellington, as is Maymorn, which Tamsyn Muir has said Mercymorn was originally named after.)

Chapter 1

“Is that pikelet mix?” she said.

Pikelet: Like a pancake, but smaller and denser.

Palamedes stood like he was playing a game of Hot Chocolate and the tagger was looking right at him. Hot Chocolate was in fashion with her friends at the moment and Nona wanted to get really good at it.

Putting this here to state for the record that I’m not familiar with Hot Chocolate as a name for a game of that kind. (ETA: An anon was, though, as a different name for Red Light, Green Light. See, not all of NZ is the same.)

I’ve met leaders like Unjust Hope before.

“Unjust Hope” could be from “The Ikons” by James K. Baxter, a famous New Zealand poet.

John 5:20

He said, It was the last one that was getting to me. I knew all those bodies by name. Funny to say, but they were my mates, you know? I’d worked on them for such a long time, and they’d given us so much, and now they were going to get dumped in some concrete skip because after what we’d done to them they couldn’t be cremated or buried safely. I hated that.

Mates: Friends. Classic Kiwi.

Skip: A dumpster.

I didn’t have to worry about the public or the media—we had a pet cop, P—. She’d made detective by that point; was going on to big things in the MoD.

MoD: Probably self-explanatory, but Ministry of Defence.

We only had the demo cans; the mass-produced ones were made in a Five Eyes factory in Shenzhen.

Five Eyes: A surveillance alliance between NZ, Australia, the UK, the US, and Canada. As of 2022, not actively military, nor ostensibly involved with China. Much to think about.

I went around to everyone, talking to my favourites—I know it was weird having favourites, but let’s bloody face it, I’d gone weird—not even saying goodbye, just saying it’ll be fine, hang on for me, kia kaha, kia māia.

Kia kaha, kia māia: Well-known Māori phrase meaning “be strong, be brave”.

John 15:23

You wouldn’t believe how stupid guys get over compliments on our looks, I was vain as.

Vain as: “[adjective] as” is a classic Kiwi way to say that something is extremely [adjective].

P— said I looked like a Māori TV Pink Panther.

Māori TV: Worth noting here that this is a TV channel, and not a generic reference.

Someone’s Honda. Someone’s Mazda. Someone’s four-wheel drive. Someone’s shed. A Macca’s sign.

Shed: A garage.

Macca’s: McDonald’s.

A— and M— moved in with me, and G— set up outside; he was sleeping in his ute. C— was staying with N—, long days. She left us early in the morning and came back the next day with sausage rolls for breakfast.

Ute: A pickup truck. (Short for “utility vehicle”.)

Sausage rolls: A classic NZ food.

You hear all the cicadas in the grass, you hear the dogs in the next town over barking. You hear the moreporks in the trees and the possums skittering over shed roofs.

Morepork: A native owl (Ninox novaeseelandiae).

Possums: Worth noting that NZ has the Australian kind (Trichosurus vulpecula).

He was the bravest dog I’d ever met. Half Chihuahua, half pug. Nan called him Ulysses S. Grunt.

Maybe worth noting here that “Grant” and “Grunt” are pronounced much more alike in an NZ accent than they would be in a North American one.

Chapter 9

Cam ducked into a bakery and came out with a warm and probably radioactive paper bag of pastries that had been under the bakery light the whole time.

Almost certainly a reference to this iconic cultural moment.

She had already got her towel and the old shirt she used to swim in—much easier to go naked, but the others had all objected to this, and Cam had said it would make her a sniper target—and her jandals, and then after masks were tied and hats put on they walked to the beach in the low dusk.

Jandals: Flip-flops. Classic Kiwi.

“I’d give Palamedes the hiding of his fucking life if he wasn’t renting an ass with you.”

Hiding: A beating.

John 5:18

They were lying head-to-head, their eyes aimed at the right part of the sky to see, or in this case not see, the Southern Cross.

Southern Cross: The constellation on the NZ flag. Known formally as, of course, Crux.

There was so much to figure out. But I’d got a dream team on tap, eh? People who could think. C—’s N—, she was on board. C— was still pretending they weren’t dating—she was an artist, so that was cool. If you have two scientists and an engineer and a detective and a lawyer and an artist you’re pretty much sweet as.

Eh: We tend to end sentences with this quite a lot (though of course it’s not just us).

Sweet as: “all good”. Classic Kiwi.

Back then we thought maybe there was something about the ground, something about our particular patch in the Wairarapas, but if we loaded up the ute with a bunch of bodies and looked out for the cops we could do the same thing anywhere else.

The Wairarapas: The region of NZ where Greytown is located. This is an informal way to refer to it, its proper name being the Wairarapa.

“Is that pikelets, Pyrrha? You’re a legend.”

Calling someone a legend to express approval, while not new, has become deeply entrenched in the local consciousness over the last decade or so, thanks to a recognisable anti-drink driving campaign. (If you’ve heard of the “ghost chips” ad, it’s one of those.)

Chapter 12

Crown Him with Many Crowns Thy Full Gallant Legions He Found It in Him to Forgive

He Found It in Him to Forgive: Lyrics from a classic NZ song, “Dominion Road” by The Mutton Birds.

“Why does Pash hate us so much?”

Worth noting here that “pash” (both a noun and a verb) is slang for making out.

John 8:1

You’ve got a wizard out in the wop-wops who’s now got blanket bans from nearly every video upload site and a whole bunch of people have entered the country because of his YouTube channel, the government isn’t all, Love that small-business entrepreneur spirit.

The wop-wops: The middle of nowhere. Often just “the wops”.

Didn’t mention that I’d only gone to Parachute ’cause of the underage drinking.

Parachute: A Christian music festival that existed from 1992 to 2014.

She’d won medals for competition shooting back north in Hamilton, but we’re not talking Jesse James. We’re talking Hamilton.

Hamilton: A city in the North Island (it’s the next city south of Auckland) which it is nationally popular to disparage, especially if you’re from Auckland (this is mutual).

Chapter 16

Crown Prince Kiriona Gaia

Kiriona: Transliteration of “Gideon” into te reo Māori.

“It can’t be my blood. It must be someone else’s. Maybe it’s tomato sauce.”

Pretty throwaway, this one, but when she says tomato sauce this is the kind I think of.

Chapter 18

“Whew!” said Nona. “Is the classroom munted?”

Munted: Busted, fucked up.

John 5:1

There was a lot of it, but we had a lot of people who needed a feed. We sat there with the window cracked so G— could hear us while he manned the barbie, which in the dark gets unwholesome as hell, and we ate off paper plates, and I told them …

A feed: A meal.

Barbie: I think this one should be easy.

He said, Which just goes to show that only getting to NCEA Level 2 isn’t going to stop you making waves in life, right. You can still eat steak, talk to wizards, and take down the government.

NCEA Level 2: This is the qualification you get in your second-to-last year of high school (typically at age 16, which is the age at which you can leave school), and has historically been the minimum you need for university entrance.

This is fairly easy to infer anyway, but John et al. being young enough to have done NCEA (it was introduced in the early 2000s) and old enough to have gone to Parachute to underage drink tells you pretty soundly that they’re millennials.

John 3:20

He said, So I went to the governments that were still sympathetic, sort of, like ours, and all the Trans-Pacifics, and we threw down our evidence.

Probably referring to the TPP.

Not only that, they looked at us and were like, We were going to put you fellas in jail, weren’t we?

Pronounce this as “fullas”, with the U as in “up”.

John 9:22

A bunch of the guys were her old coworkers—guys she’d gone through training with in Porirua, beer buddies.

Porirua: A small city near Wellington.

John 1:20

He said, So here’s us, planning to meet these agents in neutral territory, across the ditch, over in the huddle where the Territory refugees were.

The ditch: The Tasman Sea.

But they weren’t only aggro about G—, they were aggro that a nuke might go off and kill a couple million people. I was like, Guys, it’s fine, they’re Australian.

There’s a rivalry.

John 5:4

Like those old power-washing ads. Spray and walk away, right?

A very recognisable series of ads.

(End of post! If you have learned anything, I’ll be stoked.)

[sweetchup]

Bi•valve

Noun

an aquatic mollusk that has a compressed body enclosed within a hinged shell, such as oysters, clams, mussels, and scallops.

AKA

The Most Common Seashell in the Ocean

————————

Vol. 1: Just Keep Swimming // Ch. 2

Type: Poseidon x reader

Word Count: 4,000+

Masterlist

————————

Sounds of horns and shouting filled the air outside as you stood on the packed bus. Cramped in from every side, it was hard for you to tell where you were going. Not as if you were paying much attention anyways.

“Okay, you left fish and pasta in the fridge… he could use the tv or read a book for entertainment while you are gone…what about…” You ramble incoherently to yourself.

Even though the storm hit Athens hard yesterday, your studio art professor was still having classes today. Forcing you to leave Triton alone at home. You shouldn’t be nervous. There was no reason to. After all, Triton is a god, he was hundreds of years old.

But…, he was still a child. No matter how old or what type of being he is. He could still possibly injure himself or get into trouble. And that single fact alone made you feel sick to your stomach.

“Is this how parents feel leaving their child alone for the first time…?” You groan to yourself, leaning your head forward so it hits the window in front of you.

“Now Approaching *Athens International School of Art*. I repeat, Now—“ The robotic voice announces over the intercom. At the familiar name of your college, you squeeze your way through the other patrons on the bus to make your way to the doors.

Sweet, sweet air, you think to yourself as soon as you exit the bus. It was starting to get way too cramped in there. So much so, you wondered if it was a safety hazard. Though it wasn’t as if you were one to talk, you left a little boy alone—

“Argh!” You scream out, slapping the cheeks of your face. You needed to stop thinking of Triton. He was going to be completely fine. But, what if…

“I’m getting too attached already…” You groan to yourself. It had only been a day. One singular Day. But you were already smitten by the blonde haired child. “It doesn’t help that he's absolutely adorable as well…”

“Who’s adorable?” A voice calls out from behind you, making you jump in surprise. Whipping around, you let out a sigh once you identify who it was.

“Bryce… how many times have I told you not to sneak up on me like that…”

Bryce Kroger. He was studying abroad at Athens International School of Art for a year just like you except he was instead an architecture major. You met him by coincidence while taking art history so you didn’t know much about the guy, the only thing being the few stories he told you about his home country of Australia.

“Oi! It’s not my fault you're so skittish!” Bryce banters back with a huff.

“Whatever…”

“Eh? Wait, where you heading?” Bryce questions as he watches you walk away, “I thought you had Studio Art on Fridays?”

“I do. I’m heading to the library first though.” You yell back to the tall male who stayed put where he was standing. Not even bothering to follow you.

“You need to stop studying so much!”

“Shut up!”

“IT’S THE TRUTH!”

“SHUT UP!” You scream back with one final huff before storming off. So what if you studied so much. You just wanted to get good grades in the classes that counted. It’s how you got here in the first place. By working your ass off.

Unconsciously, you feel your hand twitch as you open the library door. So what if you spent hours studying. So what if you didn’t go out with friends that often. So what if you didn’t have a social life. So what—

You feel yourself pause, your expression turning sour. Lonely. That’s what you were. You were lonely. A miserable lonely girl.

“Miss!”

Startled out of your thoughts by the sudden call, you realize you were no longer standing at the front door but instead standing in front of one of the librarians. You must have unconsciously walked up to the front desk while you were lost in thought.

“A-Ah. Sorry, I was just looking for books on Leonar—“

You feel your voice trail off at the end as a book on the counter catches your eye. It wasn’t the gold detailing nor the leather texture. No. It was the simple words of “Greek Mythology: Tales of Zeus” printed neatly on the front.

“…Actually, Do you perhaps have any books about Poseidon?”

You just found something better to do with your time.

—.—.—.—.—

“Damn… this is extremely confusing…” You mumble to yourself as you glare at the pages of notes in front of you. Each book seemed to be a little bit different from the last. “Perhaps I should recap…”

Okay, so what makes sense to you is that Poseidon is the second eldest of three brothers and is the ruler of the seas. The things that don’t make sense are… practically everything else…

You weren’t sure if you wanted to cry or scream out of frustration right now.

According to the books, Poseidon has had many consorts over the years. One of them being Triton’s mother, Amphitrite…

“My mother… can be quite mean to other women. Even to some of the female servants around the palace. She believes that they are trying to seduce my father…”

…but that doesn’t match up with what Triton mentioned last night. According to him, it sounds like Amphitrite scared away any women that would even come near Poseidon. This also leads to another flaw in the mythology books. You doubted that Poseidon would be able to have an affair with any other women with Amphitrite antics, nevertheless have 10 other children with them.

“Triton also never mentioned having any other siblings…”

Letting out a groan, which you seemed to be doing a lot today, you banged your head against the table. It seems like these mythology books weren’t going to be of any help after all. Though…. you couldn’t help but wonder why the books were so off in the first place.

Lifting yourself back up from the table, you glare down at one of the book covers. It was blue, almost silvery in a way, with a giant black silhouette of Poseidon right smack dab in the middle. Or, at least, what Poseidon might look like…

“Well, my father is extremely strong and handsome. All the sea nymphs stare at him with big heart eyes half the time. Oh! B-but, father doesn’t pay any attention to them. Father is not a cheater like uncle Zeus…”

“…Is Father…? Oh. He’s alright… He’s nowhere as bad as my mother. He’s never hit me or anything. He’s just… cold. Extremely cold. He really just ignores me half the time…”

“…I do love my father…I just wished he would at least spare me a glance…you know?…Acknowledge his own son…”

“God damn jerk!” You hiss out in anger as you push the book aside. Your blood practically boiling at even the slightest thought of Triton’s father, Poseidon. He doesn’t deserve to have such a good and nice son like Triton.

However, as much as you want to curse out Poseidon more, you realized class would be starting soon and you really had to get a move on.

“Shit. I can’t afford to be late again.”

—.—.—

“Ugh. Why did the professor have to assign me this type of painter…?!” You whined to Yuri. Class had already ended by then with the professor long gone. The only people left were students that were conversing with others or trying to get a head start on their paintings.

“Well, it didn’t help that you barged into class late for the second time this week, (y/n).” Yuri explained with a sigh as she continued to set up her palette, not even sparing you a glance.

Yuri Saito, Or rather Saito Yuri, was an abroad student from Japan. She was the closest person you knew at the college as you both were similar in many ways. Especially since you were both homebodies.

“I get that but at least I showed up in the fir—“

“(Y/n)!” A voice shouts out interrupting your talk with Yuri. You turn around to see Bella Woods, a student apart of your major, approaching you. “(Y/n). You were part of your student council back in high school right?”

“Uh, Yeah. Why?” You answered hesitantly. You weren’t sure why, perhaps instincts, but you were already having a bad feeling about this situation.

“Well I need your help on something…” Bella explains, her voice trailing off at the end as she grabs something from her bag. It’s a piece of paper, a flier to be exact.

“A…A Cultural Festival?”

Bella nods her head at your words, “Yeah. The college wanted to put something on for the public to show what our art school is all about and Mrs. Yamamoto suggested this. A-Apparently, it’s something schools and colleges do back in Japan.”

“B-But how can I help? Wouldn’t it make sense for someone like Yuri to do this? Since she’s from Japan and all.”

It was the truth. You didn’t know a single thing about japanese culture festivals.

“Hey don’t drag me into this, I’m busy.” Yuri counterbacks with a glare before returning back to her painting.

“Well… you see… The school wanted to change Mrs. Yamamoto’s idea a bit since they really didn’t know anything about Japanese Cultural festivals either. So it’s like a Cultural festival, kind of not.” Bella rambled. You could tell all this information was scrambling her brain as well. “Basically, it’s like a Greek version of a Cultural festival where each major picks a Greek god and plans an event or booth around it.”

“…Okay… So it’s just like a school festival in a way?” You questioned cautiously. This was a lot for you to take in at once.

“Yes. Precisely. We are just taking inspiration from Cultural festivals.”

“Okay. Okay…” You answer as you rub the back of your neck, “I still don’t understand why you need me though?”

“Well, I kind of… kind of saw you reading the mythology books in the library today and we need more people on the planning committee…” Oh, god. It seems like everything is coming back to bite you in the ass, “…Just. Please (y/n), We need your help!”

You let out a small sigh as you watch Bella give you a pleading look, “Fine…”

“Yay—!“

“But…“ You start cutting off Bella’s cheers, “But I’m taking care of something really important right now at home so I can’t always make meetings and things like that. I can help with planning but that’s it. Okay?”

That was correct. As much as you wanted to help Bella and your department out with this festival, Triton was your top priority right now. His care and needs were above all else right now, even your own. So if this would get in the way of that then you would drop this project instantly. Instantly.

“Of course! Oh, thank you (y/n)!” Bella cheers, her body visibly relaxing now that a stress has been taken off your shoulder, “Well, I’m not sure if you're busy right now but… the committee is currently planning two classrooms down… so if you could…”

“I’ll go…” You sighed out. Damn, what’s with you lately. Less than two days ago, people hardly approached you. Now you are as busy as a bee. A person magnetic… Well, more like god magnetic as wel—

Wait, a minute. You feel yourself tense up as a thought flies into your brain. If Gods could travel and spend time on earth, could they live here as well? Just like how Triton wants to?

Shit. What if some that live here are able to identify Triton? You could be in big troub—

“(Y/n)? Are you coming?” Bella calls, snapping you out of your thoughts.

“Y-yes.”

It seemed you would have to worry about that later. Not that it mattered right now, you could always just ask Triton when you got home. And even if he didn’t know the answer you would just have to be careful bringing him out of the house. Yeah… you would just do that.

“Guys, I would like to introduce you to (y/n). She’s a fine arts major just like us and knows about mythology. I think she would make a great addition to our group.” Bella introduces you as you enter the room. As you looked around the group of only 4 other people, you realized you really didn’t know anyone.

That is until everyone started to introduce themselves. You never heard of the first three—Brian, James and Kyle—but you found the last name, Marissa Samudra, quite familiar. You wonder if she was that Marissa.

Who you were talking about was Marissa, the hottest girl in school Marissa. Well, at least that’s what all the boys in your major told you. The girl in front of you at least seemed to fit the part. With white silk like skin, light green eyes and dyed coral pink hair, she truly was a sight to see.

“Okay. So shall we get started.” James suddenly spoke up, seeming to want to get the meeting started. You nodded your head in agreement before taking a seat next to Holly. As well as across from Marissa. “Well, I think we should first decide which god we should do. Culinary, Music, Visual performing arts and architecture already have chosen Aphrodite, Hades, Ares and Zeus. (Y/n)…”

You lift your head up at the call of your name.

“…as you know the most about Mythology, who do you think we should pick?”

“Well,…” You feel yourself pause, your palms growing sweaty out of nervousness. You really didn’t know that much about Greek Gods, only the class you took last year and the books you skimmed this morning. You also didn’t expect so many of the main gods to be taken already.

“…How about…”

You needed to think of someone fast. Someone that would satisfy all parties here. Someone that would bedazzle people coming to the festival.

“…Poseidon…?”

Why… Why was that what your brain had come up with? Poseidon? The very god that you were cursing out this morning. Wishing near death upon.

“Fish man?” Brian questioned, letting out a small chuckle at his own joke, “You really want to go with Fish man as our god? Isn’t there anyone better?”

“I think Poseidon is pretty…cool.” You feel a shiver go up your spine as you compliment the man. It was official, you might actually puke. “…He’s the king of the seas. It gives us a lot to work with for his character. Especially since most Fine Arts students are good at realistic elements, we could really do well on painting or using sea life.”

“True… but—“

“I think it’s a wonderful idea.”

You are shocked as you hear Marissa cut Brian off. When you first sat down, she seemed totally uninterested in the topic at hand. Caring more about her hair and nails than anything else. But now, now, she was paying attention to every little thing. You couldn’t help but wonder why. “Oh sorry. I really like the sea. It holds a special place in my heart… you know?”

Oh, that makes sense. You totally forgot Marissa’s paintings were mostly about the ocean and sea. Never drifting off to other topics.

“N-no. That’s actually pretty cool. You know what, we should totally do Posedin… or whatever the dude’s name is. He sounds really cool.” Bryan agrees as he bashfully rubs the back of his neck. Gross, could he make it any less obvious that he was smitten by her. And not in a nice way either.

You feel yourself shiver as you watch him sneak small glances down at Marissa’s chest area. Disgusting pervert…

“Well, with that decided let’s move on…”

…Great… You could already tell this was going to be a long meeting…

—.—.—.—.—

Again, for what felt like the hundredth time today, you banged your head against the wall. This time however it was against the door of your apartment.

“Seriously… a Café…?”

Yes, a Café. That’s the brilliant idea your group came up with. An under the sea type themed café.

In hindsight it didn’t sound all that bad. You could have a couple of students paint some props and decorations. Then another couple of students who know how to cook plan out the menu. Maybe even borrow some culinary students if you were lucky.

But,… there’s that.

Outnumbered three to two, the boys of your group insisted the girls that are serving customers should wear togas. Togas. They stated it was to bring in more customers but it was pretty obvious they had other intentions behind it. Especially since they didn’t even bother waiting a couple of minutes afterwards to ask if Marissa wanted to be part of the waiting staff.

“Poor girl… I feel bad for her.” You mumble to yourself as you pull out your keys, finally unlocking the door to your apartment. You wished you could just beat all those men senseless with a baseball bat. “That’s actually not a bad idea… Could I bring a wooden club and say that it's part of the character? They seem to not know that much about—“

“Miss (y/n)!” You hear shouted as something comes barreling into you. Knocking you onto the ground right as you enter your apartment. “O-oops I meant to only say (y/n)…”

Even though you got the air literally knocked out of you, you still let out a small chuckle as you reached up to run a hand through the perpetrator’s locks. Triton’s blonde locks. “It’s okay. I only told you this morning to stop referring to me so formally. It will take time for you to get used to it.”

Suddenly, you wince at a feeling of pain as you move slightly. Triton sure was strong. You, honestly, wondered if he held back some strength when he jumped at you. If so, you wondered how strong Triton was nonetheless an adult god.

Speaking of an adult god…

“Hey Triton.” The boy lifts his head up at your call, “Do any gods live on earth?”

The boy seemed to take a moment to think, “Well kind of? Not really Greek Gods though. Most of them are too proud to live with humans.”

“Oh well that’s goo— Wait, a minute! Other gods are real as well!?”

Triton nods his head furiously, “Yeah pretty much all gods. As long as it is considered as one, it exists. There’s Nordic gods…, Indian gods…, Oh! Even Buddha. I like Buddha, even though I’ve only met him once. He introduced me to salt water taffy! It’s delicious.”

“I-I see…I’ll try to get you some then. Another time.” As much as you wanted to hide your surprise you couldn’t. Learning that Greek Gods actually existed was one situation but learning that All Gods existed was a whole nother ball game. Did that mean demons existed as well?

“Hey (y/n). Could I ask you a question?” Triton asks, suddenly seeming bashful all of a sudden.

“Sure. What’s up?”

“Could I…” Triton pauses for a moment, “Could I call you…”

You leaned closer to Triton as his voice slowly got softer and softer at the end. His ears and cheeks were bright red as he waited for you to answer. However, you couldn’t answer him as you didn’t hear the last part of what he said.

“I apologize. Could you repeat what you said, Triton? I couldn’t hear the end of it.” You felt bad for asking him to repeat it as his face only seemed to get even more red when you asked.

“I-I… Could I call you… Mom?”

It was silent as his question, or rather request, fell upon your ears. You thought about it for a moment. Especially whether it was morally right for you to have him call you ‘mom’. Even if his true mother was a terrible person, she was still his mother.

Though, then again, She really didn’t act like his mother. Especially in all her hundreds of years of existence of having him. At least from what you’ve heard from Triton. She’s had plenty of chances to show her love for him and she never did.

“Of…Of course you can.”

You feel yourself smile as Triton’s face lit up. And you knew, Deep down inside, that you did the right thing. You would show this boy the love he deserved.

“Hey (Y— Mom.” You giggle at how Triton seemed to practically beam with happiness once the title left his lips.

“Yes, Triton?”

“Could we have dinner right now?”

You feel yourself jump up a little in surprise. Since you stayed later than what you usually would, due to the meeting, you didn’t have anything prepared ahead of time for dinner.

“Ah, yes. Do you think you could wait in the living room while I prepare it?”

“Of course!” Triton answers as he scrambles up off of you. As you make your way to the kitchen—which was technically in the same room as the living room—to start dinner, you find yourself drifting off into your thoughts.

You realized you really hadn’t thought this through. Taking care of Triton and all. Your apartment was small, he didn’t have his own room, he seemed to eat a lot more than a human boy his physical age and so much more.

You wouldn’t be able to buy a bigger apartment right now. Going through college and all. But you could take more shifts at work. After all, it was literally down the street. You were also good friends with the owner of the toy shop next door. You bet he would allow Triton to play with a couple of toys while you worked.

As you continue to list things you would need to take care of Triton especially if it was long term, Triton was watching cartoons on the couch.

“…Wonder cats will be right back!…”

As the show goes to commercial break, Triton feels himself let out a sigh. Television sure was awesome and all, much better than the plays and coliseum matches used to entertain gods, but he despised ads more than anything.

“Who in the world created such a malicious thing…”

Triton’s voice trails off at the end as the ad changes to another. As he stares at the screen, he feels a shiver shoot down his spine. As quickly as he could, Triton changes the channel to another before shakily dropping the television remote. A cold sheen of sweat breaks out all over his skin as he collapses back onto the couch.

To anyone else, the commercial before looked like any normal hair dye commercial seen on Tv. But not to Triton. Especially when he saw something oh so familiar.

“T-that hair color…” Triton feels himself shiver at the thought, “L-looked too much like Aunties. Mom’s…No…

…Amphitrite’s Sister.”

Author Note: Ahhh this chapter contained so much but I knew I couldn’t split it up. Especially if I was doing posting Tuesdays and Thursdays. I was worried that the time frame in between would mess my readers up. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this Chapter. I know there wasn’t a lot of Triton moments but I wanted to get the ball rolling on the plot so that things and certain characters (*cough* Poseidon *cough*) will appear soon. Well that’s it for now, see you next time :)))

Taglist: @angeli-fucking-cat @marixxhq

[bitchesgetriches]

Hi omnipotent bitches! I’m just starting to look into going back to college now that my mental health is SO MUCH BETTER and and I’m considering combining this with my dream to move internationally and studying in Australia. My savings don’t suck but they’re not quite ready for me to fully finance a move plus 2-3 years of additional college with a decrease in work hours, so I was wondering if I can get student loans for an international college? And more importantly is that a good idea or just asking for a hot financial mess with taxes and multiple currencys and scary scary things?!?

Not only CAN you do it, I think it's a great idea.

You can definitely get student loans and scholarships no matter where you go to school. On top of that, you should take into account differing costs of living and wages. Australia isn't a cheap place to live (it's pretty comparable to the US from what I understand), but the wages are significantly higher for the sort of jobs a college student can work.

Combining your dreams of traveling abroad and going to Australia sounds like an amazing plan. Don't let a few financial complexities get in your way.

[umichenginabroad]

The Coast Life (Week 1)

Hello and welcome to my first summative blog! I am excited to share my experiences and observations with you as I embark on this Australian journey just a quick 19-hour flight time from my native Chicago.

For some context: I’m staying in a hostel-turned-housing-for-study-abroad-students operated by a company called SemesterInAustralia (SiA), or at least that’s how I describe it. I’m living here with another 13 students from the US and Canada split between singles and doubles, as well as a few older residents from Brazil, Japan, France, and even more places around the world! It was especially nice coming in knowing that two fellow University of Michigan students, Lauren and Caroline, would be staying in the same hostel as me and then meeting three more UM students once here! Even more nice — the fact that you could see Coogee Beach from our front door.

View from front door:

The morning I landed in Sydney, the sun was radiating and the sky was the bluest I’d seen in weeks. The winter I left in the northern hemisphere was quickly forgotten and replaced with sights of countless t-shirts and palm trees. As soon as I got to my hostel, I threw my bags in my room and was eager to start exploring. Lauren, Caroline, me, and Anthony, a student from the University of Buffalo took to the streets. After what seemed like a never-ending 1-minute walk, we were standing on Coogee Beach with our mouths dropped in astonishment at the fact that this was going to be our life for the next 4.5 months.

Coming from a family of beach-lovers, I swore at that moment that I would swim in the ocean everyday, no matter the hour, to take the fullest advantage of the opportunity that lie before me and make my family proud. We proceeded to explore the surrounding beach town, make some headway in the Coogee-Bondi coastal walk with magnificent views of the water and beaches, and try Vegemite, a spread for toast that locals rave about (though I can’t say it was a personal favorite). Throughout our voyage, I couldn’t help but notice how not a single piece of trash littered the streets and how every passersby face exuded a state of relaxation I can only achieve after submitting my last homework assignment of the year. Needless to say, no five minutes passed without one of us uttering, “I can’t believe we live here.”

Caroline (left), me (middle), and Anthony (right) posing on a tall bench.

After returning to the hostel, I met the rest of the students and we set off on a small tour into the city set up by SiA. Seeing the Opera House up close for the first time is something I’ll never forget. The rest of our first day in Sydney was full of name games, mild chaos navigating the transit system with such a big group, and lots of laughs.

The next challenge was finding a place to watch the upcoming Rose Bowl! Another UM student, Aanika, and I set out to a local sports bar to ask if they could show the game which would be playing at 9am on the morning of Jan 2nd. The bar happily agreed and that morning we showed up covered in UM gear. By the end, there were 11 of us students with another 10 locals who had strolled in biting our nails over the possible outcomes. The Michigan win put smiles on our faces and gave us the confidence to go to our orientation while still in our UM gear.

Me (left), Lauren (middle), and Caroline (right) standing by Coogee Beach after witnessing an incredible victory.

I wish I could say I did more than lie on various beaches, go on morning runs along the coast, and explore Coogee for the rest of my first week, but I didn’t — and I couldn’t be happier. Cheers!

David Bayer

Biomedical Engineering

University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia

[captainsparklefingers]

Lair of the White Worm: Chapter 2

So. I was wrong about things staying short. And I was wrong to hope that things would get more interesting, because, uh...well, who wants to learn some genealogy and history?

Now, that isn’t to imply that genealogy and history are inherently boring, because they’re not. But the way Stoker is writing here...my eyes glazed over a few times and I had to go back and reread because what chapters 2 is, essentially, is an info dump. Really dry, long info dumps. We pick up the ‘action’ right where we left off, the cabin of the boat Adam Salton and his Grand-Uncle Richard slept in overnight. Both men are early risers, though Richard likes to hang out in bed for a bit before actually getting up (relatable). When they realize the other is awake, they both get up and quickly dress and depart the boat and go to Richard’s carriage, without any conversation. Richard is proud of his carriage, which is apparently 25 years old and has ‘all the luxuries of useful travel—silence and isolation as well as speed’. With the way Richard goes on talking about his carriage, I’m reminded of my dad and how he talks about cars and their features and suitability for different sorts of trips. Some man things, it seems, never really change, just evolve. The plan is a drive through the heart of England, essentially giving Adam the scenic tour on the way back to Richard’s house. All of this sounds very nice, and Adam brings up the way their conversation ended the night before:  “Has our journey to-day, sir, any special relation to what you said last night that you wanted to tell me?” “Not directly; but indirectly, everything.” “Won’t you tell me now—I see we cannot be overheard—and if anything strikes you as we go along, just run it in. I shall understand.” And then...oh god, it begins. Richard says he’s going to begin and the beginning, and hooo boy does he. Apparently, Adam is a bit of a history nut, having written a paper or given a paper on the Romans in Britain, and Richard, noting his nephew (we’re just gonna call them uncle and nephew from here on out for convenience’s sake), jumped on this as part of his conversations to get Adam to come to England.  “If you could learn so much of the British Romans so far away in West Australia, where there cannot be even a tradition of them, what might you not make of the same amount of study on the very spot.” Makes sense. Uncle Richard mentions that their journey and destination will be taking them through what used to make up the kingdom of Mercia, and Adam, as a history nut, should be excited and interested in how much of the timeline of English history their location spans. Again, makes sense. All of this sounds very interesting at first, because, well, it is! At least, it is to me, a fellow history nut who admits ignorance in many things and loves any chance to learn. So of course we immediately go from this to a ‘more personal reason [for Adam’s arrival]’, which is apparently a big change in the local history happening at that moment.  And thus we launch into a brief history of the Caswall family, who are the great family of the area, residing in the estate of Castra Regis and who are the owners of several of the counties the Salton’s will be travelling through. The current head of the family is coming home and will be the first member of the family to reside in their estate for over a hundred years, or six generations. A quarrel some generations back caused the last owner who lived there, one of many Edgar Caswalls, to go live abroad and cut off communication with the family back in England, his descendants not knowing about their estate. The other man involved in the quarrel, another Edgar Caswall, apparently also cut himself off from the family and went abroad to have himself a sulk (if I’m reading this right) and basically, the house has been abandoned by its family (though it was being cared for and had tenants, so it wasn’t just abandoned abandoned. I’m not sure why I’m disappointed by this.) Uncle Richard says that the newest Edgar Caswall (you really gotta love family names) is being greeted by festivities. Another, unrelated name is then dropped as Uncle Richard mentions his friend Sir Nathaniel de Salis, a freeholder who lives near Castra Regis in his own estate, DOOM TOWER.  I’m serious. This dude lives on an estate that somebody named DOOM. FUCKING. TOWER. Is there a secondary meaning to this name that DOESN’T make it sound like a supervillain’s lair? Probably. Is it going to stop me from picturing a supervillain’s lair? Absolutely not. Anyway, Nathaniel, who I suspect may be our van Helsing equivalent for this story, is the president of the Mercian Archaeological Society, a history nut who knows more about this part of England than anyone else, and Uncle Richard wants Adam to meet him. They’ll be meeting up to have a dinner and a chat. Now, all of that sounds like nice, relavent information that’ll help move the story along, yes? We have a mysterious noble family who have long been absent from the area, a very knowledgeable archaeologist who will get along with our main character, and we get some information about the area this story is going to be set in. Well, yes, it’s all very nice information to have. And it’s all presented in one fucking huge paragraph of dialogue. In the Internet Archive version of the text, which looks to me like a digitization of the actual book, that giant infodump takes place over ONE AND A HALF PAGES. And immediately after that info dump, we get a few short paragraphs where nobody talks, it’s just travelling, and we find out Uncle Richard’s house/estate is called Lesser Hill. Because it’s on top of a hill that is not quiet as big as another hill nearby (which has a castle on it, presumably Castra Regis). It’s a little bit of breathing room from that last giant hunk of dialogue, which ends when we meet Nathaniel de Salis, who beat them back to the house and was waiting for them.  “Adam, from the moment of their eyes meeting, felt as if they were already friends. The meeting was a new note of welcome to those that had already sounded in his ears.” Great, good, so you think that the rest of this chapter will be the dinner between these three history nerds, and we’ll start to get an idea of what Adam’s character is actually like, correct? Welll...not quite.  The entire dinner is sort of glossed over, and while conversation is mentioned as happening, we don’t get any of that. We’re told that Adam really shows off his excitement for local history and that he’s an eager learner, but we don’t see any of that, and instead we move on to their after dinner wine chat, wherein Nathaniel drops formality because of the close relationship between him and Richard, Adam is cool with this, both the old men “felt touched, but, with the usual avoidance of Englishmen of emotional subjects personal to themselves, they instinctively moved to the previous question.” Gotta love that stiff upper lip. Whatever that previous question was, I’m not sure, because this was the conversation they had after dinner, aka the only conversation we’re privy to because it’s the only one Stoker actually writes out:  “I gather from your uncle—by the way, I suppose we had better speak of you as uncle and nephew, instead of going into exact relationship? In fact, your uncle is so old and dear a friend, that, with your permission, I shall drop formality with you altogether and speak of you and to you as Adam, as though you were his son.”

“I would wish, sir,” answered the young man, “nothing better in the world!” So you can see my confusion here, because Adam doesn’t appear to have asked anything. Adam, for the most part, hasn’t done a heck of a lot of talking so far except to ask questions that lead to huge chunks of information being thrown at the readers. Which of course, is exactly what happens next: “I understand, Adam, that your uncle has posted you regarding the relationships of the Caswall family?”

“Partly, sir; but I understood that I was to hear minuter details from you—if you would be so good.” AAAAH ADAM. WHY. He asked for minute details, and minute details is WHAT WE FUCKING GET, because according to Nathanial, the history of the Caswall family is a parallel contemporary to that of England. Nathaniel then proceeds, via several paragraphs of dialogue (unbroken by any other character), to give us a more detailed account of the information Uncle Richard gave us in his own page and a half of information. The first Caswall on record was an Edgar, “who came into his kingdom just about the time that George III did”, he and his son had a ‘violent quarrel’, the specifics of which have been lost, the son left and never came back and eventually Edgar the father died. Edgar the son married and lived abroad and never talked to his own son about his previous life, and because of that, subsequent generations just...didn’t know anything about this estate and lands waiting for them back in England. It’s all very Downton Abbey, and admittedly, Nathaniel does a better job telling us this information than Uncle Richard does (it’s not quite as eye glazing), but again, this is information we ALREADY got. And we still know VERY LITTLE about our protagonist, and we don’t know what he thinks about any of this. Seriously, after coming from Jonathan and the Dracula Squad, Adam Salton is about as interesting as a plywood board. We’ve been told things about him: he’s from Australia, he likes horses, he’s a history buff and wrote a paper on Roman Britain, and he likely doesn’t have much of a life back in Australia if he’s willing to just drop it all and move to England to be with a grand-uncle he’s only spoken to for about a year. We’re not shown what it’s like for Adam to be in England, not given any sort of sense of culture shock or discomfort with how different things are from Australia. And we’ve been told that Adam is specifically from West Australia, the part of Australia that is mostly made up of the Outback. He’s likely not from the Outback, he’s probably from somewhere around Perth, but still, it’s a very different environment. Heck, it’s a completely different time zone! We should be at least seeing Adam as somewhat exhausted from this, even if he got to England a few days before meeting with Uncle Richard proper...though this may be weak criticism because I’m not sure if there was an equivalent to jet lag in the late 19th/early 20th century...ANYWAY, the point is we’ve been told all of this about Adam but we haven’t gotten a chance to actually see it. I’m not sure if it’s because of the omnipotent 3rd person narration or because most of the plot and dialogue has been moved forward so far by Richard or Nathaniel, but needless to say, it’s a little irritating and I’m hoping that’s going to change soon. Ah well. Anyway, we get some more Downton Abbey style inheritance drama re: the Caswall estate that all ties itself up nicely (any possible female branch heirs marry out, the long lost heir was found, lawyers can do everything, etc), and we get a description of the Caswalls. Once again, Stoker refers to a family group as a ‘race’, which...yeah, really not liking that wording, especially here, because these are the given common characteristics of members of the Caswall family: “These were well preserved and unchanging; one and all they are the same: cold, selfish, dominant, reckless of consequences in pursuit of their own will. It was not that they did not keep faith, though that was a matter which gave them little concern, but that they took care to think beforehand of what they should do in order to gain their ends. If they should make a mistake someone else should bear the burthen of it. This was so perpetually recurrent that it seemed to be a part of a fixed policy...They were absolutely cold, hard nature. Not one of them—so far as we have any knowledge—was ever known to be touched by the softer sentiments, to swerve from his purpose, or hold his hand in obedience to the dictates of his heart...The aquiline features which marked them seemed to justify every personal harshness. The pictures and effigies of them all show their adherence to the early Roman type. Their eyes were full; their hair, of raven blackness, grew thick and close and curly. Their figures were massive and typical of strength.” Lovely sounding bunch, aren’t they? Putting aside descriptions about looks and physical prowess, the Caswalls sound like a bunch of dicks. No wonder they had an argument that technically didn’t end for a hundred years.  And it’s here of course that things start to get uncomfortable: “The thick black hair growing low down on the neck told of vast physical strength and endurance. But the most remarkable characteristic is the eyes. Black, piercing, almost unendurable, they seem to contain in themselves a remarkable will power which there is no gainsaying. It is a power that is partly racial and partly individual: a power impregnated with some mysterious quality, partly hypnotic, partly mesmeric, which seems to take away from eyes that meet them all power of resistance, nay, deeper, all power of wishing to resist. With eyes like those set in that aquiline, all-commanding face one would need to be strong indeed to even think of resisting the inflexible will that lay beyond.” Stoker using the term ‘race’ to refer to families, an awkward decision already, has taken on a darker tone, implying that the Caswalls have some sort of inherent mystical power based on their race, and that their unpleasant personality traits manifest in their appearance as well. Now, I’m not going to try and guess which group Stoker was stereotyping here with any level of certainty, lest I fuck up and say something stupid or offensive (and if I do, please let me know, I’m human and I make mistakes but I honestly don’t want to offend or hurt anyone), but man, Stoker...it was bad enough when you were portraying Romanians as ignorant and superstitious (particularly when they were RIGHT to be superstitious) and bad enough that you had to write out all the accents phonetically in Dracula so everyone can go ‘oh look these people talk different they’re not speaking proper english blah blah blah’, I really shouldn’t be surprised that you’re gonna take low blows at other ethnic groups... But you know what makes this all even worse? Nathaniel admits that he’s never met a member of this family! He’s just making this shit up based on his imagination, because it’s ‘imagination based on deep study’! Which sounds like bullshit to me! Bullshit that Nathanial doubles down on with more racist crap, saying that “various members of the race had always been under my observation—that they are even under it still” AND that he thinks this group is predisposed to SELL THEMSELVES TO THE DEVIL. And are more likely to BE POSSESSED BY DEMONS. WHAT THE FUCK, STOKER. THIS IS CHAPTER 2 OF A 44 CHAPTER BOOK. What did these people ever do to you? Exist? Not be WASPs? My dude, you were IRISH. YOU KNOW HOW THE BRITISH TREAT THE IRISH. And YES, I know you were Protestant, and yes, I know you were a monarchist, so maybe you missing the forest for the colonizing trees makes sense, but STILL. This is gonna get worse, isn’t it. It almost certainly is. Fuck. I knew this book had a reputation for being offensive and racist, but I thought it was in the typical early 20th century way, like ‘oh grandpa was raised in a different time’ sort of way! Which obviously is still bad, but Christ... And on that uncomfortable note, the conversation is ended by Nathanial, who wants to go walking with Adam in the morning to show him around and help him get a feel for the place and the country (a nice thought that he immediately sours by mentioning that he wants to do this while this Caswall info dump is fresh in Adam’s head). And off they go to bed. Some notes: -Obviously, there’s a lot of stuff to call bad in this chapter. Adam is still barely a character, the way the characters are interacting is awkward, we’re just getting these giant chunks of information about things but we’re not really sure why we’re getting this...seriously, why does Adam need to know about the Caswalls? -Uncle Richard basically disappeared from the second half of this chapter after Nathaniel showed up. Maybe an interjection or two from him to stop Nathaniel from monologuing would have helped, but given that he had his own monologue earlier, I doubt it. -I am still charmed by the idea that Uncle Richard is proud of his old carriage, has an older carriage that he thinks is better, and likes showing them off along with his horses. He’s a car guy, sort of! -I did read chapter 3 as well, and my original plan was to do that along with this chapter in this post, but given how long this was, and given how this chapter ended, I figured...let’s just leave that alone for now.