Reorientation

So the last few days have been pretty insane. I've started all my classes and still go out every night. This combo can't last forever, though, because I have to read TWELVE FULL NOVELS for my two english classes in the next 13 weeks! Jesus Christ. Campus is nuts when there are students here. Everyone travles in hordes and goes absolutely crazy as soon as the sun sets (which, coincidentally, is right about now). Costume parties are the thing here, and everyone I've observed has also managed to work in some sort of intimidating, blunt instrument with their get-ups (think golf clubs, tennis rackets, lead pipes). 

Today, however, has been the wildest of all. I woke up to a beautiful blue sky, no classes, and $40 for beer. On my walk to the post office, I began noticing hundreds of insanely costumed students everywhere, and soon figured out that "reorientation" here consists mostly of everyone skipping classes for the last three days of the week and partying at the pubs. Neglecting to bring my camera was my only mistake today, as the costumes were pretty elaborate. We're talking clans of identical speed racers, inmates, transvestites, angels, circus animals, hobos, and Speight's fanatics. 

The best part though, was a crowd of hundreds that had gathered in front of the Captain Cook Pub, in the middle of the day, drinking as they waited in line for admittance. Families walked by as several distinct moshpits formed in the rowdy queue, and it's a wonder no children were hurt from the careless flinging (and resulting explosions) of empty beer bottles. Every pub in town was exactly the same, and the neighborhoods proved no exception. On my way home to write this, I walked past two half-burned couches in the middle of the street, as well as three trashed rugby players who were rolling sizeable boulders into an intersection. 

For once in my life I wish I didn't have to read.