Thursday, March 29, 2012

Winter Wonderland Ball (minus the snow!)

Every year, the university puts on a ball for the students and this year's theme was "Winter Wonderland." I chuckled at the theme because the majority of Australian's have never even felt snow before. They've only seen it on TV or movies and my Aussie friends sit and ask questions about what it's like! A few are coming to UW-Eau Claire next year, and a huge reason is because they WANT to have the true winter with blizzards and all. Go figure! We were debating going to the ball because apparently people get really dressed up in prom-type gowns and all we had were shorter, casual dresses because there was no way a ball-type gown was fitting in that suitcase. After going back and forth on the decision, I realized that while we are here, might as well do everything possible that involved harmless fun and will create memories. So we got our $35 tickets, got dressed up at my place, took a bunch of pictures with a group and walked down to the UniBar on lower campus where there is a big event room for the dance. When we got there, it was packed! We weren't even trying to be "fashionably late," as we arrived around 6:30. It was a lot warmer in the room than the type of winter I'm used to (probably because they don't really use air conditioning here that I've noticed. Oddly enough, I've never been too hot in class even on very warm days. Or maybe it's that I'm too focused on the constant chirping and calls of tropical birds outside the classroom's windows. Constant. noise. To the point where it's sometimes hard to hear the professors voice over the noise outside! I enjoy it though...makes it feel very tropical. 
Back to the Ball, we got our drink vouchers and found a round table that some of our Aussie friends and their room mates were sitting at. I hadn't eaten since a light breakfast, so I was extremely hungry. It was a catered event, so they served the food to us as a three-course meal. 


We still had some time before dinner, so we mingled and took plenty of pictures by their staged wintery backdrop. The room was beautiful-filled with glistening lights, blue accents around the dance floor and white and blue pebbled centerpieces on each table. 
A live band was the music for the night, and that combined with the conservation gave the ambience of a wedding reception. We went to the bar to get our free drink for the night (very, very happily about the "free" part-although it's cost is obviously added to our original ticket), and then I realized I've never ordered a drink from a bar before. They had a "Blue Moon" drink that I got because that's one of my favorite types of ice cream and it sounded refreshing. I watched them make it so I knew what I was getting 


myself into...just sprite, blue coloring, and 
literally a touch of white wine.  I preferred the water on the table, so ended up just drinking that instead. It's just way more fun to have fun and then to actually remember the fun you had! A beautiful salad containing every vegetable and topping ever invented was presented for our appetizer, followed with delicious lamb, potatoes and pumpkin slices for the main course. They alternated between a chicken plate and lamb plate for every person around the table. I tried the chicken and it was delicious as well, but I haven't had lamb in a while, so it was a treat! Dessert was sno-cones with different fruity flavoring beautifully sculpted in our bowls. After the first "real" meal we've had in a while, we headed to the dance floor... ... where no one was dancing. The live band was playing music that would have been nice to listen to when reading a book on the beach, not when there's an energetic crowd that wants to liven up the place! Well, my friends and I danced anyways (like always), and we remained the only ones actually dancing for a while, but by the end there was a full dance floor. Mostly talking and slightly swaying, but still, they were upright and moving! :)


Around 11, we noticed the place was pretty much vacant, because everyone went out to the bars/clubs downtown.  That's not really my scene though, after trying it out a few times. It's really fun to go with a bunch of girls and just dance all night, because my group knows how to have fun and actually REMEMBER the night the next day.  After a while, you look around and feel a bit hopeless for humankind when observing people in that state of intoxication. So, we decided just to walk up the hill and have our own mini dance party in Orion for a while. I constantly feel grateful for the group of friends I've surrounded myself with while being here. It makes all the difference having people that follow your same mindset about what is and isn't a good time. 
As a result, I am loving waking up before 8 am every day and having a clear head, clear conscience and clearly a better day. 



Everyone there from Orion!

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