Get Happy, Not Hammered

That was the slogan for Autonomy Day 2009. Autonomy Day is the day each year that The University of Newcastle takes to honor and celebrate when they split from the University of New South Wales and become their own separate Uni or "autonomous". Autonomy Day is one insane holiday here and students take it very seriously. Auto Day is essentially the biggest campus event of the year, and the Aussie students told us we were lucky to be here during semester 2 so we could experience it. Since the first day that I moved in I had heard all about Auto Day this and Auto Day that, so I was very anxious to see what all the hype was about. The night before we were told that everyone makes random, crazy, weird Auto Day t-shirts that they wear throughout the day. So a few friends and I got together and made our shirts and we were ready for Auto Day!

My Autonomy Day began at approximately 2:30 A.M. when I was woken by a fog horn, pots and pans, and people screaming down the hallway “AUTO DAYYYYY!!!!!” So I stumbled out of bed, showered, and met up with my friends. I couldn’t believe that by 3:00 A.M. EVERYONE was up and blasting techno music from their rooms. At 4:00 A.M. we all moved down to the cellar where Teds was hosting an Auto Day breakfast which everyone basically devoured. Then at 6:00 A.M. Bar on the Hill opened and that was the official start to Autonomy Day. Bar on the Hill is where all the main events of the day were happening, as well as the games and activities, and where all the bands were playing. Some of the highlights of the day include the Billy Cart Races, the Iron Man Competition, Human Foosball, and a jumping castle. The Iron Man Competitions is basically a competition similar to Fear Factor and the winner is the last person to spew. This year, for the first time in Autonomy Day history, a girl won the Iron Man competition!

I had never seen so many students on campus as I did this day. As you can see from my picture, there were heaps of people there, and that was just that line to get IN (which took about an hour!). Once you were in, you were given a wristband, which allowed you 1 “pass out.” This basically meant that you were allowed to leave Bar on the Hill and come back in one time throughout the day. I used by pass out to come back to my room and well… pass out. I couldn’t believe how unbelievable tired I was by 8:00 A.M. So I took a nap for a few hours and went back to Bar on the Hill a little bit later in the day. I’m not sure if I’d say Autonomy Day was all it was talked up to be (don’t tell the Aussies I said that!), but it was still a great day full of lots of fun and lots of techno music.