saturday surf trip

friday was an nearly unbearably hot day, but i can't say i minded since i was laying on the beach all afternoon. for reference, however, at 8:30pm it was 33 degrees celcius ( about 92 degrees fahrenheit). so you'd think after a hot day like that, the weekend would be more of the same - no. the weather's a fickle thing here. saturday morning we get up and it's overcast, raining, and probably in the teens. but a little chilly weather is not enough to stop us from going on our surf trip!
this guy, tim - a pharmacy student from delaware/casual surfer/ beach lifeguard, offered to take andrea (a roommate) and i surfing for the day. we were suppose to leave at 8:30am, but in true aussie style didn't actually get out of the door until about 10. he rented a little hatch-back toyota corolla and took us up to tarquay (the begining of the great ocean road). in addition to the bad weather, there was no swell anywhere near by, so the waves were pretty lame. i wasn't too bothered by this since i've never surfed before, but it had to be a bit of a bummer for him.
the people in tarquay sent us to barwon heads to get the best waves, and there andrea and i rented a surf board to share for the afternoon.
we spent the first two hours trading off but to no avail. i got to my knees and rode a few waves that way, but never actually stood up. a thunderstorm rolled in so we took a break from the water and got some lunch. technically our board was due back at the end of those two hours, but when we told 'ross' (the surf shop guy) that we hadn't gotten up yet, he basically called us pansies and told us we weren't allowed back until we actually surfed.
we headed back to 13th beach and tried again. andrea didn't give it another go - her arms had given up on her, but tim and i forged on for another 2 hours. first try i finally got to my feet and was pretty stoaked about it. i never quite got the hang of catching the wave and getting to my feet in time to actually ride one in, but i think i have the basics down. half way through the second session my arms gave out. it's a funny feeling when your mind is saying 'push yourself up' but your body doesn't go ANYWHERE. i enventually regained some strength, but man was i sore the next day.
andrea and i have orders to do push-ups every day and give it another go. i'm just excited that i got up at all, but i'll definitely try again.
after we finished surfing we drove up to bell's beach. you might know it from the reference in point break with keanu reeves and patrick swayze. it was very flat the day i saw it, but apparently it gets some 'sick swells' near easter with 15' waves. that's when and where they hold the rip curl pro - and professional surf competition. i plan on making it back that way around then to see the pros at work.
cross that adventure off the list of things to do. surf's up, dude!

food

besides last summer when i stayed at purdue, this is the first time i've had to really cook for my self every day. i'm not starving, but i have to admit i've had a few misfortunes along the way. it all started a couple days ago when i was making eggs for breakfast. the first two were fine, but when i cracked the third open, the yoke was red and bloody. i tried to scoop it out and pretend everything was fine, but those eggs had to go in the trash. i tried again the next day, and that batch come out alright, but i am still a little queezy from the incident.
next was the lettuce. i was chopping up a head of iceburg for a salad or something. when i peeled back the next layer, there was a dead worm lying there. it got a pretty good scream out of my roommates. i just cut him out and made sure to give my lettuce an extra washing. just a little added protien i suppose, not too much harm.
then i went to go make toast, and my bread had molded. that's definitely more common, but after the first two mishaps, it became quite commical.
luckily for me, i'm living in a city where there are enough resturants to eat out for every meal and never have to go to the same place twice. being on a budget prevents me from going out that much, but i get to a few places each week.
'australian' cuisine is kind of an obscure thing. it's kind of like 'american' food. what is american food? hamburgers and hotdogs? maybe, but we probably got that from someone else too. i guess steak and lamb are pretty australian-ish, but seeing how i've only visited sydney and melbourne, i haven't run into many farm animals yet. i have seen giant fruit bats and some pigeons and seagulls though. yummy.
mainly the resturants around here are from japanese and other asian influences. there is a sushi place on every block, which hannah - i'm sure you'd be most interested to know, since we all know how much you love sushi. ;) i haven't purchased a roll yet, but it's just a matter of time.
i ate at a falafel place yesterday in st kilda on my way back from the beach. i tried a piece of falafel. basically it was ground up chick peas. i guess it was aliright, but it sounds pretty gross. i went for the chicken wrap for my lunch instead.
for the most part i stick to tacos and grilled chicken at home. that's pretty much all i know how to make, but that's perfectly fine with me. it's cheap, easy, and pretty tastey if i do say so myself. the boys downstairs were given a grill by study australia to make up for having a much smaller apartment than the girls. it works out great for us because we get to live in the bigger apartment and then go downstairs and have the boys grill us dinner! this is making me hungry.

small part of the world

so yesterday was the main day of orientation. the opening guy decided to list off the countries each international student had come from to see the numbers by a show of hands. i was surprised at the diversity of the room. out of approximately 200 students there were people from all over the world. the majority went to germany with others from england, france, malaysia, mexico, canada, vietnam...all over. when he finished he asked if he had left anyone out. he had: the united states. there were mumbles around the room informing him of his mistake. when he finally recognized someone's response he said with mocking surprise, "oh! the united states! how could i forget? makes you realize what a small part of the world your country really is." and everyone (from outside the states) cheered.
was it clever? yes. did it get the point across? yes. but i was a little miffed. and most the other americans around me were a little more than miffed. although he was trying to knock us down a peg to equal importance as everyone else, in my opinion he failed. although it was in a negative and embarassing way, he still gave the spotlight and airtime to the states. plus he rallied up some extra american pride and comradery among the american exchange students. who (by the way) probably outnumbered the germans. he never let us raise our hands.
that has really been the worst anti-american sentiment i've experienced since i've been here. i've had a few questions about bush and some off the cuff remark about our stock market controlling australia's, but for the most part no one seems to care. if anything they are intrigued that i am an american and want to know what it's like. i mainly get questions along the lines of "what's las vegas like?", "you like country music? what's that?", and "what's beer cost in the states?": that's what young australians really want to know.

day in the city

the study australia roommates who are going to RMIT and i made it up to the city today. we originally went for some obscure orientation program that only one of us were notified about, but it proved to be completely useless, so we got a free lunch and decided to spend the rest of the afternoon exploring.

i like campus. i thought because it was a city school, that the buildings would be all mixed in with business buildings and have no character, but it's not totally like that. the main part of campus is divided by a walkway which keeps the traffic away and the buildings have a lot of character. some are really old stone and others are ultra modern and brightly colored. real orientation starts monday, so i'm sure i'll get a better feel for things then.

i finally got a cell phone that works and didn't cost a fortune and found free internet near my apartment, so i'm doing good. campus is an hour walk from south yarra (where i live) but a 20 minute or so bike ride, so i think i'm going to get a bike. i found one in the classifides that might work and is cheap. otherwise i'd have to take the train which costs 100 AUD a month - i'm so sick of spending money. i'm not use to living on my own. all of a sudden everything i eat, everything i do, costs money - and a lot of it!

if anyone feels the need to call me my new number is:
61 4 3469496...usually you need to dial 0011 to get out of the country when using a calling card.

i'm starving. time for dinner!

getting settled

well i've made it to melbourne. orientation in sydney was great. getting settled has been a bit rocky: i left my purse in a club and it was taken, so that's been quite the downer. however, i'm getting all that worked out and things will hopefully go better from here on out. i won't be getting the internet until friday, so regular posts won't start until then. for now, i'm paying $5 for a half hour in an internet cafe - what a rip!

unfortunately my camera was in the purse that got stollen, so my pictures went with it. hopefully i'll scrounge up some extra cash and buy a new camera soon so you all can see what i'm seeing. it's really pretty here, and the weather is terrific. so glad i'm not bearing another purdue winter this year.

my time's almost up - i'll keep you posted