Song: "Ain't No Other Man (remix)" by Christina Aguilera
May 9th
I woke up in Bondi Junction and watched Disney's Alice in Wonderland and part of a Penguins vs. Capitals game. Great morning. Oh and I was still in my clothes from last night. As I sent thank you texts to my host on the way out the door, I wondered if it could still be called a "walk of shame" if nothing incredibly shameful happened. I decided it's pretty shameful that I was wearing the same outfit from last night, which looks fine in the evening and all, but not especially in the daylight. Regardless, I got home but not until about 2pm due to some lovely public transportation issues.
I decided I needed to go to Trafalgar to get salsa and god knows what else, and while talking with Justin online decided that I wanted to see Star Trek in IMAX in Darling Harbour. I'd walked past it last night in the course of the evening, and the idea was in my head, so I was going to see it. We tried to get more people to come with us, but weren't very successful, so the two of us went to see it around 7pm. I had heard earlier that people were going to Lowenbrau, the German pub in the rocks, and so had Justin, so we decided to meet them afterward.
The movie was mind-blowing. Oh, J.J. Abrams, I love you and everything you touch. Aside from the fairly blatant physics errors, the movie was incredibly entertaining. I knew enough about Star Trek (thanks to Dad) to know a bit about what was going on, so that was fun. The space fight scenes were brilliant in IMAX. Seeing Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine in IMAX wasn't so bad either...
Justin and I left the theater way before the rest of the folks from Macquarie made it into the city, so we went to KFC to kill some time and eat some dinner. The bathrooms were locked up due to vandalism, and there were a group of about 7 guys who came in wearing togas. So confused. Anyway, we left there and headed to Lowenbrau to wait for everyone else. Eventually they showed up, and we all danced and drank and had a good time. Oh and the bar above Lowenbrau is called Über Bar. Sweet, right?
Anyway, out of nowhere, Greg pulls me aside and asks if I want to go with him and Justin to Argyle. So we go. We stayed there for a bit, until we realized the bar was closed (not that I was buying anything there anyway, it's way too expensive) and headed back to go home.
We got back on the bus, and I wasn't sure if it went back to Culloden Rd. or not, so I convinced Justin to get off with me at Macquarie Centre and walk home from there. Greg stayed on the bus, which took him directly to Culloden, while Justin and I walked home freezing. Greg was right and I was cold.
Showing posts with label pub. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pub. Show all posts
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Take back the city for yourself tonight, I'll take back the city for me.
Song: "Take Back The City" by Snow Patrol
February 17th (continued)
After getting back from the bus tour, I was quite tired, but due to some lovely peer pressure/mild encouragement to go exploring, I agreed to go with a bunch of my roommates' friends and my roommates to a bar called Scruffy Murphy's. We slipped and called it Scruff McGruff's several times, after the National Crime Prevention Council's obviously successful advertisement campaign for the youth of our generation.
We successfully managed to get from our apartment complex into the city via bus, and also to our final destination. Turns out we were told that this was the place to be on Tuesdays because Scruffy Murphy's has "Tight Arse Tuesday." I would not have believed this without a picture:
I had way more fun than I thought I would. The live band was awesome in my opinion, but I'm not sure the other people I was with enjoyed them as much as I did. For starters, they played Kings of Leon twice. Why yes, actually they did play "Sex on Fire." This song is following me. They also played some Snow Patrol from both their most recent album and the album before that, and a Bloc Party song too. And Guns & Roses and Bon Jovi too. I danced like a fool (which is the only way to dance really) and had a fantastic time.
Oddly enough, my friend Sydnee from UMD who is studying abroad through Study Australia actually ran into me in the bar without any previous planning. Wild stuff. We left after the buses stopped running and split a cab home. It was steep, but I was prepared for it. Roommate Andy also got an amazing picture of roommate Sean sleeping in the cab. Priceless.
February 17th (continued)
After getting back from the bus tour, I was quite tired, but due to some lovely peer pressure/mild encouragement to go exploring, I agreed to go with a bunch of my roommates' friends and my roommates to a bar called Scruffy Murphy's. We slipped and called it Scruff McGruff's several times, after the National Crime Prevention Council's obviously successful advertisement campaign for the youth of our generation.
We successfully managed to get from our apartment complex into the city via bus, and also to our final destination. Turns out we were told that this was the place to be on Tuesdays because Scruffy Murphy's has "Tight Arse Tuesday." I would not have believed this without a picture:
 |
| From Night Out in Sydney |
I had way more fun than I thought I would. The live band was awesome in my opinion, but I'm not sure the other people I was with enjoyed them as much as I did. For starters, they played Kings of Leon twice. Why yes, actually they did play "Sex on Fire." This song is following me. They also played some Snow Patrol from both their most recent album and the album before that, and a Bloc Party song too. And Guns & Roses and Bon Jovi too. I danced like a fool (which is the only way to dance really) and had a fantastic time.
 |
| From Night Out in Sydney |
Oddly enough, my friend Sydnee from UMD who is studying abroad through Study Australia actually ran into me in the bar without any previous planning. Wild stuff. We left after the buses stopped running and split a cab home. It was steep, but I was prepared for it. Roommate Andy also got an amazing picture of roommate Sean sleeping in the cab. Priceless.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Catch a wave and you're sitting on top of the world
Song: "Catch A Wave" by The Beach Boys
February 14th (aka, probably best Valentine's Day ever, mainly because I forgot it was Valentine's Day)
Breakfast, aka Brecky, was at 7 am. Geez.
Note: Australians really like shortening words. Chaplin joked that they just cut a word in half and then add an 'o' or a 'y' to the end of it. Example: Wetty = wetsuit, arvo = afternoon, etc.
I got up early and took a shower, which was fairly easy to do given my giant time change. We all got assigned wet suit numbers (not that it matters but I was 14) and pulled them on like a spandex corset. Ok, it wasn't that bad. Actually mine was pretty long so it wasn't a big deal. After suiting up, our group headed out to the beach. We split up when we got there and I was in Chaplin's instruction group. The weather was incredibly overcast and my favorite saying of the trip was "It's surf camp, not sun camp." The instructors were quite hilarious. Within the first 2 hour session, which consisted of learning how to sit up on all fours on the board and then progressing to standing, I actually stood up on one wave. It was a miracle. After that my "technique" slowly went downhill, but I managed to stand up several more times over that session and the next three. Don't get me wrong though, I was nicknamed "Grace" sarcastically as a child and I certainly had my share of wipe outs. It was definitely a lot of fun when things worked, but when they didn't it was quite exhausting. The weather wasn't ideal for surfing, not only because of the rain/cloudiness, but also because there was wind coming into the beach which made the waves less desirable for surfing. Like one after the other with no breaks in between. Even though I was exhausted, I kept going until the two hour session ended regardless.
Between the two sessions we got to relax on the hammocks at our huts. They felt like a giant hug.
After we were finished surfing for the day, a group of us went up to the local pub, which kind of reminded me of an AMVETS back home. This pub was at the top of a giant hill from where we were staying but we went anyway.
Further up on the left of this hill:
We had to sign in as temporary guests, which was mildly ridiculous, but I respect protocol most of the time so I just did it. Since the drinking age was 18, and I was about 4 days from turning 21 anyway, we had a few beers at the pub. Apparently Australians drink Tooheys and Fosters is not popular at all. Alex from the university was an incredible help to us here.
We managed back down the hill for dinner, which I believe might have been the burger night. Might not, I really can't remember what we ate, but it was delicious. Thank you lovely Belgians. After dinner, an even larger group managed to get back up the hill to the pub yet again. This included Ben who had either a broken or a sprained little toe. That's dedication. This time there was a pretty awful live band ruining many different songs for me. Picture "Sex on Fire" (this song has been popping up all over this trip) being sung by a middle-aged woman and tell me that's not horrifying/hysterical.
I left before most people because I strongly desired sleep (silly jet lag) and knew that our lesson the next day was bright and early. I slept like a baby...who sleeps well.
February 14th (aka, probably best Valentine's Day ever, mainly because I forgot it was Valentine's Day)
Breakfast, aka Brecky, was at 7 am. Geez.
Note: Australians really like shortening words. Chaplin joked that they just cut a word in half and then add an 'o' or a 'y' to the end of it. Example: Wetty = wetsuit, arvo = afternoon, etc.
I got up early and took a shower, which was fairly easy to do given my giant time change. We all got assigned wet suit numbers (not that it matters but I was 14) and pulled them on like a spandex corset. Ok, it wasn't that bad. Actually mine was pretty long so it wasn't a big deal. After suiting up, our group headed out to the beach. We split up when we got there and I was in Chaplin's instruction group. The weather was incredibly overcast and my favorite saying of the trip was "It's surf camp, not sun camp." The instructors were quite hilarious. Within the first 2 hour session, which consisted of learning how to sit up on all fours on the board and then progressing to standing, I actually stood up on one wave. It was a miracle. After that my "technique" slowly went downhill, but I managed to stand up several more times over that session and the next three. Don't get me wrong though, I was nicknamed "Grace" sarcastically as a child and I certainly had my share of wipe outs. It was definitely a lot of fun when things worked, but when they didn't it was quite exhausting. The weather wasn't ideal for surfing, not only because of the rain/cloudiness, but also because there was wind coming into the beach which made the waves less desirable for surfing. Like one after the other with no breaks in between. Even though I was exhausted, I kept going until the two hour session ended regardless.
Between the two sessions we got to relax on the hammocks at our huts. They felt like a giant hug.
 |
| From Surf Camp |
After we were finished surfing for the day, a group of us went up to the local pub, which kind of reminded me of an AMVETS back home. This pub was at the top of a giant hill from where we were staying but we went anyway.
Further up on the left of this hill:
 |
| From Surf Camp |
We had to sign in as temporary guests, which was mildly ridiculous, but I respect protocol most of the time so I just did it. Since the drinking age was 18, and I was about 4 days from turning 21 anyway, we had a few beers at the pub. Apparently Australians drink Tooheys and Fosters is not popular at all. Alex from the university was an incredible help to us here.
 |
| From Surf Camp |
We managed back down the hill for dinner, which I believe might have been the burger night. Might not, I really can't remember what we ate, but it was delicious. Thank you lovely Belgians. After dinner, an even larger group managed to get back up the hill to the pub yet again. This included Ben who had either a broken or a sprained little toe. That's dedication. This time there was a pretty awful live band ruining many different songs for me. Picture "Sex on Fire" (this song has been popping up all over this trip) being sung by a middle-aged woman and tell me that's not horrifying/hysterical.
 |
| From Surf Camp |
I left before most people because I strongly desired sleep (silly jet lag) and knew that our lesson the next day was bright and early. I slept like a baby...who sleeps well.
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