I want to know, have you ever seen the rain?

Song: "Have You Ever Seen The Rain?" by Creedence Clearwater Revival

February 15th

We woke up early again for Brecky (I've seen it as Brekky too, but Brecky is closer to my name so I'll just keep it like that) and it was pouring.

"This is surf camp, not sun camp"

From Surf Camp

We got our nasty wetties (wetsuits) on and (most of us) went back into the water for some more high quality surf time. I stood up some more, but honestly, it is epically easier to do when the instructor gives you a push. Maybe it was just the quality of the waves, but that push really made a difference. I stood up some more and all was good. We stopped again for lunch, which was also delicious. Seriously, after being beaten down by waves for two straight hours, food tastes so incredible. They could have been feeding me asparagus and I would have thought it was gourmet. Anyway, the Belgian cooks prepared some delectable food regardless and I ate it all up. This was the first time I was introduced to Sweet Chili Sauce, which is possibly the most delicious condiment I've ever tasted. It's all over Australia and I love it. It's sometimes spelled "chilli" or labeled as Sweet Thai Chilli sauce.

The next two hour session was fairly eventful. Toward the end of it I was stung by a Portuguese Man o' War (also known as a bluebottle). Several of my new friends were stung earlier and I felt really bad for them, but I wasn't quite as empathetic until I got stung myself. Sean, the photographer and also Chaplin's fill-in for the last session, assured me that it would feel like my leg was going to fall off, but only for 30 minutes. He told me a very nice story about someone he knew who got stung by one. The guy was convinced he was going to die and demanded to be taken to the hospital. After he arrived, the very tricky person in charge told him it would be about a 20 minute wait knowing that the pain would be gone by then. This was incredibly reassuring as I sat on the beach wincing the minutes away.

This is what they look like:

From Surf Camp

From Surf Camp

A shot of my incredibly sore feet:

From Surf Camp

I had already gotten in most of my surfing for that session, so in theory it came at the right time, with the actual right time being never. Right after that session we got changed back into regular clothes, packed up and headed out. We stopped outside Gerroa in a town called Gerringong where we had the option of getting meat pies at a local bakery or ice cream at a local ice cream shop. Both sounded great, but I went for the meat pies after having them highly recommended by my friend Karl back at UMD. I led the pack to the meat pie bakery and when I got there, the cashier gave me six free cupcakes because she was going to throw them away. I gladly took them off her hands. :)

From Surf Camp

The meat pie was similar to a chicken pot pie, except that instead of being filled with chicken and vegetables, it was filled with a ground beef meat and meat gravy. It was quite tasty, but if I were to eat them on a regular basis I would probably gain 100 pounds (45.359237 kilograms, I really gotta get with this metric thing). More people from the bus joined us in the bakery like Rosa from England and Heather from Canada, who I also roomed with. When we got back on the bus, I purchased some pictures of the group and after we started rolling back to the Sydney area (which was quite a trip, about 3 hours) we watched Point Break. This movie is epically ridiculous. To start it off, the leads are Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze, with a nice supporting cast of Gary Busey. Oh and John C. Reilly (Dr. Cox from Scrubs) is in there too, but I find it impossible to hate him. If that doesn't make you not watch the movie, try Patrick Swayze leading a gang of surfers who rob banks and having Keanu Reeves be a cop who learns to surf so he can catch him. Regardless, the movie was a favorite among the surf instructors and it was at the very least entertaining.

We got back to uni (the university) and I headed back to my apartment. Somewhere between being dropped off and nightfall, I ran into my roommates on the sidewalk. Andy, Sean and Bethany are really cool. The guys are from San Diego and Bethany goes to school in Hartford. It has been a blast living with all of them. All three of them came to Australia through the Australearn program, and I'm friends with so many of them that someone I never met from the Australearn team friended me on Facebook.

A few seconds after I got back to the apartment, I was whisked away to Macquarie University Village (our apartment complex) orientation, which was really lame. We all got back to the apartment and Sean, another AustraLearner Mary, and I all went to Woolworth's (the grocery store). I was in pretty desperate need of conditioner because surf camp ate my hair. The store was not very close to where we lived, but we were pretty convinced it was the only one open on a Sunday night. I got what I needed, and while we were making the trek back to the University Village, it started downpouring. The skies opened up and just dumped water on us. I can't remember if it was Sean or Mary who started it, but by the time we got back to our apartment we were belting CCR's "Have You Ever Seen The Rain?" at the top of our lungs. Mary and I both were in choir and like harmonies which is fun. After we got back, we took an awkward "we're really wet" photo and then I think I went to bed. Fun day.

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.

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.

It's been so long since I've seen the ocean...I guess I should

Song: "A Long December" by Counting Crows

February 13th (Sydney time)

After the shuttle arrived, I got checked in and got to my room, which is one room and one bath in a 5 bedroom 5 bath apartment. These are the apartments built to house some of the Sydney 200 Olympians. It's quite spacious. I unpacked a little and then headed off to the international student welcome BBQ at U@MQ, the student union of sorts at Macquarie. I didn't exactly know where I was going, but I had a decent map and found my way there. I went to the UBar on the top floor to look for some other international students. I met some Macquarie students who helping out who were very nice and helpful, and after that I went searching for some free BBQ food. Unfortunately, by the time I got there, there was nothing left but cooked onions. I decided instead to peruse the international student information fair: I filled out a survey for a free coffee voucher, I tried vegemite (it's pretty much yeast and salt, and it's not my favorite), I picked up boatloads of papers about things around campus. It was definitely informative. After I left the main area, I decided to go explore the rest of U@MQ. I found the co-op bookshop and went and peeked in there. Also the little convenience store was fun to look around in. "Crack the Shutters" by Snow Patrol was playing on the radio and I kind of filled with glee. I'm not used to obscure Snow Patrol being played in public areas.

Note: After about a week here, I've decided that Snow Patrol and Kings of Leon are very popular. This makes my day regularly.

I went back to my apartment soon after and got ready to go to Surf Camp. I had a ton of time between finishing packing and having to leave, so I decided to go explore Macquarie Centre (the mall right off campus). I originally went searching for a cell (excuse me, mobile) phone and found a bunch of other stores in the mall. They even have an ice rink. I didn't have any cash at the time, so getting lunch was more difficult than I thought. I ended up going to Woolworth's (the grocery store) and getting some potato salad and an apple. The first time I tried to pay for it, it didn't work because I attempted to use debit, but I got it straightened out. They even had free yogurt samples in the store. There was a very helpful guy working there who could tell I wasn't from around here and he helped me out a lot.

After Woolworth's, I went on a crazy quest to find the Optus (mobile phone provider) store. I knew it was on level 4, but it took me forever to find it. Once I got there, I got my phone and brought it back to the waiting area for the bus to surf camp. While waiting for surf camp, I met up with Laura, Alyson and Joanne who all go to University of Maryland. Joanne and I sat together on the bus on the way there. I think I slept for most of it. During the trip we met Chaplin, Sean and Ema, all surf instructors at camp. They were a lot of fun. Joanne and I sat in the front, and Chaplin actually woke me up once I fell asleep. Scary, but hysterical.

We stopped to get burgers at this place known for burgers which I can't remember somewhere between Macquarie and Gerroa. It was delicious. I had the pineapple and cheese burger.

Note: Australia likes to put pineapples and beets on burgers. This is delicious.

We left there soon after finishing our burgers (Thanks again Joanne for lending me that money. I swear I'll get it back to you in some form!) and headed down to Gerroa. Once we arrived, we split into huts, and I was with Heather and Alex. Alex is from the university and she was incredibly helpful. She also had a really cute kid.

There wasn't much of anything on the agenda Friday night so a group of us decided to go explore the ocean. It was beautiful and the sand was so soft I can't describe it. We stuck our feet in the ocean for a long time before we realized the sand was actually glowing under our feet. We were told that it was due to phosphorous in the sand. Regardless, it was the coolest thing ever and we played with it for a long time. After getting back to camp, we were exhausted and went to sleep.

Hello ocean, you are a magical beast.

From Surf Camp

Belated Apology for Lateness of All Entries

Dear anyone who reads this,

I will not be putting anything up here in a timely fashion. Pictures either. I'm trying to have a good time down here and not be on the internet all of the time. :)

With that being said, I'll be working on flight and San Francisco entries shortly.

Surf camp is for another time.

-Becky

I Just Paid For A Surfing Trip?

The idea that I will be leaving the country for Australia is feeling more and more surreal by the day.

Sitting in the leasing office of my apartment complex, signing release of lease forms and such felt like a scene from a strange movie where there's a dead party to symbolize something. (It was a 1950's themed "celebration" in the office, with the five employees and us. The lighting through the large glass windows was bright, yet ominous.)

Regardless, I just paid for a trip to go on a 2 day/2 night surfing trip the same day I get into Australia.

Note: I am not a good swimmer.

Also, I'll be suffering from some serious jet lag. And this picture looks so intimidating:

I can't do that. Also, I hear there are poisonous jellyfish. Ahhhhh.

Well, I'm officially out of my apartment in College Park and I'm back home with the family. It was a great last weekend though. Nice dinner with good friends at Outback (even with the wait) and a nice after-party involving lots of...Rock Band until 2:30 in the morning. Packing wasn't fun, but it's kind of nice to be home for a little while. I watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail with Dad as soon as I got back.

I also need to start planning my layover in San Francisco. I should get on that.

Ok, February 11th. Here I come.