Mojo Surf Weekend!

When we were in Cairns, a lot of us had signed up for a Mojo Surf Weekend, where we would all (hopefully) learn how to surf. The weekend had finally arrived, and a bus picked up a big group of us and took us to Arrawarra in New South Wales. Some of the kids from our week in Cairns went to different schools, so it was fun seeing them again. We got picked up Friday night by the bus driver and his dog, Pepper. On the way down we watched Blue Crush, of course. It was around 1am when we got to our accommodation and everyone was pretty tired. We took one short walk to the beach and came back, and I hopped into bed with my sweet Jonas Brothers sheet and pillowcase.



The crazy surfing group!



            They woke us up at 8AM for our first surf lesson!! They gave us a quick safety lesson, let us practice getting up on our boards on the beach, and then we went out in the ocean to do the real thing. All of the instructors were pretty crazy and made everything a lot of fun, and made it easier to get up on the boards. After the first lesson, I think everyone in the group was able to get up and catch a few waves-even Pepper was out surfing! Afterwards we had lunch and then another surf lesson. It rained while we were out there, but we were wet anyways and the ocean water was warm so nobody was bothered by it. Everyone was pretty tired after this lesson and anxious for dinner. Dinner was amazing…it seemed like an actual home-cooked meal which I hadn’t had in awhile. Later that night, there was a “Bin Bag Party.” Everyone was given a garbage bag to make some sort of clothing out of and wear it for the night. It was a lot of fun hanging out with everyone and having a few drinks around the campfire.

            The next morning, wake up was at 6AM! I was tired, but very excited for one more surf lesson. We ate breakfast and got our boards. This time, the waves were bigger and a little rougher. We also surfed tandem, where an instructor would hop on the back of our boards with us while we rode a wave in. After our last lesson, we packed up our stuff, had lunch, and then boarded the bus to head back home. On the way home, we stopped in Bryon Bay for about an hour. Because it was pretty cloudy and a little rainy, we didn’t venture to the beach, but we walked up and down the streets and grabbed a burger at The Burger Master. It was such a cool, little, local town and definitely a place that I want to visit again for a weekend!

First Week of Classes

Sadly, classes had to begin eventually. Although I wasn’t too happy about starting school, I have to admit that I was looking forward to getting back into some type of routine. And the first week of classes wasn’t too bad at all. Each class usually has one lecture and one tutorial, and most of the time they are on the same day. I have classes on Monday, Thursday, and Friday so I have Tuesday and Wednesday to get caught up with all my homework instead of going by the pool or beach ;) All of the professors seem really nice and laid back. They ask us all to call them just by their first name, and the lectures seem more relaxed. Students aren’t afraid to shout out an inappropriate joke in the middle of class, and its not uncommon to see a lizard or cockroach crawling around on the floor. Everyone wears thongs (flip-flops) to class, and many of the girls get pretty dressed up. Lots of them wear dresses or nice skirts and shirts, while the guys will show up in swimsuit bottoms and a tank top…life is so not fair! But so far I’m enjoying my classes, (my nutrition class is basically a roast to Americans for being fat) and meeting many more Australians.

On the completion of our first week of school, of course we had to go out to celebrate on the weekend! One night we took the bus to Surfer’s Paradise, and the next night I went to the casino for the first time! Since it was my first time, I really had no idea what I was doing so I only spent a little money and just played until I lost it all. It was still a fun time and I can now understand why everyone always wants to go to Vegas!
Sunday, our friend Petrina drove us down to Snapper Rock on Coolangatta beach to watch the Quiksilver Pro Surf Competition, which was the first part of the world tour. We could sit on the beach and watch or walk out to the sandbar and be right in the action. It was awesome to see the world’s best surfers not too far out in the ocean. They were all super friendly too, always willing to give out high-fives as they ran down the beach before going out and signing autographs and taking pictures after just finishing a heat.

  



Kelly Slater running out





O-Week!

We finally arrived in Brisbane! We got all our luggage and boarded the bus one last time for an hour-long drive to the Gold Coast. Once we got to the Griffith University Village we were immediately greeted by some of the staff members and given our room numbers. I found out that I was living with Sari, who was also one of my roommates in Cairns, and a few other friends I met in Cairns were in the same block as us. Sari and I got to our apartment and met our other 3 roommates Laura (an Australian), Ben, and Ian (2 Canadians). It felt good to unpack my suitcases and start getting settled in to longer-term accommodation. We each have our own bedroom, 2 bathrooms to share, and living room and kitchen. The entire floor is cement, so I’ve come to terms with the fact that the bottom of my feet will never be clean. I love the location of our apartment. From our balcony, we have a good view of the basketball court, pool area, and BBQ area, so we can always tell what’s going on.


Part of the Village!




               

The kitchen



The living room--we need to decorate      



That night, we had an orientation meeting for the village to learn a little more about the place and things we needed to do. Things were starting to feel a little overwhelming with enrolling, ID cards, having to go to the store, figuring out the bus system, and a few other things to do. However, we decided not to worry about it until the next day, and all the roommates went to Surfer’s Paradise. It was a fun way for all of us to get to know one another, and so far it seemed like we would all get along great!




The Roommates! Me, Ben, Sari, Laura, and Ian

The next day Laura, Sari, and I got our bus passes and student IDs, and took a bus to do some shopping for food, fans, and a few other things for the apartment. Everything was more expensive than back home, but we found out that Kmart was just like our Walmart, which was very helpful to discover. After that we took a stroll through campus to get ourselves a little more familiar with all the buildings. Everything was starting to fall in place and I could tell that I was going to love it here.

Soon was the start of Orientation Week (O-Week) at the Village. It was a week of lots of different activities for all the residents living at the Village. We had Village Olympics, where each apartment block competed against eachother, our block got 2^nd place! There were also lots of live band performances, buses to Surfer’s Paradise, a Las Vegas Night, buses to the beach, a Mexican Night, a beach party, outdoor movies, Aboriginal Australian workshops, and lots of free barbeques!!! The entire O-Week experience was awesome and it was an easy way to meet lots of people. The Village contains about half Australian students and the other half international students, so I’m meeting people from all different parts of the world!
Like UW-La Crosse, GUV (Griffith University Village) is very active. There are always people around that are willing to go shoot some hoops, hangout by the pool, kick a soccer ball around, or play some rugby.





Limbo contest!



Some of the blocks battling








Day at the beach!