10 days in, and lovin it

     Well I'm sunburned.... It's only the second time it's happened. I've been to the beach twice, so my odds are looking pretty good. Wait, what? Whatever, the beaches here are awesome. The sand is soft and the water is pretty warm. The waves at South Beach were great. They rolled in in sets and as the day went on they kept getting bigger. I'm not the best at estimating their size, but there were some probably around 6 ish feet, maybe? Whatever size they were, I had a blast! Playing in the water and body surfing will never get old. I swear as soon as I step into the water I become a child again... well, more of a child that is. Today we went to North Beach. The weather was a little cooler than the last beach day, so the water had a stronger effect on my body temperature. a.k.a I got cold. The water was kinda choppy so none of the waves were very clean or easy to catch, and any of the big waves would close out almost as soon as they picked up. It was still a fun day, and I will never tire of going to the beach. I have yet to get on any type of board, but there are still many beach days to come. Of course, you can't go to the beach without digging a hole, so on the first day Kieran (Waga Waga, Australia) and I made one large enough to fit me into easily all the way up to my chest. Once I was in, we put the sand back in. It was a little tough to get out, cuz it was kinda pulling my shorts off, but I made it. It's photo documented so you will see it soon.
     This past week was Orientation at the Uni (University). There were tons of tents up for different organizations and companies around the area. On Tuesday there was a meeting thing for all the international students at the University of Wollongong. There are people from over 30 different countries. It was crazy. Austria, Canada, Sweden, Korea, and everything in between. They just gave us some basic info on Australia, and what to expect while we're here. It really wasn't that helpful. After the boring talks, we went on a tour of the campus, got our ID photos taken, and were let loose in the chaos of the tents. The tour was slightly helpful at giving me a better idea of where things were, but if I needed to get from one class to another, I would still get lost. When I went up to wait in line for my ID I was standing next to a guy from Mexico and a guy from the Netherlands. We started talking and they were pretty cool guys. Mark (Netherlands) had just gotten to Australia a few days before and was still staying in a Hostel. He was in the process of looking for a house to move into and rent. Eduardo (Mexico) had been here a little longer so he already had a place to stay. He and his friend Hugo had just looked at some of the places Mark was about to. They were able to help him find a few more places to look. Mark likes to surf and skate, but I don't remember what his major is. He's a third year at Uni and is a really funny guy. Eduardo and Hugo are both studying engineering I think, and they knew each other before coming to Australia. They attend the same Uni in Mexico. As it turns out there are only about 6 Mexicans in the city of Wollongong, and I know two of them. Go figure. ...what does go figure mean? whatever. I ended up eating lunch with them and I will hopefully be seeing them around. Since they were not living in the campus housing and going through all the crazy orientation stuff, they weren't really sure where to go to hang out or what to do for fun. We exchanged information and are going to let each other know if we do anything cool.
     After lunch I found a few of my friends from here at the college (dorm) Bec (Australia), her friend from home Steph, and Laura (Penn State). We walked around and looked at a few booths. I went to the one for the rock climbing gym here in the city. It's $30 a week for unlimited use. I might get it for a week or two. We went before and it was loads of fun. I signed up for some emergency car pick up thing and got a bunch of free stuff from them and every other booth. I found a church group who I actually ate and played soccer with today. There was live music and people wearing crazy costumes. There was a guy playing bagpipes on like stilt things. They just made it  look like he had giant long legs though... and there was a person in a... kinda dog suit. He walked around on all fours but sorta looked like a monkey. He could actually control his, well, male anatomy, and would shoot out water like he was peeing everywhere. It was pretty funny. I went to a bank to open an account, because when you did, you got a free ticket to a MGMT concert in Sydney. I was super excited about it, but it turns out I needed my passport in order to open one. I was bummed, but hoped I could just come back the next day and they would still have some tickets left. As I was waiting for Bec and Steph to finish applying, one of the tellers told Bec that they might be running out soon. Bec explained our situation to the teller and the wonderful lady, Margaret was her name, called me over and said that she would send me one of the tickets! How cool is that! I didn't even have to open an account! I want to now though, just cuz the lady was so nice. That was all pretty awesome.
     We headed back to the college and when I got here I was talking to Ashley and Lauren about my day and as it turns out Ashley was friends with Mark on facebook! She had met a guy at a party last summer who was from the Netherlands. She was talking him about her studying abroad and he said that he knew a guy who was doing the same thing. They became friends on facebook, and had talked a little, but seriously, what are the odds that I would hang out with a guy from the Netherlands, that one of my friends from the States kinda knows??? Crazy cool odds! That's what kind.
     I'm sure there are things I'm forgetting, but I'll let you know when I remember. We're going on a trip this weekend with ciee, so I'll get to know all those people a little better. It should be fun. OH YA! I have the internet in my room now!!!! Major woot! I've skyped a few friends, and I have a few more calls home to make. This next week should be full of conversations with friends from home. If you all would just come out here, we wouldn't have this problem. Just kidding. No, but seriously

Life here is different

     One thing I forgot about my first day here. Before I got on the airplane I was sitting in my terminal and an incredibly well dressed elderly couple came and sat down beside me. They were on their way to Portland but the airport kept sending them to different terminals and gates. We started talking, and the man said that he had fought in WWII and had been to Australia. He had been in the air force, but spent a huge amount of his time during the war on a boat. More than most Navy men he said. He was describing to me the incredible rout that he took to get to Australia which took him all around the world when I was called to board my plane. I was sorry to have to leave in the middle of his story, but his wife said that it was alright and they he loved to tell it to anyone who would listen. I enjoyed it and was happy to have some company while I waited. As I headed over to my plane I heard someone yell and when I looked back it was the elderly man running towards me. I had left my iPod on my seat... he was comig over to give it to me. He was one of the nicest men I've met, and sadly, I didn't even get to know his name. Just thought that event was worth documenting.      When I first got here it was interesting to see everyone go crazy at the pub. It's a different kind of culture and a very new experience for me. I had never been to a pub before or even really an event where there is dancing. The whole drinking thing is still not a big deal to me. I prefer to just enjoy myself while being sober. The dancing part however....  I still can't decide on. I'll just say it's growing on me. When the people here get drunk and crazy, they often times end up making out with each other. I find this action a little strange, but others apparently do not. For O-Week (Orientation Week) everyone here has been split up onto teams of about seven people, and we compete with each other in different challenges each day. When you win, you get points. There are other ways to get points by doing random tasks that the O-Week leaders ask. One of these tasks is by being the person who hooked up with the most people in a day... The leaders also pass out things like a condom necklace (for the person who hooked up the most), flourescent orange and yellow vests (the people who get the most drunk), a pacifier necklace (for person who whines and complains the most), and a helmet (for a person who does dumb stuff). These are passed out each night at our meetings. There are very random things as well. Whenever a leader blow a whistle one time we have to fall on the ground and do a commando roll, two times, you fall on your back and kick your arms and legs like a dying ant, and three times, you have to cling to a person that is near you. These can all be quite awkward when you're just getting to know all the people around you. All in all I'm happy to be here and am making some good friends that I hope will last a lifetime.
     I've got my room set up now, my bed made, my laptop running, a working alarm clock, an area fan, but still no internet in my room. I have been using the computers in the lab that is in my dorm. The computers are a little old and they only have internet explorer, but they get the job done. I've been taking a picture each day of what has been going on, but mind you, some of them will be WWWWAAAAAAAAAYYY less interesting than others. One day I was here I woke up went to a trivia game we had here, came into the computer lab, walked to the mall, bought nothing, and came back here for another event. Not a lot of action, or interesting photo material. All well. You guys will live.
     I have been able to pick up the things I need to survive, and I've met a few more people from the US and Australia, and I've learned a couple cool new words. Last night I went out with a group of people from here in Australia and Ashley (Wisconson). There was Becca, Emma, James, Kieren and Matthew. All of them are from Australia. There were a few other there as well but I don't remember their names...
     Today I went on a trip with the people from ciee. We went up to the North end of town and went across the Sea Cliff Bridge. It's pretty sweet. We went up to a look out point and could see all the way down the coast line. It was pretty cool. The others from ciee (that I can remember) are Laura Bologna (Penn State), Victoria something [North Carolina (she says Y'all!)], Alex Meyer (Don't remember), a girl from Glendora, a girl from Portland (I think), and I think there were others, but I'm not too good at this name learning thing. I am enjoying my time here, and I'm excited about the events to come. Skydiving?????

How bout' that flight in huh? Guess that's why they call it the land down unda

So my plane ride was awesome! there were TVs in the backs of all the chairs with good movies, episodes of tons of TV shows, strange little video games, and even a bunch of good CDs. I watched come random TV shows, Due Date, and an episode of American Dad (it wasn't that good), Then i started getting tired. I made myself a playlist of Mumford and Sons, Simon and Garfunkel, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, The Beetles, and a few others. No big deal. I was able to fall asleep so I missed most of my playlist, but it wasn't exactly good sleep. A chair, towl sized blanket, and a pillow the size of a loaf of bread don't exactly lead to a good night's rest. I landed in Sydney at 6am on the 15th of February. This is cool and all, except I left America on the 13th... No Valentine's Day for me. Anyway, it took about two hours to finally get through everything and head out. There were about nine of us in the van headed to Wollongong. There was a guy from Colorado, a girl from California, a guy from Germany (21 hour flight), and another guy from someplace I can't remember... but his flight had some troubles and took over 30 hours!!! Most of the poeple in the van were staying in other housing places, but the guy (Robert) from Germany was living in Weerona with me.
     When we got here we signed in and were given a few packets of information. We were led to our rooms. Mine is C1.01, it's in the C building, on the 1st floor, room 1. I put my stuff in my room and was instantly led to the Dining Hall for a quick bite to eat. From there I was led into the TV room (self-explanitory) for the start of a scavenger hunt. I am on the red team and our leader is Stuart (he's from London) we were given a list of things to search for and get pictures of. So now, I've been in Ausrtalia for a total of 3 hours and am out walking the streets with 5 people I just met, can't remember their names (now I know a couple Justin, Grace, Alex, Riley, and Lizy I think. She's from London), and need to look for stuff I've never heard of. We went to the beach and people were taking of their clothes, we went to Maccas (McDonalds) and borrowed a random person's car, ate a happy meal in in under a minute, ate an entire lemon (peel and all), went to Wullys [Woolworths (grocery store)] and bought a single grape, had to buy beer for some wise men (rugby players) in order to hear a story and learn the moral (wear protection during sex), get a tatoo or piercing, go to a sex shop, thrift store, and mall, Catch Wally (Where is Waldo), sing on a stage, serenade a stranger, find a stick, shine someones shoes, do a good deed, get apiggy back ride from a buisness man, get 30 signitures on a petition we made up, .... you get the point. We went for a few hours and then met in the mall. Everyone split up from there and headed random directions... I wanted to go back to the dorms but had no idea where to go. I started following people in the direction I thought was home, and that's when I met Ashley. Ashley (Wisconson) is one of the other students that's going with ciee to study  here. I've been hanging out with her lately and another girl named Lauren (Australia).
     When we got back to the school I went to my room and unpacked. I hadn't brought any sheets or blankets because I thought that they were going to provide me with them... There weren't any in the room, so I guess it's a good thing that I stole the blanket from the airplane. Everything fit in my closet really nicely, and my bed barely fits my body. It all works out though. The halls are co-ed and so are the bathrooms... a little strange, but I haven't had any awkward encounters yet so whatever. That night we went on a Pub Crawl. This just mean we all went to four different pubs (bars/clubs) together. We all got matching pink shirts and got onto one of two busses. We went to one bar and people started going crazy. The drinking age here is 18 soooooo everyone started getting crazy. I am not real big on the whole drinking thing, so I just went and sat at one of the talbles and startd watching some confusing sport that I thought was rugby. Turns out it's the AFL (Australian Football League). The rules are similar to rugby and soccer, but there are a bunch of other ones that make it a little more confusing. Ashley and Lauren were sitting with me and another friend Joe (Outback Australia). They were able to explain the main idea so I kinda get it. I also learned that the rugby I know of is Union rugby not League rugby. They are slightly diferent but League is the main one played out here. This was all at the first pub. After 2 hours here, we went to the next one. I was beginning to feel the effect of my poor sleep on the plane. It was about 10:00 now and I was crashing. I pushed through my weariness and the random people trying to get me to dance at pub number two. I was talking to Ashley, Lauren, Joe, and Kieren (Australia) while here and just hanging out. While we were here some girl dropped her drink, shattering her glass and cutting her foot. There were shards of glass and blood all over the ground. This was weird cuz, it took the owners like 30 minutes to come clean it up. Eventually they did and we moved on.
    The third pub we went to was more of just a bar. We sat outside and talked to a few more random people and watched everyone else, who was totally wasted, stumble around hitting on each other. I think I got a water at this pub... I was just watching people waiting for something funny to happen. I was disappointed. We left for the fourth pub and I was about to crash. This place was by far the coolest, but no one was in a state at which they could realize this. The music was super loud, the base shook the seats, the lighting effects were cool, and they had a fog machine! It was pretty fun and super loud, but I still almost fell asleep. The bartender came over and kicked my footrest to wake me up. I met a bunch of random leaders during this event cuz I was sitting on the side for most of it. Oh ya, at this last pub there was a guy and a girl making out for at least 30 minutes.... I would check up on them every once in a while and they were still going strong. The only reason they stopped is cuz we were leaving.
     When we got back I brushed my teeth and went right to sleep. On my mattress with no sheets. With the blanket I took from the plane. With no clock. This was all day one and I'm happy to have experienced it. I'll try to keep everyone posted on what's going on, but I'm sure that after this week, there won't be a lot of interesting stuff going on. That I know of...