peace. love. surf.

G'day Mate!

Sorry it has taken me awhile to blog again-I was hoping to get pictures from this past weekend from one of my friends so I could blog and put pictures up at the same time BUT Kira and I have not been able to meet up yet. So I'll blog now...post pictures next week probably. These pictures are AMAZING too-I can't wait to post them.

Last week/weekend was close to one of the best weekends of my life-truly! Wednesday nights are now designated to grilling with the boys (David, Pat, Jason) and then going out for drinks for student night. David, Jason, Kelsey and I have class until 7 on Wednesdays then we caught the train to David's place. His apartment is literally right on the beach-like step on his porch and you could throw something on the beach! It is incredible there! I will try to creep and take pictures of his place next week -it is truly amazing there!!! Even better-the boys cooked a FULL meal for us girls while we got to kick back and relax. Nice eh? We sure were not complaining...Wednesdays are easily one of my favorite days :)

Friday I met up with the boys and played tennis at David's apartment. It was heaps fun getting to play tennis again. Thankfully Bara (the place I live) has tennis rackets/balls I can take whenever. David's friend from home, Alex, came from Sydney for the weekend and he joined us in tennis too. Alex and I kicked David and Pat's butts in tennis-but whose counting right? haha. Hopefully I can get on the courts again-I LOVE playing tennis and surely don't do it enough anymore. After tennis we went to the most delicious ice cream place ever - Kiwi's. We have eaten there like 6 times already-I would even rate it better than Coldstone ice cream! YUM YUM YUM!!! It is literally right next door to David's apartment-seriously the guys have the most ideal living situation EVER!!!!!

Friday night we got picked up at the train station at like 9 pm. There was a group of 8 of us from Newcastle that went on the Mojo Surf Trip. We got on the bus and it was PACKED with other students already. Most of them were from schools around Sydney-which is heaps nice because now when we go there we have a place to visit! Anyways, so we get on the bus and have to do introductions. The few days before that I was not feeling too great, but was not too worried. I get on the bus and my voice disappears! My voice was squeeking SO bad-everyone was cracking up laughing because I was getting out of breath just trying to say my name. Hahhaha it was hilarious-the rest of the weekend I was known as the sick girl because I could hardly talk I was so sick. So we arrived in Cresent Head at around 1am and everyone hops off the bus and starts drinking around the campfire. I was not feeling up to par so I just went to bed.

Saturday morning we got up super early, had breakfast, then headed to the beach. We had like an hour surf lesson and then got out to try things out. Man do I ever have a whole new appreciation for surfers-it is not nearly as easy at it looks. Up until lunchtime the surf teacher/dudes helped us get up and I was able to get up 2-3 times by myself. By the time lunch came we were whiped out. The food was phenominal all weekend-which helped rejuvinate us. We even got time to catch a nap before the afternoon sessions-my friend Kira and I napped for a good hour in the hammocks they had there, and when I say napped I mean good ol' napping so well you drool nap :)

The afternoon session went alright-the waves were HUGE so they had to have all 60 of us in a small area, which made it pretty hard to surf because I was constantly worried about running into someone. I was able to get up quite a few times on my own, but was so exhausted by the end of the day. I was not feeling to good still and my voice was still goofy, but I was not going to let that affect my weekend too much. My conclusion at the end of the day was- "I tried surfing. I got up on the board by myself. It was fun but not something I would want to do again." After dinner we sat by the campfire and played cards. One of my new friends and I headed down to the beach and sat for like an hour checking out all the amazing stars. The stars were beyond amazing-words cannot even do justice as to how beautiful they were. AND I saw a shooting star...man I love star-gazing, easily one of my top 5 favorite things to do in life!

Sunday morning could not have been better. I was feeling sketchy about surfing again because I was so tired and whatnot. Walking to our surf site took about 20 minutes and on the way Kira and I were collecting shells and I found sea glass-I was SO excited!!!! It is heaps neat! Then get this-probably one of the most stunning things I have ever seen happened-we looked out on the ocean and there were 10-15 (possibly even 20!!!) dolphins swimming right by us, jumping and chasing the waves. I sat with my jaw down in awe for a good 2 minutes before I could even say anything!!!! It was the coolest thing I have EVER seen!!! Ah I cannot even begin to express how cool it was...needless to say my morning was off to a good start.

So we get to the surf spot and I was debating whether or not to give it a-go again. I toughened up and hopped out there. Get this-I loved it! Like LOVE LOVE LOVE loved it...a bunch of the girls just sat on the beach to tan so there was less people to have to watch out for in the water. The waves were perfect, not too big/scary and not too small that I couldn't do anything. I got up almost EVERY single time I got up, it was the coolest feeling ever! I was so high on life-it was amazing! I surfed for all 4 hours in the morning and got up all by myself, I was so pumped! Ahh I cannot wait to post some of our pictures! Keep an eye out for them :)

So this week is crusing by like all of the other weeks have been. I have had quite a bit more homework this week, which has been alright because it has been raining here the last few days. I have been spending lots of time studying in Adriana's room studying-I seem to get heaps more done in there. And it is nice because every once and awhile we take a break and take time to goof off. We are pretty good about keeping each in line though and studying. She is seriously one of the coolest chicas I have ever met and I am already pumped to go visit her in Florida. OO and we are hoping to traveling to New Zealand/Fiji/Hawaii after school is done which would be heaps fun!!!!!!

Today is already Wednesday-wahoo!! We are grilling at the boys' again tonight and then heading out on the town. This weekend I am going to Sydney again with Adriana, her sister and her sister's boyfriend are flying in so we are going there to meet up with them. I am super excited to explore Sydney some more!! One of the nights we are staying with the family I met on the volunteer weekend and one of the nights we are staying with a girl I met last weekend, not sure about Thursday night still but we'll figure that out.

Still loving being down here more than I would have ever imagined. Skyping (online webcam thing) has been a lifesavor-I don't know what I would do without it!

Miss everyone heaps! Love lots!

Cheers,
Stac