Ultimate Freedom

Hey all sorry for the lack of updates, a lot has been going on since my last post and I will do my best to remember it all for this one. Second week of classes went by with no drama. One of my classes is a sociology class on fame and celebrity , which is very interesting, but a lot of reading. Everyone in the class picks a celebrity for the semester, which we then try to relate to the readings and discuss in our tutorials. I’m doing Jay-Z, he is a very successful hip-hop artist but also a very smart businessman, which I thought, would make it interesting. My Australian roommate Aja made us all burritos one night, which was delicious. I miss Mexican food, there’s non-here, not even Tostitos and salsa. So the week was pretty standard but the weekend was when exciting things happened

Ever since a friend of mine from DU who studied aboard in Brisbane told me how he bought a car, drove it all over while he was there, and then sold it for only $200 less than he bought it, I knew I had to do the same. So after a bunch of research I pitched the idea to my parents (who are soooo awesome) and they were open to the idea. So I searched on the Internet for cars and found one close by that looked good. I went and looked at it on Friday (Aug 7^th) and it was pretty much exactly what I was looking for. It’s a 1992 Holden Commodore Wagon, which are known to be very reliable and very popular among backpackers traveling throughout Australia. So the buy the end of the day I had a car. This opened up a whole new world of possibilities. The freedom to explore that a car provides is just unmatched compared to other forms of transport. I was so excited to get out and see Australia.

Driving on the left wasn’t to hard to pick up, you just have to re train yourself to look in different directions when you turning, changing lanes, etc. I named the car "Great White" or Gradie for short. The next day Cooper (goes to DU), Kerby (Australian) and my self drove to Burleigh Heads, which is south of surfers paradise. It is one of the many point breaks on the Australian East coast and a great surf spot. We had some lunch, relaxed on the beach and walked around for a bit. On the way back we stopped at a huge used surfboard at the suggestion of Kerby. I had been trying to find to a board ever since I got here and I was able to find one there.

So now that I had my surfboard I needed a wetsuit (it is “winter” here). Luckily Coopers roommate, Bryce (Australian) works at the billabong store and was able to get me a discount on an already on sale suit. So I ended up with a $400 wetsuit for $90 which it pretty much the bargain of the year for me. I didn’t get my suit till Tuesday and was busy until I finally got to get in the water on Saturday morning. We were leaving for Brisbane at 10:30 (which is my next post) so I woke at 7 and headed down to main beach. The waves were 2-3ft which is pretty small but the wind was offshore and it was breaking really nice. Besides waking up and skiing powder I think going in the ocean in the early morning is probably the best way to start your day. I figured this out lifeguarding in New Jersey and it holds true here. I’ve never really surf a straight up shortboard before so it’s going to take a bit of getting used. So not surprisingly I took a good amount of falls but I’m getting there, just need some more time in the water.

All right well that’s the last two weeks in a nutshell, Brisbane trip is up next.

p.s. i don't know why the font is changing like that, i gave up trying to fix it