Surf Camp Weekend!

For the past couple days, I have been at an intensive surf camp! I decided to go kind of on a whim, still fresh off my New Zealand trip “I can travel anywhere, and go by myself” attitude. My closest American friends here came with a study abroad program, and they were having a special trip this weekend, so they weren’t going to be here at all. And obviously I don’t have any problem exploring Sydney by myelf, but I remember one of the things I’d said in my pre-Australia days that I wanted to do was surf, not really knowing what was involved at all. The awesome thing was that by being a Sydney Uni gym member, I got this big discount on one particular surfing camp weekend that happened to be the same time as they were going away, so it all worked out perfectly. It was also great because I didn’t have to miss any class on Friday for once - we left in the evening! So after a full week of classes (the first one in at least three weeks for me), it was really nice to get the afternoon to relax. I went to Glebe Road and found a cute café and read newspapers and had hot chocolate (it was kind of cold and drizzling). Goodness, I love Sydney. :)

In the evening, I went to a hostel in the center of the city to get transported out to Seven Mile Beach, which is on the South Coast of NSW and is about two hours south from Sydney. I was a little disappointed to see that out of the 45 or so people in the camp, most seemed to be doing it in groups, because that makes it a lot harder to meet people if you’re by yourself, but I fairly quickly found some other people who were traveling by themselves too, so that was great. I ended up in a dorm room with one Japanese girl, two German girls, one Danish guy, and one Finnish guy. How cool is traveling. Seriously. Anyway, that night, I was HUGELY regretting my decision to not bring my fleece (because I am determined that it is now spring and should be hot here!), because it was COLD AND RAINING. We had to be in this outdoor area of the camp to listen to the rules and the schedule for the weekend and I was just huddled there freezing and miserable. Luckily everyone got a really nice blanket and there was a little heater in our room too. Still, this was not the first time I was to feel very cold this weekend…haha.

Saturday morning, we were up at the bright and early hour of seven (I can’t believe that I’ve been getting up earlier on the weekends than during the week) to be out surfing by 8:30. We each got a wetsuit, which prompts me to say a few words about wetsuits in general.
Reasons why wetsuits are AWESOME: they keep out all sand, they keep you from getting surfboard burn, you can stay in the water for hours and not get cold at all, you don’t have to worry about get sunburned (except obviously on your face)
Reasons why wetsuits are not the best: they STICK to you. Yes I know this is why you don’t get cold in the water. But it makes them exceptionally hard to take on and off. Also, putting on a COLD and WET wetsuit at 8 in the morning is not, in my opinion, a very pleasant experience. AT ALL. However, it is necessary if you want to go surfing.

Anyway, so after we put on our cold and wet wetsuits, we took a very cold walk to the beach (which was only like five minutes away from the camp). We then had to endure more cold and WIND (why nature, why?) as we got our first surfing lesson. Before we even got in the water at all we had to learn all about the various techniques and practice in the sand. I was actually dreading getting in the water because it can’t have been more than 50 (maybe 55) degrees out in the air, so I was worried it was just going to be FREEZING. So I got a really pleasant surprise when the water temperature was actually about the same as the air, if not warmer! And being in the water was so amazing. Most of you know I’m basically obsessed with the ocean and due to my going to Australia I didn’t actually make it to the beach this past summer…so it’s been more than a year since I’ve swam in the ocean! The first thing we practiced was just learning how to get on the board, catch a wave and then push the front part of our body up on our boards. (kind of like the cobra position for those of you who know yoga) I could do that pretty easily - after all, I have boogie boarded before at the beach, so I felt pretty confident about that.

However, then it was time to learn to stand. Now this seemed easy enough on the surfboards we drew for ourself in the sand. Grab onto the sides, see a wave, hop on the board, paddle paddle paddle, the wave hits you, paddle more, push yourself up, slide your right food up to your knee, slide your left foot in between your hands, push up (keeping your knees bent), and voila! You are standing! I was like yeah, I can do this! KIND of a different story in the actual water. For one, catching the wave at the exact right moment is REALLY difficult! And then, there’s all this foam around you and you’re whizzing along and you want to stand up before it’s over and everything feels rushed and oh, you fall over. Times a million. It was very frustrating. I felt like I was learning a double jump in skating or something - you technically know what you should and you keep trying over and over, but you are just not landing it. However, the first time I actually stood up, it was the BEST feeling! So exhilarating! I am definitely not a natural at this (some people were and were riding waves for a really long time by the end of the first day), so don’t worry about me adopting a surfer girl lifestyle anytime soon. But by the end of the first lesson, I’d stood up a couple times (for like one second).

Then it was back for lunch (I thought ocean swimming made me hungry; surfing makes you 230598 times more hungry), a little break, and then back into the wetsuits (yuck) and out into the water again (yay!). That afternoon we had a lot more time in the water which was great. I was able to stand up more often but it was never for a long time and my stance was definitely all wrong, which was kind of annoying. I can not emphasize how hard it is and how dangerous too…so many things could go wrong! I nosedived into waves so many times, wiped out even more times, had my surfboard literally hit me over the head once (ow - those things are HEAVY and mine was over 9 feet too since it’s easier when they are longer), etc. And there are the ever-present dangers of colliding with someone else, having someone else’s surfboard hit you in the backlash of a wave, having your own surfboard hit you going through a wave…you just have to be constantly aware and focused.

Anyway, I was concentrating so hard and having so much fun (because when you do feel that amazing standing up feeling all you want to do is try to do it again and again and again!) that before I knew it it was already the end of the session. It was only when I got out of the water that the exhaustion hit me and my body was just kind of in pain. Haha. A hot shower felt soooo good, and then I went exploring around the little town (which had an AMAZING view of the beach) with my new international friends! After that, I took a little walk on the beach by myself, which was so unbelievably peaceful. I love stealing away by myself no matter where I am and just spending some time thinking and establishing a personal connection with every gorgeous spot I’m lucky enough to see. That night, we had the best dinner (like I said, food tastes sooooo good after surfing) and then just hung out talking in our room - we had a really intriguing conversation about cultural differences between the US and other places in the world. I love meeting people from around the world and getting their perspective on things! We went out to a local pub for a little bit (the walk there was awesome because of course the sky was clear and the stars were incredible), but I came back early because I was SO exhausted and was asleep in a manner of seconds, probably.

Of course, it was up bright and early again at 7:00 the next morning! We had the exact same schedule that day so I won’t bother repeating myself. Except for in the morning lesson, the conditions were the best we’d had - it was a little warmer out, there was very little wind, and the waves were great - so I felt like I REALLY got the hang of standing up! One of the guys takes pictures with this really high resolution camera and a couple times I stood up and really rode a wave for like at least 10 seconds (haha) and he got pictures of me! Mealtimes were always fun because he’d display the pictures of everyone that he took. Now of course they cost money to get but when am I ever going to be able to have someone take really high quality photos of me SURFING? And they are really good too - I look so happy! In the afternoon, the conditions were much worse - it got really windy and the ocean was basically PUMMELING me. Everyone was wiping out and nosediving and flipping over. I have never become so intimately acquainted with the underwater areas of the ocean. (aside from scuba diving, which is totally different). It makes me laugh when I remember how I used to have a fear of diving through waves…I was like living under the waves the past couple days! I probably swallowed so much salt water…you get out and you just feel totally exhausted and almost beaten up but at the same time it is so exhillirating and amazing. Hard to describe, but it’s true. Towards the end of the session in the afternoon, I actually put my board on the beach and just went out by myself! I swam past the breakers and actually got some relaxation time in the water, which was wonderful. The waves were really big and the current was so strong and the wind so high that every time I jumped a wave, there would be this backlash from the wind and it would feel like it was literally raining sea water on me. Crazy.

So after that we got our photos on a cool little CD and headed back into Sydney. I am probably going to post more photos later once I see the other photos that people took on their own cameras (remember mine is broken so I didn’t get to take any, obviously), but aren’t the ones surfing of me the COOLEST? Hehe. :) I was so exhausted last night but now I am ready to tackle my last 10 days of class! By the way, today marks exactly ONE MONTH until I come home. OH MY GOODNESS. The only good thing about this is that I can start souvenir shopping and gift shopping in earnest. Open air markets, here I come!

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