Post wollongong and pre melbourne

Hey all,
I know its been awhile since my last post, and i still dont have any pics uploaded. Sorry, but think of it as good things come to those who wait, ok?

so, I've been to and from wollongong, which is where my big brother Nick goes to uni. I've pretty much fallen in love with the place, and am considering doing a sem exchange or maybe even a full year there. The people were so great, and it was pretty funny to see how many Canadians are abroad. And like tornado dave says, where one canadian is, more soon appear (it was unplanned, but where one canadian was a few others would just wonder in and before you knew it, there would be a whole little group of us).

So, some background. Wollongong is the 7th largest city in Australia, but it pretty much feels like a small town. It has a great laid back atmo, can be walked across pretty quick, and has great beaches. Which i have started to learn to surf on. I borrowed a fellow Canadian's surf board and went out three days in a row. I have a couple impressive bruises, which a week after getting still have people winching at seeing. Note to all those interested in surfing: try to not fall on the board, but if you do, try to avoid the fins. Just a tip. I even tried body surfing the other day with Nick, but i pretty much failed at that. I might just stick with the board and the waves.

I got down to wollongong on may 5th, and stayed for 10 days (i dont think either nick or myself thought i would be there for that long). The first night was just pretty chill, but there were alot of people getting drunk and celebrating Cinco de Mayo. We went out and watched the Wolverine movie, which is completely different from the comics but still good. The second night we went out, as wed and sunday are the nights to go out for uni kids (wed no cover, sun cheap drinks). We went to a place called ivory and another called The Glasshouse. Theres a drink down here called a Ninja Turtle, which is amazing. I will bring back the recipe with me, and spread the green lovin.

I for the life of me cant remember what happened on thursday, but i know we did something. On friday i had my first day of surfing, and then we went and watched Star Trek, which i recommend to everyone. Even the people who dont like star trek. Its just that good. We went to a juggling demonstration on the beach, which pretty much consisted of fire juggling, fire poi, glow poi, glow juggling, staves and even fire fans. the latter was done by a girl named Pip who i met via Jackson, nicks friend who was in the juggling club. She even ate fire, which was pretty amazing. She ended up giving us a life back to Weerona, and i ended up hanging out with two girls who i had met earlier in the week. Nick and tornado dave were off watching a friends band play, but i was still experiencing slight jet lag.

Saturday we went surfing again, and i was able to get onto my knees. I went twice that day with Sophie, another awesome girl i met. I pretty much was getting one bruise a day, which became a bit of a joke between us. that day we went surfing as the sun set, and it was just beautiful. I didnt have a camera with me (as i was surfing), but i can drawn a pretty pictures. That night we watched the Dragonball Evolution movie, which was much better then i thought it would be.

On sunday i tried surfing again, but the waves were too big for a newbie like me, and something called a rip was just too strong for me. i ended up chilling on the beach. I cant remember what we did the rest of that day either, but the beach just eats the time. You think your in the water for less then 20 minutes, and it turns out its been an hour and a bit.

For the rest of the week its been pretty chill, we just do things as they come. Spent a lot of time chilling, went to the campus twice, both times for research for my second essay (am just waiting on an edit of my first one and then to send it off, and i'll be all done one). Cant wait to get them all done and be able to start fully enjoying my summer. I've decided that i am for sure going back to Wollongong, especially for another wed. I want to see quiet a few people again, and get a few more hugs. I kind of already miss some people, and i've been gone 3 1/2 hours (i left to come back up to sydney to catch a bus to Melbourne, which is where i'm headed next; its at the southern most tip of Australia).

My buddy Lauren M is down there, so we should have a good time .I'm pretty much winging this, planning things as i go. But i think after Melbourne I'll go to NZ, because its close by, and then i can roadtrip-ish it up north, stop in wollongong to visit and take a scuba course, and then keep going. I'm hopeing to try a few more 'extreme' things by my mothers standards, but it should hopefully all work out. I'll keep people posted on what i do, after i do them, just so no one freaks out. because i will be ok if i'm posting these things, look at it that way *coughmomcough*

Another fun fact: Australia is the fattest country in the world. Because of their small population, and their slightly raised BMI, their the largest. Which i was surprised to learn, as well as a lot of other people here. We all had assumed it would be the United States. Just a fun fact nick told me.

The lingo here is pretty different, but i know i've been picking bits and pieces of it up. So, if it creeps up in my blog just let me know and i can explain it.

so, i'm about to run out of money, but hope you enjoyed the random disjointed post and hopefully there will be less of a gap as this last time!

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