Its way too hot here

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Hey everyone,

First off, follow this link...


Haha. How awesome is that? I am sure that most of the people who normally read this already saw that thanks to my parents. My Uni friends back home knew about it before i could tell them. But still cool. The paper had my contact information from earlier in the year when I interviewed for a soccer thing. They asked me to call them up and i talked to a guy for 20 minutes about the election, voting, Obama's future, and how i like it here. Now i never said if i was an Obama or McCain supporter, but he decided to pick one for me. Granted, he did pick correctly. Also, i didn't sign any forms saying i would be okay with my picture in the paper. Weird.

The election! Incredible how many people came out and voted first off. I still cant believe how many non-americans followed the election. All of my friends here were very excited with the results. I had several people call me going nuts. Amazing speeches by both candidates. Many non-Americans were beyond impressed with Obama's speech, there were more than a few tears from people.

I went surfing! Finally, i know. I went with two of the guys from the soccer team; Vinni and Jens. They let me borrow a spare board and a rash guard shirt. The board was HUGE! Over 7ft tall and fairly heavy. It was Jens's board, but he opted to use a smaller, lighter one instead. We make it out to the beach and head out into the water. The waves weren't too big so getting out past the waves wasn't too much of a challenge. I was talking to some of the other surfers and they thought i surfed all the time! I quickly told them to stay far away from me to avoid any danger. I go to catch my first wave, and before i even stand up, i fall right over. No big deal, its expected. On my second wave i was able to stand up! Then fall over a few seconds later. Stood up a total of two times that day over the course of an hour or so and a total of 7ish waves.

Thats the problem with surfing... You swim out there and wait. And wait. And wait. Maybe you get a decent wave coming but there is someone in your way so you can't go. Makes it very hard to learn how to surf when over the course of an hour i "rode" a wave for less than a minute. At least with skiing if you fall down you can get right back up again and try.

Went out the next day and the scene was much different. First day was sunny, water was clear, waves were breaking clearly and in one direction. Second day was cloudy, windy, waves were much larger, but didnt have clean breaks. Swimming out the second day was much much harder. And having a large heavy board didnt make it any easier. Got my butt kicked this time. Any time i "caught" a wave i very quickly nose-dived and got thrown around by the wave. The riptide was so strong that even trying to head in took 10 minutes. Still had fun though. Just being outside in the water is nice.

My apologies to my friends back at Grand Valley. I told almost everyone i would get drunk one night off of good red wine and try to ride a kangaroo, and make sure this was videotaped. I will not be doing this. Main reason being that kangaroos are very very fast. Catching one is not the easiest thing to do. Another very good reason is that kangaroos have long legs with sharp claws. That would hurt when they kicked me. So my sincerest apologies, but i would rather go back to the states without claw marks raking my face and chest.

Few months back i mentioned a great guy movie called "Kenny" (fake documentary about a portable toilet technician). Well the movie became so popular that a tv show was created called "Kenny's World". I have had the pleasure of watching it a few times only to be horribly disappointed. The show lacked the humor and great dialogue that the movie had. Yes, the movie's main dialogue revolved around the "dick and fart joke" topic, but it was funny stuff.

Playing volleyball the other day and someone's stereo started blasting an old Spice Girls song. Sadly enough everyone present not only knew all of the words, but also started singing it. And most people present were males. I'm not saying i didn't join in on the singing, but i do acknowledge the strange humor in the situation.

The heat has become almost unbearable for me. I am use to cold, snowy Michigan. Not 90+ degree weather plus humidity. Just walking to the gym i was already covered in sweat. Aussies have a good time making fun of me. Some of them are still wearing jeans during the day! I would love to seem them during a Michigan fall. The Aussies would be covered head to food in warm clothing while everyone else would be in shorts and tshirts.

The sun rises way too early here. By 5 am it is beating down through my window waking me out of an alcohol induced sleep. Kidding. I dont like waking up at 5 in the morning. There isn't anything to do.

Exams start this week. Very different set-up than at Grand Valley. At GV, you take the exam in the same classroom as you had the class, all of the exams are done within a week, and the prof is present. At USC, all exams are taken in the Sports Stadium over the next two weeks. I saw the setup on friday before soccer practice. Three basketball courts have been transformed into the most uncomfortable looking classroom ever. Over 700 tables and chairs were placed on top of carpet squares throughout the entire gym. Each of the tables were numbered, so i can only assume seats are assigned. Also found out that several different classes will take an exam at once (hopefully not the same one). I have a decent schedule; tuesday thrusday tuesday thursday. Now while this is great for studying, not so good for socializing (yes i realize i am here to study). Almost all of my friends are done the first week and are headed out on trips during the second week. Damn.

randomness...

Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone is called HP Philosophers Stone in AUS. It was funny to see the movie advertised like that on tv. I found out that while filming, anytime an actor had to say "sorcerers stone" the scene would have to filmed a second time with the actor saying "philosophers stone". Makes perfect sense, but still kind of cool.

Saw RocknRolla at the theatres. Guy Ritche's (Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch) new film. Not one of his best, but not the point of this story. There were only a handful of people in the theater, maybe 12. Twice, an employee came in and checked to see if any of us were recording. That in itself isn't unusual. But during Dark Knight (which i saw opening night and then later that week) never once did someone come in and check. I thought it was strange.

Aussies overcook their food. No such thing as "pink" here. Its burnt to a crisp no matter what. No exactly my favourite way of cooking.

SMS (text messaging) is very popular here. I have noticed that companies offer the choice of calling or texting with questions. I just found that strange.

Heard an Ad on tv saying, "only 6 weeks till christmas". hadnt thought about it. So i watched "love actually" to get into the christmas spirit. Then i looked outside and realized how hot it is. How can you celebrate christmas without snow?

I return to the states in 20 days! I am going to miss things here (seeing a kangaroo daily, my friends, soccer, driving on the other side of the road, etc) but i am really looking forward to coming home.

Thanks for reading. Hope all is well.

Cheers,
malcolm
[e-mail]

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