Mojo Surf Trip!

This past week at school was "Bondstock," which is a week filled with all sorts of different social activities for the students. Wednesday night there was the "Fashion Parade" fashion show at Don's tavern to raise money and awareness for animal welfare that a few of us checked out. I've never been to a fashion show before, so it was certainly a fun experience. Thursday night a bunch of us went over to Emily's/Lizzy's again and played some more pong (I once again represented.. of course) and had a little dance party. Ashley, Brodie, Junot and others were there again and they're hilarious so it was a lot of fun. Some of Lizzy's Malasian friends also came over for a bit, and they were a lot of fun too and invited us to a party at their place next Friday so that should be a good time. Thursday night was also the Bondstock music festival at Don's, but apparently the bands are never very good and its not worth the money, so we decided to skip out and make our own little party back at University Place.

Friday during the day Steph, Emily and I went over to the Student Flights station on campus and looked into some trips, and Steph and I booked our weekend trip to the outback!!! I am so excited for it-- we're going the first weekend in November and we get to go hiking, climb Uluru, ride camels through the outback desert, camp out under the stars, watch the sunrise at Uluru, etc. It's going to be such an amazing experience and so different from anything I've done here so far.

Friday night we left for our Mojo Surf trip at "Spot X" in Arrawarra, which is about a 4-5 hour drive from the Gold Coast; somewhere along the coast between here and Sydney. The bus ride was fun at first- we passed the time by singing and playing catch phrase, but then we all got tired and napped the rest of the way. We arrived at the surf camp at about 1:00 a.m., and basically immediately found some bunks and went to sleep. I was in a bunk with Emily, Steph and Alysa, and luckily we got one of the bunks with a bathroom, but unfortunately the bunk literally smelled like a porter potty. We got our "wake up call" (surf instructors came and banged on everyone's bunks) at 8:00 am. We grabbed some quick breakfast and then got ready to go out for our first surf lesson at 9:30. We had a relatively quick surf instruction, stretched out a bit, practiced jumping up on our boards in the sand, and then hit the water. The instructors were really helpful at helping you catch the waves, and at first gave everyone little pushes to get on top the waves and be able to stand up. After a while, however, we all sort of got the hang of it and were able to paddle ourselves into our own waves and ride them out. We were out in the water until 11:30, then lunch was at 12. After lunch, we all hung out around the camp and just relaxed on the beach before going back out into the water for our second lesson at 3:30. The second lesson was much better-- the waves were bigger because it was a little stormy out and I stood up a lot and rode lots of waves in. After our second lesson, we all got showered and dressed for dinner. After dinner, the festivities began. Everyone at the surf camp, including all of the surf instructors, played all sorts of drinking games, hung out by the bonfire, sang and danced around and had an overall amazing time. The surf instructors were absolutely crazy and hilarious, and it was really entertaining to watch everyone get really wild. Sunday morning we had one more surf lesson. Our wake up call was at 6:00 a.m., and our lesson was at 7:00 a.m. It was absolutely freezing out and not everyone made it out there due to ..um.. complications regarding the after effects of the previous night's activities. It took everything in me to force myself into the freezing cold wetsuit and the freezing cold water, but I knew I would regret not taking advantage of every opportunity I had to get out there in the water and surf, so I went for it. The water was really calm in the morning so I only caught a few waves, but it was still a lot of fun and a nice way to end my surfing adventures. After our last lesson we all chilled out for a while around the fire pit and then had some lunch before loading back on the bus to head home. On the way home, we stopped in Byron Bay, which is a little surf town about an hour south of the Gold Coast. It was an awesome little boho town with a bunch of little shops and pubs. I loved the laid back vibe of the town and my friends and I are definitely going to plan to go back to Byron for a weekend sometime in the near future.

It was a really great weekend. I got to hang out with a bunch of really cool people and got to know everyone much better. Can't wait for more fun adventures coming up in the near future. I'll keep you all posted! Miss everyone from home a ton (especially you catie gmeiner).

Love,

Arlyn