Two Weekends-Worth of Adventure with a Side Order of Education

I hope you're ready to procrastinate on whatever you're doing because we have a lot to cover in the past almost-week-and-a-half. Where to begin...

I believe we last left off with a bit of boredom, slang, and food, and now, I actually have proper things to share.

If you haven't been on facebook recently, let me direct your attention to this video. If you want to see me awkwardly attempt to wakeboard, watch the whole thing. If you want to laugh at the expense of my face, simply skip to the last five seconds and watch me fall ever-so-gracefully.

So, as I mentioned last time, I joined the UQ Waterskiing and Wakeboarding club. They have their own dock on campus by the river and meet up every Sunday. Super fun and met some great people. And I stood up! Bonus!

Photo and video credit to Sam. Glad I have some proof of my triumph :)




After wakeboarding, I played a pick-up game of soccer and was thoroughly SOAKED because it started raining really hard for about 30 seconds. Thank you, unpredictable Brisbane weather. During the game, I saw what can only be described as an Aussie bro-fest. I really wish I had my camera to take a picture. Imagine about 100 guys (literally) in bro attire (tanks, sunglasses, various neon-colored articles of clothing) running onto a field... with one rugby ball. It was funny and priceless, and no one I was playing soccer with understood why I found it so funny because I was the only one from a college in the US.

That's my knee high boot if you need a size comparison.

You want to know what's priceless but not funny?? If you've hung around me, you should know that I don't really have a problem with spiders or bugs that need to be squashed. Apparently, I do. Later that night, what I thought was a cockroach making its way across the room underneath my desk was actually this guy  (credit to Sam again for the picture) --->

Thankfully, our housemate, Casey, saved the day and trapped the thing in a shoebox and let it go outside. I wouldn't mind dealing with it with a specialist on a tour or something, but I would prefer to never have to deal with that inside our house ever again.

But enough with excitement and anxiety: classes started this week. I kinda forgot that I'm actually supposed to learn here. Classes will be classes, but the accents of my professors are keeping my attention for now. Unlike SC though, they don't cap the classes; if more people keep adding the class and capacity in a certain room is reached, the class is just switched to another room. Or another entire lecture is added. So a few of my lectures are quite big.

Monday night, we explored South Bank, which is walking distance from where we live. I'd describe it as a nicer Santa Monica, similar to the Promenade. There's even a street beach with sand and everything. Disappointingly, it just smells like a pool.

We went to Mexican restaurant called Cactus Republic. Not authentic by my standards but definitely better than the other 2 we've had. But apparently, there's a dessert standard in all the Mexican restaurants here. And this standard is called chocolate nachos. I would like to bring this idea back to the states, authentic or not.

YESSSSSS

After dinner, we went exploring around South Bank for a bit and came across a temple thing very close to the ferris wheel. Still haven't gone on it yet, though. We'll save it for another day.

Tuesday, I played beach volleyball after class. I haven't played volleyball since freshmen year of high school, so I was definitely a little out of it. But it was fun. Took the CityCat home and jumped into one of the pools at the Streets Beach to cool off. Best idea ever.

Wednesday, I got my nerd on and went to the HP Alliance movie night. We watched the first movie and basically quoted it the entire time. I have found my people, and it is fantastic.

Thursday was blah and just classes, but Friday after class, I went to Surfers Paradise the Gold Coast (about a 2 hour train ride south from where I am). From what I heard, it had the reputation of the Jersey Shore of this area, and that basically held up to be true. Very touristy, a bit trashy, and a far bigger club scene than bar scene. Friday night consisted of checking in to a hostel with awful mattresses (my huge butt just sank to the frame of the bunk bed), a fun house of epic proportions called Infinity (think mirrors, light shows, and darkness everywhere), and what appeared to be a 90s-early2000s cover band at a bar which actually ended up being very, very fun.

Saturday brought me quite the morning. It was raining SO freaking hard BUT I also had a surf lesson. My umbrella inverted only about 3248764132 times on the way to the lesson, but thankfully, the rain (and wind) let up about 20 minutes in. I successfully stood up on the board (for probably less than a second but who cares) and exhausted myself into a nap on the train ride back home.

Today/Sunday catered to the inner indie/hipster in me: we went to the Gallery of Modern Art at the Cultural Centre as well as the Lifestyle Markets in South Bank. GoMA was awesome. We went to two exhibits, and they were phenomenal (and free! yes!). The first one was Yayoi Kusama's "Look Now, See Forever," which included a LOT of polka dots and overall whimsical, fun vibe. The other was Pip & Pop's "We Miss You Magic Land!" which was aimed towards children and everyone's inner child. Apart from the room and lighting, the actual installments in "We Miss You Magic Land!" were entirely made of sugar which makes it that much more awesome. Check out all the pictures on facebook (though it won't do it justice).

The Lifestyle Markets in South Bank were basically pop-up stores/tents of basically clothing and jewelry (some of which I recognized from Forever 21...). A lot of the booths were sample sales with fold-up tents or pinned up blankets/curtains as changing rooms. The fashion was a mix of sorta cool to extremely bohemian to laughable. I'm never the trendiest nor do I really care what I look like, but I'll admit I'm a bit of an LA elitist with how hardcore I'm judging these people on their fashion choices.

Enough of the judgement, I have class in less than 8 hours, so I bid you all adieu. Happy Sunday, everyone (most of you anyway)!