Stereotypical Aussie experience no. 3- Surfing

Ok, so first things first- surfing is difficult, but I have to recommend it. If you don't mind getting beat up by waves and inhaling a lot of salt water, it's really fun and surprisingly not that difficult- that is, if you don't mind being awful at it and just want to have fun :)

Lessons learned from yesterday:
1. Planning things is exhausting! We had a big group go surfing- 18 people total. Trying to arrange everything with the people going and the people at the surf place gets chaotic and confusing. I now have a lot more respect for people studying hospitality. They have to multitask so well, and I'm amazed they all don't go crazy.

2. It's a lot easier to get into cold water when you a. have on a wetsuit and b. are actually going to do something in the water. I don't think I've ever walked into 57.2 degree (Fahrenheit!) water so readily.

3. I originally thought that the most difficult part of getting up would be doing the quasi-pushup, but nope. After you push yourself up halfway, you need to bring both your feet underneath you and stand up. It's basically like doing the second half of a burpee, and for all of you who have had to do burpees before (hello, rowers), you know that the first five or eight aren't that bad. Then they become unbearable. Thankfully, the possibility of riding a wave made me more excited to squat over and over, but it still got to be way difficult. We surfed for about 3, 3.5 hours yesterday and I could feel the burn after the first 30 minutes.

4. It's so exciting to catch a wave and ride it to the beach. But as you do that more and more, it gets less and less fun because then you realise you have to walk back 50 meters against the waves. And after doing all those pushups and squats, the water starts to feel really, really strong.

5. Drinking saltwater is inevitable. At least for the girls (or maybe this is just for me), you would hear lots of "Whoo!"s singaling someone was able to stand up successfully. But sometimes you would hear a "Whoo-ahh!-splash," and that was more of a sign that someone had just gotten their weekly intake of sodium. Newsflash- salt water is disgusting.

6. Oh, and surfing. I did learn how to surf yesterday. Can't wait to try it again, either!

My Christmas List (aka things I miss from home)

I know what you're thinking:

Wow, I really miss that girl in Australia with the awesome blog. I wish I could send her some material items to make up for the lack of love she is receiving from me.

Don't worry, I understand. And that is why, as a service to you, I have collected a few things that might be nice for me to have. For some of them, though, you might have to contact a few CEOs or break a few international piracy laws, but I'm worth it....right?

Here is my early Christmas list. Feel free to send me these things whenever. And no, it's not too early to have a Christmas list. Myer's has had its Christmas decorations up since the middle of September, so if anything I am catching the end of this bandwagon.

I really need running shoes. Mine have stopped doing anything for my feet (I've worn out the sole....from running so much obviously) and they're a red colour that a) shows I'm super touristy and b) won't go away. Everything else I have has managed to get stained red, too...

Oh man, goldfish. I miss these little guys so much. They have strange flavoured crackers here, too (one of the girls just bought cheese-and-bacon flavoured crackers today) but none of them smile or are in the shape of fish and/or sand dollars. Plus, there's something in these crackers that just makes them too addicting for them not to be missed.

And while we're at it...

We saw a girl with a box of Krispy Kremes the other week and ran up to her to ask where the store was. Turns out, a friend from Melbourne brought them for her. UGH.

Also, they don't have real deodorant here? I feel like this is a real problem. Their "deodorants" are either sprays or roll on things. And, not surprisingly, neither of those help very much with body odour. It might just be because I'm in the engineering building a good bit, though...

No, not the song. Youtube exists here.

Mmmm, peaches. It's almost impossible to find these things here. Jalapenos just don't exist here. Also, tomatoes are ridiculously expensive, and so are red peppers. It doesn't make sense to me- green peppers are super cheap, and I thought red peppers were just ripened green peppers? Maybe I'm wrong.

Also included in my list of things I miss:

If only for the good times we always have back in the 704 :)

TACO BELL. What else are you supposed to eat after a hardcore day? Of course, in Australia, they'd probably be out of the chicken, the spicy chicken, the 8 inch tortillas, the 10 inch tortillas, and the caramel apple empanadas...

This would be ok if Arrested Development wasn't coming out exclusively on Netflix this spring...

Really, Australian television just stinks. Maybe that's good for my grades?