A hodge podge of stories

Hello everyone!

Classes still have not started and I am therefore still living my vacation life. I went to the beach with my friends Gabi, Evan, and Jeff the other day and it was beautiful out - a perfect beach day! Don't worry, I apply a ton of sunscreen and have yet to get sunburned. I did, however, get annihilated by a wave. I was just chilling out in the ocean, trying to catch up to Gabi and Jeff who were pretty far out (if anyone has seen me swim, it's like watching a black lab..no good) but I couldn't make it out to them, so I started talking to the people next to me and made friends with them for a little while. Two of them were trying to teach me and another girl how to body surf, so I decided to give it a go. Well a giant wave is approaching (which we all know my silly fear of waves) and they tell me to get ready. I completely misjudged the wave, it crashed down on top of me, I went tumbling underneath the water, and got salt water up my nose and in my mouth. The people all around me were cheering and laughing at me. I then decided to give up on body surfing and I went to go lay back down on my towel. Hopefully my surfing experience goes slightly better than my body surfing one. Only 3 more weeks until I go to my surfing camp! Also while we were at the beach, these 3 guys from China approached Gabi and I and asked if they could have a picture with us. It turned out to be about a ten minute photo shoot with 5 different cameras! Gabi and I were laughing the entire time, it was very bizarre. I got a few pictures of it on my camera; I couldn't let that moment go undocumented!

That night, a bunch of us went out to Kings Cross (which is sort of downtown..but not really) to a few clubs. This night turned out to be the most epic night we've had here so far. While we were at a bar, me, Gabi, and our friends Cliff and Arjun lost the other people we were with and had no idea where they went so we just decide to go out on the dance floor and have fun. Well the bar is playing alternative 90s music and we had no idea how to dance to it. Everyone around us all have their arms around each other in a circle while swaying to the music. After a while, Gabi and I decide to go sit down at a table and as soon as we sit down, a guy behind us throws his cup in the air, which means that we got beer all in our hair. We were pretty pumped. After a while me, Gabi, Cliff, and Arjun decide to leave. So we leave the bar and cross the street to try and catch a cab to get home. While we are trying to hail a cab, a guy right behind us starts having a seizure and none of his friends are calling an ambulance and are telling everyone to go away (Gabi and I think the seizure was drug related since all of his friends were acting a little sketchy). Cliff calls for an ambulance and it took forever for it to show up! I think he was on the phone with the ambulance for 10 minutes and then it didn't show up for another 10 minutes after that (in which the guy had 2 more seizures during this time). It was a little ridiculous. Finally, the ambulance shows up, the guy's friends stare us down, and we flee the scene to make sure we don't get beat up. So yay! We did a good deed and perhaps saved a guy's life.

After walking a few blocks, we continue trying to catch a cab (which is a very difficult task). One finally pulls over and while we're getting in the cab, this crazy Australian chick comes running towards us screaming and swearing and freaking out about how we stole her cab. I'm already in the back seat buckled in, Gabi's in the front seat, and Cliff and Arjun are still standing on the curb. This crazy chick opens the passenger door and tells Gabi to get out (with a lot of curse words thrown in there). Cliff is handling the situation and telling the girl to calm down and that there will be another cab in a few minutes. This girl is not having it and is continually screaming at us and mocking everything we say to her. Finally we just tell Cliff and Arjun to get in the cab and as they are getting in, this crazy chick punches Gabi in the arm and slams the door in her face. So yeah, Gabi got punched by a crazy Australian chick and had a giant bruise on her arm. So ridiculous and so funny! We still laugh about it all the time. That girl was insane. And that concludes the epic night.

The next day Gabi and I went down to Darling Harbour and walked around. It was absolutely gorgeous, I don't even know how to describe it (just check out some of the pictures..which doesn't do it justice). We went into a really cool marine museum, walked around the entire harbor, and went into a few shops. In an ideal world, I would live in the amazing apartment complex right on the harbor.

That night, we told Marco we would meet him for dinner and drinks so we went back to go get ready. We were both so tired from walking around all day that we really didn't want to go out, but since we said we'd meet up with him, we got all dressed up to go out anyway. Right before we were about to meet him, we realize we are going to be 45 minutes late by the time we take the train to where he's going and so we just decided it wasn't worth it. Marco was totally fine with it, so we took a rain check for dinner and drinks. However, Gabi and I were really hungry, but also very lazy and didn't want to change out of our dresses. So we go and eat at this very low key bar/hotel across the street in our fancy dresses and order the most manly meal ever (our waitress even called us out on it). We ordered the supreme meat lovers pizza with a side order of french fries. The pizza was a mountain of ground beef and other meet with cheese flowing all over the place. It looked disgusting, but it was one of the best meals we have had so far! While we were walking back to my apartment, I fell down in the middle of the street and it was really embarrassing! I completely just ate it. Gabi was dying laughing and could hardly walk since she was laughing so hard. I'm the world's clumsiest person. Then we just came back to my apartment, changed into sweats, and went to the common lounge area to watch TV. We ended up finding a movie that was in German with English subtitles and it was the most depressing movie I have ever seen! These two twin sisters get separated at the age of 4 at their dad's funeral, one grows up Jewish, the other grows up German (this is during WWII), the Jewish girl's fiance gets killed in a concentration camp, the German's husband gets killed in the war, the sisters hate each other, and then they die at the end. Talk about an upbeat film. After the movie was over a really weird dating game show came on and it was super awkward, I don't even know how to describe it. I don't know why anyone would ever go on that game show. Apparently The Biggest Loser is the most popular show in Australia and it's on every night. So You Think You Can Dance is also a very popular show. So Dad, I'm sorry to tell you that you will not be able to escape these shows even if you flee the country.

Tonight Gabi and I (yes, we spend every second together) went to the movie "He's Just Not That Into You." We absolutely loved it! It's a total chick flick and leaves you very giddy and happy. If you haven't seen it, you should probably stop reading this blog and go buy a ticket to the movie. After the movie, we went to go meet a bunch of people at a Scruffy's (it's a bar close by). While I was dancing at Scruffy's, a guy came up to me and told me I was a very good dancer...I died laughing. Looks like people over here love my flailing dance moves.

I've continued to meet a lot of people from around the world as well as Australians. All the people here are so nice and welcoming. I love listening to them talk, but sometimes I have a hard time understanding what they're saying to me and I have to ask "what" a lot and then I feel really dumb. Sometimes I just go with the smile and nod method so I'm not asking "what" every two seconds. There were these two guys at a club one night who told me they were in Sydney for a back party. I, naturally, had no idea what a back party was so I asked. The guy gave me the weirdest look and said in a really slow manner, "Well two people get married and all the guys get together and go out." I replied, "Oh, you mean a bachelor's party!" He responded, "Yeah, that's what I said, a back party." Then he thought I was really dumb. Oh well, I guess I need to get used to them abbreviating everything.

Classes begin on Monday and I'm pretty nervous about it. I'm sure it will be fine though, once I actually figure out when my classes are and where they are (just a few minor details). I'll let you know how it all goes!

Love,
Whit