Final Melbourne Post

Alas, the night has come. Melbourne has officially come to an end.

I've promised to make this blog available to future Occidental students, so that they might have an idea of what Melbourne was like for a male Politics major. I'll forever remind you that I originally wrote this for my parents, with the combined intention of having it serve as an electronic diary of my encounters, thoughts, and general experiences while in Southern Victoria.

Having said that, I am going to first reflect on my experiences in general and list my favorite things I did while in Melbourne, and then I will follow with the usual posts consisting of thoughts, events, and things that make me happy or provoke some sort of profound feeling.

The Melbourne Welcome:

Absolutely worth it. Also required by Occidental. Oxy pays for it and it serves as an orientation week. Oxy did a more mellow version of it when we first came. For 2011ers the theme was Oxywood, and they took us to a Dodgers Game, organized events and helped us find things near/around Pasadena, organize public transport, etc blah blah blah we all remember at least some parts of orientation...not much, though. O Week at Oxy also consists of getting extraordinarily drunk for an entire week, but in Melbourne you do the same but in a very different manner. The first thing I noticed is that you can go out and drink legally here. That changes everything, as if you are going abroad your Junior year you likely aren't 21 in the states. House parties are few and far between, private kegs and hard liquor (Spirits here) fall out of the picture, and bars, clubs, and goon come into the picture. Goon is the cheap shitty box wine and you'll encounter it. Enough said about that. Watch out as well-beer and spirits are expensive in Aussieland. I'm looking forward to paying $13USD in LA for 30 beers. The Melbourne Welcome also makes you a ton of friends. The first girl I met the morning we began orientation was a strangely tall but very naturally pretty Dutch girl named Fleur. In Holland, the majority of the people are tall, but elsewhere the Dutch stand out as extraordinarily tall people. Fleur was my friend until the end, and I've made plans to visit her in Amsterdam soon. The welcome takes you to a ton of places, introduces you to your University, and gets you drunk with international kids. You'll have a great time.


Melbourne Gym:
During the winter you need a gym, although the Melbourne Gym on campus is very pricey and not extraordinarily nice. At home you can pay the same amount for a full on gym complete with a sauna, hot tub, steam room, etc. Here you get everything you need to lift weights, run, swim, and you can take classes (included in the cost as I understand it, though I never made it to a class despite my friend Miranda's constant attempts to coax me into joining her). Once it's warm, you find yourself going there less, running, and swimming outside-if you are anything like me. I took up surfing very hardcore when I came here, and bought a secondhand board which I eventually sold back (sadly and tragically).

*If you live at the RMIT Village (which I recommend).

Do the second welcome week. It is available to all the members of the RMIT VIllage, and consists of another week of drinking at pubs, playing games, BBQs, and themed parties. Do it, dress up big time for all the events, put yourself out there, and make a ton of friends early on. Keep on good terms-you'll periodically see different people around the Village and if you keep friendly with them it will work out for both of you in the end.

MUSEX:
Borderline. It really depends on your scene. I did the party camp and had a phenomenal time, and nowhere else could I participate in such an event. For that, MUSEX was a lot of fun and I'd highly recommend it to anyone that enjoys drinking on retreat weekends. I've done it before and I'll do it again, and the trip they took us on to West Gippsland was amazing. The events they throw are basically cheap college versions of things you should do on your own time otherwise. I did the booze cruise with them, and had an okay time floating down the polluted Yarra river on a small boat floating with a bunch of drunk college students. The booze cruise I went on in Sydney was ten times more amazing, during Halloween, and completely supersedes the memory I have of the MUSEX booze cruise. MUSEX will basically provide a synthetic organized drinking scene with the same crew of international kids. At the RMIT Village you meet a ton of internationals from the RMIT University as well, and quickly you find yourself choosing your favorite international kids to party with. At one point my friend Carly made the criticism that, "MUSEX is always the same scene, same party, just with different costumes and at different places." The girl hit the nail on the head. Anyway, check it out, see what you think of the events, and if you want to go to a few buy the $5 membership. They'll give you a card saying you get a special for $7 on jugs at Turf if you show the card, but you get $7 jugs anyway. A sleazy marketing scheme, and one I haven't forgotten. That's about how MUSEX rolls, though.

Places to go:

Queen Vic Market. I'll let you discover this one on your own-it will be your source of food and so much more. Extraordinarily cheap. Look deep into it-I found an amazing Hindu store where I bought a prayer candle holder and a magic lamp. Amazing.

BRUNSWICK STREET. There is a place called Bimbo's that has $4.00 pizza specials and an amazing beer called the Blonde Bimbo. I tried all the pizzas on the menu and then some, and really enjoyed my time there. Go to the clubs as well, including a place called Little Creatures. I had a group of friends living in a house there, so we would party on Brunswick from time to time.

The CBD, Elizabeth St, Swanston, etc:
Great clubs. Hit Croft Institute, Billboards, Sorry Grandmas, Q Bar, the Crown Casino (also has clubs), Lyons, Ed Hardy Rockstar Bowling, and the list really goes on.

Lygon St:
Great food. Good movie theatre. Pretty walks and a lively scene. A lover's dream.

Chapel St: Only went once, had a great time. Too far to go out to with the public transportation system. If you have a late night out, you end up spending a ton of cash on your way back, making things problematic. Check it out, though. Go to Lucky Cock. Good pizza deals there, along with cheap drinks.

Places to visit:
To let you know, I missed the East Coast, Center, and Tasmania. Otherwise I'll have done everything that I've heard of doing while in Australia-save the Whitsundays, the one major part of the East I'm sad I didn't visit.

The Great Ocean Road.
This is a majestic place. Enormous rock cliffs, forests, waterfalls, small seaside surf towns, and good surfing. Very close to Melbourne. I suggest you see it at a warm time, and take three to four days to do it. Otherwise you'll see it but won't really experience it-if you catch my drift. If you are wanting to rent a surfboard, go to the Anglesea Surf Centre. It is 111 Great Ocean Road, and you can't miss it. I stored the owner of the shop's number in my phone and became good friends with the man. He gave us a killer deal on boards and wetsuits. Tell him Dan sent you and I'm sure he will treat you nicely as well.

Sydney.
Expensive, but completely worth it. Go to the Blue Mountains, Lowenbrau, Darling Harbor and Circular Quay. Visit the aquarium, eat in Chinatown, and go out at night. King's Cross if you are daring-the Red Light District of Sydney. Take a ferry to Manly Beach and catch the train to Bondi. Buy a souvenir at the little beachside shops in Bondi. Most of all, go with good friends. Sounds like simple advice, but the company really made my trip amazing and the experience all the more special.

Byron Bay.
GO THERE. It is amazing. Try to go before Australia goes on its summer holiday, or it will be overrun with 18 year-olds partying. I went during September, and spent two weeks there. See a sunrise at the most easterly lighthouse. Stay at the Arts Factory, a hostel just outside Byron Bay, and go surfing and fishing if you're into it. Tallow beach. Great place. One day I saw hang-gliders, an eagle, and whale spouts. Not to mention caught a fish with two Frenchmen and a Belgian. Your time in Byron will be special no matter what.





Enough of the PR bullshit. Time to talk about my final hours in Melbourne.

Thursday (second to last day, yesterday) I went to a large foam party. I don't know if you've ever been to one...I certainly hadn't. Anyway, they spray foam into a dancing crowd at a selected bar, play music, and provide a lightshow. It is a mess. I swear things got really rowdy and personal. Beforehand, I wound up drinking Sangria all afternoon with Gregg and her coworker. Scarlet and Abbey later joined, then Tom and some other friends showed up. We left the foam party just after 3 AM and had a long walk home with no shirt on, covered in foam, sore from dancing and sliding around in the foam. To top it off, we went swimming at the RMIT pool when we got back. We all agreed it might have been our best night out in Melbourne. Quite the way to end it.

I woke up this morning feeling like death. My eyes were bloodshot and sore from the foam and drinking, my body and head hurt from the beating it took combining red wine and diving onto a floor covered in foam, and I had to drag myself out of bed to make it to the Queen Vic market to finish the souvenir shopping. Not to mention I was feeling completely antisocial given my climactic night before. I spent the entire afternoon either in bed asleep, cleaning for my final room inspection, or buying last minute things, all with an extremely splitting headache. Completely worth it, given that this will all pass. Abbey didn't make it out of bed at all today, and Scarlet was limping earlier. It really was a rough night.




I've always dealt with loss and separation differently than most people. I tend to avoid goodbyes and rather prefer to tell people I'll see them again at some point until I just don't. That way, things are left open and aren't deliberate or forced. Tonight Tom Dixon called me and offered to drink some Coronas on my porch with me for the last time. I obliged, and had three beers, a large social feet given my condition. While I was out there I was bombarded with goodbyes and chatty people, which was hard to deal with at some points but refreshing at others. I don't know. I still listen to what Nietzsche says about what he calls 'rapture' and try to apply it to my life. He says you have to accept that the world is enormously and infinitely complex to the point where inevitably you will lose. Everything you love, and know will come to an end, including your very bodily existence. The world is constantly chaotic, and the best thing you can do is embrace the chaos, question every known truth you know, and take the plunge into unknowingness. If you are brilliant, you will emerge with some form of new truth or understanding, and spread that to your fellow man. This is how society progresses, and how men should live their lives. Sadly, that path is a lonely one that doesn't look back and lets go of the past easily, pursuing the search of a brighter, better future.

That's about where I'm at as my travels continue. Tomorrow I start the Coral Bleaching Research project I've undertaken at the Great Barrier Reef. I'll land in Cairns and start doing some research and preparing for a 3 day 2 night liveaboard dive cruise going to the outer reefs. From there, New Zealand. I'll keep you updated every chance I get, but this is my last post concerning Melbourne. It's been sealed in a large, hazy, drawn out fond memory that I'll never forget.

Until next time I'll be where the lights won't burn my eyes, beyond the electric fuzz where nobody knows my name or face.

End.

The days wind down, but we don't

I want to preface this by saying that as it gets hotter I can't be more happy that I'm home for Christmas. I used to fantasize about Hawaii and Australia during the holidays when I was young and the image of a surfing santa seemed so amazing to me. Now I have no desire to be in the sun and away from my family during January 25th.



Yesterday I started off the day by going to the Queen Vic Market with Old Gregg (Camille). We bought souvenirs, and the ingredients to make a final Pad Thai together at some point in the near future...maybe even for lunch today..? Not sure, really. We are doing the Great Barrier Reef next week, which is going to be amazing. I seriously can't wait. Then, I received a text from Abbey, my friend from North Carolina (North Care-ah-line-ah, as she says with her amazing slightly southern accent). She's my girl. Here's a picture of her doing her thing at the Shrine of Remembrance.

She wanted to go to the large Christmas tree in Melbourne and take pictures in front of it wearing swimming suits. Of course I was in. So I rounded up Odoyle, and we set off. Oh yeah Odoyle is a girl from Reno who goes to school in Washington DC. Her actual name is Scarlet, but lets just call her Odoyle. Odoyle claims she is visiting me in LA soon. We'll see. Here's the only picture of her alone that Abbey had on her camera. Somehow Abbey's photos ended up on my mac...not exactly sure why but it works.




Here is the first picture of us three in front of the tree, but the day only got better from there.

Our walk took us further down Swanston to the river, where we took another picture in front of the buildings. Typical touristy thing to do. The river is actually really dirty and gross, but let's pretend it's pristine and blue.
On the way back we went to Taco Bills, where we bought margaritas and food and got sombreros. Apparently Carly and Kate got colored sombreros which admittedly is more cool, but sometimes you just take what you can get I guess.
After that, we went back to the village and drank a little bit. Before long, Carly and Kate called and stopped by to join the party. I wound up going back to the colleges with them and kicking it with Carly in her room for a bit. Kate went to bed, tired from raging I assume. I said goodbye to Carly and walked home, stopping by 7-11 and getting a Slurpee on the way. On the way out of the store I high fived the guy. When I got back to the village I couldn't sleep so I went on a run. It was this run that made me really feel like I'd meshed with the city. Looking for cars on the left side of the road is like second nature now. I danced through the traffic as I crossed streets and cut through alleys on one of my favorite run routes.

When I got back I skyped my high school friend who is in Spain. He sent me the link to a video from our past. In it, we are 15/16, and idiots. Here is the link. Watch it, it's pretty ridiculous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqFDetqz4ZQ&feature=related



Big things today as well with the last minute village crew.

Cryst4l B4ll3rs

Just pictures this time, and their appropriate captions


This is me in front of the 12 Apostles. Yippee.



Zander, Chris, Thibaud, and myself in the Australian rainforest.
The London Bridge...half fell downHere is a koala in a tree that we saw along the road we drove. I'll bring you one home, mom.


Here Zander and I sit on Johanna beach. The surf was extremely treacherous, meaning no surf for us, and tons of sea spray. The mist in the air made my hair frizzy. It's cool, ladies love it.
So you get the idea. I'll show you the rest upon my return, which is in one month and one day now that I check my calendar.

"We are such stuff as dreams are made on"

I suggest you do your best to live your life as if it is a work of art. Try to find beauty in everything you do and the harmony that can be achieved with everything that you interact with and experience in the world.

While you're at it, if (for whatever reason) you are reading this, I'll go ahead and ask you to take some time to really think about your life. Think about what really matters to you. Is it being the talk of the town, having money and keeping money, getting drunk in Melbourne and living a cyclical lifestyle there, finding that beautiful someone that-whenever you look at them-the music plays and everything seems okay-even when it isn't...or is it something completely different? Find that and give chase, and when you catch it (if you are ever so lucky) never forget how fortunate you really are, because it is going to hurt more than you'd imagine when you lose it. I know I'm certainly guilty of forgetting when I have a good thing and I lose it, but being young and resilent and an American male certainly helps things. Even so, you can't endure these losses forever, and as you get older I'm certain that what really matters makes itself apparent through the hang ups, the evil stares, the 'fuck you toos' and 'I don't cares.'


Now back to reality...

Final papers and exams came to a close and I spent no time in Melbourne thereafter. I organized the trip I'd been wanting to take since the beginning of the semester along Victoria's Southern Coast to the Great Ocean Road.

Four of us made the epic journey. Zander and Chris, the two I bought my boards with from the beginning, and Thibaud, Chris' French friend from long ago.

I'm going to cut it short there because I haven't sorted through all the Great Ocean Road pictures I want to show for the trip we made, which was probably my favorite yet. Just four guys and the open road and surfing, a dream come true in the Australian Spring. Here's a shot of us and the man that sold us our boards and was more generous than any normal man, Bruce Little. The man, the myth, the legend. We are all outside his shop in Anglesea just along the Great Ocean Road, a place I will never forget and will tell my kids about if I tell them about ANYTHING in Australia. Rock on, Bruce, you've returned my faith in the generosity of strangers and to me you are larger than life. Click the picture if you want to do it justice. See Chris, Bruce, myself, and Thibaud. Thanks to Zander for taking the picture.

In Reverie

I will forever contemplate what my life would be like if I'd never gone to Australia. If I was still the same boy in college in Southern California, going to house parties on weekends, spending entirely too much time studying, and taking every moment I could to see the beach, mountains, desert, and surrounding areas of Los Angeles.

I'll never really know that boy anymore. He is lost and gone forever and has been replaced by a shadowy version of the same boy that has seen an extraordinarily large influence from a larger world upon visiting Melbourne.

I've had mixed opinions on Melbourne. I have to say, it isn't a glamorous city. It isn't clean, upscale, or professional like other major cities, but for a college student the lifestyle is pretty amazing. I took a trip to the fifth floor roof with my friend Mike Hawkins and we took a few shots of the CBD. Comparatively small, but charming nonetheless.I've taken some time to really appreciate the life I live right now. Since I've been here, I've met a miscellany of different people, made good connections and mutually offered my home to friends while abroad, dated a foreign woman, surfed some of the most world renowned breaks, kept a higher grade point average than I would have at home, and shared some of the most memorable nights of my life in between all of this. What is more is that I still have the Great Barrier Reef and New Zealand to look forward to, the two largest and most exciting trips yet, and I simply can't wait. I'm going to swim with one of the seven species of remaining sea turtles (six of the seven inhabit the reef), which will undoubtedly be my most fulfilling experience during this trip.

As friends around the village head off in their separate paths in life, things slow down, and the days lose their golden tinge. Even so, spending my last few weeks writing papers and lazily watching the minutes titter by under the warm Australian sun with my friends is something I'll certainly never forget, and can never take for granted.




Tonight I'm in at 12:57 on a Saturday night/Sunday morning for the first time in a long time. It is Mike Hawkins' last weekend here, and second to last night here. We hit it pretty hard and he wound up collapsing a few times in the hallway of the village. I managed to carry the guy back to my room and he is sleeping in my roommate Ben's bed as Ben is gone for the weekend. I met Mike the first night here, because he was on the same flight in and lived at the same place. He is going back to the states and to Jersey for Thanksgiving, which is something many Americans are making the choice to do. Part of me envies them but part of me knows that my six months abroad weren't meant to come to an end just yet. Tomorrow I will write 1000 words on my last essay, have a BBQ with Matteo, and then head for the Great Ocean Road Surf Expedition. If this isn't living then I've never been alive.

Upcoming dates and plans

This is your life, and it's ending one second at a time. I suggest you act accordingly. Take some time to tell your mom, dad, family and loved ones you love them. It's one of those funny things that you can never do too much and somehow never seem to do enough. I don't know, maybe it's just me.

I re-read that book Siddhartha by Herman Hesse in between writing papers. There's a part of the character's life called Sansara, where he is young and sinful, and believes that temporal and physical pleasures are supreme. I don't want to get into a tangential discussion on it but I think that's kind of where my life is. It will end soon enough, I'm sure, but I'm not even 21 yet so I think now is the time to live it up, for if I don't now I never will.



Friday the 13th: Australia Now paper due, Terrorism Final, French party
Monday the 16th: Global Movements paper due, depart for Great Ocean Road
16th-19th: Great Ocean Road Surf Trip Extravaganza, complete with a beach house and our own car.
20th-28th: Keep it real/say bye to Melbourne, and various day surfing trips
28th Nov-Dec 4th-Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef
Dec 5th-18th SOUTH NEW ZEALAND!!!
Dec 18th (yes I go back in time)-Dec 23rd-Los Angeles, Santa Monica and friends
Dec 23-??? Home for the Holidays, like a good boy. I'll be gaining weight, playing video games, and playing in the snow.
Jan 26-Turn 21, head straight for Las Vegas, NV

Last week I made remarkable progress on my APBP paper, meaning I had some time to enjoy one of my last weekend in Melbourne. Friday night I went out to the Swedish party, but missed the pre party because I fell asleep, dreaming in the Springtime heat of a wonderful Friday afternoon. Swedish party was awesome. I met Matteo and Benoit there and at some point we all made the decision to take off our shirts while dancing, which was a choice I'm guessing I suggested, seeing as I still think it was a great idea.

That night I checked something off of my list of things to do before I die. Great success.

Saturday was free Slurpee day at 7-11 so I spent the day going back and forth and indulging, and even took a trip with some friends to get some pizza. I got my own large and it was my lunch and dinner.

During the evening I met an interesting fellow named Sebastian. Sebastian is from Singapore, is extremely obsessed with Americana, Manhattan, Wall Street, and yuppie culture. He constantly told me he thought I was very intelligent, met the American-created standard of tall, dark, handsome, and said that he wanted to be my friend. I was glad to talk to the guy for free, and I offered him a puff of my hookah that I was smoking on my patio at the RMIT. He obliged, then insisted that I let him buy me beer so he could "pick my brain." Admittedly, I had nothing else to do, so I in turn obliged him, and he picked up a six pack of Heineken and a six pack of Guinness, a beer I haven't had since back home.

The night carried on with us talking Politics, Economics, and American society. I have to say out of all the people I've met here Sebastian (Seabass, as we've taken to calling him), is the most interesting. He wants to smoke hookah again next week, and I can't wait to see where his strange conversation takes me next.


Sunday I put the wraps on my first paper and started my pubs essay for Australia Now, which is due Friday. It is now Monday and I have 5 of 10 sources and 1011 of 2500 words. Easy stuff.

On Sunday I was fortunate enough to see the Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. I won't bore you with the plot or what I thought of it, but SEE IT. Seriously. Go see it now.

I'm sorry I have no pictures right now. Next week I'm hitting the Great Ocean Road with the guys and I'll have plenty of show and tell for that post. This is my most work intensive week, so give me a break.



You wanna know who I really am? Yeah, so do I...

Sydney Update with pictures

I'm painting the world with a silver lining.


Yesterday's headline in the Surf Coast Times was talking about a woman that was brutally murdered, chopped up, and washed up piece by piece on Wilson's Prom. What the hell, Australia?


Okay, so I said I would do Sydney justice once I was able to take some pictures from my lovely travel mates and friends Carly and Kate. The pictures are in and the update is here to follow.

This was a photo of us Friday night at a place called Lowenbrau (I think). We ordered German dishes and drank extraordinarily good beer there. The good beer was pricey but completely worth it, a much needed break from the goon. The waiters/waitresses wore lederhosen and German dresses, which was awesome. Despite our flip flops, Carly got us in by saying we came all the way from the states to come to Oktoberfest. Carly's a quick thinker and a keeper for sure, GREAT thinking. Wonderful to travel with good people. The waitress also helped us out by giving us a table without a reservation, apparently something unheard of at the restaurant we were at, so I guess it was just our lucky night.
This is a shot of us in front of the world famous Sydney Opera House. It's on most of the postcards I sent out, and it really looks better from a distance, like Mel Gibson. On the real, though, it is covered in tiles and is somewhat off-white close up. A cool monument to see, as long as we were waiting for a ferry to Manly beach. From left you see Eliott, me, Carly, and Kate. Eliott is an Australian Engineer we met in Sydney. He is a friend of a friend from (interestingly enough) Oxy. Small world, eh? Eliott wasn't like the typical strange nerdy Engineers you work with, mom, so stop stereotyping them. He was a solid dude and is coming to the states and to Los Angeles sometime in the next few months.
This is the bridge, apparently a big deal. I dunno. There were people walking on top of it on tours but they seemed kind of like tools and I wasn't really that into it. Whatever, there's a picture of us in front of it.


This is Carly and I at the Blue Mountains, looking down at the waterfalls and the forests thousands of feet below us. The Blue Mountains are a big deal here, but honestly just go to Colorado where the mountains are infinitely larger and more majestic. Still, good to see mountains in Australia.



That brings us to the Halloween booze cruise. Here I am with my beautiful reindeer companions, all of us a few drinks in. The ship departed from Darling Harbour, had an open bar and pizza, and went around the CBD, took us right by the Opera House, and under the bridge. It was one of the rowdiest times ever, dancing on the bottom floor and a bar on the top. Seriously one of the most memorable nights in Australia, and a phenomenal Halloween experience. We did the Christmas thing as you can see. They were reindeer and I was an elf, but an elf that doesn't like to make toys.



Enough about Sydney, I'm missing it already. I've spent the week writing papers, getting a start on the 7000 words I have due. I took a mental health day yesterday and went surfing. We met a pretty cool dog on the beach. I don't know much about breeds but it looks like some sort of small terrier to me. It was feisty and liked playing tug of war with sticks that washed up on the beach, something that Jack loves doing as well. Not quite my dog, but still fun to be around the little guy.


This week I am finishing my first paper and then going to the last Swedish House party. The weekend is consumed by work again, and I'll be laying low other than Friday afternoon/night. After the 16th we are taking a surf trip to the Great Ocean Road and living the dream for a few days. Then I'm on borrowed time, saying goodbye to Melbourne, and making my way to the Great Barrier Reef to get back into Marine Biology research. Then it's off to New Zealand, which I've been most excited for since the beginning. After that, I'll surf couches around friends' houses near Oxy until the 23rd, then it's home for Christmas. Life is good, and I don't know how any year after 20 just on the cusp of turning 21 can get better, but I'll figure something out.

I KNEW I had to spend Halloween with Americans, and I knew Australia simply wouldn't get it. Even so, I have to say that I had no idea what I was getting into joining Carly and Kate on a trip to Sydney. We had such a legendary time I have to say it was one of my best weekends I've spent since I've been here. Sydney is expensive, but worth every penny.

012411 views when I post this at 1:40 AM on Monday

This is a test.

What can I say?

After Halloween, everything starts fading, and I go down like the sun.


I KNEW I had to spend Halloween with Americans, and I knew Australia simply wouldn't get it. Even so, I have to say that I had no idea what I was getting into joining Carly and Kate on a trip to Sydney. We had such a legendary time I have to say it was one of my best weekends I've spent since I've been here. Sydney is expensive, but worth every penny.

Sydney was a charm....and then some. I went with Kate and Carly from Oxy, two very pretty very lively very fun girls if you don't know them. Can I just say I forgot how much I love American women at times? I made it a point to meet international people for the longest time and to really go out and meet different people, but sometimes a trip with two people from your same school that agree with you and can relate on so many levels is just refreshing and fun. I'll get into that more in a bit.

When we first got to the hostel we booked, Carly wasn't amused. She made it clear, and convinced us to leave, get a refund, and find a better hostel in a better location (originally we were in Kings Cross down a sketch alley in a dirty place). Rather than show indifference and settle for shit, she made it a point to find something better...something I admire. Not only that, but our new hostel was only a bit more expensive, across the street from Central Station, and infinitely better.

The first day we hit the Sydney aquarium, and got food at an Indonesian restaurant. I'll apologize in advance because Carly and Kate took most of the photos, so once I steal some of theirs off of Fbook I'll post them and do the trip justice. The few pictures I took are somewhat disappointing, but I'll show you the ones that are acceptable. We fell asleep early that night, due to the fact that we woke up at 5AM to make an early flight out.


This is a shot of Carly and Kate on the train riding to the Blue Mountains. We played countless rounds of "would you rather...", made fun of the way Australians say "No," and "Don't." They have this terrible accent where they add an R to their vowels, making it sound more like "Norr" and "Dorrrnt." Plus we went on for hours about Oxy, South Park, and food and cheap alcohol that we missed.

Friday we went to the Blue Mountains and saw the three sisters. Here they are. Nothing spectacular, but one of the monuments worth seeing in Sydney.







After the Blue Mountains, we came back and went out to a really cool German restaurant called Lowenbrau. Mispelled that one without a doubt, but it was Oktoberfest there and we tried a bunch of the German Beers, served by waitresses in traditional German garb. Kate and or Carly got some shots of it, so I'll throw some up later.


Saturday, Halloween, we went to Bondi Beach and enjoyed the weather. One thing Sydney beats the shit out of Melbourne for are the beaches. My god they made me jealous. Sydney is also much more metropolitan, larger, and more expensive. It's kind of like Melbourne's gold plated older brother. Here's a shot I snuck of the girls at the beach, enjoying the weather and preparing for a legendary booze cruise that night aboard a ship that left from Darling Harbour, circled the Opera House, went under the Sydney Harbor Bridge, and didn't disappoint in the least. I warned you, these are some hot American women.



Pictures of the booze cruise, our trio Christmas costume, and the Opera House and bridge will come when the ladies post the pictures and I can steal them. I know, my pictures are lame, but I do what I can.

At the end of the booze cruise, Kate went so hard she was passed out on the ship. Carly was extremely worried, holding her and petting her, and couldn't find her pulse and started weeping. Being a lifeguard for 4 or 5 odd years...who counts anymore...I found her pulse in a second and tried to calm Carly down a bit. Kate was fine, just very very drunk. I've been drinking with Kate since early college, the first week or so literally, and I know that she's a champion. Still, we had to carry her home and Kate got extremely surly, in a very funny cute way, which just made me laugh. We made our way back and I carried Kate up the steps to our hostel, with her mumbling, "I can do it myself!" I love Kate McCallum.


Sunday we checked out of our hostel and went to the opera house, the bridge, and caught a ferry to Manly Beach. I'll fill in more details but right now it is 1:30 AM on Monday and I'm extremely tired. Tomorrow I start my Art/Pornography/Blasphemy/Propaganda final paper and I'm going to need eight solid to make it happen.


Again, the love life remains a silent issue for the sake of saving face and avoiding the fall from grace, but I'll remind you that November never stays this warm to me.

Peace and much love from a very happy Daniel.