Week 5 & Week 4

Week 4 flew by!! This semester is going by so quickly! I wish it would just slow down! This week was again full of Bond-sponsored social activities and drinking shenanigans. I hung around with the same people and went to the same bars around the area. >>>This is a pic from Palava.. Keep reading>>

Tuesday was Rosh Hashana and 5 of us (2 girls and 2 guys + me) went to the Reform synagogue in Surfer's Paradise. It was very small, but had a very long service. It was the first time the synagogue has ever had a full time rabbi, EVER. We then ate lunch at Pancakes in Paradise, which was cool.

I did a presentation on the beach culture in Australia with two chicks from NEU. I think we did a good job. It was worth 20% of our grade.

The weather here switches up daily. One day sunny and hott, the next windy with partly clouds.

Thursday was alot of fun. It was an event called "Palaver" pronounced palava, which I looked up and it means to flirt or whatever. It was held in the school's bar, Don's Tavern, and was all you can drink. EVERYONE dressed up and looked so sexy and good. It was fun. Afterwards I went into Surfer's Paradise with Ben and Jen to a place called Ruby Tramp. It was fun and I'll add some of the cool pics I took from it. Good times.

>>>>This is a pic of us out for Jen's 21st bday>>
Friday Kayte and I got a ride from Will (our lovely Aussie neighbor) to the train station. We hopped on (for free hehe) and went into Brisbane. Some boys asked us if we were going to a hostel on the train so they followed us to the hostel. They ended up being fellow students at Bond, but rivals at home as they play hockey for Merrimac in the greater Boston area. It ends up both of them were drafted by professional NHL teams! One in Miami, one in LA. Pretty cool stuff. So we stayed at this hostel called "Bunk" which was connected to this bar called Birdie Num Num's. lol We went out to dinner and then chillhed at Birdie's for the night. The next day Kayte and I went to Chinatown and got nasty Chinese food. Ick nothing beats home for China food honestly.

PARKLIFE!!!! Kayte and I walked along the river to the Brisbane Botanical Gardens for ParkLife 2008!! Parklife is a house/trance/electronica/r&b/rap show that had four different stages and had over 100,000 attendees. It made me think of like Woodstock or something. It was pretty crazy and we met some cool people. Everyone was pissed (pissed in Aussie slang actually means drunk) but we definitely weren't (that's a first I know..) It was alittle overpriced and we were alittle disappointed in some of the artists, but the venue was real cool and it was overall a great experience. In any event, it was great to get out of Gold Coast if only for two days. We checked out by 11AM and were on our way back to Bond on Sunday morning. >>>This is a pic of the view of the sunset from my room.







Week 4

The first part of the week I felt as if I was going through the "study abroad cycle syndrome" which states first you feel strange, then euphoric, then sad, then u balance out. I was on the sad stage. I just felt kind of lonely and wanted people to leave me alone for awhile. I freaked my mom out too because I was crying to her on the phone. By the end of the week though I was totally fine and I am happy as a bird again. Speaking of, when I sleep at a friends crib in A Block, there are these ANNOYING crazy birds that squak and make crazy noises. They do not even sound like birds.

So the rainforest was Sunday and I didn't really go anywhere the rest of the week. I started working on my Tamil Tiger project for terrorism. They are really a fascinating group. It was my Dad's b-day on Wednesday so I surprise called him at work. I think he appreciated that. Thursday was my friend Samarth's 21st bday so we went to dinner in Broad Beach. We went to a tempanyki place (known to us Americans as Japanese Hibachi grillin). I got the terriyaki steak medium. It came with rice and miso soup and salad and what not. It was good times. Then we went to Hotel CBD and he got very wasted. I suppose that is the way you SHOULD be on your 21st birthday, no? I had to leave him there before I smacked him upside the head though. Then I was actually really worried and walked over to his place to make sure he was okay. He was fine just real blasted. So I came back home after watching some of Crash with him and his buddies. It was nice.

Friday I don't remember what I did so it must not have been that great.

Saturday was cool though. I didn't plan on going, but I went to the BASIC Burleigh Heads (its a small suburb) Brewery tour. It was cool. The owner is from California but decided to move here and open a brewery. The beers were alright, but the best part was my buddie Will got me in free :) Then the bus dropped Jen and me off at the ACES U-Brew-It brewery tour. They were watching some footie (Rugby to you Americans) championship game. I drank here for free too. It was good times! Good people. I came back and went straight to this apartment complex area called The Reserve. People were grilling up burgers and chicken because it was graduation day. Ate some food had a few more and talked to some cool people. Everyone was going out into Surfer's but I didn't really want to waste money so I came back here and went to sleep. It was fine.