Homecoming

I am officially done with exams, and I went out on a stellar performance. It's been a long two weeks, but I came out on top. I am already packed, and all I have to do is go to the beach tomorrow, and stay up all night until my bus leaves for Brisbane at 7am on Sunday. Check out this for an itinerary:

Dec. 20th
-Depart Bond Uni at 7am
- Depart Brisbane a 1205 pm (13hr. flying time)
Dec. 20th- Arrive at Lax at 7am
-Arrive at Santa Ana Airport via shuttle around 11am
-Depart Santa Ana at 120pm
-Arrive Dallas, Texas 615pm
-Depart Dallas, Texas 735 pm
-Arrive Charlotte, NC 1055pm (Still Dec. 20th)
-Arrive Home around 1145pm

*Dec. 20th will be for 40hrs Long
**Phileas Fogg had a better travel itinerary

It's going to be tough to leave Australia. I really enjoy everything here from the people to the beaches, you couldn't ask for much more. I'm looking forward to the day when I can come back, and go to Cairns, the Outback, and New Zealand. Before I left for this trip, my mindset was really focused on challenging myself with a new situation. Clemson was becoming too familiar, and I wasn't taking the next step with my life. As my time in Australia went on, I realized that the situation wasn't really serving as the challenge I thought it would be, but it showed me that I have my life on a good track. So I leave Australia with great memories, optimism about my direction, and in search of my next challenge. Thanks for reading everyone. I hope you've enjoyed reading all this stuff as much as I've enjoyed living it. Later.

Birthday Exam

A year older, and somehow I don't feel that much wiser than yesterday. The exam went pretty well, but now I'm just exhausted and tired, Not too mention hungry. The real grind begins tomorrow. I'm definitely ready to be done with exams, and come Sunday I think I will be ready to come home. Maybe.

Two Down, Two to Play

Two exams down, and I have been absolutely going off so far. Good stuff. Now I have my two hardest exams tomorrow and Friday. Friday is going to be epic. Maybe the toughest exam I've ever had. For everyone looking into buying me a 21st birthday gift the bar has been set high. Evan and Ashley got me a dozen krispy kremes as an early present. Good luck trying to top it....Anway I haven't been doing anything except hitting the books hard. I guess I will leave you with my 2009 exam music playlist. Enlighten yourselves:

1. Bullet and a Target by Citizen Cope
2. Street Lights by Kanye West
3. Breakdown by Jack Johnson
4. Remember the Name by Fort Minor
5. Allot by Young Jeezy
6. Bad News by Kanye West
7. Crazy Game of Poker by oar
8. I got It by Gorilla Zoe
9. Why Can't You Be by third eye blind
10. No Matter What by T.I.
11. Welcome to Hearbreak by Kanye West

Update, as of Late

Study, Study, Study. My first exam is tomorrow followed by monday and tuesday (birthday). With the festivities concluding on friday. I just shaved my head, and I am in total warrior mode. I live at the crossroads of hard work, confidence, and natural ability.

Nothing really to say, except there is a really cool website everyone should check out. www.LetsSayThanks.com I don't know how much hype its getting back home, but pretty much it's a way to send a thank you message to a US soldier which is really cool. I hate talking about politics, but through all the bailouts and stimulus packages I feel like people forget that kids just like me are on the other side of the world in a War. I don't really talk about this much, but I really admire every single US troop, and I have thought countless times that I too should be overseas protecting my country. The least we can do is take 5 minutes out of our day to say thanks.

Aight Everyone stay strong, LATer!

Byron the Third

The Campsite around 8am Saturday Morning, Check out the wind blowing on the tent and your boy's bronze

There's a crab in the foreground of the pic but its tough to spot-- just in front of the light from the flash

From Left to Right: Jenna, Sarah, Me

Night Time View from the tent

Toilet Seat Shopping, all I'm saying is there was a remote control and an electronic, extendable ______ that _____ _____up your ______. GROSS!!!!

East Coast Remix

Man Points +10

View from the hang gliding launch pad back towards the beach

Looking down from the lighthouse towards the most eastern point in OZ, see bottom pic

In the town of Byron, Note the Surf Boards on the van in the foreground

Down the cliff leading to the lighthouse, It doesn't get much better

As far east as you can go in Oz without your eyes getting wet, technically illegal to jump off the path and go to this point, but c'mon I couldn't pass this up.

East Coast

Lighthouse at Byron Bay

This was a hang gliding take-off ramp, the view off it was awesome, to the east was the lighthouse, and west was the coast line.

Byron Bay, Bay

Here's the gameplan: Four Bondies (Joe, Lauren, Sarah, Jenna) and Myself get two tents and take a bus to Byron Bay. This is how it played out... Friday Morning started with econ class at 8am, and following that I had breakfast and packed up the trusty North Face for our pending adventure. Side Note: I also pounded down a record six peanut butter sandwiches in one sitting-yikes A little after noon, the crew took the bus to robina to buy a 30 dollar tent from a store called crazy clarks. Foreshadowing....not so much. Anyway Joe and I got into a chat with a salesman in the mall who tried to sell us a 1200 dollar toilet seat cover. All I'm gonna say is that it was disgusting, in a bad way. I'll leave the rest up to your imagination. Next, we caught the bus from Robina to the Beach at Burleigh Heads where our charter bus to Byron took off from. I've done some dumb stuff in my day, but my decision to get in a spinning teacup at a kids playground ranks pretty high. I didn't throw up, however, I felt pretty freaking miserable the entire bus ride to Byron which took almost an hour and a half. Blame it on the pea pea pea pea nut butter (must be under 25 to get that joke sorry moms). We arrived in Byron, and it is absolutely awesome. It's a surf town that somehow is exclusively run by people under the age of thirty. We made a trek to the beach to scout out our campsite, and ended up walking around for a while trying to find lockers for our stuff. At about 7ish we indulged in a 5 dollar dinner from a bar that runs deals for backpackers, which given my current life stage was pretty solid. I feel pretty far a way from my Hotel del Coranado and Beef Carpachio lifestyle. Everyone was pretty tired so we didn't stay out too late, and we had to work our way back to the beach to set up our tents. Camping on the beach is pretty awesome, windy, but awesome. If you've ever seen what the wind does to tents on everest it was pretty similar. My general trend of camping trips continued as I got about an hour of sleep, and was well awake at 530am. The girls were still asleep so Joe and I bear grylls'd our way to this look out point about 5 clicks north of base camp. We watched some surfers and then headed back. When we got back to the tent, I just curled up in the fetal position, outside the tent, and slept for a few hours. I was awaken buy some aussie who said to me, "you do know this is a walking entrance to the beach" as he points to our tents blocking the path. Half asleep still, I told him that I didn't know that and thanks for the heads up. Then I layed back down in the sand. When you camp out under the stars on one of the coolest beaches in the world you can't bother to investigate whether or not your tent is blocking some stupid foot path. I think everyone will agree with me on that last one. I woke up from the coma I was in, and we took down the tents and headed back to the locker. Brekky was the next mission, and guys and girls ended up splitting over differences in tastes. When traveling with women its good to take little breaks so you don't end up gouging your eyes out with a tent stake, ya digg? We ended up finding an unbelievable breakfast spot. Byron Bay Organic Doughnuts. They were unreal. I had a chocolate covered doughnut the size of a frisbee, and a chocolate filled one as well. Both dedicated Chappelle fans, Joe and I immediately recognized we had the itis and just sat at our table on the street corner fo about an hour people watching and enjoying the state of utter fullness. The girls informed us that they were taking a cab to the lighthouse, and we decided to walk and meet them there. We hiked about 5 or 6 miles I would say, but we finally made it. Along the way we saw some awesome views of the coast. The lighthouse was very cool. It is actually the most eastern point in all of OZ. We took some pics then headed back into town to get our stuff. Joe, Lauren, and I decided to hit the beach while Sarah and Jenna did some shopping. It was so windy that the waves were really choppy so we wound up sitting in a tidal pool of sorts because it felt like a hot tub...everyone was doing it, not just us. Then I fell asleep, when I woke up lauren was gone, and Joe and I packed up. We stopped for another doughnut on the way back to meet the girls. So good! You don't even realize. We hit up some dinner with the girls, and walked around Byron for a little while. We ended up at a cafe to kill some time, and stay dry from a quick burst of rain. We killed some time, went back to the bus stop and headed home. The bus ride back was much better, I slept and didn't feel like I was going to die. Pretty much the whole trip was perfect. Byron Bay is definitely one of my favorite places on this planet. Aight folks time to watch Clemson, GT. GO TIGERS!!! Later.

December?

Hard to believe its already December, the time is absolutely cruising by down under. I'm pretty much done with class Friday, then they give us a whole week to study before exams. Right now I'm just trying to make sure that I prepare 100% for my exams, and that I get the most out of the time I have left. This weekend I'm most likely going to Byron Bay which will be awesome. I'm really excited to have some time away from Bond and take in some new scenery. I haven't been doing too much of anything except working out and studying. They had crocodile tonight at the cafeteria which was unreal again. Its challenging Beef Tartare for my favorite food-yup its that good people. I've also been trying to shoot some hoops everyday to get ready for my return to the states. Anyway, I hope everyone likes the new layout, and don't forget to vote on the poll on the bottom left collumn. Be Easy. LAterr!

Catch Up

So I was sick, and I almost died....not really but I'm sure I had you going right therr. I started to feel better by wednesday which was way too long of a recovery. I thought I would be fine by Sunday, but such is life when you battle the bird flu/SARS without seeing a doctor. I played indoor soccer wednesday to see how much better I was, and I would say about 75%. Thursday was thanksgiving, and I got up early and worked out. By this time I was back to my old self. I went to the beach for a few hours later in the day because my sickness had me looking pasty as all get out. No worries folks I look like obama now. Thursday Night, there was a cookout for the bondies, and I celebrated thanksgiving in a whole new way. So long turkey, sweet potatoes, and all that; hello Crocodile and Kangaroo. Kangaroo isn't bad, but I don't think I would buy it on my own. It's one of those meats that is virtually fat free, and thus has no taste. Croc, on the other hand, is unreal. For some reason after the weekly thursday night out I could not fall asleep. I sat in my bed until it was time to go to my freaking 8 o'clock class. I was hurting so bad so I dug into my bag of desperation and purchased a Mother Energy (Slogan proclaims it has heaps of energy) and an orange juice and mixed them together before class. Problem Solved, I was awake the rest of the day including the 7 hours I spent at Burleigh Heads aka the beach. Definitely the best day I've had at the beach in a while. Bodysurfing Giants, Throwing the pigskin, and tossing the baseball-just a great day. Plus, I snagged a Big Chief Burger on the way to the bus stop. Welcome to the Goodlife. Yesterday I went to the pool for a few hours, and then went to dinner with Evan because I hadn't seen her much over the past week or so. Today, class + studying + workout + class = uneventful. Stay Tuned. LatER

Sick Day

I'm a little under down under. I think I have bronchitis or something, but no swine its all good I'm feeling better today so I should be fully functional by tomorrow, and I should be resuming full physical activity by monday. My diet of powerade and oranges has been greatly beneficial to my quickly declining meal plan balance so thats good. Other than that, I've just been laying in bed watching band of brothers and checking espn.com every three seconds. Hopefully next week will be a good one...I know it will be. LateR

Gunning For the Top

I've been loaded down with work this past week folks, but it looks like the worst is behind me. I'm probably going to get a pulitzer or something for my psych paper it was just absolutely moving. Anyway, not much to report on down under except for this epic piece of news. Andrew Abbott has officially eaten vegemite. Boom!!! Vegemite had been hyped as one of the worst creations in the existence of this earth, but I gotta say I thought it belonged more in the average classification. Not bad, but If I ever find myself holding up a 7-11, I don't think I'm cleaning the place out of vegemite. It kind of tastes like salty dirt or something, but not so horrible as that sounds. You'll have to experience it for yourself and let me know what you think. Its been good catching up with the clemson people as of late, hopefully we will be celebrating an ACC championship very soon. MSU hoops still looks sick...Lucas, Summers, The Dancing Bear, Oh Baby. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to put up, but stay patient and I will deliver. Also Big ups to Kara and her NHS spot. What a champion that little kid is. Alright everyone, I hope all is well and I will see you in a month. Assuming I don't stay extra until I get deported. LATEr.

The Good Life

Surfing is far and away the coolest sport I have ever tried; I think I like the fact that it is such a battle between you and the ocean. So far the ocean is getting the best of me. I really expected it to be easier, but the truth is, it's really difficult. Especially when you have absolutely no clue what the heck your doing out there. On this particular outing I caught a few nice waves, however, I was unable to make it to my feet. Apparently, this is the worst season to surf the gold coast because the arctic swell doesn't come in until the winter which powers the waves. So pretty much I was tossed around like a rag doll for two hours, I still enjoyed every second of being in the water-gotta love it. Saturday was pretty quiet, all things considered, and today was a huge soccer match. We lost 3-1, and eliminated ourselves from playoff contention while I picked up a nice yellow card in the process. I have a fair bit of school work this week to keep me busy, and I plan on getting out in the water a few more times because I'm not leaving this continent until I legitimately surf a big wave. I will miss my flight if I have to...Just kidding. Go Tigers and Spartans!!! Later

You Play to Win the Charity Events

An epic battle of biblical proportions occurred Tuesday night as Cody and I teamed up for a charity 2-man best ball golf tourny. We had some connections with the event planners, and arranged to square off head to head with Soren and Mikael aka the Danes. The tournement was held at a pretty nice course, and it was at night which was awesome. Needless to say Cody and I were in it to win it. The night played out perfectly, the Danes were scrubs so we cleaned them up all night, and checked into the clubhouse with a legitimate +3 with out handicaps. Cody kept us going off the tee with some bomb drives, and some how I had the flatstick working. I didn't play much at all this summer due to the "Recession" so I wasn't sure how I would do, but I made some great shots. Anyway we thought we had the event in the bag because with our handicaps (Cody-22, Me-25) we carded a minus 3. Well the course lost our card in the process of tallying the results so some gay boy frenchies in boardshorts, and some old guys who claimed they fired a 12 under for nine holes with their handicaps got the hardware. Yea we were pretty pissed, but it was a really fun night. Wednesday night was another charity event on campus, and this time it was dodgeball. Cody, Eric aka Easy E, Pat, and I took to the court and carved up the double elimination tourney reaching the final four with an impressive 6 and 1 record. Unfortunately, we flamed out and took forth. Again we were pretty pissed, but it was another fun night. Thursday was soccer practice, working out, and a pretty enjoyable night even though I ended up sleeping in the common room, and nearly missing my 8am class friday. Viernes, fui a la clase y jugue futsol en el gimansio con mis amigos. Jugue Bonita y tienes que encantar la bonita partida. Espero que su espanol es bueno gente....y no uso la red escribir esto. Mira a mi ahora Calvar!!!! Adios muchachos! LAter.

Sydney Aftermath

This week was really slow, and honestly that was alright with me. I needed a week to get back into the flow of classes, and to get my routine back. There were also a couple of rainy days that got in the way of surfing, and definitely prompted napping and laziness. I worked out everyday, and got some good studying in though. I also played futsol a few times. Futsol is 4 a side indoor soccer, and is played with a smaller ball. It's fun and a crazy workout. I honestly can't remember back to when Australia didn't feel like home which is kinda wierd, but definitely makes sense. Saturday I had an awesome soccer game where we beat one of the best teams in the Uni tournament. Cody and I also stayed up to watch the Australia v. England Rugby match at 1am. Rugby is pretty interesting, I wouldn't say I'm a die hard fan...it's alright. The highlight of the week was this morning. I reserved a conference room in the MLC with a projection screen, and watched the Clemson FSU game. I really had a great week of just living in Australia despite the absence of any major news. Its a good feeling, but doesn't make for great writing material. I did some random stuff this week like job hunting, class registration, and of course eating, however, nothing there that makes headlines. This coming week should be a good one, Tuesday Night I'm playing in a golf tourney and hopefully the weather will allow for some surfing to take place. From here to for, Keep your Ears to the grindstone...LAter

1000 words x 4

More Abseiling, this was a 30 ft Face near the 3 sisters Mountain Formation

The second hostel, not too bad but the bed was a little small

Another shot of me and the bridge

My Favorite Pic of All-time

Canyoning Photos

Empress Falls, Katoomba New South Wales...Site of 115 ft. Abseil

Me in Action on the lower section, About to jump

Me leading the pack on our Bear Grylls Canyon Expedition

Me on the far left, Enjoying the freezing waters of a bottomless pool after jumping off a cliff

Photos101, Pre-requisite: read the entry below

Katoomba

The Crew

Corky Aka Paul..Note the View

The "Three Sisters", Blue Mountains

The harbor bridge-looking towards luna park

Manly Beach

Andrew, Opera House, Ferry, Nemo

Darling Harbor At Nightfall

The Rocks

Me-Under the Harbor Bridge looking out across the harbor to the Opera House

Aboriginal Dude doin' Work

Sydney Harbor, View from Circular Quay looking at the ferry and the Harbor Bridge

George St. Downtown Sydney

More Historic Sydney

Check that off the List

Thursday 9am

My journey starts with an early morning bus to the robina rail station. It continues with an over priced train ride to the brisbane airport, and by over priced I mean 22 dollars each way. I'm not going to negative town I swear, but that was pretty frustrating. The train to the airport went smoothly, and Evan, Jaime, and myself skipped right through security. Security is pretty lax for domestic travel in Oz because no one wants to blow up any of their stuff. People just like it here so you don't have to take off your shoes, and thing of cologne doesn't warrant a call to the pentagon. Kinda like the old days...Next we jumped on our Virgin Airlines 737-800 for Sydney. I'm pretty sure the flight set the record for infants on a flight. One in front of my cried the whole way, and one behind me laughed the duration. I thought I was losing my mind a few times. The flight was pretty quick, an hour give or take a few minutes, and we arrived in Sydney without much drama. Queensland doesn't believe in day light savings time which means you are in Sydney (New South Wales) at the same local time as you took off. Sydney Airport was another breeze, and we were off the tarmac and into our shuttle within 10 minutes. The shuttle to the mighty hostel. Our fellow backpackers in the shuttle including some haggard kiwis and unamused Frenchies. Anyway, we arrive at our hostel to find that the place smells like a refugee camp, and is completely decked out in halloween decorations. Oh, did I mention that it was in Chinatown. The place reminded me of an orphanage except instead of kids looking for homes it was europeans looking for meaning and narcotics. The smallest room they had was for four people; Adam the Pole enter from stage left. Yes we had to share a small room with two bunks and nothing else with a Polish kid. Thankfully he didn't want to cut us up into little pieces and eat us. Question time, you are in a hostel on vacation-whats the first thing you do? Answer-You get the heck out of there! We walked from our hotel through some sections of historic Sydney to Circular Quay and Sydney Harbor. Sydney is an awesome city with a great blend of modern and historic architecture. I really enjoyed hiking it to the harbor where we caught a glimpse of the famous harbor bridge and opera house. Both are pretty sweet, and I was happy to cross them off my life to-do list. After taking a butt load of photos; we visited the Rocks which is the first area of Sydney that was built for the KonVicts back in the day. Then we kept going around the perimeter of the city to Darling Harbor. Darling is full of restaurants, clubs, tourist crap, boats, crazy fountains, Olympic tributes, and other junk. It was really cool because the sun had just gone down, and we got a great view of Sydney at night. The end of the day signaled a return to the hostel and checking out some street musicians. Once back at the Hostel we decided to hit the TV room to mingle with our fellow people. I just wanted to befriend people so just in case they decided to go on a spree they would spare me. One girl from Northern Ireland had us cracking up because she was obsessed with America. After a few minutes I discovered that she based everything she knew about America from CSI, Cold Case, and Law and Order. Thats like me saying I love mexico because I watch Sabado Gigante on Univision. Bedtime followed. Ashley arrived in Sydney the next morning; we met up with her at the hostel and headed back to Circular Quay to catch a ferry to manly beach. I would like to say I'd never been so happy to be alive after a nights sleep in my life. The ferry to Manly was about 30 minutes, but we worth it. I got all kinds of great pictures, and the town of Manly was really cool. The was awesome as well, we pretty much spent the day hanging out on the beach and relaxing. We headed back into town around 5pm to meet Cody at Sydney Central Station so we could catch our 7pm train to the mountain town of Katoomba. Traveling with 3 women is absolutely horrendous, yea I said it, half kidding, but I said it nonetheless. Needless to say I was pretty excited to see Cody at the station, and discuss man stuff on the two hour ride through the darkness. We arrived in Katoomba around 9ish, then we checked into our second hostel. This place was way better-we had our own room with a TV and it wasn't in Chi-Town. We decided to pack it in early because we had to get up early for our day of canyoning and abseiling. Saturday morning comes and we are off to the River Deep Mountain High tour office which is a short walk from our Hostel. We arrive to find that our guide is a crazy ginger named corky who could have possibly been the weirdest person in all of OZ. We packed up our bags with rope, helmets, harnesses, and other crap and head into the Blue Mountains. Are morning session was an intro to abseiling where we repelled down 5, 10, and 30 meter cliffs. The cliffs looked out over the famed three sisters rock formation which was awesome. Definitely one of the most picturesque places I've ever been, and the abseiling was awesome. A few hours of abseiling was followed by lunch...the only complete meal I ate the whole trip. Yea I made it through the whole trip on a food budget of less than 3 dollars a day. No lie...I still have no clue how I made it. After lunch we hopped in our suspect van, and drove to another section of the Blue Mountains. We also picked up mountain woman extraordinaire Roberta to assist with our afternoon activities. Saying she was a burly mountain woman would be an understatement. Yea...moving on. We descended into the canyon after about a 30 minute hike. Canyoning is by far the coolest thing I've ever done in my entire life. It is absolutely awesome. Pretty much you slap on a wet suit and helmet; put all your other gear in a dry bag and go through a ridiculous canyon filled with rock jumps, huge boulders, and the most freezing/refreshing water I've ever touched. The trek through the canyon lasts about an hour and concludes with a 115 foot abseil down a waterfall. This waterfall wasn't a joke either-water absolutely pours down the face of it, and you have to repel down it. It was crazy to say the least. Getting down was a bit of a challenge especially when your crack head leprechaun guide gives you zero instructions. Pretty awesome. If you have some time youtube- empress falls blue mountain abseil. You can see videos of professionals going down. They make it look pretty easy, but I can tell you from experience that making it down alive is a victory. We then trekked up the mountain to the van, and headed back to the hostel where we just hung out the rest of night because we were all exhausted from our day. In the morning we took the train back to Sydney central around 10ish. We trolled around Sydney for a while, and ended up in a park playing cards. Subsequently, there was a vegan festival in the park so naturally I started craving steak. Vegans are strange bunch people...Time crawled by, but finally it was time to head back to the airport. A flight, another expensive train ride, and bus got us back to bond. Whoa what a weekend. Night. Later

Going Back To Sydney

Tomorrow, I leave the gold coast for the first time to venture into the land of cathy freeman and of course nemo. Yes, I am going to Sydney and the blue mountains for the long weekend. I'm pretty excited because as of now the itinerary holds activities such as going to the harbor bridge, bondie beach, and canyoning in the blue mountains. I will also be staying in my first hostel...man things have fallen a long way from my days of living large at the del coronado and chateau whistler- such is life I suppose. Right now I'm so hungry I would probably punch out a little kid for a happy meal or something. I think I'm going to start packing to take my mind of it, but stay tuned because some grade A blogging should follow my trip. It's going to be my Queens Blvd. of blog entries so be ready. LaTER.

Top Gun

F111 Jet-Beach flyover

A game that can't be won only played

Life Recap:

Tuesday:

I went to class, and I talked to people from Clemson pretty much the whole day on the computer which was good. I also worked out and ate a few meals. Tuesday night is normally a big social night in OZ for some reason; so I went out with some people to market square for a while. It was some girls 21st Birthday, but I didn't no her so I was that guy. Sometimes you have to be that guy. As you can tell, Tuesday lived up to the hype of being a day that nothing good happens on until college basketball starts.

Wednesday:

I had 5 hours of class on Wednesday, and I also cranked out 3 hours of Econ work which definitely got the best of me. It also marked the second installment of Res Wars-free pizza and indoor soccer. Unfortunately our team is just ultra suspect, and I got red carded in the second game. It was unjustified, I swear, I mean the kid had it coming.

Thursday:

NO CLASS!!! I started studying for my psychology exam that was looming on Saturday...yea school on Saturday. A concept usually reserved for middle school misfits and Asians. I pretty much just bunkered down in the library like Captain Winters and Co. in Bastogne. Yes, I know that less than 7 people will get that joke. Ron Livingston makes the top ten all-time under rated actors list in my book along with Barry Pepper and Bill Crudup. Just in case you were wondering who three of my top ten, favorite under rated actors were. Moving on, I also had soccer practice on Thursday, it was kinda sloppy but fun as usual. Also the weekly party on campus a go. Imagine if Uni's back home had school owned bars which threw parties once a week where the whole school turned up. It would out gross sham-wow in about 8 and a half minutes. It was a fun night though, Bond is pretty small so no matter where you go you always know tons of people. I called it a night pretty early because......

Friday:

8 o'clock Econ class! How great was that transition by the way. I can only imagine the letdown you suffered after seeing the elipsis, and thought that I was getting up early to accept my unearned Nobel Prize, or how I base jumped off the Q1 tower. Just Class. Class was brutal. 2 Hours of Modeling, Equations, Calculus, and thinking about going to the beach. After class, I snagged some Breaky and hit the beach with 6 or 7 kids from the MD and Jersey. I studied for my Psych exam in between swims. The coolest part of the trip was definitely this fighter jet that kept cruising along the beach at super low altitudes. Maybe 3oo feet above us at the most-it was like an air show. It was actually there for a flyover for the auto race, and it was biding its time by doing maneuvers over the ocean. I got my google on to figure out that the plane was an F111 which is only still flown by the Aussie Airforce. I will try and snag some pictures from someone who had camera that day. Later that night I studied for my psych exam some more with these two girls on my hall from Northeastern. We all just hated on the fact that we had to turn up to school on a saturday.

Saturday:

Exam...I ran that thing like Steve Prefontaine ran the 3-Mile in the day, or better yet like CJ Spiller ran the Canes "D". Message to America: The U is not back, They suck, Stop saying the U is back it's annoying. Maybe you can say that guy from the U is back in prison but thats it. Sorry, its late and when it gets late the tangents become much more frequent. It's referred to in Lightsy as a Wild' Out. After I dominated my exam, I went to the beach again with my fellow saturday schoolers. Unfortunately, it was so windy that just sitting on the beach was pretty miserable. We got back around 2ish, and I had a soccer game at 3. We beat Australia 3-2. A kid score from midfield during the game. It was absolutely insane. I didn't play well at all in the first half, but for some reason I get way too much PT so I played pretty much the whole game and had time to get my game back on track. I pretty much laid low the rest of the night, did some laundry and what not. I was pretty exhausted and in need of some peace and quiet.

Sunday:

Im wrapping this up because I'm about to fall asleep. I watched the Clemson game on ESPN 360 which was awesome...DABO is the man. My boy Kyle Parker is the man. We go way back to Music 210. I also watched the MSU game on freaking gamecast. Why am I a fan of the two most disappointment and heartbreaking prone teams in the History of sports. Someone tell me. I'm sending my kid to So Cal or Texas so he doesn't have feel this sort of heart wrenching. soul bending agony every fall. I'm not even in America, and I still just want to go hide after a brutal spartan loss. Will it ever Stop....Find Out next week on TheDownUndaThunda. Aight I'm out like OJ. LateR.

4 Days of Life...On Tivo

I left you saturday with me playing a soccer game, and it was one for the ages. 6 weeks of being the happiest person on the planet can leave your emotions a little unbalanced. Life is not void of stress, and no matter how hard you try the stress will manifest itself, even if you are in paradise. So pretty much I unloaded all of it on the German team in the game on saturday, I probably should have been thrown out of the game, but hey what are you going to do. I really haven't had any problems with any groups of people here, but the Germans are just idiots on the soccer field. I haven't seen a bigger group of pansies since, well, ever. Although, at the end of the day I just chalk it up as culture sharing. They showed me that they like to complain, yell at the top of their lungs, and be as soft as possible. I showed them why America won WWII, and of course how to trash talk. I hate to hype my own skills, but here were some of my favorite lines: "Hey how do you say your a p*#sy in german?", "Baldy, I'm not your mother, I'm going to be hitting you all day", "Nice Touch, Girly Man", "I'd give that dive a perfect 10." So naturally, I had a blast! We ended up tying which sucked-Moving on. So the rest of saturday and sunday I spent studying for my first econ exam on monday morning. I even got up at 8 before class to study some more. I walk into the class sit down, pull out my pens and calculator only to find the teacher beginning a lecture. After consulting the girl next to me, I discovered that my exam was next Monday. B- E- A-utiful. I wasted 2 days studying for an exam I didn't have while completely ignoring the exam I had at six because it wasn't going to be anything near my Econ exam. My six o'clock exam was for my Australian geology class, and it was really hard. Every question had to do with some obscure fossil date. I ended up getting a low "B" which is called a "credit" It also means I only have to get a 30 on the final to pass the course. (FYI the grading system is as follows: A "C" is called a Pass, a "B+/A-" is a distinction, and an "A+" is a high distinction.) Most people just got a pass, while a few people picked up credits and distinctions. The grading here is pretty brutal, one kid was excited that he got a 70 on something, and apparently if you get anything around an 85 thats like a perfect score. Monday night, I worked out and recovered from my exam with some online streaming sports center. A man with out sports center is like a man with out lungs. I found a way to get ESPN 360 as well so I should be able to start catching some of the Clemson games. I want to experience as much as the Australian culture as possible, but I'm not giving up on everything back home. It's definitely important to find a middle ground where you can be open to new things while keeping your eye on what is important to you on the home front. I also discovered a pretty sweet place on campus while I was studying. The MLC or Multimedia Learning Center is across from the library, and is kind of an innovative idea. It has a bunch of relaxed, comfortable seating, plasma TV's with PS3s built into them, a laptop bar-no alcohol is served there which is probably against the australian constitution, and state of the art meeting rooms that you can reserve for group work. It's a really cool place to go for group work, or if you want to get out of your room and are not keen on being productive. This weekend is a big race in surfers. I'm not sure if its formula 1 or something like it, but hopefully I will be able to go because I've never been to a road course race, and it looks awesome. Anyway I hope everyone is doing well back stateside..LATER

Aussie Lingo:

Pissed-Drunk

Magget-Super Drunk

Arvo-Afternoon

Windscreen-Windshield

Boots-Cleats

Bringing Your "A" Game, Everyday

Midterms are on the horizon, and I have been doing school work solid all week. It feels really good to have some tangible work to do. Tuesday Night I participated in Res Wars which is an athletic competition where each dorm faces one another in a series of events over the semester. Wednesday was dodgeball, and more importantly, free pizza. That was pretty enjoyable I must say. 3 Pizzas and free T-shirt can never be a part of a bad night. I played a little bit of soccer on thursday, but that was uneventful. Friday was a great day; I went to my class at 8, and then went to the beach with about 10 new people. It's fun to mix it up, and hang out with new people-plus you can never go wrong with a day at the beach after a tough school week. The waves were smaller than usual, however, they were perfect for body surfing. Normally if you catch a wave body surfing you are pretty thrilled, but yesterday we were cruising almost 50 feet. After the beach, I took a sunburn induced nap. The rest of the night consisted of dinner and watching bad boys II. I have a soccer game and plenty of studying to keep me occupied so be easy everyone.

Andrew Doin' Work: A Spike Lee Joint

Midterm week is looming which means I'm studying like a mad man. Yesterday, I spent the day going to class and working on an econ problem set, and today will be the same except I got up early to workout. The last couple of days have been rainy for the first time since I arrived on this continent which is nice because you don't feel as guilty not doing something fun in favor of school work when the weather sucks. I am definitely in school lockdown mode which feels good. Although I know I will be excited to go to Sydney at the conclusion of the chaos. Pretty much my life is in a temporary state of normality. Hopefully this weekend I will be able to go surfing or do something fun in between the studying.

Did you know?

• Aboriginal People believe they came from rocks...
• I am the king of the Solow Model
• My eating skills are legendary in 2 continents now, You give me a cafeteria, and I will out eat all the fattys
• I officially have nothing else to write about...LATeR!

Down the Stretch They Come

I realize that I use to post stuff everyday, but I'm not CNN. I can't run the same story for a month and get away with it. So just be patient and wait for the updates; hopefully bi-weekly at the worst. This week was kinda slow because I had a ton of work to do, but I did book my trip to Sydney which will be at the end of this month. I played soccer a few times, and had the best meal I've had in a while. It was an Indian Feast in market square. By far the best Indian food I've ever had- hands down. Thursday Night, there was the weekly big on-campus party. I went for a little bit-8am Class on Friday keeps me in early most thursdays though. Friday night, Ashley, Evan, Jaime, Cody, and myself went to play mini golf in mermaid beach. Afterwards we met the Danes in surfer's for a little while before heading back. Today was a great day. I woke up at 11 to play soccer which was fun. Always good to start a day with some exercise. I was suppossed to play another game at 1. Thankfully it was cancelled because Cody and I had some big plans. We planned to go to the Gold Coast Turf Club to catch some horse racing. We got there around 2pm which was just after the end of the second race. The race track is pretty cool. The facilities aren't nice like Keeneland, but the view is second to none. The track looks out over all of Surfer's Paradise and Broadbeach. Cody rode his beginner's luck to an 80 dollar day at the track. I, on the other hand, picked up a cool 12 bucks over the course of the six races, with more ups and downs than an episode of House. No worries though, the 12 bucks covered my 10 dollar entry ticket so I had a free day of fun. I was actually in the red until the last race where Cody and I both bet on Red Amigo at 7:1 to win. A hair-raising finish had us going crazy amongst the Bogans and Affluent alike. No I don't feel bad celebrating a 14 dollar victory next to some degenerate that just lost his retirement fund....I really love horse racing so it was a blast. We have plans to return in a few weeks with a big group of people as well which will be fun. Now I'm about to go to bed so that I can get up at 4 am to watch the Denmark v. Sweden WCQ with the fellas. What, I need my sports fix, especially this time of year. Alright people...MIX IT UP...Later

Randomness from the week:

*Anyone find the secret message in the last post

*No Dempsey could spell trouble for Sam's Army....Dont Tread

*Go Tigers and Spartans, Yea I know the Tigs have a Bye

*I want Biscuits and Gravy more than anything

*Australians officially have the best swear word ever...ask me when I get back

*Learning about the arab Culture is pretty interesting. Apparently its common to have road rage fights that end up with both people beating the mess out of each other with their sandals.

*I will be employed by next friday

This is a horse....

The Paddock at the Gold Coast Turf Club, The horse in the back lost me 4 bucks

Cody and I on the Rail

View of the Track and Surfer's Paradise

Surfer's Again, The Q1 Tower is the building on the right-the Biggest on the Gold Coast

I'm Just Saying...

The last two days have been extremely uneventful. I have yet to have a wasted day in OZ yet, but the last couple days have been composed of doing school work and run of the mill exercising and bball. Two things of note: I booked my Sydney trip today, and yesterday I watched Evan play netball. Sydney is going to be awesome, and Netball is quite possibly the gayest sport ever. I think some guys were watching figure skating and thought, "Man this is just way to man-ish." So the need for the worlds gayest game came to be, and thus netball was created. Watch it on youtube or something...its bad. Also I would like to extend a Happy Birthday wish to both my Aunts KK and Lisa. Yea thats all I got. LaTeR.

A Much Deserved Day of Physical Inactivity

No soccer, no hiking, no soccer....Just another day in OZ people. Got up, went to class learned about stuff. Came back to the room and skyped with the little sis aka speed racer aka chad aka young stunna and also got to speak with the infamous jersey girl. The highlight of my day was the nap I took. Utterly beautiful if I say so myself. A well deserved sleep feels a lot better than the constant summer-unemployment sleep. Post napum, thats latin for after my nap, I went and snagged a smoothie before me dream time to dust lecture. A class so boring that if you make it through the whole thing without sleeping they give you a medal and/or screen you for speed. Kids fall asleep while drinking redbull in this class-true story. Thankfully I'm a champion and didn't fall asleep. You just have to remember what Lupe said, "One Time, For your Mind" thats my mantra for boring classes and other things deemed to be a waste of time. If you don't get it just forget it, If you do get it embrace it. Back to the real world, dinner then the library for some catch up work. The library is ridiculous. It looks more like a club on the inside than a library. I was skeptical about the prospects of getting anything done in that place, but it turned out alright and I got after it. I also won my fantasy baseball league today... what can I say my fanhood is legendary. (See about Me Section) Alright the day is almost done, and tomorrow should be another great one. Until then keep your ears to the grindstone. LATeR.

*Prestige Worldwide 2008-2009 FBA Champions*

Random Pics

Bond v. Deakin: Battle for 5th

Your 6th Place Bondie Boys Top (Left to Right) Me, Mitch, Iyuma, Jonathan, Jacob, Dayel, Ahmed. Bottom (Left to Right) Pasqual, Andra, Harry, Eivend, Rasheed

The Danes: Thomas aka Mr. No Homo, Lotte, and Nanna, Soren (not pictured)

Camping Photo: Ashley, Cody, Rick James, Kanye West, Elvis, Tupac, Michael Jackson....

Soccer then Jungle

I am officially sick of soccer. We lost in the quarters then played two more games in the consolation bracket. We ended up in 6th place for the entire tournament which it is what it is. I hate to lose, but we definitely weren't the best side out there. I'll tell you more when I get back, just ask. Soccer ended Friday, and Saturday Morning marked our journey to the Hinterland for a camping trip and hike. Two days, 24 Miles, Steep Elevation, No Sleep, Extreme Heat, Little Water, Great Time. That was the sparknotes version. We got to the trail head in Binna Burra which is at the top of a huge mountain formation that was created by volcanoes millions of year ago. Its pretty awesome, you can look out from the top and see the entire gold coast and the ocean. Anyway, we started at the top and went down a steep grade through jungle and volcanic extrusions to the very bottom of the mountain. Then we walked along a road through the town of Nirumbah and a ton of cattle farms to another mountain. More hiking and pain ensued, don't forget I just played 11 soccer games in a span of 5 days, and finally we reached our camp. We got there around 3 o'clock with nothing to do, but thankfully it gets dark around 6. So we attempted to go to sleep which didn't happen. I need to stop going camping without basic supplies. You know like a sleeping bag and a pillow. Pretty much the rest of the story goes like this we woke up, and went back. When we reached the six thousand foot vertical assault, I pulled away from the team alberto cantador style and powered my way up the mountain like a sherpa on 9 cans of red bull. I ended up finishing thirty minutes ahead of everyone else because everytime I stopped I would realize how much pain I was in so I just didn't stop. On the way back we stopped down the road because a bunch of people were hang gliding a few miles away from the trail head. Definitely something that is cooler up close. We were literally 5 or 6 feet from the guys taking off. We finished the ride home, and I had another soccer game for the Bond World Cup. Pizza Hut and Laziness followed. I'm straight up exhausted people, hopefully some more clever writing will come with more rest. Get Money, LatER

Hang gliding, these guys were crazy, there were about 15 in air at once
If you look at the peak of the triangular mountain in the foreground and go straight up thats where the trail head was.
The walk through Nurimbah on the way to the second mountain/campsite.
You know you miss that face....