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!