The week of finals, the final week

Aside from the essays I’ve written and have yet to write before I leave, all that’s been on my mind is, well, leaving. As I said to a friend from home a few hours ago, leaving the UK will be the most bittersweet experience of my life. I adapt to new places quickly, and I always have. When I was younger, I moved a lot, and each time I moved out of one of my houses, amidst the flood of tears I left behind, were kisses that I gave to each room. Then, a few weeks into settling into a new place, I felt at home. That’s sort of what this feels like.

I wasn’t expecting to adapt so quickly to a new school in a new town in a new country as well and as quickly as I did, and now that I know I could stay here in Huddersfield for a long, long time, it feels almost wrong to leave.

On the other hand, I miss my family and friends and dog and Brooklyn and New Paltz more than I ever have. I wouldn’t say I’m homesick—I don’t really spend much time thinking about how much I’d like to be home, because I love being here—but I know that when I see my family and friends and dog and Brooklyn and New Paltz, I will probably feel a sense of joy in being home that I’ve never really felt before. I can almost feel it now, except that thinking about being home makes me sad about leaving Huddersfield. Also, I over-think things too much.

So, for my last week and two days here, I’ve got lots of fun things planned.

Tomorrow, Lauren and I are going to a 3-hour-long (???) meeting to discuss our experience here with staff from the International Office. We’re going to give them our feedback and more or less everything we’ve done here, and what we think can be improved for the next round of students from New Paltz/the US.

After that, Kirsty and I are going to her house for the weekend. This is mostly so she can pick up her car, but also so that on Saturday, we can go to the Manchester Christmas Fayre (that’s how they spell “fair” here… pretty strange) with two of her best friends. On Tuesday morning, bright and early, we’re going to be driving to Wales and spending the day there. I’m really excited about this. Even though British people consider Wales and England to be the same thing, even more than Scotland and England, as a stupid American, this is not my thought. Wales is a whole other country to me, and we can DRIVE there! How cool is that? Plus, Welsh is the strangest-looking language ever, and I can’t wait to be confused by the road signs.

On Wednesday, we’re driving to Chester. About two months ago, Kirsty and I went to Chester Zoo. On our way back, since we had to take buses and a train, we walked through the town, which I fell in love with. We weren’t able to spend any real time there, since we were looking for the train station the whole time, but now that we have a car, we’ll get to explore the gorgeous city. I really can’t wait! If we get back early enough, we’ll go to dinner, or at least out to a club, with Lauren, Berit, Lucie and Marianne. That’ll probably be the last time I see them (except Lauren, of course, and Kirsty), which is possibly too depressing to discuss further, but I’ll write more about it once I’m home and have processed it.

Thursday and Friday are unplanned as of now, but I’m the type of person who, when something is coming to an end, likes to stick to the normal routine. I don’t like to have huge, momentous celebrations to commemorate the end of something, because that doesn’t feel like any attention is really being given to what’s ending.

Recap of November…

I think that I literally have lost track of time this past month.  My inability to keep up with each week has been a gift and a curse all at once.  Time has been passing me by so quickly because for the past month I have been on a whirlwind of adventures.  However, I have also failed to realize that my time here in the UK is also coming to a quick end 🙁

So taking it back to the beginning of November, on Thursday, November 11th, myself and three of my friends ventured off to Leicester Square in London (the cinema and entertainment centre of the capital) and stood outside in the cold amongst thousands of people for the Harry Potter & The Deathly Hollows Premiere.  It was an amazing experience just to be in the presence of so many dedicated fans, although we could only really see most of the event from the big screen tv’s they had overhead.  Nonetheless I got to see the red carpet and was super excited because it was the first premiere I have ever been to, and what’s cooler than going to the Harry Potter Premiere in London?


the premiere was inside the doors by the flaming fire...

The next day, on Friday, my British Life & Culture class went on a really cool field trip to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre & to Parliament.  I personally loved the tour of the Globe Theatre because our guide was charismatic, outgoing, and a very good actress if I do say so myself 🙂  The most interesting thing I learned on the tour was about the reconstruction of the Globe.  The original Globe was built in 1599 built by Shakespeare & his playing company the ‘Lord’s Chamberlain’s Men’.  The modern reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, named “Shakespeare’s Globe,” opened in 1997 and was founded by the actor and director Sam Wanamaker.  Wanamaker built the site approximately 230 meters from the site of the original theatre that had been destroyed by a fire in 1613.

So this year was my first time experiencing Thanksgiving away from my family.  For most of my friends I have made while studying abroad, it was our first time being away from home for the holiday…and due to our sadness of not being able to participate in the festivities in America, we decided to make our own version of Thanksgiving the Tuesday before the actual holiday!  A big group of us students, about 19 in total, all gathered at my friend Sven’s apartment in Central London and made a grand feast!!!  Each of us made a dish that is a tradition in our household and shared in the good times of laughter, wine, football matches, and DELICIOUS food!!!  What made this occasion even more special was the fact that we invited our friends studying abroad from Hong Kong, China, along with several of Sven’s friends that were from Australia & Sweden.  It was the most diverse Thanksgiving I have ever shared in meeting other students that were Indian, Pakistani, and of course us Americans!!!  It was extremely fun to expose our newfound friends to the traditional feast that we partake in every year!  I’m pretty sure they all loved it just as much as we do =]

sven's delicious homemade fried chicken!

look at that beautiful bird 🙂

boiling the shrimp

table full of food!

not even all of the food i ate that night is on my plate...lol

some of the gang!

On Thursday, Thanksgiving night, myself, fellow New Paltz students Elexis Goldberg and Mike Dauernheim, and our friend Sarah from Michigan all camped out at Stansted Airport awaiting a 6:20 am flight to Cork, Ireland.  We had a delicious second Thanksgiving meal beforehand put together by the lovely abroad staff at Kingston.  This was another dinner that involved bringing a favorite dish to pass around with your table so we all contributed in preparation for the meal.  Right after we ate, we took the train to Central London, hopped on a bus, and then travelled 2 hrs. to the airport.

We spent the night in Cork and on Saturday morning we went to the Blarney Castle; the castle originally dates from before AD 1200, where a wooden structure was believed to have been built on the site.  Although no evidence remains of this, it was replaced by a stone fortification in about 1210 A.D.  It was destroyed in 1446, but wasy rebuilt by Cormac Laidir MacCarthy, Lord of Muscry.  The castle is now a partial ruin with some accessible rooms and at the top of the castle lies the Stone of Eloquence, better known as the Blarney Stone.  It is tradition while visiting the Blarney Stone to hang upside down over a sheer drop to kiss the stone, which is supposed to give the gift of eloquence.

Blarney Castle

the stone structure from inside...

view from the top

kissing the blarney stone :-*

the crew at the top of the castle: right after we each kissed the blarney stone!

Saturday night we took the train from Cork to Dublin to spend the remainder of our weekend adventure celebrating my 21st birthday!!!  We arrived at our hostel that was literally in the heart of Dublin; Christ Church Cathedral was next to it, we could walk right onto Trinity College campus, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral was also a hop, skip, and a jump away from where we stayed.  We dropped off our bags and then met up with Mike’s friend Connor who is studying in Limerick , Ireland for my first experience going on a ‘pub crawl.’  That night we went to several different pubs around the city meeting interesting people from all over.  We met a group of German students in one of the pubs and they sang me ‘happy birthday!’  The best part of the whole night was when it started snowing at exactly midnight on my birthday 🙂  We ran outside of the pub to take pictures and had a big snow fight in the streets of Dublin.  According to weather reports: with extremely low temperatures, that particular night was recorded as the coldest night in Dublin!!!

|Dublin, Ireland| November 28th, 2010| --It started snowing at approx. midnight on my 21st birthday. With extremely low temperatures, this particular night has been recorded as the coldest night in Dublin!! But with some great friends by my side...I barely felt the cold or the snow. ♥

The rest my fabulous birthday weekend was spent touring the Jameson Distillery & Guinness Factory.  Sunday we went to the Jameson Distillery and had guided tour of the company where the magic of Irish Whiskey is made!  The company was established in 1780 when John Jameson established the Bow Street Distillery in Dublin.  With annual sales of over 31 million bottles, Jameson is by far the best selling Irish Whiskey in the world, as it has been internationally since the early 19th century when John Jameson along with his son (also named John) was producing more than a million gallons annually.

I was nominated for testing out whiskey shots from Scotland, America...& of course Ireland! my friends made me volunteer for the spirit of my 21st birthday!!!

my certificate/diploma for volunteering

At the Guinness Factory on Monday, we did a self-guided tour of the company which was amazingly cool.  It was a lot of fun to venture out on the tour ourselves because it is 5 floors of straight informational galleries and machinery.  Guinness, the dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness in Jame’s Gate, Dublin, is one of the most successful beer brands in the world.  A distinctive feature is the burnt flavour which is derived from the use of roasted unmalted barely.  We actually got to taste test the barely before it was brewed and also sampled a free pint of Guinness’s after our tour was over.  One interesting fact I learned about Guinness is that the reason there is a thick creamy surface at the top is because the beer is mixed with nitrogen when being poured.  It is popular with the Irish both in Ireland and abroad and it should come as no surprise that it is the best selling alcoholic drink in all of Ireland where the Guinness Company makes almost 2 billion annually!!!

Sarah & I before heading inside the factory

Sarah & Lex tasting that good ol' barley!

the view from the top of the factory in the Gravity Bar where we got our free pint of guinness!

Mike & Lex drinking their beers!

Sarah's beer-stache!

good ol' taste of that Guinness...

overlooking Dublin...

the crew in the Gravity Bar 🙂

Venezia

Venice is probably the most incredible place I have been thus far. I spent two days there with some friends- and despite the rain and cold… and major flooding, I had the most amazing time. Not only is the city beautiful, but it has this small town feel that totally contradicts its true immensity in terms of the thousands of little streets there are to get lost down. I became the shopoholac that I never thought I would be- going in almost every glass store we passed by and allowing my frugality to emerge only so often in my decision making process. The hostel was easy enough to find as it was on the “main street” and there was literally a bridge leading to its front door. It is called the Venice Fish and despite some flooding on the lower level, it was a really nice place with big rooms and high ceilings. There was a ridiculous array of wanderers there- from a kid who started traveling 8 months ago around Europe as a final hoorah before he starts college, to a guy who has been studying physics in Budapest for last couple of months and just got accepted into the number one rated school for science in China. We ate a pretty bad free dinner at the hostel instead of spending money on another fancy meal like we had earlier- but it was worth the stomach pain that ensued after because I met some really interesting people in the eating process. It’s surprising how people can bond over a bad plate of pasta and some spicy sauce.

While we didn’t go on any gondola rides (because of the frigidity), I took a lot of pictures of them:

As well as a few pictures of the rivers that run through Venice in general:

The Basilica

The Basilica

Me on the Watery streets of Venice

Me on the Watery streets of Venice

The Venice Fish

The Venice Fish

A Perfect Day

I went to Torquay today to surf in Victoria for the last time before I leave. It saddens me that I might not be back to Australia for five years. I think back five years ago…at this time I was halfway through freshman year. Now here I am. At Geelong station waiting for a train back to Melbourne after a daysurfing in Torquay; “the surfing capital”. I doubt I would have believed someone if they told me that five years ago. So I can’t imagine where I’ll be in another five years. I only know that it will be somewhere close to a beach (for surfing of course), preferably outside of the USA.

I bought a (used) copy of Tomorrow When the War Began at a market that was happening in Torquay. The book has writing in it and it’s a bit worn, but it’s readable and some of the writing is useful. I wanted a physical copy to loan to friends who are not yet ereader users. Once I’ve lent it to all my friends I might donate it to the SUNY New Paltz library.

I had an amazing day. There is nothing I would rather have done today than go surfing. It was the perfect way to spend my last weekend in Melbourne. I rode about 7-8 waves and nose dived a few times. It was more or less a downhill day. I rode the first wave I tried catching and it was one of my longest rides yet. I then caught a few more before the waves started getting fewer. I spoke with my Mum today and she said that it was getting very cold. I thought, sitting on my board watching the ocean for waves, that it was amazing that I was soaking up the sun surfing in December! While most of the people I know are probably wearing thick winter coats.

I got a picture of me with the surfboard I used that day and another with Mark in it. I rented my board and wet suit from Go Ride A Wave every time I went surfing at Torquay; Mark is the owner. He was friendly and supportive; and also gave great customer service. He’s another example of how awesome Australians are (talk about alliteration). If you are ever in Torquay and want to try surfing, find “Go Ride A Wave” and ask for Mark.
Tomorrow I am doing some Christmas shopping then I plan to meet up with Chris in the evening and plan my travel around Australia then we’re going to see a movie.

Finally, here’s a shout out to my mates at SUNY New Paltz: Kyle, Lisa, Torian, Danielle, and Lana. See you next month.

(Most of this post was written on my iPod)

Fluff: If you’re reading this, did you get the alliteration reference?

Ringraziamento

Ringraziamento! Or in that American language: Thanksgiving. The Italians finally gave in to the somewhat frantic pleas of the thirty students who expected to stuff their face on the 25th. I was no exception: the tastes of turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and even pumpkin pie all filled my mouth that day. It’s actually quite interesting to taste the Italian take on pumpkin pie, let me tell you. We all gathered around a long table- which happened to be in the cafe of a local bookstore- and told each other, (somewhat emotionally), what we were all thankful for. Not surprisingly, the fact that we were eating our first American-style meal in Italy, and the fact that we are even in Italy in general, was mentioned several times. What’s more, all the staff members of the S.I.S. program were the cooks for the night- so for once it felt like they were the ones with homework and a deadline rather than us students… how things change, huh?

Ringraziamento

Ringraziamento. Gwen prepared to chow down.

The Dinner Table

The Melbourne Musuem

Australian culture of the day: “I’ve never seen it better.” is slang for I’m doing well.

I went to the Melbourne Museum yesterday. I enjoyed seeing many exhibits; including dinosaurs, sea life, the earth, animals, the brain, the body, and forests. Two of the most interesting things I saw were viewfinders that pointed at the bone skeletons of animals. when you looked through them the animal bones transformed into the living animal before your eyes and appeared in it’s natural habitat. There was then a short video of it moving around and then it switched back to the skeleton. This was accomplished by having a video of the skeleton as it would appear if you looked through a screen. The other interesting thing that I saw were two animatronic dinosaurs. I took a video of them. They looked rather real. I want someone to make an animatronic jurassic park…or better yet, make jurassic park itself. Once we can manipulate DNA we should be able to reconstruct the dinosaurs by tweaking bird DNA. For more on this topic, read the book “How to Build a Dinosaur”.

In other news, Harvard scientists have reversed the ageing process in mice – now for humans! This doesn’t have anything to do with me being in Australia. It just has to do with my goal of living hundreds of years. For more on this, read Aubrey De Grey’s book “Ending Aging” and learn about the exponential growth of technology.

Scotsterdam!

Last weekend, the 19th, I went to visit Sarah in Scotland for her birthday! On Friday, after a trip entailing a bus to a train to a six-hour bus ride to Dundee, Sarah got me from the bus station and took me back to her flat. Her flatmates were setting up their kitchen/common area and we weren’t allowed in until it was ready. They’d decorated the room and had made three cakes and had a bunch of other snacks out, and invited a bunch of people over. We partied in the common room for a couple of hours and then went out to a fun little club called Underground, where drunk Irish girls sang their own rendition of Happy Birthday to Sarah.

On Saturday, we walked around Dundee and did a bit of shopping. We went into a museum and learned a bit of history about Dundee, which was pretty interesting! In the evening, we met up with Sarah’s friends and went out to dinner and then to see the new Harry Potter movie, which was totally amazing! I’d say it’s definitely the best so far.

On Sunday, we took the bus to Edinburgh for the day. Edinburgh is GORGEOUS! It reminded me of Athens in a way, because it was a modern city set in what clearly has deeply-rooted pieces of history in every direction. We saw about every landmark you could imagine, including Edinburgh Castle, which we couldn’t see all of, but I loved because, well, it’s a castle. We went to a pub called Dirty Dick’s for lunch, where I got a Vegetarian MacHaggis Burger, which is exactly what it sounds like. Dirty Dick’s was great–it reminded me a bit of The Egg’s Nest in Rosendale for it’s funky decorations and interesting/delicious menu. We walked around Edinburgh until our legs were killing us, and finally made an 8:30 bus back to Dundee.

On Monday morning, I took an 8:55 bus back to Manchester, got the train back to Huddersfield, and took the bus back to Storthes, and had a nice, loooong sleep.

On Thursday afternoon, I got packed up for Amsterdam! Kirsty, Lauren and I left Storthes to meet with the rest of our group at the Graduate, the bar in the Student Union. The bus was running late because of how much it had snowed up north. We finally left at about 7:30. The bus to Dover, where we got the ferry, took about six hours on its own. The ferry took another hour and a half, and the bus to Amsterdam from Calais, which is the port in France, took about another four or five hours. This was possibly the most unpleasant traveling experience of my life. We didn’t get to our hotel until 10 am!!! This left, of course, no time for sleeping. I took the worst shower of my life at this hostel. The showerhead literally let out a thin stream of either boiling hot or freezing cold water from the center, and that was it. Awful.

Finally, Kirsty, Lauren, and our roommate Suzanne, set off to find Anne Frank’s house. This was no small task. We did have a map, but Dutch words/street names are long and impossible to pronounce, so orienting ourselves was rather difficult. We had to literally count how many canals we had passed in order to figure out if we were at approximately the right place. We finally found it, and it was really something else. I am the only Jewish person I know in the UK (other than Sarah), so being in Anne Frank’s house meant more to me than it probably would have had I come with my family or other friends from home, most of whom are Jewish too. I realized I’d never seen any Jewish museum or memorial or place of worship—ANYTHING—without other Jewish people who I knew with me. This time, I was pretty acutely aware that what I was experiencing was something different than what my friends were experiencing. For my friends, it was “wow, I can’t believe this happened to Jewish people”, and for me, it was “wow, I can’t believe this happened to MY people”. Obviously, I’m not saying that non-Jews can’t feel pain for what Holocaust victims went through, I was just never so aware of how MY experience of seeing these places is different from a non-Jew’s experience.

It was really pretty eerie being in Anne Frank’s house. I kept trying to imagine that I was her, climbing the same insanely steep steps she did, but it never lasted for long.

After that, we needed a bit of a distraction, so we sat in one of Amsterdam’s coffee shops (hint hint) for a while, and then walked around and took pictures of the amazing city.

That night, we went out to a bar with the rest of our group. We had a pretty decent time, but we left at around 1 to go eat. We went to Wok to Walk, which implies what it was–a sort of create your own Chinese food place. That was perfect! Giant portions and good, greasy food.

On Saturday, we slept in and walked around Amsterdam a lot. We were too tired to do anything too much, but seeing such a beautiful city in person was activity enough. We went to sleep early to prepare ourselves for the nothingness that would take place on our way back the next day.

The way back to Huddersfield was about as exciting as the way there, except that on the way back to Storthes from Uni, a few of us shared a big tax—it held nine people including the driver, who was absolutely MAD (jeez I sound British!) He blasted Indian music and drove almost drunkenly (he was clearly not drunk) all the way back. It was hilarious and terrifying all at once.

Today, I got up and attempted to do some work, but was way too preoccupied with thoughts of tomorrow’s EuroThanksgiving to really concentrate. At about 2, Lauren, Kirsty and I went shopping for groceries and spent almost 2 hours at the supermarket!

For tomorrow, I’ll be making butternut squash soup, salad, sweet potatoes, the most amazing macaroni and cheese the world has ever known, apple pie, and flourless chocolate cake. I CANNOT WAIT.

The reports of my death have been greatly exagerated

My previous report that I would be staying has been reconsidered. After much thought, and for many reasons, I will be returning to SUNY New Paltz for next semester. I have a couple weeks of work then a week of traveling before going back to America. I predict that it will be more difficult to readjust to life back in the US; that I will have more reverse culture shock than I had culture shock. My journey back will not be complete until I’ve moved back into a dorm room on campus. The month between returning to the US and going back home (SUNY New Paltz) will be a difficult one; although a much larger part of my heart belongs to Australia now. I am an American by birth, but an Australian at heart.

Peperoncini crusschi

Altomonte. A seemingly uneventful- and even, unknown, town to most… but after my visit, I know it will always be a place of great personal importance. My father was born in this small town, and when I first arrived, I was greeted by what’s left of our family there: my grandmother’s sister, her daughter, her husband, and their two children- all of whom became a part of my family- or rather, I became a part of theirs- during my three day stay there.

After a nine hour bus ride (which was grueling, by the way), I arrived in Altomonte at 6:30 am. Perfect timing right? Soon after, I was greeted by Giovanna and Mario who took me to their house located somewhat within the city center. The clouds hung low and our drive through the country was incredible. I was largely unsure of how to interact with my “family,” as blood doesn’t necessarily dictate relationships.

I was overloaded with food (to put it lightly), and received my favorite italian dish ever- direct from my grandmother’s mouth to her sister’s- “peperoncini crusschi.” I’m sure I spelled that wrong- but they are dried red peppers (not spicy), fried in oil until they are incredibly crunchy and then drizzled with salt. They are delicious… especially when there is a really cute older woman who can’t wait to make them for you.

My three days there were mostly spent running errands with Giovanna (which I really liked), picking up Rebecca from elementary school, and eating way way way too much. I solely spoke Italian for three days, and was amazed at how much my Italian improved by the end. I didn’t realize how important- or rather, how extremely beneficial, it is to be immersed in the language at all times. Unfortunately, back in Siena, I have about 30 other American students around me most of the time- and by no means do we consistently attempt to speak solely in Italian.

Being in Altomonte, seeing the house that my father was born in (which is now in ruins, by the way), made me think about what the word “family” actually means. I have a family in the United States, I have a host family in Siena, and I have extended family in Altomonte. From experience, I have found all these “terms” to imply completely different things, to evoke completely different sentiments, and to suggest completely different lifestyles.

While I found myself relieved to return to a city and house I knew after the mysteries of the ten day break, I found myself more comfortable with the “family” I discovered in Altomonte. We looked at incredibly old  pictures of my “family” in the United States, we ate food that I am accustomed to having back at home, and we even shared in activities (a thing that I really don’t get the pleasure of doing back here in Siena with my host family).

In all, I had an amazing time and am so glad that I got to meet them.

Surf Camp

I went on a surf camp this past weekend in Lorne. It was a lot of fun despite the rain. I bought a tent and sleeping bag at a camping store called “Ray’s Outdoors” which was right next to where I live. They had a sale so I got the tent for $20 and the sleeping bag for $30. I’m thinking I’ll sell the sleeping bag because it will take up too much room in my suitcase on the way back; not sure about the tent though.

We met up across the road from a popular restaurant called “Dracula’s” which is down the road from RMIT and Melbourne Central station. There were about 10 people in the van. We drove to Melbourne University and picked up a trailer with surfboards and wetsuits. The drive down was long but we drove some of the Great Ocean Road so it was enjoyable. It was interesting to see what an Australian road trip is like with a group of college guys. Here is one of the jokes that one of the guys told:

Why did the first Koala fall out of the tree? It was dead.
Why did the second Koala fall out of the tree? It was handcuffed to the first.
 Why did the third Koala fall out of the tree? It thought it was a game.
Why did the fourth Koala fall out of the tree? Peer pressure.
Why did the fifth Koala fall out of the tree? It was tied to the other koalas.
Why did the Kangaroo drop dead? It was hit by 5 Koalas.

I am not making this up…I don’t think I could.

When we got to the camp site I set up my tent and put my backpack and other bag inside. Not long after a group of people got back into the van and we drove down to a beach about 15 minutes from Lorne. I put on a wetsuit and grabbed a board. What followed was the best surfing I’ve ever experienced yet. I stood up quite a few times and for a longer time than I have before. That being said I did fail to stand up multiple times and slid off the front as well (there is a term for this but I forget what it is).

After we got back I walked to the beach down the road from the camp. It couldn’t have taken more than three minutes to walk there; maybe 50 meters away. There was a lot of ocean gunk washed up on the beach and dead birds scattered around the beach. I wasn’t enthused. I walked into town, just exploring. As I was walking back to camp I ran into some people from ride down (there were about 50-60 people at the camp in total). I joined them for diner. We walked around and decided on a burger place. I had a cheeseburger and some chips (french fries for Americans).

I met some more Norwegians when I got back to camp and played cards with some other people; I think they were Germans.

Saturday wasn’t as much fun. The waves were really low at the Lorne beach and not much better elsewhere. I read my Kindle for a few hours and made progress through multiple books. I read in my tent and some by the beach before it started raining. Saturday night was the barbeque. I helped cook the sausages on the gas grill. One burner wouldn’t light but some of the guys eventually decided to just keep pressing the starter button every 4 seconds…and they actually cooked half of the sausages on it.

Someone had changed the time and date on a guy’s phone. When he woke up he thought it was Sunday morning. Keep in mind it was Saturday night. This guy eventually showed up at the grill. I assume he found out later that night when it started to get dark that he had been tricked. Or maybe he was too drunk to notice.

After the barbeque we went to a local pub. I walked there with a guy I had met at the barbeque. I didn’t have my passport on me, but I was able to get in by showing my credit card and student ID. It didn’t matter as I had no intention of drinking, but it wouldn’t have made a difference if I had said that. I did dance some but it was a bit uncomfortable and unusual to be in a “pub” (read between the lines). I walked back to the camp around midnight. After taking out my contact lenses I decided to walk down to the beach because I haven’t been at the beach at night. It was a very beautiful sight. The waves and the lights of the peer off to the right.

Sunday I tried surfing again because the waves were bigger. But although they were bigger, they were too rough and the waves didn’t go far but flattened quickly. After getting tossed around I decided to go back. You have to respect the ocean and know when the conditions for surfing aren’t right.

There’s not much more to tell. I packed up my tent around one and got a ride back in the van a few hours later. I woke up today feeling sore. It was a great weekend away from modern life and it will be a weekend I will never forget.

Music I was listening to while writing this post: Sondre Lerche (Norwegian musician)