Rippin it, dude

I'm sitting in my apartment overlooking the Sydney Harbor and procrastinating so I figured this is the best time for me to add another post. And oh this one is SO exciting.

This past weekend I went to... SURF CAMP! It was one of the best weekends I've had here so far. Here's how it all went down.

On Friday I woke up unusually late and then packed for my weekend. I keep forgetting about how long I need to travel so I was rushed at the end and later realized I forgot to pack my camera. I wouldn't have had much of an opportunity to take pictures though so I guess it wasn't a big deal. Anyway, I thought the bus station was right next to the exit of the train station and while I was correct the bus was not picking us up at the bus station (logically). So I had to frantically call my roommates to get onto my computer and get the address of the place I needed to go to. Because I actually had NO idea where I was going and I was rushed for time I just got a cab... to take me a total of 3 blocks. I guess it was better than possibly missing the bus. I sit down on the bus and a guy asks me if the seat next to me is taken and I said no and we started talking. His name was Vivek and he ended up being from Duke (worst!). It was no coincidence that he sat next to me because I was wearing my UVA sweatshirt and apparently there isn't a mutual hatred between Duke and UVA students. About half way through the bus ride we stopped at this burger place and it was awesome. I got like a gourmet gus burger. Ok, that's not really important but I wanted to mention it anyway. At the burger place I met some of Vivek's friends. One of them (and one of the girls I lived with at the camp) was from UNC. Oh the ACC rivalry. In total it took about 2 hours to get from Sydney to the camp at 7 Mile Beach, so we got there at about 8pm. It was kind of a hostel/camp within a trailor park, quite interesting. We didn't do much of anything that night, just got an introduction to camp and the instructors. Then we hung out a little bit and met a few people including a girl from Long Island who said my name like people from home. I haven't heard that in a while. We all went to bed pretty early because we had to be awake really early to start surfing on Saturday.

Our day started at 7am on Saturday with breakfast and wetsuit fitting. Then we walked down to the beach (about a 5 minute walk) and picked up our boards. They were foam and the first board I used was 8'2". Quite awkward and unmanageable. Luckily we didn't have to walk much with our boards. When we got to the water we broke into our groups and started our lessons. We started learning the basics on the sand before we got into the water. We just learned how to catch a wave and stand up during our first lesson. After about 20 minutes on the sand we picked up our boards again and got in the water. The beach slope was shallow so we were able to walk out to most of the waves, decreasing the amount of paddling. At the beginning I will admit that I struggled a lot. The whole balance thing does not come too easily for me. At least I knew what I was doing wrong. For the next hour and a half we just kept trying. The instructors would come over and help us out one by one. We weren't surfing actual waves yet, just the break water (the white water). Yea, I know, not as cool. By the end of the first lesson I was standing up at least for a short time. After that lesson we took a picture with our entire camp which was split into two groups (group B had their first lesson after ours). While taking the picture I realized that Matt (Towson) from the Study Australia program was also on the trip! I hadn't seen him since the pre-semester trip because he went to a different city. It was really cool to see him.

So after the lesson we went back to the camp and ate a much needed lunch. We just relaxed for a little while and then went back to the beach for the second lesson of the day. We learned how to gain speed on the wave by leaning or moving forward on the board. We kept reviewing the motions and techique on the sand before we got back in the water. The second session was a lot better for me. I was standing on the board much more frequently but I was definitely falling off a lot. Because it was high tide the waves weren't as strong so I didn't have enough speed to balance for too long. The lesson ended too soon; I wanted to keep surfing forever. But I got another chance the next day.

Saturday night we had dinner at a restaurant near the camp. The camp staff cooked the dinner and it was actually really good, but we were also so hungry from the day's activities. I hung out with Matt at the restaurant and caught up with everything he has been up to at his University. Most people stayed at the restaurant (which later turned into a pub) but I headed back to camp with some of the girls I met in my group because we were all pretty exhausted.

The next day we got to sleep in... until 8:30am. When I woke up, I thought I got hit by a truck. I was so sore. I discovered why surfers have such nice bodies because it is actually a very strenuous activity. During our third lesson we learned how to turn on the board and it was time for us to get on an actual wave instead of just riding breakwater. I was still not so proficient with the whole standing up thing so I kept working on that before trying to turn. I was definitely getting a lot better. Actually standing up on the board and surfing was one of the coolest things I have ever done. I wanted to get on an actual wave if my life depended on it but the waves got a lot bigger towards the end of the lesson and I got rocked by a few and decided to stick to the break water for now. I was so upset (yet so exhausted) when the lesson ended.

So nothing too exciting happened after the last lesson, we just hung out before hopping on the bus and going home. I ended up buying a wetsuit there so I'm halfway ready to start surfing on the regular basis with my friends here. I'm gonna be a cool surfer chick when I come back to Long Island, just wait.