Surf camp, rain, liver and birthday's :)

Oopss, Sorry! I have slacked for the past week (or so) but here I go…  Last week was pretty boring but interesting and mostly laid back.  I went to all of my tutorials and lectures except for my Monday morning 8 am lecture because I was up too late writing my Fraser Island blog post, but that is all old news. 

Tuesday I got done working out and I checked my e-mail when I got two e-mails that said “LIVER”.  The perfect liver arrived for Dan.  He has been on the waiting list (healthy, skiing, playing etc.) for over a year and a half and has had 3 liver calls.  The three livers that he was called in for ended up being turned down because they were not healthy enough so they were not going to call him in again until they were almost 100% sure (can’t ever be 100% in this department) that the next time they were going to call him the liver would be healthy, sure enough this was the one.  The transplant can take 12 hours max (his took 11) and so I didn’t sleep that good but I set my alarm for 1 am to check the blog to see if Laurie and Anne had wrote any updates on there for him and there were none up yet.  Then I went back to bed again but I left my internet signed in so I ran out of internet (again). 

I have had little but some communication with them, (it makes it hard when the time zones are completely opposite) but the transplant went better than perfect.  It is still early on the recovery time but it sounds like everything is going great and all the tests have been perfect so far after the transplant.  After the transplant he was out for a really long time so I got to talk a little bit to Nancy while everybody was waiting for him to wake up (and waiting and waiting and waiting).    He woke up and everything sounds like it is going just as expected.

The rest of the week went by fast, I just went to school (take note Dr. Neuliep) and worked out.  Thursday night was my roommate Hayley’s birthday!  Sharnie and I went to the bakery and got her a birthday cake (birthday pudding if you’re an Aussie) and invited a few friends over for cake (pudding) and then took the free bus to $2 taco night.  I don’t think any of us had tacos though.  We took the bus that came at 7pm and then we were all back by 11.  It ended up being a pretty early night because we all had things to do the next day. 

Hayley on her Birthday!

Friday morning I had to catch the bus from school at 6am to go to my surf camp that I signed up for.  It ended up being pretty fun but I would never sign up for it again and I would not recommend it to others.  So we get on the bus and the bus driver said, “well, get comphy because we are going to be spending the next 6 hours together,” NEWS FLASH—none of us knew that it was going to be that far away but we still began our journey.  He stopped around 10am at McDonalds for the bus to get breakfast but I had cereal so I didn’t get anything and then we were back on the road. 

Our sweet ride!

We got to surf camp around 12:30 and had lunch there (it was gross).  Then we got put into our accommodation (that was not only gross but the most discusting accomodation I have ever had) and then we were on the water by 3 for our first surf lesson (the weather was gross and rain).  

My first lesson was not that good but… I almost stood up once or twice but not for very long.  The second lesson on Saturday I skipped because I was freezing and it was raining the whole day and that made me crabby so I napped(in my accomodation, blahh), and hung out with the other people that skipped that lesson and then my third lesson was awesome!  I killed it and I got up like 5 or 6 times and stayed up until I reached the beach then  I just had to jump off so I could swim back and do it again. 

The weather was crappy and the places we stayed in were really dirty and gross so those two things combined made me really grumpy.  But overall it ended up being a really fun weekend.  I am sad I didn’t get to kayak but the weather was not good enough for that but I feel really good at where my surfing ability is at right now.  I am confident that I can get pretty good in the next month or so if I stick to it (which I plan on). 

Our sweet C-R-I-B! Quite the treat!

Julia, Me, Anna

  Saturday night was my favorite night, I hung out with a few people I met from Germany and then later that night we hung out with a couple people from France and I learned how people in France drink their wine and whiskey so that they can get every different taste that both of those drinks have to offer.  So that was really fun.  It was most fun to walk on the beach with them and listen to the Germans and French communicate and talk about how things are so different from one another even though they are so close on a map.  It is pretty interesting.  I definitely want to travel all over Europe someday and see the friends that I have made and explore all over there. 



Left to Right: Volkan, Johanas, Marcel, Me and Anna (all from Germany and I probably spelled all their names wrong :).  Except Anna, thats easy )

 When we drove back we stopped in Byron Bay to drop some of the group off who were staying there for a few days.  A lot of the people that got off in Byron Bay were backpacking all through Australia.  I wish that we got to stay longer in Byron because it is really beautiful there and has some of the best beaches in Australia (probably debatable though).  We did get to tour it for two hours though but that just gave me a test taste and now I want to go back.  You can see the point from the beach in Byron that is the furthest point East you can get in Australia.  There is a light house and it is really pretty.  So my weekend ended up being pretty good but it was the best feeling to come home and feel comfortable again.  I got back late Sunday evening and my roomies made me stuffed peppers so I ate that and pretty much went right to bed. 


Anna and Me at our sweet secret surf spot (MOJO X)



Yesterday was just a small case of the Monday’s but I survived it and . . . HAPPY TUESDAY.   Yesterday I just went to class, I had one lecture and one tutorial and then I just relaxed all day and had a really good workout.  I went over to my friend’s house that live above me on the other side, Anas (Germany), Ahmad (Saudi Arabia), Sharnie (Aussie) and Natalie (Canada) and I ended up being there until ten because me and Anas were trying to figure out what all we wanted to do while we were here and we talked about all the things and now we have an idea of all the fun things we are going to explore while we are here.  We are only here for 4 months so we have to squeeze in a lot but Ahmad is here until he graduates and Natalie is here for a year so they have a long time to do everything.  Ahmad already did pretty much every cool thing you can think of.  But he told us what he would do again and what he hasn’t done so he said if we do any of that then he would like to come also.  So I suppose we better get to planning. 

Today I have class from 12-1 and then I am going to the gym, and at 6 me, Natalie, Ahmad, Anas and Hayley are going to go to a new Grocery store that Anas found that he said is much cheaper.  I think it might be more like a Walmart but I am not sure.  He said they are everywhere in Germany and it is way cheaper than Woolworths (which is the grocery store that is about a mile from home) so let’s just hope because I have a few things that I need.  Then my week is sounding pretty uneventful so far.  I’ll keep ya updated!



There is the light house in the background + a little tast of the beach :) (Byron)