6 Straight Weeks in Melbourne….Time to Make My Own Fun

Recap

As of my last entry, I gave everyone much needed forewarning for these stories I am about to dispense. Not that they are overly rambunctious or include any unnecessary sexual fetishes, but if my previous entries have been any indicator, 6 weeks without any blogging action has reduced my carpel tunnel and has allowed me to write until my wrists become limp from excitement.

Back Story

After we got back to Melbourne (from Sydney), I was ready to take advantage of this city on more advanced level. For the first 2 months of my time in Australia, I had been away on vacations and traveling up and down the coast line on a pretty frequent basis. I got to Melbourne on July 13^th, and after exploring and getting to know my surroundings for a few weeks, my parents came in to visit me in early August. We then went up to Sydney for a week, I came back, and a week later I was up in Brisbane and the Gold Coast. After that weekend getaway, I was back in Melbourne for 2 more weeks before I headed up the coast line for an 11 day Australian adventure during RMIT’s spring break. Lastly, immediately following spring break and I was off to Sydney again (which I just got finished writing about). However, traveling is waht truly makes my experience here worthwhile. It would be nice to be able to sit here and write about my amazing times out and the personal growth I have been undertaking, but all of that growth and development really happens from seeing more of the world and all of the people that surround you. Without traveling and incorporating yourself into new experiences, I find there is very limited potential for any significant amount of maturation. That and traveling is simply a thrill and a great way to let my hedonistic side hunt for pleasure in new places, in other words, it’s an amazing amount of fun.

Ever since I planned all of my vacations, I saw this one 6+ week gap on inactivity. Aside from my 21^st birthday and Uni games (which I will cover later in this story), it seemed implausible to imagine that after 10 weeks catering to my inability to sit still, I would be forced to stay stagnant for such a long period of time. Even as I continue to write this and I am 2 days away from my next vacation, I cringe at my once prevalent feeling of boredom. Being abroad does not seem worth it to me if you stay still. I can get to know a city after about 2 weeks. Even if I love it, like I do Melbourne, it is still a repeated series of activities. Go to certain bars, go out for dinner, play goon pong, get messed up, all of these activities I regularly participate back home in College Park. Going through the motions was something I felt would be inevitable, but something I never wanted to personally confront. The reason I love doing the same things over and over again in CP is because I have such an amazing group of friends back there, where my friends here are nothing short of stellar, they still lack the certain quality I need to satisfy my unique fun seeking needs. I felt confined to my current location and needed ways to break free from repeat activities. So that is precisely what I did.

Before I get any further, I sent out an email as a summation of my experiences thus far. I know I sent it to most of my friends and family, and I got some amazing responses back. I wanted to include it at this point for both my personal records, and also in the off chance that someone reading my blog now, never got a chance to review my email; or I just never had your email address in the first place-but then how would you know about my blog… anyways:

[G'day family and friends!

(I apologize in advance, and will do so again, for this lengthy email. Two months is a very long time, and this overly long email typifies that).

I hope everyone is doing amazing back in the states and please keep me updated with everything going on! I had some time on my hands and I wanted to fill you all in on my life and share a few of my many insights I now have.

So onto my reason for writing everyone, if my absence over the past few months did not give it away, I hope the title of this email did; I have been in Australia for the past 2 months and could not be enjoying myself more! Time appears to be flying by with no regard to me, or my desire to live here for as long as I possibly can. As disturbing as it is, I only have 8 weeks left and live in fear for the day when November 24th comes.

These past couple of months have been amazingly consuming. I have traveled around the entire east coast, met countless internationals, made many new friends, picked up a book or two, all while being separated by an equator, prime meridian, and 13,000 miles (or 21,000 Km) of ocean and land. I came over here without any friends from the University of Maryland and I decided that it was best that way to do it. Maryland is a popular destination for many graduates of Wootton High School, and I had a misguided sense of security during my freshman year with 126 of my graduating classmates surrounding me. It was amazing to have some of my best friends at college with me, but I felt I was cheating myself by not being submerged in an entirely new climate. The fear of coming over here alone was a major motivation and ultimately aided my decision to study abroad. Fortunately, however, meeting new people and making friends happened right away.

My first few weeks here were spent traveling around the suburbs of Melbourne with a group between 3 and 10 other people. We got out to see an Australian Rules 'Footy' game, went to the nearby beach, attended an orientation along with the other 200+ international students (30 of which are American), went to a few house parties, and got to see first hand affects of the poor exchange rate and how expensive everything seems over here (yes, alcohol included). The next few weeks came and passed and I was able to get to know more of the fellow Americans. I was living in a student apartment complex and there were different organized events, socials, and pub crawls all around the city limits which acted as a great meeting ground.

After those few weeks passed, my amazing parents made the 13,000 mile hike across the pacific and joined me and my 'mates' down under. I couldn't remember a time when I was happier to see them. I still remember leaving my Thursday class in a hurry to meet my parents and then running into my dad the Marriott lobby. It was amazing to have them over here and able to share with them, first hand all of the experiences I was having. We were able to travel along the Great Ocean Road and see natural landmarks including the 12 apostles, which are free-standing cliffs in the middle of the ocean and look like giant fingers sticking through the ocean floor. We also walked through the Jewish part of town where my froward thinking father attempted to pick up an 17 year old Jewish girl for me while I sat idly by remembering the nice 13,000 mile buffer than was previously in tact. They also took my friends and me out to dinner and were able to see my daily life in its truest form.

After that week, they ventured up to the tropical Great Barrier Reef and left me in the chilly Melbourne with my friends. After 4 more days of traveling, they came back to pick me up for another excursion up the coast to Sydney. Together we walked around the entire inner city, took countless pictures in and around the Sydney Opera House, went on a cruise of the Sydney harbor, took a ferry to and walked around the local beaches, ventured further north to a national park where we held a Koala and fed kangaroos, and then witnessed the beautiful Blue Mountains. Finally we capped off the eventful trip by climbing the world famous Sydney Harbor Bridge and the 1,427 steps that came with it. Then at night we ate a great dinner and were fortunate enough to see a witty Alfred Hitchcock inspired play inside the Opera House. The next day I was forced to head to the airport by myself and back to Melbourne I went. The worst part about this trip was that Mindy had a locked in work schedule, along with a friends wedding to attend and was not able to join my mom and dad in Australia. Every stop we made were thinking of her and how much we would have loved to have her along, but thanks to the Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) enabled skype, I was able to regularly stay connected to her. It was amazing to have them over but my time here was far from over.

The next few weeks flew by. I traveled up to Surfers Paradise and Brisbane with 5 good friends. We went to the Great Australian Zoo, made famous by Steve Irwin, and then went on a wine tasting tour through the Gold Coast. We finished the weekend by rolling down a 1/4 mile long track angled 30 degrees, all while inside a giant rubber ball filled with water, otherwise known as "zorbing." It was one of the best weekends I can remember having, and I was able to grow much closer to some fantastic friends.

I got back just in time to write a few papers and then off I was for Spring Break. It was a very weird feeling starting spring break in the beginning of September before my friends back home even started classes, but I was in no way complaining. We booked an 11 day package along the entire east coast of australia. We started in Sydney for a day, then headed to Coffs Harbor where there were some less than amazing weather, but great night life. We then went to Brisbane and I was able to meet up with a friend of mine from school here and he took us out to a 3,000 person club outside the city which was infested with professional football players and the cities finest bar goers. Then we were off to Frasier Island for 3 days. Frasier island is a dingo infested, tiger shark breading island composed of only one man made road, and the rest were beaches that allow for fisherman and drivers to share the same highways. We traveled around in 4x4s and camped out an an aboriginal camping ground. This island has some of the most amazing views I have ever seen and with a camp fire and boxed wine around us, we had an amazing time. We were paired with 10 other international travelers, all of whom were a blast to hang out with and I continue to talk to them regularly. Spring break ended with 2 days in Airlie Beach, and then a 2 day/2 night sailing trip around the Whitsunday Islands. The Whitsundays are a chain of islands similar in size to the Florida Keys and boarder the Great Barrier Reef. At night the sky was so clear it was literally like staring into a constant stream of fire works, lit up with stars for amusement. The 28 people on board spent the days snorkeling and sun bathing, and the nights hanging around the captain and sharing stories from our home towns. In my ideal life, I would do nothing but hang out with a few friends on a this boat and sail around for months at a time, pick up a job on one of the islands for gas money and then get right back to the sea. Back home I am used to a constant level of energy and activities, but on this boat I could be happy doing nothing but listening to music and catching fish. Finally once on land, I had to get one thrill out of my system which I had been looking forward to for almost 2 years, I went SKYDIVING! For over a minute I free-fell from 14,000 feet above the islands until the parachute above me opened and the instructor and I coasted onto land with the biggest smile on my face that I can ever remember having. I could not imagine a better way to spend my time here and I knew I was living life to the fullest.

I came back and immediately went right back to Sydney. It was an organized trip through my University here, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) and included 3 other schools and 110 other international students. I met dozens of great people and got to see the city of Sydney for an extended period of time with in a much more social light. After this trip I could definitely see myself living here at some point down the road. The night life there is phenomenal, there are more open air markets here than in Turkey and more scenic walks than the south of France (not that I have been to any of these places.... but I can imagine). It is an awesome place to travel to and somewhere that I will make certain I get to again after my studies here.

So I greatly apologize for this lengthy message, however cramming in over 2 months of activities into an email less than 5 pages is much harder than I imagined. I would like to say that every day here is a day better than the one before it, but that is far from true. I have had days where I missed the comfort of home and my familiar surroundings. I have also had days where I want to move here the minute I graduate and never look back. I have had more experiences here than any other time in my life. However more than just a forum for socializing and working on my Australian accent to show off to the American ladies back home, it is a growing opportunity that I have not overlooked. I have met people here from around the world that are living out of their backpacks for months, and sometimes years at a time. I have evolved in a way I thought was far from possible. I am more independent and more responsive to change, and I now have a greater appreciation for family and friends than ever before.

I have questioned my motives for coming here more than once, simply becasue my life back home was so well orchestrated. I have a fantastic family who I love more than words can describe, I lived with 3 of my best friends, and was surrounded by my other amazing friends, in the best housing on campus, I was on the executive board for the two best business organizations in the business school, and I was in the best fraternity on campus with plans to move into the house this year (I may be biased, but these are all facts people...). However I knew that I was complacent back home, and that I did not want my surroundings to change. So until I tested myself by moving across the planet, I would not be able to completely grasp my full potential in life. Thus my decision to drop everything I was doing, and study in Australia. It is a growing experience, and I certainly have grown.

I know that I do not have everyone's email address so if you can think of someone who might be interested in seeing what I have been up to for the past 2 months please feel free in forwarding this message along. This message is to friends, family, family friends, and anyone in between, so don't be shy.

I know for a fact that I do not have the email addresses for the following: Steve/Kim, Tammy/George, Leslie/Bob Aunt Sandy/Uncle Sal, Uncle Paul, Joy, June/Brian, Sandor/Michelle, Peter/Dina, so if you know find yourself sharing any DNA with these people please help me out and forward these along :)

Once again, thanks for reading this and sharing in my experiences down under. I would not come close to enjoying this as much as I have, should it not be for my amazing friends and family back home who I eagerly look forward to seeing within the next few months. And I will be home for Thanksgiving everyone so look forward to seeing me before you know it!

Cheers,

Mitch]

….However before I decided to break free and head out of the city heres a little dialogue from what I’ve been up to.

Week-by-week synopsis

After returning from Sydney I was feeling rejuvenated having just been on a tour bus with 40 other Uni students and I was getting used to the idea of going out to have a great time and explore foreign cities. Since I knew I would be in Melbourne for 6 straight weeks I wanted to get used to the idea of going out here on a regular basis without the interception of a weekend away. To kick things off on a right note, I wanted to enjoy my frist week back. So my new friend Becca and I, headed out to Fitzroy with Joy, Olivia, and Joy’s friend from her apt Ben. We got some great drink specials and had dinner at a $4 pizza place which was amazing. The place is called Bimbos and it is a cross between a college dump and an indi living room. Hippie couches everywhere, a pool table as a dining table, barstools in the middle, everything that wouldn’t seem normal, but it made the place come together in a very friedlyt matter. After drinks and pizza, we wondered around the entire city of Fitzroy and checked out a few different bars. After meeting some interesting patrons at one bar and leaving Olivia to find a random bed to sleep in, we headed back.

The next day I accomplished my Goal that I have been setting out to do for quite some time, saw Finding Nemo! Becca and I had made arrangements to indulge our senses and check out what nemo looked like in 3-d. It was as if I was back in the theaters and I could not have enjoyed myself more. The enthusiasm that radiated out of me was apparent in the room and everyone had a great night-I seriously love that fish.

Afterwards, becca and I developed a pretty solid friendship and I was in need of further city exploration. She had never been past the boarders of this city, so I took that as an excellent opportunity to put my love of tour guiding and walking backwars, and my antsy tendencies to get the fuck around and not stay in one place for too long, and we spent the day walking around the entire city. We then randomly decided to go to St Kilda beach, but in stead of that, while on the tram, we made the abrubt decision to go to the famous chapel street. Chapel Street is known throughout the city/state/even country for the great night life, shopping, and culture-not so much museums, but just as a window into the personal lifestyles of the average Australian. We walked around and visitied several dozens of used book stores, with no Tucker Max in the shelves, I felt no need to stick around for too long. We did however walk around for hours and probably a solid 10 miles. By the end we were both exhausted, and in stead of going out that night, we decided to head to Crown and see The Dark Knight. Of course I had seen it already the first week I was in Melbourne, but Becca had not, and I loved it so much the first time, why not a 2^nd. Very solid day.

No later that week, after doing some work on various projects I wanted to get out for dinner. So Thomas Joy and I decided were in need for some more classy dining so we headed to Lygon again for some pumpkin soup and good company. Looking back on this week it was just a few fun nights out; nothing overly exciting but I was really enjoying the feeling of a local and appreciate this city and all of the many suburbs to explore and the bars to visit. There is a lot more to this than bars (while there are plenty, and I have been to damn near 50 by now) however, the towns surrounding, and the dining, and museums, and etc are some of the best in the world. Of course I have not been to any of these museums, but still I feel as though I needed to write about the beauty of this city.

21 Times Cooler In Australia

As the time continues in the amazing city, and I put off blog writing to 7 weeks after the festivities I cannot seem to grasp how much I have exactly…done. Therefore I want to make sure that I account that all of these stories (mostly in this blog, but of course in some others as well) has been to the great aid of my camera. I have taken 3,788 pictures so far, and that includes 25 albums, all of which tell me a story of how my time here has been. Therefore while the festivities of this next week in question may not be on the top of my head right now, but they are all told through a vivid recapturing courtesy of my cannon powershot.

This week I knew had to be big, regardless of the fact that I was 13,000 miles away from College Park and that my status as a legal drinker has not been up for challenge since I left LAX on July 11^th this year, I was till turning 21 and thus this night to match, at a much smaller level, the seriousness that my age now warranted. As opposed to running on and bantering like a child in desperate need for attention, I am going to get right down to the daily activities.

Of course the entire week I was ½ excited and ½ bummed, mostly because I knew it was not going to be done up in the same fashion that a 21 year old birthday celebration would be in the states; but regardless, Aussies do seem to love turning 21. For most Uni students, their parents pitch in like $500 and book out a room and put some money of the tab for drinks and celebration for your 21^st. I highly doubt Marty and Shelley would be so keen on that idea, especially after putting down thousands of dollars for my journey over here, which I am already very grateful for. So instead, I left it up to my friends here to get me drunk off their own bar tab, very generous of me, I am well aware. I made some great plans for the weeks festivities. My birthday was on a Friday, so we were going to celebrate Thursday, Friday, and then Saturday morning was the Grand Final for Footy, so I was planning on going to a party with my Australian friend Cory to that, at his mates house. All and all I figured I would stay very busy and thoroughly entertained.

All that week I had a few classes and minor assignments to take care of. So by the time it was Thursday, and I decided to skip class in celebration, I chilled in my room and Thomas and I wanted to make sure the alcohol would flow free through the day and night. We started watching entourgage or the Office, or some show online and then I decided I was ready to start drinking, so before long he headed down to his room, and back up to mine with a very appreciated birthday gift, a glowing green bottle of pure European Absinth. That combined with a “How the Camel Got His Hump” book, similar to the drink menu from Cookie, and a book on Uluru from Olivia, and a shot book from Emily, and a set of shot glasses from Thomas, and the Uluvka from my roommates back home, and a shot book/mini ping pong table/drinking game set form mindy, and a LaCoste shirt from my parents, I was set to have an amazing night. The trick with the absinth apparently is to put a shot+ in a glass, then pour cold water over sugar cubes to let it dissolve into a sugary absinth master concoxion. IDK how masterful it was, but it tasted like green peppermint with added water and sugar. People then gradually arrived, I continued to mark down, in colorful shots on my arm the amount of drinks I was consuming. After showering and chugging my absinth while in said shower, I promptly vomited my turkey sandwich. Do not eat an actual mean while chugging 140 proof alcohol. Bad Idea. But I was no where near drunk, just had an unsettled stomach. So as the people began arriving, we did some shots of Uluvka courtesy of my friends back home. Much love to you guys. Then Cory and Olivia showed up and we were about 10 all together, then we headed down to Federation square we we had a rushed bar meal and rubbed elbows with the rich and powerful that Melbourne was serving up on the high society scene. We chilled there at the Transit bar for about an hour before heading downstairs to another bar, I have since forgotten the name, but it was a good place. The reason I know it was a good place was becssue I vaugley remember that after going back for 3 consecutive shots in 10 minutes, and as my speech began to slur, the bartender had cut me off. CUT ME OFF! I’m sorry, but I was only on shot 15 or so and I had to make it to 21 by midnight. So I plead my case, I tried to stop slurring my words, which was quite difficult by this time because I already slur them when I’m tired nd sober, and now I was exhausted from drinking, and very very drunk. We settled on an arrangement that I would have a glass of water, which I pretended to drink as I poured it on the ground, and wait 5 minutes. I waited 2, demanded another drink, and out of spite he charged me for a double, I paid him and demanded another drink, so that drink quickly ensued. It was shaping up to be a good night.

By this time a lot of Joy’s LAX friends had also come by. To my happiness, the numbers were up to around 20 for my celebration. The people were very friendly and continued to buy me drinks, so I was equally friendly. Cory and Olivia then hit it off more than anyone had projected they would so they called it a night earlier than everyone else, I won’t get into the story too much, but just for my memories, Cory got shafted the next morning-sorry buddy, I guess you seem a lot cooler w/ 8 or 9 drinks down.

Anyways the LAX crew was growing in numbers, and I met one of Joys friends Leigh, such a sweet person, and of course wouldnthca know it, a Jew! This of course applies for a later story, jewish movie festival and yom kippur, and the phillepe and man on wire, and of course her crazy sister, damn I guess she has gotten me more tapped into this city than I realize. Anyways she was just one great part of the night. I also meet Joys friend Sarah, a little tiny asain girl who would technically me by 2^nd Australian, but she was asain so It’s not an authentic aussie girl…ya know? But she was rambunctious, yes I guess that is the best word to describe her. Anyways she biuys me a shot, grabs my abs, and just starts making out w/ me. She is pushing 5ft and 90 lbs, so she really put some force into it. Later on in the night as I make her buy me a shot, she proclaims, “why do we need to dirnk, lets just go into the corner to make out,” I think we reached the arrangement that we would do the shot, then make out-so we did. This was at the other bar btw, young and jacksons. We stay there for about 30 mintues, and then saunter around the city, after loosing ½ the party and loosing Brendan b/c the bouncer thought he was too drunk and refused him admittance-sounds about right. After wondering around, we settled on St. Jeromes, a cool hidden ally hipey place, were I got my 21^st shot…tequila, of course, my favooooorite J I do love tequila. And then we hang out for a little bit send a few more patrons on their way back home, and then it becomes me, Jim, Christina and Max. After we leave the bar and run into dozens of angry street people (this story is being told w/ limited memory, strictly pictures). Then we hit up hungry jacks, and while that may seem like a horrible idea considering I do not eat fast food, after the 30 mintues I spent convining everyone to “gimme sum” and “feed the chicken” it wasa amazing. Also the quad stacker was well worth it. AND THAT CONCLUDES THAT.

The next day of the celebrations were even that much more of a blurr. The day started off hanging out in fed square and grabbing some food on flinders ln before the crazy footy show in fed square. The tv cameras were out in full force, there was a mock jumo and catch feature like at the Superbowl, there were some 50 ft inflatable men in footy uniforms, a much scaled down version of superbowl fanfare, but still pretty cool to see, and on my birthday especially. We then continue to drink, get some bottles and some beer- do shotguns and then get drunk in the room. We then headed out to Lion in melbounre central where I was given the courtacy flaming birthday shot. It was weird and strong but very very free…and it was on fire while it was poured so as a fan of shiney lights and alcohol, I obliged…oh anad then I smoked the fumes…that was weird. Then we got some nachos so I would not vomit pure alcohol all over myself and heded off the the chill on ice bar. This palce was unreal. Got a jacket and a hat for the admission, which was free to me for the birthday, and also a drink. Of course we were supposed to hand back in the hat and jacket….but that will be covered a little bit later. After 3 jager bombs? A bunch of ice luges, some ice drinks, out of glasses….made of ice-so sick… and a lot of other pictures later, our 30 mintues were up and my penis was freezing over. However before you could stop me, I just ran out of the place saying “I stole the jacket, I stole a jacket!” This thing is actually pretty tight, but I didn’t remmebr taking it til the next morning, and by that point they had my credit card and I’m sure had already charged me the $100 for the jacket, or so I claim. But in anyevent the jacket is awesome and well worth it. It has a chill on nd jagermeister logo, so it will definitely replace my old winter coat. After chill on, we met up w/ tyler (whose tyler? Hes a mother fuckin g), we sang the MD fight song on the streets, and then headed over to Yak bar where cory works. He set us up w/ a row of free shots and he became my new best friend. Shots of vodka and whatever on him and we all gathered around. I don’t even want to think of what comes next, becsue after trying to pop a balloon w/ my head against a plaster wall, and my head starting to bleed, I was being escorted out onto the tram, where I then proceeded to vomit, ALL OVER MYSELF, and the tram as well. It was notewrhty of course, but very very gross the next morning waking up w/ sharpie on my face, booze in my hair, and vomit on my leg. Fair enough to say I did not end up making it out to watch the footy grand final the next day, but it was a great weekend. Thanks for all the lovin you all put forth.

The Next Week- Chapel Street, Being Jewish, and Golfing

So this week marks my 12^th week down under and throwing it all together in the messy form that I have gotten used to. It was a pretty stellar week if I do say so, being a Jewish student at UMD is as common as having Clymadia as a Koala, however I figured it might be more difficult to celebrate the holidays this time, being so far away from everything I am used to. I am talking, of course, about Rosh Hashanah an Yom Kippur. This week, on September 30^th was Rosh Hashanah and fortunately for me, that person Leigh, Joy’s LAX friend I mentioned from my birthday, had gotten in contact with me and given me some good places to check out for the holidays. Additionally I had been speaking to this girl Amie, whose sister apparently met Mindy at Chabad while visiting NYC for a few weeks. So the Jewish Geography is definitely an international game.

To start it off I found this Orthodox Hebrew Shul in the city, and opposed to the Jewish part of town which is a solid 10 miles south, and a lengthy tram ride, I figured that the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation would be the perfect fit. I exchanged emails with the Rabbi and he expressed to me that there was a very open guest policy that that no fee would be required to attend. Great guy, however he informed me that services started at 9 and while I am usually very late to services at B’nai, I felt as though I should step up my game for the rabbi of a foreign orthodox synagogue. So I did, but of course, everyone ELSE showed up late. So I was sitting there, like an idiot for a sold hr before anyone else showed up. By 10:30 the services were geared up and ready to go. Shortly after, a guy with a thick Long Island accent came up to me and asked if he could sit down, apparently I was wearing a big USA flag on my back. Anyways, just like when I am surrounded by jewish teens back home, I now had someone to rudely interrupt services with as I made conversation with him about how he’s from LI, and I go to MD, and therefore we have the same disdain for the LI girls, but just love those uggs and tights they wear. So the services were very nice, very very long, all of 6.5 hrs, but very nice none the less. After a brief snack and some more services, we went to do tishlech at a near by pond and then back to my place, where I was in desperate search for a belt. See, the day before, btw this is also UNI games week, which I will cover next paragraph, I was playing golf, and randomly the buckle just fell off; looks like it was from overuse, or I’m just a fatass, eitherway, it broke. But I had no time to get a new one by the time I was home, and my friends that were available did not have any nice brown belts, so I fashioned to fix mine w. scotch tape. 30 mintues later, in the corridor of the shul meeting the rabbi, it snapped, and I was just awkward and embarrassed. But pulling it together, like I must, I just buttoned my jacket and pretended that nothing happened. However I was invited back for dinner at the rabbi’s so I wanted to get my belt fixed by then. So instead of paying $70 for the cheapest brown belt at the mall, I borrowed my roommates, who is maybe 130 lbs. That was a stretch. However I made it to the meal and enjoyed the company of the fine jews around me.

Before and after the festivites for the Jews, I was participating in another holiday, Uni Games. Uni games are basically like the Olympics for Australian universities, all over the country. I signed up to play golf, and with no tryout needed I figured it would be a cool way to meet some new people, get out on the course, and of course get a sweet RMIT sweatshirt and golf polo. Since I did all of those, met some really cool people, enjoyed golfing at 2 pretty nice courses, one of which designed by Greg Norman, and also got my RMIT merchandise, I was very content. There was no big there involved for me, just because the games were in Melbourne this year, and typically there is much more team bonding when you are forced to travel together as a team. But it was still a lot of fun, and I got to meet the fine golfers of Australia. Not playing for 3 months put me at a slight disadvantage, but I got a 93 and then an ‘89’, with a few fortunate drops of course. I played pretty decently and didn’t loose in my 4-sum, of course 2 of the guys dropped out one day, and the next day I was playing with a coach who was damn near 60, but still I came in below cost.

Later on that week, the same person who I had been talking to, Leigh, got us tickets to some Jewish film festival that her sister volunteered at. I figured some free tickets couldn’t possibly be a bad idea so why not. As it turned out, it was a series of short films, some of them very funny, some of them about how Jewish people eat a lot of pastries, so it was more weird than funny, but Judaism the Musical, that was a winner. After we decide to leave 30 minutes into it, we grab some $4 pizza and Lucky Coq, have a few drinks, and then head to the post party for the film festival…and wouldn’t ya know it-OPEN BAR! Man this night turned out to be pretty sweet after all. I also met the guy who preformed in Judaism the Musical, and his friend Daniel who will be touring around America next year and we got to talking for a while. A very solid, random, series of events.

Later on that week we went to this thing called the dream festival. Similar to the 4:20 concert on the national mall w/ O.A.R., but w/ less weed and more hippies. We listened to some funky music and then went out to dinner in the city. Walked around for a bit, and then got way too involved at one bar with the live music. You can’t play love me by the cardigans around 4 Americans and not expect us to sing along, honestly. We also got to taste test Joy’s supposed AMAZING dumpling place. It was as good as she claimed, and cheap too. A vivid and imaginative host who felt the need to run around as if he had a chicken for a body and no head on (like a chicken with its head cut off, you get it?), but after we brought our own booze and played quarters at this crazy asian dumpling house, with the host trying to get rid of us every 4 minutes, it was a pretty sweet night out.

And the next month comes to an open

The transition into October meant one thing, well 2 I guess, the weather was getting warmer as Summer approached, but more importantly, my time was running out here. It began to hit me that my time here was limited in a very real way. I am scheduled to leave November 24^th and could not imagine that date approaching because this entire time it seemed so far away, as if it was a fictional date in the back of my head. It did not seem real, but believe me, October was here, and I was on my way out.

The Next week was mostly crammed with running around town, went to Chapel street a couple of times, bought a sweet Australia Track Jacket, chilled around the village, and went to far too many bars. However it was also the day to celebrate all days-Yom Kippur! That enthusiasm was slight sarcasm btw, but it was actually a very nice day. I went to the same services that I had went to for Rosh Hashanah and met the same team of Rabbis and my American LI buddy. Gotta love the Jews in Melbourne. It was a very pleasant day at shul, but after that I headed back and grabbed Becca to take her to the break fast. However even before that, I went to Safeway to try and mimick the amazing Devild eggs that I have grown accustom to all those years of celebrating with the Nadels back in North Potomac. However my onion, paprika, tangy Australian mayo, and egg concoxioun was no where near Mindy Nadels creation. I tried tho, however futile, I did try. After that we headed to the train station and went to Caufield to be picked up by Leigh. We were shuttled over to her home and got to meet the entire rubin family. Including her hilarious sister who despite beign 30, looks 22 and acts 14. She is the same person who volunteered at the jewish film festival, and also the next week she got me tickets to the premier of a film in Melbourne, ‘Man On Wire.’ We talked about her semester abroad at GW, her time as BBYO coordinator in LA, he disdain for the Washingtonians and love of the So Cal crowd. Assuming she moves back there, we will have to get a drink in the States.

After services and break fast, Becca and I made the journey into Richmond to celebrate Christina’s 20^th at platform bar. Becca and I were exhausted so we chilled for a while, gave our birthday wishes and then headed back, but not before we were all abruptly thrown out. This is because someone gave Max a hug, and then smashed his head into a glass and he started bleeding-enough was enough so we all went back to ‘get good’.

The next day, I decided to keep my Jew going and accepted my invitation to have dinner with Mindy’s ‘friend’ she met at Chabad, and her sister. This girl who I had been speaking with, Amie, had originally entitled her email to me as “Kate (the girl in NYC)’s brother.” Clearly Amie is a girls name, so I was just confused, but whatever, people had weird names. After proceeding to ask me if I was werid, prove it to her that I was normal, describe myself to again prove my normalness, and then converse over random details of being picked up and heading back to her place, I was weired out. I don’t think that sentence made any sense, but summation, she came on way too strong trying to be funny, and was not. But after actually meeting her and her family+friends, it was actually a great night. There have been very very few bad nights here, so it makes me laugh to say ‘actually’, but still I would like to emphacize that regardless of her initial efforts, she was a very friendly, entertaining person. We discussed the typical American stereotypes and the election-and after about 5 hrs of wine and 6 month old meat, it was a great night. I skipped Christina’s actual birthday because I was beat, but we enjoyed the time together the last night, so I felt as though my efforts were met.

The next night, as is marked in my calander, I watched Die Hard and drank w/ Thomas. Sounds fun, but its all a blur at this point. The net day however, was a solid 30 degrees, aka 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Additionally, Joys parents were in town for 6 weeks and arrived on that Sunday. In celebration, we all went down to St. Kilda after Joy ran the mini marathon. We walked around the beach, snapped some pictures, stopped by the unusual Sunday market at St. Kilda and then headed back to do a bit of work. The next day Brendan and I hit up the public par 3 golf course. Its literally right down the road and only costs $7. However it’s a shit course, so the next time we went, we took the tram right to the 2^nd hole, got off right at the 8^th, and avoided the boring 1^st and 9^th, and also the starter. I’m a baddass, I know, don’t tell my parents. Anyways, this week marked the last week of the semester. And with that I was ready to explore my wild ways and get down to having more and more fun. So on Monday, with no classes, I played my game of golf, worked on my fashion paper, I know, I know, fashion; did some market research work, and then got it all out of the way for the next day-Phillips Island. Phillips Island is home to some Koalas, wild kangaroos, a few zoos, and of course, the ‘famous’ little penguins. All of 1 foot tall, and 5 lbs, these thing are like those woddely bowling pins that never fall over, or those pop up clowns that u used as a punching bag as a baby. They are absolutely miniscule, random looking, and confused as soon as they get to the beach. But they are cute. We took the drive down with Joys parents, had a very nice picnicked lunch, and then some dinner down the road in town. I already hit my koala fix earlier back in Brisbane, but seeing some more, and finally seeing a wild kangaroo was all worth the drive down. The penguins, not so much. I remember meeting this girl whose a friend of a friend over the summer who apparently spent a whole month down there on Phillips island volunteering helping out these penguins, I have NO idea how you could spend more than 2 days down here, unless of course you lived here and liked the small town, but in any way, she did it.

Later on that week I did some more work, tanked our fashion presentation, and then after classes ended we were offered some tickets by Jodi Robin (Leigh’s sister) to go see this premier on chapel street. The film is called man on wire and features this crazy French guy who grew up with this incestuous need to climb on tight ropes. So then we climbed on a wire between the 2 world trade center towers in NYC, this was obviously slightly dated. He did it back in the 70s as a poor Frenchman, but now he’s makin money, and apparently movies too. I got my picture taken w/ him, 2^nd row seats, and a signed poster, so even if I did not know this guy, and fell asleep for 10 minutes of the movie, id say I got my money’s worth for a free night. After that we took Joys parents, who also went to the movie, to the lucky coq. More $4 pizza and drinks. After that I went to 7-11 to empty my flask into a slurpee, which joys mom really seemed to enjoy.

The next night we ‘got good’ and watched some more movies after golf, but then the next night, while Joy was off w/ her parents in Carins, we got to see Thomas’ genetalia, and some other parts in a riveting game of stip poker. IDK how much was consumed, but after eating goon like a frozen slurpee, and finishing off a bottle of wine by Danielle, and then waking up the next morning w/ 4 Tupperware containers full of goon, we knew it was a good night.

The next night we went bar hopping w/ Olivia and capped off the week very nicely. After that, it was off to the Outback! This was such a sick vacatation, and even though it was one of the cheapest tours and we slept outdoors in swags and sleeping bags, it was unreal. I will include that segment in my next blog full of my tales of travels. But for now, the 14 pages, single spaced, is good enough. This has been several hours, days, and weeks of writing. Literally I have been trying to compile this blog for about 5 weeks, but my lazy ass could never come to write about what I knew would be an insurmountable level of wiritng. As I talk about it to myself, I need to take a break before my wrists fall off, yet again. Happy reading everyone and stay posted. I am off to New Zealand in 4 hours so I better start to pack.

Cheers,

Mitch

The following was written a few nights ago just as I began to contemplate how amazing my life has been recently and how much I appreciate all the opportunities I have, and the friends I have to share them with:

Feelings of depth

Just a minute ago I was laying in bed trying to fall asleep as I contemplated the upcoming morning and my first exam, which also marked one of the last times I will be doing something for the first time here. I recently got back from The Outback on a 5 day excursion with 2 friends from here, and 1 other classmate that I had met a few times, but randomly decided to travel with. It was on this trip however, with only 5 weeks to go in my experience, that I was able to truly appreciate my time here in a completely new light. As opposed to the run of the mill debautchery of enjoying myself back in Maryland, I have been fulfilling every whim and planting a seed in the ‘holes’ of my life. I have lived my life up to this point with a hedonistic light cast over my shoulder, and for the most part I have utilized every opportunity that has come my way. I am confident that in 5 years I will look back on my college experience as one with exctreme pleasure and the best years of my life, however while I have been here I was often forced to look at the past 3 years as if I was already removed from college. Asking questions like, was it worth it to head so far away with only 1 year left? And will I still be able to have a memorable last year of college if I am experiencing something atypical to my usual experience? I of course convinced myself that yes, there was nothing that I would be rather be doing that studying abroad and taking full advantage of all of my opportunities. However I did not realize what an amazing opportunity this was until just recently.

As I was laying in my bed I began to grow ever more conscious of the fact that I will be leaving Australia shortly, just as though I will be leaving the University of Maryland shortly. It is no surprise to those of you who know me to know that that departure will be among the saddest moments of my life, when I realize I am no longer a student here. More imminently however will be my departure from Australia. It has always been a bitter sweet realization because I am so excited to get back to my normal routine and move into the fraternity house and drink every night (I just realized I am going to have only TuTh classes next semester, so literally, drinking every night), and enjoy college to the level that it is meant to be enjoyed. Yet as odd as it seems, at least as it seems to me who has been counting down the days to a certain degree, that I am somber to pick up and leave Australia. Not that my friends here necessarily compare to my friends back home, but my experiences here will go unparalleled for the rest of my life. With no real obligations and with the financial dependence on my loving parents, there is no other time when I can truly search to see what kind of person I want to be. I think I have discovered that person, and I cannot believe it. I am someone who used to emulate the seth cohens and the ari golds of the world, living vicariously through my popular good looking friends in hopes that I too can see the eyes through the confident suave eyes of my peers. Then I became full of confidence Junior and Senior year of High School, and then ultimately grew into the person I am now, or at least was, in college, most notably during the summer between freshman and sophomore year. I learned that certain things were meant to be enjoyed and appreciated, and other things, things that brought negativity and inquisition to the world, were meant to be ignored. It does very little good to worry about something you cannot change. I used to think how much sweeter would life be if I ruled the campus and had my pick of any girl; simply ignore the small stuff that seemed to drag everyone else down with the misery of drama and insecurities.

Then that day came, not where I ruled any campus or picked from any girls, but where I was confident enough in myself to completely accept anything that happened with pride that I was who I am, and I can handle anything that could be thrown my way; be it a good looking girl at a party, or an upset friend who needed consoling, or even a personal loss and a rough summer of confusion and self awareness. My confidence was soon overshadowed again by my inability to accept the fact that not everything in life is perfect. I will not always get what I want, or feel as though I need. I will have several friends while abroad, but those friends will not be as numerous or close as my friends back home. I will see things rarely seen by other 21 year olds, but I will do so at a cost of separation from those who I care about the most. And finally I will generate amazing appreciation for life and all of the things that are available to me, but I will do so by exposing my vulnerabilities and undercutting my once inert confidence. Then I realized, confidence is not being able to walk up to a pretty girl in the room and ask her to dance, confidence is realizing that not everything you want, or that you thought you once needed in order to be happy, is a reality, and that you are not only okay with that, you embrace that.

I have grown more and more aware of my surroundings while abroad, both physical landscape and emotional growth opportunities. While I realize that it is important to have a secure internal appreciation for these things, it is also important to portray yourself to the world in a way that reflects that confidence. Not by being a womanizing prick, or by using overt use of the college slang, but by speaking with a manner that demonstrates your appreciation for life, and the pleasures that come along with it. With that being said, I am not advocating to myself, or anyone else searching for words of wisdom to denounce hedonism and leave yourself open to an onslaught of emotional pain and anguish. Quite the opposite; be so closed off that you forget what life was like while looking through the eyes of someone else. Do not open yourself up to how someone else views the world, you are you for a reason and in order to appreciate things, you must do so on your terms. You must not take statements or emotions at face value, be trustworthy, but only as trustworthy as you would be towards yourself. Enough of life is thought to be better lived with your mind and someone else’s body, or lifestyle, or house, or college, or experience. Would I like to be in college park right now? Yes. Would I like to be here in Australia right now? Yes. It is about the choices we make that define us, and that is the ultimate goal, self definition. What makes us who we are is the decisions we choose, and how we follow through with them. There is no wrong decision however, if that decision is what is personally felt to be a good one. I was recently asked why I did not climb Uluru, a sacred Aboriginal rock (Ayres Rock) reserved for those going througha writ of passage, similar to the Bar Mitzvah; and was it because I felt respect for the Aboriginals? No. The rock was closed b/c of extreme heat. However would I have gone had the rock been open? The answer is yes, I would have. I feel as though this is my life to live, and I will live so with respect for my fellow man, but I also appreciate the pleasure someone gets from climbing such a famous landmark and it is my option whether I want to take advantage of this. I would not be climbing because ‘everyone else was’, nor would I be to fulfil my own ego, I would do so because I wanted to, and while I respect the aboriginal way, I also respect my own pleasure and felt that I was doing to direct disrespect to any aboriginal tribe. Had there been a ceremony being conducted of course I would have not proceeded out of respect, but had someone been watching, I probably still wouild have went, because this is my life, and under no circumstance do I feel it is appropriate for someone to restrict someone else of doing what they want to do. This is my land too and I am not going to sit idly by and watch yet another person life life, regardless of personal reasons (cultural vs hedonistic), I am going to make my own decisions and stand firmly by them. Once again, I live my life, and you are free to live yours.

Table of Contents:

Recap

Back Story

Email

Week By Week

21st Birthday

The Week Of The Jew

Its October

Feelings of Depth

A blog’s best friend

INTRO

As I sit here attempting to put my finely tuned mature brain to work, it appears as though I have neglected my best friend, Mr. Blogspot.com for nearly 5 weeks. I have been sitting on my ass; and while I have made it across all the suburbs of Melbourne, down to the beach, and up to Sydney, I have lacked the certain motivation I need to let my words flow freely from my mind. That is why, now on the 16th of October, 2008, as an official 2^nd semester senior, I am going to make one of my last entries entitled it A blog’s best friend.

The last time I made an entry it was in reference to my spring break adventures nearly 6 weeks ago. While there I was swarmed with drunken Canadians, sexy brown English girls, a socially challenged illiterate finish person (I’m sorry, but we tried reading one of his Finish books, and any word with 3 consecutive i’s and e’s is not a real word, its just an way to make fun of Gutenberg and the printing press), and the 2 brits that played tomfoolery with me and my American accent; oh and Thomas and Joy too, but they sincerely don’t count. It was probably the most active ive been in 11 straight days and more fun than imaginable. Consecutive drinking, passing out, hitting on girls, doing random activities just for the sake of doing them, and all so I would have something witty to put in my blog. I know, how sad. But if it got you reading it (and myself, hi Mitch, I know I will be reading these over and over in the future to aid my confidence and narcissism, and probably because I am so overwhelmed with self adoration that I will at some point enter these as a part of my portfolio when I attempt to be a food critic for the Washington Post; I decided that I love food, making fun of people, and writing, so I should be a food critic).

Anyways, here we go again, another adventure that I will write about for 4 pages and loose all interest, so if you are still bored in class and want to read this, FOREWARNING, it is going to be a long one (that’s what she said).

WITTY SCHOOL BANTER

So almost immediately after I got back from spring break I was off again, and this time to Sydney. However before I took off I had my fare share of things to take care of. Unfortunately, my advisor did not tell me that there would actually be work while I was ‘studying’ abroad. It was very satisfying to go to class, sit on my ass, and then drink. However as you know from my previous entries, that I am far more insightful than a booze hound and actually have been getting a lot out of my time here, and perhaps, education can be one of those things. So I got back on Tuesday afternoon from Airlie Beach, and THE NEXT DAY I had a Macro Economics 2 exam. My hardest class (including classes at UMD) since macro 1 in sophomore year, there is a reason why I am not an econ major. So unfortunately I swallowed down a 2 liter of diet coke and forced myself pull of a nice and leisurely all nighter; and it was everything I needed it to be. I got an 70% on it, when the class average was a 50, and then my last exam since then (classes are officially over, just final exams are left) I got an 80% on, again I am a fucking genius and although my Economics professor now knows me by name as Mitchell Levine, the fucking American who is responsible for the 35% drop in the Australian Stock Exchange, he also finds a way to relate to me by mentioning all of the famous economists that have come out of the US, not surprisingly, 90% of whome came from the University of Chicago (Friedman, Keynes, the freakonomics guys, and of course, Tucker Max). Despite his hope of teaching the next US senior economics advisor, I do not have the same passion for economics that this guy does. He loves me and I play right back, because having a 300 lb economic guru on your side pays off.

Now that classes are over and my blog rhythm begins to settle in again, I was re reading an entry I began to start nearly 2 weeks ago (I have been trying to write for quite some time, but as I said, I just don’t have the proper motivation that writing 10 consecutive pages requires). I started to talk about my classes but then realized that the relative nature of my course schedule will have no relevance to me when I re-read these entries in a few months, so I am instead going to take this time to fill everyone in on the adventurous of a man who recently surpassed American legality and the brisk age of 21. Before I got to that age I was still plateau’d in my stories of spring break and how amazing that was, I seem to digress quite often, it’s a problem of mine and one that I hope to someday cure with medication; however I fear it will take away from my clear humor and attractive personality that has gotten me all the sexy ladies over the past few years.

SYDNEY

OK so after spring break I was off to the world famous Sydney, Australia, yet again, this will be my 3^rd time. After my 5 day vacation with my parents, and my 1 day during spring break, I was off to the city that breaths on opera mania and Olympic pride yet again. However this time, my surroundings were not with 2 giddy teenagers in love, not was it with a bald guy and his wife I call mom, it was with 100 drunk college students, 95 of which I have not met, hell, someone’s gotta wanna hook up, right?

So we were off, we left the Thursday after spring break and I was going to make sure this trip was going to be memorable. Not only did I get locked out of my room before the trip began, I also felt this was a direct sign to drink immediately. Thomas, Jim (a kid from Bently in Boston) decided to pregame hard. We chugged 4 full solo cups of Wine, which is equivalent to about 12 beers. I was good to go for at least an hr or 2. So in the typical spirit of drunk and disorderly Thomas, he ventures off in the search for Hungry Jacks to enjoy on the lengthy 13 hr bus ride to Sydney, however the rest of us, and Jims friend Becca, catch a cab and head to the Southern Cross Station. Becca and I strike up conversation because apparently she and I share a mutual friend. She mentioned that she is from Baltimore, I joke about how I think its amazing that she has not been shot yet, and she comes right back saying “I know, but my bike has been stolen 5 times, and my house was robbed a month before I left…for the 3^rd time.” Seriously, do NOT live in inner city Baltimore if you like your possessions. However, our mutual friend is Rob Housten, a fine young degenerate from the city of Baltimore proper that has found a nice home at #9 frat row, aka alpha sig house and we have been good friends ever since he pledged, most notably this past year. So we share some stories about rob and instantly becca and I share some repor, at least one that could last the weekend. The bus ride is awful. The tour guide is some 29 yr old ex surfer who clearly took this job to hit on, successfully mind you, all the desperate American girls who just love foreign accents. His arms either have old track marks, or just scars from his saline muscle implants. But he is a tool, and as you know, so am I, and I am also drunk at this point, so we talk for a while and I get on the loud speaker because, I like Tucker Max, love attention. I take a vote about what movie to watch, all the time thinking I don’t give a fuck what these people want to watch, im putting in knocked up, they voted for 40- year old virgin, so I put in Knocked Up. It failed, I then put it 40-year old virgin, it too failed. After 4 more attempts and an angry bus driver, I admitted defeat and assumed that my American movies were not formatted properly for this Australian dvd player. So tooly mctool (aka Justin the tour guide) put in 50 first dates. I decent movie at best, but enough to entertain me until I passed out from the alcohol. Did I mention this bus had no bathroom…What fucking chartered bus carrying college students for 13 hours has no bathroom??? We stop after an hr and I pee a lot. We get back on the road and I decide that my neck pillow is not good enough, I take over the 5 ft 10 inches of floor right next to me to take a nap, good thing there was no bathroom so no one had to get off and walk over me, if anyone stepped on me, things would not have gone well. Surprisingly I slept the entire time in this position and after 10 hrs of sleep on a bus; I was ready for the day to begin. I hope you all like my attempts to write like, and constantly reference Tucker Max. I admire many of his stories and his way for telling them so vividly; however since my stories are only great in magnitude when compared to stories of other college students, and not those of Tucker Max, I have decided to tell the story in my own way and leave Tucker to do what Tucker does best (rape?), and leave me to do something else, perhaps study abroad and blog.

We start by checking into the hostel, grab some subway breakfast sandwiches, and then start the tour of Sydney. It was a beautiful day in sydney and the tour was off and running. We immediately continued to stay in out group of 6 (myself, Joy, Thomas, Jim, Becca, and Christina), however I attempted to venture off and be overly outgoing, and did so successfully until getting stopped by a group of JAPs so FUCKING annoying that Gucci herself would have haulted her product line just to make sure that these fucking snobs didn’t touch them. They were all form Jersey, typical, and made paris Hilton seem like a nun. Worst part of all, they weren’t even that hot, well one of them was, and surprisingly she was the nicest of the 4, not even her fat friend from Pleasantville was remotely conversable. Either way we walk through the botanical gardens, have a go at it w/ some fruit bats, and then chill by the ‘water kangaroos’, aka seagulls for some conversation and more tour guide info. We then walked to the opera house and took plenty of pictures. That’s when the tour split into 2; ½ the people went straight to Darling Harbor, and ½ stayed and went up one of the 4 main pillars of the Sydney Harbor bridge to get a good glimpse of the city. I had already done the bridge climb so I did not need to do it for the view, but everyone else was going, including the good looking jersey girls, so I figure at least I’ll have a good view w/o any remote conversational potential. We then head over to darling harbor to catch some food, and were then off to this market that made the vic market in Melbourne look like the g’d damn Beverly hills gift shop- it was a dump, but pleanty of deals to be found. We stayed around for a while and then Thursday night was quickly approaching so we headed back and got changed up for the booze cruise that night.

The booze cruise was a festivity for the ages. It was filled w/ boxed wine, unlimited beer (heinkien!!) and a game called slap the bag, made famous by the gentleman of Alpha Sigma Phi, but brought back into life by the aussies. So we get on the boat and immediately there are signs that this night is going to end well, it is a shit show. 2 seconds in, I have a drink in hand and they keep coming. I immediately start talking to the cute girls from IDK where, but as soon as I snap a picture by the opera house and make a move, I decide to get her a beer. Badddd idea. Tooly mcToolerson #1 makes out w/ her. They play a nice little game where they steal the American girls cameras (this happened at least 15 times) and then have their friends take a picture of them “kissing the aussies,” that was the name of the game btw. I feared that with only 5 aussies on this cruise, all of which male, this game would not suit me too well. I stopped trying to hit on girls after 5 were stolen from me. I can only do so much. However the one redeeming part of that night (besides the 15 beers and pizza) was that Jersey JAP #3, the ugly snob, puked her brains out all over the dance floor because she was trying to impress the Australian tour guides, sorry lady, but I guess being bulimic for so long doesn’t take kindly to massive beer and pizza consumption.

We get off the booze cruise around 1am and I am in no mood to deal w/ any more Australian tour guides, but I am still drunk and happy so I make the most of my surroundings. I ditch the MD crew so I don’t have to see more people make out in front of me. I find a group of girls and start talking to one of them- they are headed to some bar in darling harbor and I choose to follow along. One of the girls is pretty cute and her friends aren’t bad either. We sit down, I buy her a drink and I start instantly spewing about the tools of Australian men, and how the aussie women are too ‘sophisticated’ for the aggressive Americans. Shes like well I like American men anyways, I ask “why?” She says because she likes the aggressive style, so I say “so Australians won’t do this [we start making out for a bit]. I guess she really does like Americans. We go to 3 more bars, walk all over town. All things considered, it was a much different and more lucrative experience than my past times in the city.

The next day we get up around 8am and grab breakfast again-and again its subway. However this time they are planning on going to the blue mountains, a very pretty range of mountains that is made famous by the eucalyptus trees it has and the oil that when released makes a blue gas cloud over top. I have already been to this place with my parents so decide to skip it. Jim and me decide were gonna go to manly beach and surf. Instead we hang out w/ two cool Israli soldiers. Both of whom noticed my attempts and ultimate success of hooking up last night. We go to a few markets, grab some food, walk all over town, and go to some weird ass modern art museum that literally had all of 15 people inside. After a while we ditch them and go to Manly. It was great weather and we chill on the beach w/ some water and just talk about how I am a tool and Jim tries to get w/ girls. We have some good times and then the sun is coming down and there are no surf schools, so we head back and meet up with everyone back at the hostel. We get changed for the white party that night and head it on out. At this point I am a little bit over couples and the girls on this trip because they are pretty much all JAPs, other than a few and the few that aren’t I’ve all spoken to and all have boyfriends, so I just wanna have a good night w/ my friends. Joy however keeps pestering me to hook up w/ girls, Joy, I know your reading this so hi! I decide this is annoying and avoid her, we then get a bunch of drinks, my friends Susan who is ENGAGED btw, is hitting on me and grabbed my crotch 3 times, I ignore this because I am not that much of a dickhead. After a few other girls showing potential, I did not feel like lowering my standards just to make out. The night is great tho, got very drunk, roam around the city, again, and get a delicious kabab and 2am. The trip is coming to a close and I was very satisfied.

The next morning, subway again! We then all pile on to the bus w/ all of our baggage and head off to bondi beach. The beach is world famous apparently, but it was a gloomy day so nothing special, also its no more than ¼ of a mile long so it surprised me how world famous it was. Anyways, we head there, Jim Thomas and I decide to rent a sruf board and have a go at it. I do not surf, cannot surf, and have only had 1 lesson where I got up like 4 times. However after 40 mintues of sucking, I got up! It was very exhilarating and it left with me a much needed sense of satisfaction for the day. We take a few more pictures, I buy a bondi lifeguard shirt, and then we keep on walking towards our meeting point. We then go on a few walks and pass through a large cemetery, grab some lunch along the beach at this dude’s house, and then we board the bus again for a trip to some other beach. Not sure where it was but it was pretty cool. The 6 of us walk around, grab some nachos and gilatto and then call it a day. It was a very good day but nothing to crazy—we board the bus, grab a beer beforehand and then its another 13hrs back to Melboure. Great weekend, bad bus ride back tho, but overall I had a blast. I cannot continue writing, and I am getting tired and it is 2am so I am going to call it a day-next blog to come soon, scouts honor.

Much Love,

Mitch

11 days, 6 Hostels, 3 facebook Albums, and 10 pages...single spaced! SPRING BREAK DOWN UNDER!!!

Sad to say, even harder to write, but Spring Break 08 (2 of 2) is now officially over. I arrived back to my RMIT Village Flat around 8pm Australia time, much to the surprise of my Chinese roommate who was under the impression that I had moved to Cambodia, or perhaps just back home. Since my roommate is 100% Chinese and speaks broken English, the language barrier can be hard at times with his thick accent. Before I left, he seemed quite infatuated with the Olympics so he started up conversation with me whenever the opportunity arose, but almost 80% of the time, it was about his less than heterosexual infatuation with Michael Phelps. So I mentioned to him how he lives 45 miles away from me in Baltimore and how he used to swim at University of Maryland before strtaed training for the Olympics—he got REDICULOUSLY excited- I could see the seamen start to accumulate as he was getting ready to orgasm all over me. So one day I come back from class and here is the dialogue:

William- “ohhhh! You cousin win anoder gol medtal!”

Me- “William, WHAT are you talking about”

William- “Your cousin! Oh I mean you ney-bar”

Me- blank face

William- “Mikal phelpppp!”

Me- “Ohhhh- he lives in the same state…. He is not my neighbor, nor is he my cousin”

Either way, between our conversations me saying “I’ll see you in 2 weeks” probably sounded like “orange chicken with duck sauce” to him.

However I did get home safely after participating in some adventures along the way. Since I haven’t blogged in just over 2 weeks, this edition will contain some extra goodies. Now I know each and every patron of my site sit on the edge of their seat for my 7 page (single spaced) blog entries, so this will not fail to disappoint, nor unfulfilled from any kinky fetish you may have that circumvents around blogging.

So in the 6^th edition of the increasingly popular Mitchell Report, here are the topics that will be covered (just so I don’t miss anything along the way):

-Always miss the comfort (and inexpensive liquor at home), but have gotten to be so happy here

-Went out along the Docklands and then party in East Melbourne

-Footy game and then out before Spring Break w/ the Uni Melbourne LAX crew

-SPRING BREAK!

• Missed our flight
• Sydney at 6am
• Overnight to Coffs Harbor
• Day trip to Brisbane
• Day trip to Harvey Bay
• 2 nights on Frasier Island
• Overnight to Airlie Beach
• 3 day/2 night sailing trip along Whitsunday Islands
• 2 more nights on Airlie Beach
• Back to Melbourne and then off to Sydney

INTRO INTO BLOG

So lets start this eventful blog off (btw I’m currently in the middle of an all-nighter, so you might be able to hear me slurr my words as I type this because I am falling asleep at the computer). Last time I wrote I was just getting back from Brisbane and the Gold Coast and sharing all my thoughts and gushy feelings about home and away (that’s a pun but I guess no one really gets it since its like ‘The OC’ of Australia and is the only famous Australian Drama on TV)- but yes, home and away—missing home and the cheap drinks and the comfort of commons and my drunken, degenerate, amazing friends, but I am also having a blast here, so I was having a little pit fall in the middle getting over my love of college park. However I decided to can my longing and do what I do- dominate at beer pong and get fucked up. But one night after I got back I went out this one night with 20 other people for a friends birthday, got to the bar hung out until 2 or so, and then came back and was like ‘What the hell am I doing here.’ However missing CP and home is only worthwhile when you can in fact… go home/cp. So just as I mentioned in my last report, I talked it out and got myself up and realized that this is not about getting drunk every night at the fraternity house, or playing pong every night back in commons, or even spooning snickers as I watch Elf at home, it was about experiencing a whole new city all alone. Didn’t come w/ any friends, didn’t come to a popular city like London or Barcelona, or Rome, but I wanted to push myself to the social and independent limit and see how tough I actually am- and I’m a bull baby.

INSIGHT ABOUT MY LIFE

I spoke with another friend a while back who went abroad last semester and he told me to be warey of the 2-week honey moon stage, where after the first few weeks of pure bliss, you begin to reminisce of all the fonder things in like; but not to let that inhibit my experience here. However I was having trouble letting go of what I loved so much, and what I spent 3 years building back home. I anticipate I will be reading this post 5 years down the road and I will look at myself as a huge, for lack of a better word, pussy. Thinking that I can’t man up for 5 months and live life away from home with only the company of people I meet- so future Mitch, don’t worry, it took me a solid 4 days to see the big picture. I keep on repeating this message in all of my posts, but it becomes more and more clear every time I sit down at my computer to share them with all of you. Now I had a bunch of cliché lines in here like “Life is only what you make of it,” “attitude is everything,” etc—and they are all true, but sometimes when shits got you down and you know that you could be havin a good time, all you gotta say is “fuck it.” I’m not gonna die, I’m not about to hurt anyone around me, I’m studying abroad for 5 months, and getting ready for the next 50 years. Calm down, don’t stress and enjoy yourself. A mindset like that will make you rather lazy, but very happy. I’d rather be a 400 lb happy camel than a depressed CEO. You can be as depressed as you want, and you can look over to the green side of the fence all day long, but until you stop caring, your just gonna drain youself. I have never been happier than when I am aloof- so don’t give a shit and have a blast- that’s my advice to the world. However “attitude is everything” dad, so I’ll take your advice and have a blast – not because I’m in Melbourne and I have to be having a blast because I’m abroad, but just because I like having fun. I could be anywhere in the world, but College Park has 95% of my friends, so that’s where I’m happiest, but the city life is good times. But about 2 weeks ago I sat down and thought, I can either spend the next 11 weeks in a separated state enjoying the scenery but just going through the motions of a 20 year old in a foreign nation, or I can seize the day and just enjoy myself.—the big picture doesn’t have to be pretty, it just has to be fun to look at. So instead of caring when I get homesick every now and then, I think I’ll just stop caring and live it up—maybe not the healthiest therapeutic method, but I think it works. And yea trust me, after shrinking my social circle from: the Jews, the fraternity, commons, business school, images, football/basketball, family, HS friends, and snickers and beauty, to my core group here, it is not the easiest thing, but shit—I’m in Australia, how and I love it.

STILL IN MELBOURNE

Ok so back to the daily activities. After my epiphany of loving life, Brianna, Joy’s friend was heading back home to ASU so on her last night we took her to the Docklands where Joy was working and e had a few drinks and then walked around the harbor. We ran into some Aussies and they were also very impressed with US Americans, because again foreigners are obsessed w/ Michael Phelps. Later that week we went to a friend of ours, Valerie’s, boyfriends birthday party in East Melbourne. Thomas thought it would be a good idea to get his face drawn on with blue sharpie and walk around town all night like a cat-it didn’t seem to look as interesting as originally hoped, at least not the next morning it didn’t. That night after the party we spent a solid 45 minutes making grilled cheese and cleared out Veronica and Brianne’s fridge. And then I tried to make some cheesy potatoes out of very raw potato…not my best strategic cooking. The next day, after sleeping in and missing Joy’s 5K, Veronica, Brianne and I went to the Telstra dome and saw St. Kilda vs. Adelie Footy match. St. Kilda the victor and on our way out we ran into an actual USA AFL team. Apparently they have Aussie Rules Football back in the states. We followed them around like teenage girls stalking a boy band but they could appreciate the attention, and after getting lost from following them we headed back and chilled for the rest of the day. Later that week after prepping for spring break and taking care of other activities, Joy myself and the Lax crew went to Melbourne Central Station to Lion’s Pub, and then to The Golden Monkey where I ordered a $14 cocktail because it was called ‘the bronx’ and I was proud of the USA, and then got good and messed up before coming back here, doing laundry at 3 AM and yet again oversleeping my Thursday morning class. Good times, but here comes the Spring Break section:

SPRING BREAK! WAHOOO

Spring Break! Wahoooooo—gotta love dumb college kids spending $1500 to travel around and get drunk. However this spring break was much different than any other in the states will ever be. People here don’t really go on spring break, they go on a 2 week Holiday, aka vacation, after gradutating from High School, and then spring break is just for studying for them. Pretty fucking lame if you ask the foreigners, but we had a blast so that’s all that matters. The spring break crew was Joy, Thomas and myself. We booked the hostles and food vouchers + 3 day 2 night on Frasier island + 2 day 2 night sailing trip on the Whitsunday islands all for $300 + $300 for all the bus transports + $300 for the flights to Sydney and back from airlie beach + skydiving + souvenirs and activities so it was prolly around 1700 or so (skydiving is expensive as shit-but totally worth it) and was a really great time.

SYDNEY

So to start out we have a Thursday night flight at 8pm, we catch a cab to the Melbourne airport, get to the desk, give them our IDs, and they just look at us and say “you’re going to Sydney aren’t you….” Of COURSE JetStar, the equivalent of AirTran in the states, only flies to Sydney from this whole in the wall outdoor airport called Avalon. So we just paid $50 for a cab, and have 45 minuts to drive an hour…. Looks like were leaving tomorrow! So thankfully they give us a free transfer, so it only coasty us an extra $100 divided by 3 people for cab far to get to the other airport—however our flight left at 6am, so we had to leave by 330, so we had 3 choices; stay up for 6 hrs and sleep on the plane, go to sleep so we’re rested for Sydney, or drink heavily and pass out and maybe miss our 2^nd flight…..honestly what do you think we chose? We stayed up until 1am POUNDING the goon while playing a drinking game to Anchorman-we drank every time someone said Ron Burgendy, we drank a lot. Passed out, got up 2 hrs later hungover/still drunk/pissed off b/c Thomas was DEFINITELY still drunk and humming in my ear. This was the first time I was legit pissed at Thomas, and then when he ate “a whole mess of nachos” aka sour cream and guacamole with bread crumbs at the airport at 5am…. with a milkshake I was not feelin it. However after having the entire row of the plane open ahead of me, I slept for 2 straight hours from gate to gate and was a new person. The Thomas was on his low of the day, and joy was giddy along w/ me.

We had to meet with our travel agent in Sydney, who btw wouldn’t give us a drop of information until I called and bitched her out and threatened to call the better business bureau on her ass (there is no better business bureau) if she didn’t give me an itinerary for a trip I already paid for—she eventually did (but not to Thomas or joy, I guess I’m the only angry consumer). However we still had our “1 night voucher” for a Sydney hostel, and since it was 8am when we laded and did not need the night, we just used it to eat breakfast and take a nice Sydney dump. We got packed for the day, stored our luggage, and were off to see Laura, the bitch travel agent. We gor there after a nice 45 minute walk of exploring the city and joy jumping at every boston fan she saw 13,000 miles away from boston, and Laura actually was a cool irish girl w/ a nice ass. We talked for a while and then took our vouchers and some pamphlets on New Zealand and then hit the floor. We then walked around the historic Sydney rocks insearch for this crazy german beer garden place- got there after being lost for an hr and starving, but its ok since I found some amazing challah at Coles, and then met up w/ Joy’s friend who is studying outside of the city. Thomas called steph patton to see what bar she worked at while in Sydney and it turned out it was in bondi junction, a 30 minute ride outside of the city—not gonna happen. We walked around, went to the harbor, stopped at my best friend the Sydney harbor Marriott, and then Joy lost her camera at a Chinese food court, she was really pissed and sad and bitter, but I am a huge camera whore so I can share all my pics w/ her- no worries. Then we went to darling harbor, got drunk at happy hr, went back to the hostel said good-bye to joys friend and hit the other bar for cherry bombs and chicken parm- caught the over night bus, put on elf on the Bus TV and fell the fuck asleep. Next day … Coffs Harbour!

COFFS HARBOR

Ok that was way too long, so Coffs harbor will be immensely shortened, mostly b.c this place sucks. Coff’s Harbor is, I can only assume to be, a lovely town in the summer w/ an outdoor mall, pleanty of bars, and a marina w/ some dolphin swimming and boating, however…. We got off the greyhound at 5 am, strolled around town to realize nothing was open that early, so we wandered around the town for 30 minutes searching for our hostel until a man walking around gave us some better direction than the ones supplied to us in Joy’s Frommers Australia book.

We checked into our hostel after waking the groggy manager who was recently awoken by other drunken house guests just 3 minutes prior to our arrival. We took a much needed 5 hr cat nap and awoke, much to my surprise, before noon. After incorrectly thinking that there was more to do in this town than sleep and eat, we woke up and got dressed in search for some daily activities. After reading “things to do” in the guide book and realizing that the best thing to do, a dolphin encounter, was $240, we kept looking for activities. Then we heard about “The Big Bannana,” a banana factory in town where most of the bananas of New South Whales are made, however only 10% of bananas are made here, the rest are made in Queensland-so the biggest banana factory still isn’t very large. So we trekked the 3 mile long walk (or 5.2 Kilometers) along the costal highway to the scene to any banana related horror movie. We watched them make candy, went on a banana tour where I learned that a banana is shaped to fit is someone’s hand and mouth- how very useful. The video was some weird hologram out of a futuristic Alfred Hitchcock movie oriented around banana manufacturing. Well I did get 3 bananas and a $4 shot glass out of it, and of course this paragraph in my blog, so it wasn’t all bad. On our way back we encounter a very nice old man with a 3 lb dog who out of nowhere he offered to let me hold him. Of course with my love and affection for Dog’s, I immedalty accepted this offer. The man then put the dog down out of my arms and let the dog roam around this sidewalk next to the highway for about 5 mintues. He then started talking to us about the weather in Washington DC and offered me insight inot getting free postcards from the post office….Creepy old person #1 of many of this trip.

Once we got back we tried walking around the town, but everything was closed….at 4PM on a SATURDAY…. Okkk- so then we watched a movie, got dinner, got a bottle of vodka, listened to my ipod thru my bose headphones and then went to chill at the bar. It was Jim Beam night so in order to get a picture of the jim beam girls you had to buy a $9 Jim beam and cola…. Sorry ladies, sexy sexy ladies, but im not shelving out $9 for a can of coke w/ a splash of jim beam-however Thomas was adamant so he shelved out $18 for him and I to get some photos w/ the ladies. Then I walked around w/ my proud picture, hit on an aussie girl w/ a boy friend (she didn’t TELL me she had a boy friend for over an hour), then found joy, got drunker, went next door to the fallafal place and asked for a huge one w/ lots of hummus b/c “im jewsih and I like hummus.” Went to bed, but not before being nearly raped by a bachelor party/footy team/w/e they were they wanted to get into our room, and I was not opening that door w/ them around. There were 15 of them, but for whatever reason in my drunken confidence I stood my ground and would not let them steal all my shit, and all that stood between them and the room was me and the key. Then again at 5am we caught the early bus to Brisbane and slept once again.

BRISBANE

Once on the bus I immediately fell asleep and then ½ way through, we stopped at the big prawn house for lunch, Thomas ate his weight in sodium and then we peaced out.

In Brisbane we walked around the waterfront, Thomas ate bug infested fallafal, I got some delicious subway, then we went on the overly priced 1 day old ferris wheel. It was cool, I guess. Then we went back on the ferry, met up w/ Corey, my friend at RMIT that I met back at UMD. We hung out in the hostel for a few and then grabbed some beers at the bar downstairs called elephant and wheelbarrow (they have them everywhere in Australia), and then we continued to drink excessively. After a few beers, Corey asked me how I was doing w/ the aussie ladies, I told him about the girl w/ the boyfriend but other than that, just American girls. So hes like man you gotta get laid by an aussie! So I said “fine, ill have sex w/ an aussie before my 21^st” (I don’t surcome to peer pressure btw, but when an Australian man tells you to sleep w/ an Australian lady, its only polite to agree, so thanks Corey). Anyways, 5 minutes passes and a 40 yr old and her drunk ft stumbling friends come over and she says “I’m sorry but I couldn’t help but over hear….when is your 21^st birthday?” I’m like wow. I quickly responded with the 26^th, but thought to myself, I could either have a great story and regret my actions for several years to come, or I could have a decent story, and continue on my marry way searching for something better looking with less grandchildren. Also if I wasn’t staying in a 22 person hostel and10 more beers in me, this would be cool. But since I was slightly sober, I told her that I was on my way out to meet some friends but not before she asked me how long I’d be in town for, and I said just the night, so she said “well ill be here later tonight.” Very nice old lady who could have been my mother….

So after that, I put on some decent clothes and we go to a bar outside the city which is HUGE- outdoor/indoor/3 levels and plenty of girls…. with boyfriends- I hit on drunk girls, girls w/ braces, and plenty of girls w/ boyfriends, I had some interesting opening lines including “I really, really like your braces” and “looks like YOU could use another beer,” this girl was literally falling down as I said this. End result, a few cops come to bust up a fight and I buy a cranberry vodka and some chicken strips (selling greasy food AT the bar is an AMAZING idea)- great night tho.

Next day we wake up at like 10am in Brisbane, walk around for a little, then catch the bus to Harvey bay. It was like a 5 hr bus ride and slept most of the way. Got there and the hostel was the BIGGEST dump from the outside, but it wasn’t bad on the inside.

HARVEY BAY

So we get to the hostel, and as I say, it is a huge DUMP. But for whatever reason, they decided to take us in through the back (that’s what she said) and inside is actually pretty nice. 4 person hostel rooms, by far the smallest thus far, a 6 person internet room, a decent TV room, and a sweet pool that smelled like cat urine, oh, and a disgusting cat, of which I am very allergic to. So after the long bus ride, we jump right into the pool, forget that it is a mild 70 degrees outside, the pool being no higher than 50, we braved it for a solid 2 minutes then got out and took a warm as hell shower. After the shower I sat down with these two British girls, Komal and Chan, they were traveling around from Southesat asia all the way to New Zealand for 3 months. We started watching “The Castle” when Thomas and the manager of the Hostel joined in. “The Castle” is the equivalent of the Australian Napoleon Dynamite – all I gotta say is “straight to the pool room.” It was g’d awful the first 1.5 hrs, but after that it was surprisingly stupid and witty. A high recommendation to anyone whose in a mood for a movie that doesn’t know its funny until it is. Believe me, it’ll make sense once you see it.

We then met the rest of our crew, A finish guy named Yarri who was weird and got weirder, but then 2 cool other brits who were dating, one form Newcastle, Phil, and one form London, Nicola. They have been backpacking around since December, 2007 and have been all over picking up jobs on a month by month basis. Then 4 Canadians came in- usually I’m an instant hater of Canadians, and this was nothing different. However as the night progressed I found out that 2 of the guys were there for about 6 weeks visiting another friend of theirs who was living out here for a year. He worked at a bar right near my place in Melbourne and can out drink most people back home pretty easily-good work Collin. He told us the story of how the other guy who was there was dragged out to sea in Byron, one of the world’s tamest beaches. So they nicknamed him “I love lamp” and bought him the shirt to correlate. The other two, Matt and Kira, were dating and the girl was a jew from long island, lots to talk about. We then had a lengthy intro session about the dangers of dingos and camping, and also driving our 4X4 on the beachy raods. It was insane, but the roads there were straight sand with one one small town. The entire island, about the size of one of the Florida keys, very tiny but full of amazing coasts. We finish the intro session, then I shower once more to get rid of all the cat fur and hit up some video games and TV before bed around 2. The guy Collin was telling me how this was his 7^th night off in about 3 months…what a champ.

In the morning we pack up, get our goon, and head over to the site to rent out the 4x4s. We get them from a chain smoking old guy who looks like he is covered in canvas with the sleeves of tattoos across his wrinkled body. However the cars seem to be in solid condition, well they are in some sort of condition, but they look sturdy as an elephant on a tight rope so we play along. In truck 1, its Thomas, joy, finish guy, Nicola, phil and myself and the rest in car 2. After some inventory check ups and sleeping bag rentals (aka ‘hires’ down under) we hit the road. Get ‘fake lost’ the way but eventually find the barge that takes us to the island. Basically Harvey bay is the Florida Mainland, and Frasier Island is the dingo infested, tiger shark breading, Florida keys w/ no town and beautiful views. We meet some cool girls in a hot pink car on the way over, and then drive off. The roads are like driving in 3 feet of snow, but its not snow, its fluffy sand. However those are just the side roads, the regular roads are just plain beaches with massive pot holes where water flows.

We get into the main part of the island and do a 2 hour walk around the rainforest and snap some picture-esc snap shots. Me and the brits walk back, as the Canadians- matt and kira, and Thomas and joy walk another 4 hours. We spend the time drinving through the actual town, with actual raods, and then explore the beach. I grabbed a post card to send to the soon to be, and now current, 21 year old Sarah Weislther. Happy 21^st Sarah! Then we meet up with the trailblazers and grab some pre packed food. Its glorified salad and some bread, but enough o fill me up, so I’ll take it. The we finish our drawings in the sand and head to the famous shipwreck that I cannot remember the name to, so I guess you’ll have to google it yourself (wait I’ll just do it: Maheno Ship Wreck)….We then head to the camp site to set up for the night. Kira, Matt and I get the wood, as the ladies get the dinner started and the other men work on the tents. As many of you back home know, my area of expertise may include s’mores, but definitely not setting up a tent. We decided to sleep under the roof incase it rained, but this meant we were sleeping on pure wooden floors. With no pillows and a shitty sleeping bag, this would take a lot of goon to get used to. So that’s what we did, pounded the goon til it was good and dry and we were good and drunk. Played ‘ring of fire’ and had beans (I love lamp aka greg) do a dare where he was in his boxers and invited some hot girls to join us. He did, and it was good times. Invited some others to drink w/ us from neighboring camp sights and then continued boozing. Bed around midnight, and then up at 7 for breakfast and out for the day.

Day 2: I wake up and CANNOT find my camera. There was one shady dude who was drinking last night who kept going on and on about the horrors of the American system not allowing a 20 year old to drink, and while I agreed with him, I did not agree with his firecrotch bushy pube filled beard or 2 ft long rat tail- so he was suspect #1, but as you can see from my 3 albums on facebook, after much searching, Thomas came to the rescue and found it by the car-amazing. We then hit the road, and do some picture taking by the cliff and walked on up. Watched a tour bus get wrecked by the deep sand and found a few sand crabs. Then Thomas and I climb the bluff, run into the girls from the pink car, and overlook this sick view on top of the island. Climb it back down, search for the rest of the crew and walk over to the beach. We then walk along the beach to the champagne pools. A naturally rock enclosed pool in the water, and the only salt water that is safe from tiger sharks and buoyant dingos. We walk back, see a few whales, and discuss the intricate Canadian Indian system w/ beans and then drive to lunch. Right before lunch our car stalls out so we call the guy back on land and he gives us some instructions, so down my water goes to cool off the car and our car goes off to the lunch site. Grab some lunch by the kookaburras and the lizards and chill for a while. Then we headed over to this creek that was about ¼ mile long and no more than 2 feet deep. Very cool to walk through and snap some good pictures. Then finally back to camp to finish off the goon and play the AMERICAN kings and finish off the goon. We all get to see Collins nuts when Beans falls asleep and gets tea bagged and then were off for sleep on our last night on the island.

Next day we wake up, cant find my camera AGAIN, but soon after its discovered and I grab a showered which is no more than a trickling down continuous rain slightly above room temperature. However we packed up the tents and food and headed back to the beach for one more day of excitement. Before leaving we grabbed the aboriginal that runs the camp site and for some abo style pictures. On the road we take a nasty bump and Thomas nails his head on the roof and THANK G’d I captured this on camera and we watched it over and over and over. It was nuts. We get to the site for the day, walk around the beach, and opt not to jump in the freezing water, but instead just hang out on the beach and watch the idots and topless girls who decided to brace the water. Get back to the barge and head back to Harvey bay. We dropped off the car, and headed back to the hostel to chill, unpack and watch some tv and grab some pizza and beer. Then its off to the bus stop for another 13 hr treck up the coast to get to arlie beach and the 5^th stop of our vacation.

AIRLIE BEACH

Damn! It is nice to arrive at the beach. Absolutely beautiful weather, great scenery, and good company. We check into our hostel, drop our bags off, meet up with Komal and Chan and then check into our boat. We also picked up some goon, hang out with the Canadians, repacked our bags, and grabbed some happy hour boozing and headed to the Whitsunday islands tour! It was absolutely amazing! A barefoot excursion on a motor boat through a chain of islands more beautiful than anything else I’ve seen. After checking into our bunk we meet the crew- Waza the crazy 22 yr old spirit with a 50 yr old body and bald head, and donna the crazy irish cook, mika—the young good lookin Austrian dish girl, and, shit, I cant remember the other dudes name, but he was sick ½ the time so I guess I’ll take a pardon on my sub par short term memory. So anyways we load the boat, meet the crew and bunk our beds. We start off with a game of “name, hometown, and crazy sexual experience…” too many to choose from so I just stairwell of a Marriott in ocean city-if you were there you knew what happened, and if you weren’t you’ll never know if I made it up—but not even ME is that open. So we pop sail the seas take some pictures and drink some goon. We played a game called horse race as Thomas and Joy hung out in the cabin doin whatever they were doin. At this point they were coupling off for a little bit at a time, which was slightly weird, but they were such good friends at this point, after a good nights sleep and some tasty white goon, I got over it. I actually passed out on the deck that night w/ a pillow and blanket just staring into the stars. I have never seen so many stars, nor felt so at peace with my life than that one moment. I remember feeling that no matter what was going on, it all just took a back seat to how incredible, at that very moment, my life was. I don’t care about the grammar of that statement, its exactly how I felt, this life, this world is way to complicated to let every little thing let you down, and if I had an article in a magazine and could highlight just one line to put on the cover, that would be it.

The next day we docked by some beach, did some whale watching and bird feeding and went to 2 different dive zones. We snorkeled around, chilled on the beach, did a semi-dive experience where I wasn’t submerged but I was breathing out of a oxygen tank, and then we went back to lunch. Had some lunch, sailed around again, and then went to the 2^nd dive site. Again had some sweet snorkel dives, chilled w/ the Israeli on the beach, and then came back, took more pictures, and just chilled and sunbathed for a nice long while. I got gooooood and burnt on my legs and while most of it is now faded to a calm olive, it was really sweet to be out on that boat. After the 2^nd dive we all docked at some cool beach motel type place. I got a $12 and 5 shot pina colada, played beach volleyball and got RAPED by 2 Austrians- typical Austrians taken over the jewish athletics—and then headed back to the boat for some relaxin times. I changed and put on some real clothes and komal, chan, Thomas joy and I watched eurotrip on my portable dvd player, and enjoyed some good ol fashioned tv time. After that and dinner we headed up for some more drinking games where joy got naked, but so did the hot French girl. BTW, this boat was filled w/. 2 british girls that we knew, 2 isralei soldiers, 2 austrians, us 3 americnas, and then about 15 french people. Mixing pot on the Whitsundays. I again crashed under the stars that night, but it was a bit overcast so I just hung out w/ people, drank some more goon, and relaxed until I could feel nothing at all. If I were to live my life one way, it would be to grab a girl, head to the Whitsundays, buy a boat and a shit load of food, and just float around for months at a time. The most peaceful and amazing place on earth.

The final day aboard was full of one dive, and the rest relaxin times. We did dive however on an island the size of the McKeldin Mall…perhaps smaller. It was no wider, and certainly no longer. It was unbelievable, and please refer to my pictures online for evidence. We did board the boat shortly after I could perfect my tan line and then we headed back on the rocky seas to the main land. It was sad to say good bye to the crew, and even sadder to leave the island. That day before we checked into our hostel I swung by this one travel place w/ joy to explore some ideas about what to do the following day, basically our only day off besides coffs harbour… and while she was looking I decided, what the hell, I’m going skydiving! I was beyond excited, so that day I drank with enthusiasm and grabbed some food w/ the gang from the boat and then the following day woke up bright and early to go skydiving at 8am. However it was overcast, cloudy, and rainy. So I was on hold the entire day. After calling 4 times, at 11am I decided this was enough and im going into town. So I walk around town, make some calls back home as Thomas and Joy do some shopping, and I grab lunch. FINALLY at around 1 pm, I get the call- they’re taking off! However I get there and we are just sitting for over an hour, the overcast comes back and I’m thinking, ok so I got my hopes up for nothing. Then I thought ok so I’ll save my money and do it another time in November, get excited for it or something. However I was watching the video on the TV in thee lounge and I get too excited. My heart starts pumping and I NEED to go! Literally within 5 minutes of that feeling, the clouds open up and the plane takes off! I am fired up, ready to go!!! The first two people jump before me at 10,000 feet, but I put out the extra $150 to go from 14,000….and man was it worth it! I see them jump and I just thought to myself, wow, omg wow, that is amazing. I was a little nervous but overall just excited. Then as I am sitting on the edge of the plane, I am thinking wow, what a crazy son of a bitch I am for doing this! Believe me, it was by far worthwhile and the best 2 mintues of my life. My legs were crazy sore when the parchute opened, but during that free fall….. omg I was literally and figuratively on cloud 9. I get back with the biggest smile on my face EVER and then we watch the DVD, meet up with the Canadians, get some booze, get drunk, and then crash.

And that’s the vacation folks. We flew out the next day, I pulled an all nighter that night because I did NO studying over the vacation and I had an econ exam the next day, and then I took my exam, wrote an assignment, and that Thursday I was off to Sydney with an organized trip. But that will have to wait for another day.

This vacation was amazing. It took me 11days of traveling, 10+ Microsoft word pages, 3 facebook albums, over a dozen new friends, and 4 days of writing just to get through it all. Live, Learn, and Grow is what a shirt my dad gave me says in reference to study abroad. Livin life on the east coast, learning the culture of a new global region, and growing into a more mature healthy person. That’s the meaning of this blog. Seriously one of the best experiences of my life, in just those 11 days.

Thanks for reading and I am definitely missing you guys more than you are missing me. 2 months and counting.

Cheers,

Mitch