Is this heaven? No, it's the beach welcome

So, Monday started off with an intense, unintentional workout. I packed up all my suitcases and headed to the train station at 6:00 am. I rode the train into Jolimont where I then caught the tram to the stop closest to Deakin's Burwood campus. I then had to drag my luggage up hill a mile to where the buses were. We then got loaded up and took off for the small beach town of Lorne on the Great Ocean Road.

     

Once there, we all got lunch and were split up into groups. I was in the best group....I mean the blue group. My peer advisors were obviously the best, Rhys, Matt, and Sheldon. We then split off and went to where we were staying for the duration of the trip. We stayed in the Great Ocean Cottages, which weren't the nicest but were very cozy. Although, having a 50 lb suitcase was a little hard to get up the treacherous ladder (also difficult to get up drunk...) Matt, being the strong PA that he is, carried it up the ladder for me.

      

      

Now, Deakin is so organized that they had a very strict itinerary that we were required to follow the two days (not that we did). At 1:30 we had free time so, naturally, we spent that time laying out on the beautiful beach.

      

 At 3:30 the blue group got to go surfing. Once again it was one of my favorite feelings. Standing up on the board is so exhilarating. The water was freezing on my bare skin, but with the wetsuit on it wasn't too bad, and if you get cold you pee in the wetsuit right? Ha, no.

That night we got all dolled up and then picked up in the raddest van you'll every see by two very fun Irish men...who quickly caught every girl's eye. We ate dinner and then played a rousing game of partner's limbo. It was definitely the most intense game of limbo that I have ever participated in. You have a partner and must remain touching until both of you are under the pole. We would have won if Rhys wasn't so terrible at it... ;) The rest of the night was spent dancing and meeting all the other exchange students...also, there may have been some alcoholic beverages involved as well. Oops.

The next morning we at breakfast at 7:30 am and then Lauren, Hailey and I decided to take a walk on the beach for our free time. It was probably the best decision we could have made that day.

      

Then before lunch we played beach volleyball for a while, until we got tired and decided to chill until lunch. For lunch, we all went to a burger joint called "Bottle of Milk." Why they decided to name a burger joint Bottle of Milk, I will never know, but they had some pretty delicious chips.

And because Hailey, Lauren, and I are the awesome human beings that we are, we made friends with the surf instructors who were probably the coolest people on the planet. They let us surf an extra session as well because we're just that likeable.

      

      

That night we had another "party" at the hotel complete with trivia, apple cider ale, dancing, juicy wiggling, star gazing, husband hunting, and friend making. All in all, I would like to say that the past two days have made me fall even more in love with Australia than I ever was before. I have made some great friends that I feel as if I've known way longer than 3 days. Thank you to everyone who made it so special!


Also, here is a fun video that you have to watch because the surf instructor showed it to us, and it's pretty much spectacular. I'm still considering.