The Great Great Ocean Road

Last weekend I took a surprise trip down the great ocean road. A surprise trip is like a normal road trip except you don't know you're going until 12 hours before you leave. Someone had an extra seat in their car, but no space in the first hostel, so I bought myself a tent and sleeping bag (which I'll want to have for my Easter Break road trip anyways) and firgured I'd just find a flat spot.

We didn't make it very far the first day. Stopped at practically every beach we could find along the way, and had a heck of a time navigating TO the great ocean road, which is about an hour and a half southeast of Melbourne. Some of the most gorgeous scenes I've seen in my life, and absolutely spectacular weather. I thought it couldn't get any better... until the next day! I even got to sleep in a bed becuase we found out when we got there that there was a second hostel in Lorne, and it had plenty of space. After a walk around town and down to the pier, we hit the sack.

Half of us got up early on Saturday. I had no idea I could get so frustrated by a group of people who aren't in as much of a hurry as I am. I guess I miss the days of Scouting where I could just walk around banging my flashlight on tent poles until everyone was awake. Saturday was one of the most remarkable sightseeing days of my entire life. We started at a waterfall, where we jumped over the pedestrian fence and climbed up some rocks to get right under it. Then made our way to a lookout of a gorgeous bay. That didn't compare in the slightest to the scene at Apollo Bay. An absolutely pristine beach on a hot day couldn't get more perfect. But thatnks to some insider knowledge we found some farmland open to the public on a steep hillside overlooking the bay, making for some perfect picture opportunities. As we were sitting on the hillside admiring, a white horse comes galloping over the hillside to play with us! Seriously, could you make up a more fairy-tale-like story?! After a while on the beach we start to make our way to the next stop, the Twelve Apostles. These are giant rock formations sticking out of the sea on the southern coast. It started to get a little rainy, but just cleared up enough to take pictures once we arrived. Again we jumped a pedestrian fence to get a better experience, and thank god I did. I cannot describe how empowering it is to stand on the edge of a hundred-foot cliff looking down at fifteen-foot waves crashing beneath with monsterous power. You can feel each one hit. It's no surprise that there were so many shipwrecks here, it's absolutely breathtaking but incredibly dangerous.

We rushed to make it to our hostel that night, and had a quiet night after an exhausting day. Sunday was a long trip home, but there were a couple stops to make it easier. Lochard Gorge near the Twelve Apostles is the site of a famous shipwreck, and a beautiful bay walled with cliffs. We went spelunking for a bit in a cave off to one side of the bay, but you have to run across some rocks in between waves to avoid getting wet. Since it was a bit rainy and cold I had on pants and shoes. On the way out of the cave the water level had risen, and I didn't take much care to look before stepping onto the more shallow rocks. I was totally demolished by a wave! I wedged myself between a rock and the cliff wall to avoid being swept away, but it soaked me from the waist down. Note to self, take sea seriously.

All in all, incredible trip. There's so much more to see, but if I don't see anything else, I'll still be satisfied.

Newfound Capacity

On a lighter note, I've become infinitely more adept at making friends with complete strangers. On occasions where I'm at a social gathering with a mix of people I know and don't know I would invariably limit myself to interactions with people I already know, and perhaps meet someone new if they were introduced to me. During the orientation weeks and the following time, you're forced to meet new people, but everyone is looking to do the same so the atmosphere is entirely different and people are much more open. Now that there has been time for a lot of small groups or clicks to form, its a challenge of confidence and first impressions. Perhaps I've been conditioned, and it will fade once I return home to my comfort zone. I think it has more to do with the continuing success of it. Each time I barge myself into a tight circle of strangers, meet them one by one, and get invited to join their conversation it gets easier. I can't venture a guess as to why it seemed like a good idea the first time, but I like it.

ZOMG Shark!

Two weeks of classes down and this marks my being in Australia for one month! I'm encroaching on my fear of time slipping by too quickly and me not appreciating all there is to do out here. That's not to say I haven't been doing a fair amount of appreciating! I really ought to slow down a bit in fact. But I haven't thought about travel yet, and the window of opportunity is closing quickly. Note to self, travel is expensive!

My initial panic over classes has faded. I was able to easily adjust to a different style of learning, and given that I have so little class time, I really think I end up spending less time on classwork but getting more out of it. It's tough to get my various groups in the entrepreneurial class motivated though, especially becuase I'm not particularly motivated either!

True Australian experience number 1 this week: We went out to Bonbeach on Friday, someone came over and told us to get out of the water and pointed to a helicopter hovering close to the water a ways down the beach. This meant shark! Eventually it made it's way toward us and stayed in very shallow water so we were able to get about 6 feet from it while standing on land. Not a particlarly big fellow, but still it's amazing how something so simple as a shark can exact such a response from the very humans who so easily control all aspects of land. Will remarked that we are not creatures of the water, so that was the sharks domain. I squashed the urge to rush into the water and harass it, but only because the lifeguards we watching. Would have been a better story at least.

Classes down under

This marks the end of the first week of classes at an Australian University! I haven't missed a single on so far... virtual high five! I have three courses each with three hours a week divided between lecture and tutorial, a guided overview of the lecture. And I have no class on Mondays or Fridays! The perfect schedule for a vacation! Australia: A Global Context is really going to be helpful for me to understand the society, government, and economy of Australia. Though I'm better off than some of the asian international students. I don't know why but Americans and Europeans seem to know more about Australian history? Perhaps the language barrier? Introduction to Entrepreneurship is going to be a challenging course. This is the only one that demonstrates to me that Australian academics are conducted differently. Even though the professor is very stern, he insists we call him by his first name. On the first day we already know all of our assignments, I still don't know if I can complete them on time! We have been divided into about eight groups of five and we have to come up with a formal buisness proposal for an entrepreneurial club to form on campus. The best idea wins and the class as a whole is responsible for forming the club, financing it, and ensuring that it generates revenue! That seems pretty rediculous to me, don't most entrepreneurs fail thier first attempt, isn't that why we're taking this class? But it will definitely be stimulating and encourage me to be more active in class arguments. Speaking of arguments, my third course is Critical Thinking. Yeah, i thought it sounded really easy too. And it is! But I'm beginning to think that it will actually help me, becuase it's all about the identification and formulation of argument, but it puts a scientific approach to something I'm already quite good at, which might help me gain a better understanding. As far as I can tell, All the courses I decided would be easiest are actually going to be quite beneficial to my education.