After school activities

On Wednesday this week, we went to the Gold Coast to check out Surfer's Paradise (totally normal school day). I had class from 8-9am and that was all I had the entire day. I called Alex and he was done with class at 11:30. My friends Camilla and Hannah were already at the beach in Surfer's Paradise so Alex and I decided to catch the train out there to meet up with them. The train ride was supposed to be about an hour which seemed worth it to spend the afternoon on the beach. Plus, there was a mix up with trains the day before so all public transit was free for that day. We rode the train for an hour and ended up at the Gold Coast. We then had to take a bus to Surfer's Paradise which ended up being a longer journey than we expected. We eventually got there and it was beautiful, despite being very touristy and kinda reminded me of Florida.

We walked to the edge of the continent and were greeted by a long, white beach backed by high rises on one side and a very "active" ocean on the other. The waves were consistent and rather large, hence "surfer's paradise"

We found Camilla and Hannah and then we totally passed out. We were tired from a long day of school! Plus, there was a nice breeze and we already applied 30 spf so it was totally normal. After our little nappy-poo, Camilla and Hannah decided to head home but since Alex and I had a late start we wanted to stay. We lounged on the beach, chatted about how easy school is here, acknowledged how thankful we are to be trained as engineers in the US because it's so much more rigorous, etc. We also saw the cutest puppy ever and I told Alex he should get one and then we could attract sexy girls in bikinis too. We then discussed in length how someone seriously needs to start a puppy renting business.

After all this discussing, we decided to go play in the ocean. And let me tell ya, the ocean here is crazy. It is way different than Mexico, Florida,  and Fiji (all the oceans I have been to). Mexico has like baby waves, Florida... is it even an ocean?, and Fiji was just perfectly calm and hot, but Australia... there is some serious moon/tidal shit happening here. They are big waves and the crash down one after another, plus there is a strong current. It's very unpredictable but also quite fun. I have strong desires to learn to surf now.

We got kicked out of the ocean around 6pm because the lifeguards were leaving. I mean, you can stay... but it's at YOUR OWN RISK!!! So we left. We strolled around the boardwalk checking for places to eat and settled on Ben's Fish 'n Chips (apparently the best fish 'n chips in town). It was not good. You would think, being on the side of an island and all, that the seafood would be totally bomb. Well it's not. The fish was soggy and kinda thin, it was nothing like a good old fashioned fish fry in Wisconsin (remind me to get that immediately upon my return by the way... with cheese curds). Plus, it's not that cheap here. I have a theory though, that somewhere along this very long coast, there is delicious, fresh, cheap seafood... I just have to find it (HAVE TO!). Also, they charge $2 for ketchup..... ketchup!

After our long journey home I requested only two things once I got home: shower and the Bachelor.

I would say it was a pretty successful Wednesday school afternoon. We decided on a few things though: leave earlier next time, pack more snacks (and ketchup packets), bring a change of dry clothes for the long ass train ride home, and don't get the fish and chips.