adventure mode

It's been awhile since I've shared any of the fun/unusual/weird stuff that I'm doing here. It almost seems like I am just a regular student going to class and writing papers. I can't have you thinking that because this is Australia and let's face it, things are just better here. With that, a quick recap of some recent highlights.

Ladies Day: All the girls in my college dress up strangely, walk to a random field, and engage in an afternoon of debauchery.

Friends visiting: Emily's friend Diss came to Brisbane. It's always a good time when we add people to the team. With a majority of Long Islanders in the room, I felt like I needed to be a part of the team. I fit right in, yes?

Picnic: The boys arranged a lovely BBQ in the park. This area of town is called South Bank and there are a bunch of shops, restaurants, and free grills, not to mention a man-made beach. Oh Australia. The real beach is only 2 hours away but it's always smarter to create one 15 minutes away.

Beach: We went to the real beach this past weekend at Byron Bay. It was an intense weekend. We climbed up to this lighthouse. It was the most strenuous exercise I've had in months.

Byron Bay is the most easterly point of the Australian Mainland... as this sign says.

The ocean never gets old.

Halloween: Although Halloween isn't as huge here as in America, we did what we could. I fulfilled a lifelong dream of wearing a headband like that. Also it was an excuse to use my peace sign as much as possible.

Kayaking: I have no pictures from this because my camera cannot afford to be anywhere near water. Kayaking was really intense. I was not good at it. Poor J-Rod had to do all the work and tell me what to do and we still ended up always floating in the wrong direction. Highlight: seeing dolphins 30 feet from us. Lowlight: getting hit in the back with the kayak after we fell out trying to ride a wave. Note to all: kayaking is not as calm and relaxing as it appears (unless you have upper body strength, then it may be okay).

Story time: After Halloween, I had a pseudo phone-breaking incident (because I really cannot keep a phone intact for more than two months at a time). Long story short, I thought my phone was broken and thus couldn't set an alarm (turns out I had put the battery in the wrong way... genius). I was planning on waking up at 6 am to go skydiving. Guess who can't wake up at 6 am without an alarm!? I woke up at 6:45, devastated that I had missed my one chance to go skydiving. I sulked in bed for a few minutes until Christine pops in saying that it had been raining all morning and skydiving had been postponed. I like to think God was so sad I had overslept, he had to shed a few tears for things to work out. Because of the rain, they hadn't left yet so I ran around trying to get ready in 5 minutes. It was stressful and hectic and suddenly I was in a van signing a document that read, "Serious accidents can and often do happen. Don't blame us if you die." Maybe in slightly different words but you get the point.

Skydiving: Fortunately, this story has a happy ending. We got to the skydiving place, got into our harnesses and learned what was going to happen. Of course all the training in the world can't prepare you for the actual jump. We flew up to 14,000 in a tiny, rickety old plane while I was strapped to my tandem master, a small intense woman who does this 12 times a day. It was terrifying and I repeatedly asked myself why in the world I decided to do this when I get scared even jumping off a bunk bed. However there's really not much you can do once you're 14,000 feet in the air. I was second in line so I had the pleasure of watching the first person fly out. They literally push you to the edge of the plane for you to get into position. Position: stick your legs out of plane and bend them back so they're wrapped along the bottom of the plane. Arms are holding the straps of the harness. Head is tilted back. I was expecting some sort of calming statement or at least a countdown but nope, I was sitting there for approximately two seconds when I feel myself FALLING OUT OF AN AIRPLANE.

The initial drop was by far the scariest moment of my life. I have nightmares about falling from heights and here it was actually happening to me. We fell out upside down and I had a moment where I wondered if I was going to die. After about five seconds we had leveled out and from then on I was absolutely amazed. It's a 60 second free fall. It's just indescribable. I was literally flying. When she pulled the parachute I felt a wave of relief. We floated around for a few minutes while I took in the view before safely sliding into the ground. I can't even explain how awesome it was. I would recommend anyone and everyone experience this at least once. It's so cool to be a part of something bigger than yourself.

I got a DVD of the whole experience, which meant that a third guy jumped out of the plane with us and filmed the whole thing. It's fantastic- from the look of absolute terror the moment I jump out to the views of Australia that are in the background. My only grievance is that I paid for pictures too but the guy didn't take any while I was in the air! The only pics are from when I landed. Lame. I stand on the ground all day every day- when's the next time I'll be 14,000 up!? Oh well, the DVD is really awesome. And actually doing it was okay too I guess...

The after shot.

All in all things have been pretty great. Jeanenne and I are going to Sydney tomorrow for three days which will be awesome. After I get back, though, adventure time is over and school time is back on. 5 finals in 5 days. A tragic reminder that even if I can fly, I still have to write papers.