Sydney

I got confused crossing the dateline, by wasn't too jetlagged from the 14 hour flight, and after having all my bags searched at customs (the narcotics dog liked the smell of my backpack) I managed to find my way to a train to go to my hostel near Chinatown in Sydney. I spent the first three days exploring Sydney and some skateparks in the surrounding suburbs. It was hot and humid, and the lack of air conditioning in the hostel made for some sweaty nights. I only had one roomate, from Canada, who had been traveling around in a smoke filled camper van with three other stoners up and down the coast for the last few weeks. This was one of the cleaner hostels he had been in since selling the van, but I still woke up with weird bug bites on my legs. At least the price came correct. The view from the window by my bed reminded me of New York.

I skated a park right on Bondi Beach in Sydney, a big tourist hotspot. The gnarly pool was being painted and wasn't going to be ready to skate, but there were other obstacles and I got to take a dip in the ocean when I was ready to collapse from heat exhaustion. A group of ten kids who couldn't of been older than fourteen were setting up a hooka as I left.

During the weekend I had orientation with the other UC kids studying at various Universities. Lots of bro's and brahdesse's, but everyone seemed in a jovial mood. I was also one of the few students with a private room, because they accidently put me with a female roomate named Adrian (they thought she was male), and she wanted her privacy, which meant I got a king size bed (kind of pointless though, although the luxury was a shark contrast to the semi-squalor of the backpackers hostel). It was nice to chill naked in a private, air conditioned room, although the isolation seemed to foreshadow my lack of connection with the standard Californian bro culture. The first event involved a buy you own cocktail hour at the bar, which included beer, and there was a mad rush as dozens of UC kids tried to double fist in the last 15 minutes of happy hour. Scenes like this would continue throughout the weekend, like when a group of stoked Aussies were befriended when one kid who brought his box of wine into the hotel pool. We also took a boat tour of the Sydney harbor where I took the picture of the opera house and skyline above. It was hot, so shirts came off and muscles were flexed. I went out drinking with a group of UC kids one night and had a bit of fun. Alcohol is expensive, but drinking on the street seems like it's tolerated if your brown bagging it and not being obnoxious.