All's Well That Ends Well

Well readers, it's done.  I'm back in the states safe and sound.  The past 3 1/2 months of my life are ones that will not not be forgotten.  They have helped me shape who I am, expanded my knowledge of the world, and opened many doors to who I know.  I'll try to recap the last few days as best I can.

12/18 - End Of Term Party

I laid low throughout the day.  My last final was on the previous day, so I was pretty drained from all that finals week has to offer.  Around 4 p.m. I decided to walk down to M Barber, the barber shop where all the students went.  After the usual 2 guard halfway down, finger length on top, I walked back up and began to get ready.  End Of Term party is very special, as it only includes term 6, term 9, and study abroad students.  There are 9 terms total in your degree at ICMS just for reference.  I decided to wear my suit from home that night because most of the kids that I had seen before walking down to Manly were wearing them.  After I got dressed, I met up with Chad (Michigan State) and we went down to the Great Hall.  There we found a room packed with students, about 320, drinking champagne, beer, and mimosa.  We followed suit.

Chad and I at Shark Bar.  He's officially done with college now.

After saying hello to everyone, there were a few announcements made, including an announcement by two of my teachers, Mr. Harris and Mr. Bonyage.

"Hello ladies and gents, welcome to End Of Term.  My accent tonight is brought to you by Clay Collier, the only study abroad student that dared to take HOTS this term."

I felt my face flush as all 320 students plus staff looked my way.  It was a funny moment, and I smiled at Mr. Harris.  

After the announcements, heavy hors devours were served and people started dancing to house music.  Later that evening the college had arranged shuttle busses for us to take down to the Steyne, the bar where the college had reserved us the rooftop for the night.  The college had done this about 6-7 times throughout the term as well.  The Steyne was a fun time, a chance to bust a few moves on the dance floor, talk with peers, and take our last pictures together.

Kate (San Diego) and I at end of term.  Bunny ears courtesy of Daniel.

12/19 - Moving Day

I awoke to my phone ringing.  It was 7 a.m. and my room was hot with the violent heat of the Australian summer that was now in full swing.  The caller ID read "Chad" so I answered.  It was Tyler.  It turned out that Tyler (Central Michigan) was at the airport and had left his passport in Chad's room.  He wanted me to get it and bring it to him.  I told him I had no way of getting out to the airport, which was an hours drive anyway.  I roamed around until I found Alex (Russia) and gave him the phone.  I found out later in the day that Alex actually drove all the way to the airport with Tyler's passport.  After saying a few more goodbye's to Erin (Central Michigan), Jeff, Will, and Stevi (All San Diego), it was time for me to go.  I was getting a cab with Daniel (Sweden), Jess, and Steph (San Diego).  Daniel and I planned on staying in a hostel until Steph and Jess invited us to stay with them.  It would be less expensive for all, and we got to stay at the Circular Quay Marriott.  We ended up doing that.

12/20 - My last day

After getting the Marriott's breakfast buffet (which was to die for) we headed out for our last day of shopping.  After going to the Paddington Markets, we headed to Chinatown for the Paddy Markets.  These were indoors, unlike the Paddington Markets.  I bought a didgeridoo and some Christmas presents for my family.  We headed back to the hotel and regrouped.  I needed to do a little more Christmas shopping, so I headed out by myself to the Centre Point Mall, a mall located below Centre Point Tower, the tallest building in Sydney.

Once finished, I headed back to the hotel, got ready, and we headed to Gazebo

a funky indoor/outdoor restaurant in Kings Cross.  After that, I led the group down the street to a bar that I was introduced to by my HOTS group, The Lincoln.  It made me feel at home for obvious reasons.  The Lincoln is known as a high rollers bar that only serves top shelf liquor.  As college students, we didn't really fit in.  We were about 8-10 years under the average age.  The Lincoln doesn't even have red bull or Southern Comfort.  To our enjoyment, my friend Nick whom I was also introduced to by my HOTS group was working that night and supplied us with anything we wanted.  A good send off for our last night in the country.  Thanks Nick.

12/21 - Off I Go

After grabbing a taxi to the airport and getting through the massive Qantas line in the international terminal, I found some other American ICMS students that were on my flight.  Our flight had been changed to go through Auckland instead of just going straight to LA.  The reason was because we weren't flying on a 747, but rather an AirBus A330.  The A330 is a smaller plane that isn't capable of making the long flight over the Pacific.  We landed in NZ and refueled, went through a security checkpoint again, and re-boarded.  While in the airport I stopped at the Adidas store and bought an All Blacks scarf.  All Blacks is the NZ rugby team, and my favorite rugby team.  While in NZ some passengers got off the plane because NZ was their final destination.  This allowed Candace (Widener) to get her own two seats, leaving me with the 4 middle seats to myself.  Someone was watching out for me that day, I'm 6'4 and was able to lay down on the seats as if it were a bed.  The in-flight entertainment was exceptional.  I watched Man On Wire (I highly recommend this), British Open 2008 highlights, a documentary on the AirBus A380, and Step Brothers.  The only snag in my whole way home was a gate change in Dallas that delayed us for about an hour and a half.

Thoughts

Upon returning home, my room mate Robert asked me if it was a life changing experience.  "Yes" I said without hesitation.  I'm a different person because of study abroad.  I think differently, learn differently, and am much more aware that the world is a big place with lot's of amazing people in every corner of the Earth.  I hope everyone enjoyed reading this blog.  I want to keep updating it as much as I can, not just about Australia stuff, but stuff going on in my life. 

Alex (San Diego) and I at Shark Bar.

Until next time,

Clay

Byron Bay Adventures

As some of you may know, I took a trip last Saturday up to Byron Bay via Gold Coast, Victoria Airport (Coolangatta to the locals.)  Byron was a breath of fresh air to me, as I had not yet taken a trip since I've been in Australia.  Most people choose to go to New Zealand, Tasmania, or Fiji, but for me, I just wanted to get a way for a weekend and enjoy the remaining time I have on this beautiful island.  

The way everything unfolded went pretty much as you'd expect if you know me at all.  First of all, I was going with two girls, Alex and Keri.  They had made plans to go about a month ago, but were feeling anxious at the last moment that they didn't have any guys going with them.  Security was their main concern, not that I could provide much of it.  Byron Bay was one place I had heard great things about from Scott (Colorado) and a lot of San Diego kids.  

It was actually just on Thursday that I talked with Alex about what she was doing for the weekend.  When she suggested that I should go, I obliged and booked my plane ticket that Thursday night.  I spent Friday booking my hostel, bus to and from the airport, and our tour.

Saturday

We got in a cab at 5 pm from school and headed to the airport.  Boarding the plane was a bit different, something I had never seen in all my years of flying.  If you were in the back half of the plane (which I was, exit row too) you got to go out onto the tarmac and climb a set of stairs into the the back of the plane.  The people in the front half got to walk out on the tarmac also, but boarded in the front of the plane where you normally would.  I think the logic is that by boarding the plane from the front and the back, you can save a little time.  Here's what I mean.

After the short plane ride up to Coolangatta, we found our bus (which was actually just an Astro Van with a trailer) and hopped on for the ride to Byron Bay.  There were 3 blokes sitting in the back of the bus playing some music.  We arrived in Byron Bay around 12:05 am and since I wasn't staying at the same hostel as Keri and Alex, I was dropped off first at my place.  The reason for this was because school was out, which meant there were tons of newly graduated 18 year old boys and girls running wild around Byron.  Down under they're called Schoolies, I was told later they cause a lot of trouble around towns

 once they've graduated, notorious for booking out hostels up and down the coast. 

Back the the story, I get to my hostel and there is no one working.  The main office is shut, lights off, with a pull down gate in front of the large glass window.  I started searching around for someone, anyone who could check me into my bed.  After some searching, I found the security guard and quickly told him my situation.  "Everyone has gone home, you missed them by about 5 minutes mate."

I quickly weighed my options.  Here I was, after traveling for the last 7 hours, exhausted, with no place to stay and nowhere to go thanks to the Schoolies.  "Here's what I'll do," he said.  "I'll let you sleep in the break room tonight, and in the morning you can check in."  "No worries mate," I told him, "That should do."

He led me over in front of the break room door, pulled out his key chain and opened the door.  Immediately after flipping on the lights to the room, a cockroach about the size of a playing card ran frantically out of the room.  "Oh this is going to be a fun night" I said in disgust.  He admitted that the room was hot and smelled putrid.  He opened the window for me, and before leaving he said "If you need to go somewhere, make it quick because I have the only key to this room.  If someone walks in here, you're stuff is as good as gone."  I gulped but managed to squeak out a "No worries mate." Yeah right.

Here's what the break room looked like from the door.

Here I was, in a employee break room that was not meant for sleeping, by myself, in Byron Bay New South Wales.  I could hear more critters running around, little did they know I was probably more scared of them then they were of me.  I quickly went into survival mode, and started unpacking some things.  I began to think about what I could sleep on.  The only thing suitable in the room was a sketchy looking futon, and upon further inspection it smelled pretty funky and also had a dampness to it.

I managed to put together a makeshift bed using the largest clothes I had brought with me.  It consisted of two button ups, a Butler Basketball shirt for my feet, sweatpants and a sweatshirt for a pillow, and my wet ICMS towel for a blanket.

By this time it was around 1 am, and we were going on Jim's Alternative Tour at 10:20, but I would have to walk 15 minutes just to meet up with Keri and Alex that morning.  Schoolies were still running wild throughout Backpackers Inn, and I knew I eventually needed some shut eye.  I read a little bit of The Tipping Point and shut the lights off soon after.

Sunday Morning

The first time I woke up the next morning was to someone coming into my room.  The opening door woke me up, but I lied still as I saw a head pop through the door.  It closed a moment later, and that was that.  I figured out from the previous night that the front desk opened at 8, so my plan was to wake up then and get my room situation figured out first thing in the morning so that I could have a safe place for my luggage while I was on the tour.  Meanwhile, I left my temporary abode and went to the shower.  On the way back, I spotted an Australian guy, probably around 22 years old, and an old Asian lady, probably in her 70's, walking directly into my room.  I quickly approached them from behind, by this time the guy already has his hand on my door, ready to walk in with the old Asian lady behind him.  His hand was on the door knob.  Now with the door halfway open, he shot me a look of confusion as I approached him.

"Oh, are you staying here"

"Yeah, I am."

I wedged myself, still in my towel, between him and the rest of the room before he could continue any further.

"Oh, well, eh, would you mind if me and her do some religious spiritual practices?  Like, are you down with that?"

WHAT? Was this guy for real?  What a sketchy situation.  Here he was, a 20 something Aussie with an old Asian grandma coming into my temporary room unknown to me, and asking me if he can do some 'religious spiritual practices?'  

"I'll be out in a few minutes, just come back then."

He said okay, and left.

I then dressed, packed up, and went and checked into my normal room.

Jim's Alternative Tour

What can I say about Jim's Tour?  First of all, it's exactly what it sounds like.  If you're young, a backpacker, a schoolie, just someone looking for a fun day trip, any or all of the above, you've come to the right spot.  Jim's a widely known mom and pop type of tour that is run by a group of dead-beat hippies.  Ivan was our driver for the day, a mid 30's South African with a wicked sense of humor.  He picked us up around 10:30 at The Arts Factory, the hostel where Keri and Alex were staying.   

Ivan told us stories about the Arts Factory, and it's history relative to Byron Bay.  The first annual Byron Bay Blues Fest was held at The Arts Factory some years ago when some Americans that were fleeing the Vietnam draft found the land, formerly a pig slaughter house.  He played some good tunes throughout the trip.  The first place we stopped was at a country pub deep in the hills of New South Wales.  Green pastures, rolling hills, distant mountains, and farm animals were commonplace.  The next stop was Nimbin.  The only fair way I can describe Nimbin is a cross between Lawrence Kansas and Amsterdam.  It's a tiny town, only a few streets, with the main street being the main attraction

Keri, Alex, and I ate lunch in Nimbin and packed up our things.  We boarded the bus again and were off to a guy's house name Paul Recher, but for now we'll just call him The Dude Of Life, or simply, the dude.  The dude was a hippie, tried and true.  He was pretty old, probably in his 40's but appeared much older since he had such a long beard and long hair.  He wore a blue oversized tee shirt and purple pants.  He took us on a walking tour around his land, which had zero trees on it 30 years ago.  Now it's a lush acreage filled with fruits and vegetables, which he picked and let us eat.  Watermelon and pineapples were the huge hits.

Our bus group parted ways with the dude, and headed back to Byron Bay.  Along the way Ivan took us over massive hills in the bus, sometimes going what I thought was around 60 or 70 mph.  Once back in Byron, the three of us agreed to take a nap and then go see Australia, which was a new movie with good reviews by our peers.

Monday

Monday was a relaxing day, which was mostly spent on the beach, not much else to say.  We went to dinner at a nice restaurant called Balcony, and yes, we sat out on the large balcony overlooking the town of Byron.

Tuesday

Another beach day, I was badly burned by the sun the previous day, so I spent most of my day walking around town, going in and out of shops, and also my SIM card needed a recharge, so I was able to go to the post office to do that since the Optus stores was being remodeled.  We again went to dinner, this time at a quick mexican fast food place.  I didn't have much of an appetite, as both the girls ate way more than me and had dessert.  I could barely finish my quesadilla.  This time we saw Quantum Of Solace.  It was good, but I expected more from a Bond movie.

Well folks, there you have it.  Be safe and Go Dawgs!

Clay