surfers paradise

right now i'm staying in a hostel in a town called surfers paradise(obviously known for its surfing), its on the northeastern coast of australia they call the "gold coast" its beautiful here! it reminds me of miami but extremely more laid back, a city with a huge amount of backpackers and surfers. I'm here with Andrew, Cameron (his roommate) who goes to UT also, and then two girls from canada and paris and a guy from scotland.. i feel like i've gotten a whole new perspective hanging out with people from all over the world, i love it! Its not just Sydney, but all over Australia, everyone is from all over the place, you hardly even meet people who are really from australia, its such a melting pot of the world here. The hostel life is actually pretty awesome, living out of a tiny backpack is a little overrated but the people you meet are so cool! and everyone is totally laid back and really nice. Right now Andrew and I are sharing a room with a guy from Alberta Canada who has lived in East Asia for the past year and a older man from Adelade Australia who has like 6 kids and a wife, and a guy Michael from Belgium who speaks like 6 languages... so you can see the vast range of people living in hostels. I think its pretty interesting that I haven't met any Americans here really (besides the people who are studying abroad with Andrew). They're used to our accents here because of Hollywood movies and stuff but I still think people are surprised to hear us because not that many Americans travel in the hostels compared to Europeans. I haven't personally seen the movie "hostel" but i can tell you that its not scary at all, the hostel were staying in is pretty awesome, it has a pool and a kitchen for us to cook in, a movie theater, and a bar that has specials everynight and then everyone goes out together, its pretty awesome being legal here, i cant wait til were all 21 so we can go out together more! So far...We spent one day on the beach here and it was beautiful, i actually went out in the water and tried to body style surf and totally got dominated by the waves, theyre intense here but the water is like crystal clear its sooo pretty. The rest of the days its been kinda cloudy, but much warmer than sydney, i've just been hanging out in the hostel with everyone. Tonight is everyones last night staying here in the hostel so were going out "with a bang" (say that in a french/canadian/english/scottish accent) and they've talked me into trying "goon" (the name for cheap strong australian wine) soo this should be an interesting night out here in aussie land!

I've learned a few new words!
Capsicum = peppers (green/red/yellow)
Brekky= Breakfast
Vaken (dutch)= Wake up!
Sunny= sunglasses
Fillet= fillet.. however they say it like "phil-it" and not "phil-ayy"
(also any spanish words they totally say wrong here)

.. So basically in Australia if you take any word and add a "y" you're good to go!


Meshell!: I'm like the worst packer ever, so i feel your pain, BUT I'm jealous you get to be in espana, get better at speaking spanish that way you can help me out with my espanol in the fall! :]
Callie: As soon as i get home, were gunna have to go to the pool like everyday, and go out around austin more! <3
Brooke: As soon as i get home, we need to skype it up! So we can plan where we wanna go (i talked to Luca (hes from Como, Italy) he told me that basically anywhere in Italy is gunna be awesome to see, but he gave me a few places to go! I'm so exciited to tell you about the hostels and stuff. And i'm excited you love italia so much... please find a cute northern boytoy!


G'day mates!