wan·der·lust/: Noun: A strong desire to
travel: "a man consumed by wanderlust".
Quirk. Fun. Travel. Experience. Laughter. Redwoods. Friends. Wilderness. Culture. Wildlife. Passion. Insanity. Health. Stress. Life. Wonder. Once-In-A-Lifetime
One Day, One Week, One Month. How Time Does Fly.
It has been just over a month since I arrived. It has actually gone scarily fast, but that probably has a lot to do with uni work keeping me hella (yeah that's right, North Cali slang xD) busy..
My four classes are Management of Mammals, Marine Biology, Marine Ecosystems - Human Impact and Marine Mammals. Management and Marine Mammals are rather hard, and at times I do really doubt my ability to learn everything I have to. But hey, I just have to get a pass, not a HD (or an 'A' here...so high school-esque!)... And pretty much all I have been doing is study! I haven't had to think this hard since year 12 Revolutions!!! So homework is keeping me well stressed and occupied; I rarely have any free time! But the nights I do, myself and the little International Family that we've all formed have discovered red cups, 'handles' of alcohol and amazingly old school and awesome songs.
yep, THAT'S a handel of vodka!!
...and Half Baked icecream...#Humboldt!
Our apartment has become the unoffical party/chill house...even though we live under our CA! Beer Pong, Kings, Never Have I Ever, Strip Poker, I have had some of the best nights ever messing around with these kids! One of the best days was heading into the farmers market with my mate Vicente a few weeks back. We chilled and wandered around, then all these brazilian dancers and capoeria drummers and participants put on a giant show for the town! Did make me miss my bellydancing quite a bit! We then wandered up to a little Mexican place for GIANT lunch. There was a small Carnival at uni after and we went, met up with some of the others from Laurel and made an afternoon of dropping people into a dunkpool, throwing balls at milk bottles and fishing for magnetic fishies! Oh and of course the jumping castle! By the end of it, I had, with some help and slight of hand, gotten enough tickets to win myself a fighting fish! Her name is Harper and she sits in a pimped out tank on my bedside table in my room. I like my little corner of Humboldt State; I have my fish, my bed and my photos. It all feels like it's actually mine now :)
Brazilaian Dancer
My Little Hidey-Hole!
Multiple trips to Eureka have also made for some memorable times.. Belting out Rebecca Black in the back of a shuttle bus? Why the hell not! Getting amazingly lost, and making friends with homeless people so they can show you the way back to the bus stop (which you managed to walk in the entire opposite direction from...)? Go for it! Forget that tax ISN'T included in the cost of things and don't have enough cash at the registers? 'Tis aiight, i'm Australian! ;)
Took a trip to Moonstone Beach recently as well. Think The Lost World look, and you've got this place! It's gorgeous! Redwoods on rocky cliffs ending right onto sandy beach and the water. FYI; North Pacific water? Absolutely freezing!! Jord, being the pommy he is, absolutely love the water! And I have to admit, it was pretty cool (no pun intended...well, maybe a little..) And speaking of beaches, my labs for a few of my classes are in Trinidad, a little town about 15mins out of Arcata. It is the coolest lab I have ever seen! Inside, we have a whole heap of invertebrate critters like Dungoness Crabs (which are actually evil), jellyfish and sea stars etc. Tre awesome. I have a little bit of a geek out everytime I go in, so far, the novelty hasn't worn off. And outside the lab? More Lost World-esque beach, and there are seals just chillin around! These labs are pretty cool; just the other day we went on a pontoon boat and went trawling in eelgrass! It was actually a whole heap on fun...even half falling into the water trying to get off the damn boat was hilarious! So, safe to say, beaches here; wunderbar!
And despite of all the amazing experiences, my 'Culture Shock' and homesickness did eventually hit, and hit pretty hard. I didn't want to get out of bed and all I wanted was cuddles from all my guys and galls back home. And to give my mum and dad a hug. And chill with my sisters. But, it got better, I feel so much better, and skyping people is keeping me from being too horribly homesick. But I do miss everyone back home heaps.
On a different note; Ben and Jerrys Icecream will be the delicious death of me.
But things are going to get awesome this weekend! Hitting up San Fran with the International Love Family! Five of us have already left, the other seven of us are leaving Friday in a minivan for the five hour roadtrip down, which I can assure you will be full of obnoxious singing, laughter and a whole bunch of crazy!
And again, on a different note, here's an interesting fun fact; there is a resteraunt here called Stars...it is based off the Crusty Crab from Spongebob...and the guy who created Spongebob? That's right, went to Humboldt! Pretty random heh? But that is also a good word to describe this past month; random. So I made a list of the five things so far, that I don't really get about Americans. Here it is!
Things so far I don't really get about Americans:
1. Drive through ATMS.............I mean, really?
2. You can buy alcohol ANYWHERE!! Like in Target, or the pharmacy.............Okay this one I like ;)
3. 'Californian Stops'................Sure you dont have traffic lights n all, but it's a stop sign, ACTUALLY STOP!
4. Drinking age..........Yes I knew this one before I came here, but it still sucks (I mean, 1.75L of Smirnoff is $18!!! I would like to be able to buy that myself, rather than feel like i've reverted to my pre-18 days!!)
5. Rap and Dub music........now dont get me wrong, I like dubstep, and I like Aussie Rap/HipHop...but there are other generas of music people!!!!
Yerp, pretty random!
But, that's all for now! See y'all after San Fran!
