Hang ten...

I want to start by thanking all of you for reading this blog!  From the emails I have received, it seems like a lot more of you than I ever imagined are reading these quips of nonsense from my time down under.  Thanks again, and keep sending the emails telling me of the cold and toilets that flush the "right" way.

Today I had my first experience with surfing.  It was such a beautiful feeling trying to tame the Pacific Ocean.  It was a balmy 85 degrees here and a perfect day to try out the long board.  A few of us went with the intention of taking a lesson, but once we got to the beach (after class by the way), the last lesson of the day had already begun.  Instead of waiting for a lesson some other day, we just rented boards for the day for $20 AUD or around $13 American.  Only one of the group had ever had a lesson, so we learned some basics from him, and then jumped into the water.  A side note, the ocean water here is 24 Celsius or about 75 degrees.  It took a while to get used to the board and how the waves would hit us, but after about 10 times, I was up and finally surfing in Australia!  The only tough part about surfing is walking the board back into the waves to catch another.

School has finally begun for me after the false start on Monday.  My classes seem great so far, and it will be a great learning experience.  I have heard form many people around town and at the beach that claim Bond is the best university in Australia overall.  This includes University of Sydney! (all of you Philly people, if you could relay this info to Fr. Bill it would be much appreciated.)  All of the classes here have a lecture hour or two, and then a tutorial session that meets one hour a week for more direct work with the professors.  All of my lectures have no more than 16 students, with the tutorials having no more than 9.  This is such a great way to learn.

Off to dinner now.  Good night from the Gold Coast!