Week 3

I can't believe it's already been 3 weeks in Australia! The past weeks have gone by so fast, the only time time doesn't fly is during school sometimes because I'm a little lost in some classes due to hopping in in the middle of the term. When the exams come up in a couple weeks, I'm gonna take the exam and just try my best for most of them, though not quite sure what will be done with them. Math should be alright, though, I'm just about caught up to the class, and except for the trig and calc, I've done it all, and with the calc, I'm already caught up with the class.

Last week, school went along as normal, and Tuesday I went to Cadets again, another normal night. Then Wednesday, I did maths all day before going out to lunch at a local cafe, where I had a great burger that I actually couldn't finish due to its size! Afterward, Geoff took me up to some park somewhere 30min away from Moruya, that I don't remember the name of, but it was very nice. It was very serene and beautiful and I finally saw a kangaroo in full detail, close-up. The kangaroo paused only about 20 feet (about 6m) and stood there looking at us for about a good 2-3 minutes! Later, on the way out we saw several kangaroos right outside the car and a group of wallabees later on. When we were almost back in town, we even saw a wombat! They are kind of like overweight gophers but pretty cool and can run pretty fast.

Friday, my great counselor, Carol (just for you, Carol) picked me up to bring me to Tuross for the orientation weekend for all of the inbounders and outbounders (inbounders = exchange students from elsewhere eg. Me!, outbounders = exchange students going to another country). Friday night was just for the inbounders so we can get to know each other and hang out. It was great to meet everyone, and had tons of fun. That night myself and the other inbound boys stayed up till about 1 playing texas hold'em until it was just three of us and we decided it was too late. Saturday morning the outbounders arrived, including my sister, Hannah, who by the way, is going to the USA!!!! Wooh! During the day, it was mostly aimed at the outbounds, with a couple short activities geared to both. One of the activities, they paired up the inbounders with the outbounders going to their country so they can ask whatever questions they wanted about where they are going. Although, that didn't quite work out because Hannah and I live with each other and can ask questions all the time, so we didn't have much to talk about.

That afternoon, we had a surf safety lesson, though, to make sure that none of us die at the beach in Australia, which is good I guess. After the lesson though, we went down to the beach and originally just 3 of us (later more joined in) went for a swim in the 12 degree water (56 F). It was just a little frigid, and after about 20 minutes, the waves were starting to come farther and father in between, and my feet were numb, so I got out, while the Norwegian, Sondre, of course stayed in for a half hour! Once we got back to our accommodation, and finally warmed up, it was time for a formal dinner, where we all (the inbounders) wore out Rotary blazers, afterward exchanging pins, signing flags, etc. as well as having a mini party, until 11 when we were told we were supposed to be in bed already. Afterward we all went back and hung out in a room way too small for the amount of people, but it made all the fun! At that point, the poker game was also finished, by myself and Phillip (from Germany) both going "all-in" blind, because we wanted it to be over. The result was him winning by a higher pair. Then we all (inbounders and outbounders), that didn't already go to sleep, stayed up socializing until 1, when the girl's counsellor decided it was too late. When everyone finally went back to their "dorms," it wasn't until after 2 that my room actually went to bed.

The next morning was a short meeting with inbounders, outbounds, parents, and even a couple rebounds (those who came back from exchange). The rebounds told their stories and offered advice and then it was time to go home around lunch time. Instead of going home with my host parents, though, Rohan took me to meet Rob Richmond, my other counsellor (the one to do fun things with, as it was explained to me), and then he took me to a Rugby League game! It was nice and fun once I started to understand how the game worked. The Moruya Sharks won to move on to the semi-finals, which I guess is a good thing. It was a pretty fun afternoon, before returning home to stay past midnight to finish my speech for Rotary. I finally did finish it, as well as my slideshow, and feel confident for the meeting Wednesday night.