settled in

I've been living in Bondi Beach for over a week now and have started to get to know the neighborhood fairly well. Our apartment is no more than a half mile from the beach so we've been spending a bunch of time there. It's quite fitting that I can walk to the beach but I have to take a bus to campus. Good to know that my priorities are in line.

The building I live in consists of around 30 people who are all studying abroad at UNSW. Most of the students are Americans, but there are a few Swedes and Norwegians living here as well. I didn't realize how international our neighborhood was going to be until we arrived. Bondi Beach is a huge backpacking destination so its not uncommon to hear lots of different languages on the streets. There's also lots of Canadians around these parts so its been fun to talk a bit of trash with them about how our Olympic hockey team is going to beat them again in the final (let's hope so). Basically, it seems like nobody here is a true local, which makes it much easier to fit in.

The weather has been in the high 70s and the ocean temperature has been around 74 degrees. The beach here gets absurdly crowded on the weekends but its usually not too bad on weekdays and in the mornings. The surf has been big so far, with a couple of days last week producing head high swells (there were a few 10 foot faces out there on Wednesday). That being said, the wind has been blowing onshore, making it blown out, choppy, and difficult to navigate the lineup. I've been getting plenty of good workouts while having to paddle through the slop in order to reach the outside sections. Hopefully there will be more favorable winds in the near future, as I don't think I've yet to witness the true potential of the waves in this neighborhood.

Tomorrow is Sunday, so myself and a few other guys are going to go and explore the town a bit. There are tons of Sunday markets that people set up on the side of the road in Bondi. Its basically a whole bunch of yard sales around town that can have great deals on skateboards, surfboards, clothes, etc. Hopefully we'll be able to find some good stuff. For the mean time though, here's a picture of the beach so you can get an idea of how built up it is. There's tons of buildings that are basically built right on top of it. The crowd that day was definitely modest, and I'd say it's usually double or triple that on weekends. Classes finally start this Monday and I don't know if I'm ready yet. No worries though, I can still go to the beach every day.