Shakas and Surfing Mojo

So to sum up the week, it involved a lot of studying, writing, and surfing.

Monday I had my two lectures and Tuesday I had my tutorials for those lectures. My lab for physiology involved fasting for three hours, jelly beans and pricking my fingers. The purpose, to understand the process of blood glucose levels and the types of food you eat. For my science major friends, why would food with a lower GI be better than food with a high GI? Wednesday I worked all day on a paper for my abnormal psychology class.

Thursday, however, I jumped on a bus to go with a group of USC students to Mojo surf camp. The bus was a small van that had the name of the camp plastered all over it. The bus driver quickly remembered who I was because I ran for the bus thinking it was leaving (it was only moving out of the way). Once the group going to the camp got settled into their seats, we all quickly became acquainted with each other before the bus pulled out of campus and onto the road. With only two breaks, we made it to the camp at 9:00pm. The place was located in a forest area with the beach that was within walking distance from the main area. After a quick tour, we all were assigned to a room with 4 beds.

credit goes to Iva Vi

For our first day at Mojo, we had an 8:00 am lesson where we learned how to judge the ocean, pose with our shaka hand signs while screaming “YEEWW,” and how to get up on the board. Though I have been surfing for years, this lesson actually helped me become more consistent with getting up on the board. We started in the white waves in order to learn how to get up and pose for the camera with the shaka sign. For any of you who see my facebook, the Shaka sign is the hand sign I keep making when I pose for pictures. After the morning lesson, a few of us decided to grab our beach wear and walk down to the beach before lunch. This is where we all got to know each other even more and played a social game of beach volley ball. After lunch and viewing our pictures taken that morning, it was time for the afternoon lesson. This lesson was a bit of a review from the first lesson and I got to try a different board. Since I was still working in the white waves, my goal was to at least smile at the camera. Once we did all that, everyone went back to their rooms to change and hang around before eating dinner. After dinner, a group of us went out to grab drinks for the party that was being put on at the camp. There was a bonfire, music, and a lot of table tennis. We even got a glimpse of a cute Australian Opossum going through the garbage. I was so exhausted from the surfing lesson that day that I went to bed pretty early.

Photo credit goes to Iva Vi

The next morning, one of the girls and I woke up at 5:40 am to go down to the beach to watch the sunrise. It really was a beautiful sight to see despite the fact the clouds were blocking the sun. It looked like the image of heaven and it made me feel so happy to be on the other side of the world. After the sun came up, Jillian and I grabbed some breakfast. As we ate, two Kookaburras were eyeing us. We were told that they like to steal bread from people who are not looking. One was daring enough to fly over to our table just to grab the last piece of toast from Jillian. They showed up a lot during our meals and

even stole Erin’s sandwich off her plate. Though those birds were looking to snack on our food, everyone ate breakfast and headed to our 9:30am surf lesson. This time, we were learning about how to turn the board. I was happy to get a short board and a chance to go to the back waves. The amount of waves I was able to catch was amazing in my eyes. Even a few of the other students were able to catch some waves in the back with me. I really is more fun when you surf with a group. By the end of the lesson, I was exhausted and had water up my nose. I guess you can say it was a great time. Before our afternoon activity, some of us decided to lay on the beach since the sun was completely out compared to the day before. It was the first time I really got to lay in the sun since I came to Australia and boy did it feel great. Sadly all that disappeared when dark storm clouds covered the sun and we all had to take cover from the rain and thunder. Though our ocean rafting plans were pushed back, we eventually made it onto the raft. I have done white water rafting before but never ocean rafting. That was a whole new level of adrenalin rush and everyone I can tell enjoyed being knocked over and riding the waves in a raft. After that crazy adrenalin rush, we had dinner and got ready for our last big party. There was dancing, table tennis and limbo which was a great way to end the last full day.

Even though I was still recovering from the party, I woke up to see the sunrise. Sadly it was really cloudy but a bit of the sun peaked out of a small opening in the clouds showing the pink and orange colors of the morning sky. After the sun disappeared behind the clouds, I went straight back to bed before eating breakfast and packing. At 9:30 am we had our last lesson of learning to catch waves in the back. They were a lot harder to catch since it was a bit choppy but a few of us caught some good ones. I had a pounding headache by the end but I enjoyed every second in the water. Eventually we all had to say goodbye to Spot X beach and Mojo Surf camp to head back to Uni. Before heading back to Uni, we stopped in Byron Bay on the way to shop and eat. The town is very vintage looking (better way of saying hippy) and had a lot of backpackers. I will be there next weekend so I get to see a bit more of the town. Finally we made it back to Uni at 8:00 pm and I tried to go to bed but since I slept on the bus, I did not go to bed till 2:00am

This weekend really was amazing and I feel like I have some arm muscle definition and a tan. I met some awesome people while I was there and I hope that I can surf with some of the USC group I met this weekend. Some of them picked up surfing so quickly and really should keep their surfing game on! I love having new surfing buddies. Though this surf camp was a huge review for me, I felt so refreshed and more confident in my abilities to get up on the board. Sometimes you need to go back to the basics in order to build yourself back up again. Now I have some new things to show off in the water aka my shakas and YEEWS!!!! Already feel like an Aussie surfer!