Marisa, Do you REALLY know where you are going?

I talked a bunch of people into coming to the Sunshine coast (Mooloolabab specifically) with me for the weekend. I figured they would go out and have fun, we would stay in a hostel 2 blocks from the Mooloolaba beach, go to the Australian Zoo, go to the beach, learn how to surf, and come back Sunday Night in time for Monday morning classes. The whole purpose of this trip was so that I could run the half marathon, a personal goal I have had for a while now. I planned it out so well. I found the hostel which had free surf boards, bikes, and shuttles to the Australian Zoo for under $30 a night (that is less than a 30 pack of beer for the guys) and a bus/train/train/bus ride for around $30 as well. It was going to be a great time.

We had an orientation week beach party through Bond and decided to leave at 3:55 pm right after. The beach was pretty and we watched Australian boys play cricket, American Boys play football, and a mixture of people playing Beach Volleyball. To be a girl at this moment, surrounded by beautiful buff boys playing sports in every direction your turned was a great thing. Where else could this kind of testosterone level be acceptable besides on ESPN SportCenter. The twelve of us (4 girls, 8 guys) that were going could not stop talking about the trip, completely excited for the weekend ahead of us. We quickly squeezed onto the bus and got ready for what should have been the 3 hour/ 3 and a half hour trip.

We had to get food for the trip so we ran to Bond Cafe, which of course was closed. Half of us ran to subway, some ran back to the room to get food, and I was already stressing out think we were going to be late. I had emailed our itinerary to Stephen and Libby thinking it would be the only thing we needed along with my computer in case we encountered some technical difficulties. First thing that went wrong. It was about 3:50 and 4 of us were not waiting at the bus station. What was going to happen if they missed the first leg of the trip? Would we leave them behind? Or would they have to met up with us in Mooloolaba? Luckily, everyone showed up at 3:54 where we continued to wait for our bus for another 10 minutes. Looking at our itinerary, I knew it was going to be a close call to catch the train and praying that we would make it.

We arrive at the train station to see our train had arrived and was leaving in one minute. We ran up to the counter and I informed the male working behind the plexi glass that we wanted to go to the Brisbane Central Train Station but wanted an all day pass to ride the translink trains and buses all day. He did not understand my concept and was staring at me awkwardly because I was 1) an American 2) a female and 3) clearly had no idea what I was talking about. He said that was unavailable and it was going to 28 dollars to the airport and I could only get a round trip for 60. I even showed him the itinerary of what we hoped to accomplish to get to Mooloolaba which he proceeded to push back at me still confused. Finally Jon stepped in and explained what I was trying to say without success. "We want to go to Landsborough Train Station." "Oh why didn't she say so? $6.60 with a student id" and then everyone paid. By this point, the man who I claim was sexist and thought of himself way better looking than myself, had made us miss our train. The next one was to arrive in 23 minutes, sounds perfect.

We caught the next train and ended up in Brisbane Central. Now time for leg #3 of our trip. We tried to read the screens and figure out which line was the green line. I decided to read closely and saw that none of the stops on the green line went to Landsborough. After to talking to multiple workers there, it seems as if we missed our train and we were going to have to wait until 8:40 to catch the next train to Landsborough, or go a completely different route with two more trains and more opportunities to get lost and possibly even wait longer. I look at my watch. It was 6:00. At this point everyone was asking me questions like I had the answer and I became very overwhelmed very quickly. Stephen had to question every decision I made and double check himself, Fink really wanted to go outside, the girls jsut really wanted to open a bottle of wine (which is completely illegal here and can be issued a $150 ticket for open alcohol on the train), and I jsut wanted to go to bed. After figuring everything out we knew we had to wait the hour 40 minutes and decided to sit. The boys went outside for some fresh air and the girls and Stephen sat on the floor of the train station people watching. People are so crazy and ridiculous that it is prime people watching. The guys called us and said they found a pub with $10 pints and a steak meal (and fish and chips for me) that was up to our American size stomachs. Realizing our stomachs were growling at this point we jumped on the chance for a good meal and rushed over.

The bar was a hole in the wall and perfect for the budget we were on. Our meal were delicious and this quickly became the highlight of our trip so far. I was sitting in the middle of the table surrounded by my friends, so I found it surprising when locals came up to me only and asked if I wanted to play pool because he was losing badly. They were in the army for Australia and claimed that it was the equivalent to West Point at home. I was slightly impressed until he informed me that between the 2 man and the guy in the wheelchair, they had 6 tee shirts to share between them. I quickly stopped believing anything they said after that. But after our lost at pool we had to go and catch our next train. We were already majorly delayed and didn't want to miss another train.

I often forget that I am not in America and that people sooner or later are going to start to hate me. I see a peculiar male dressed funny, dancing in odd ways waiting for the train. I was dared to start a dance off with him, which I, naturally, cannot turn down. We did some feet pounding, air piano-ing, rock finger shaking, and head banging. It was highly entertaining for everyone involved or jsut so happened to be watching. I cannot figure out if he was flattered or offended, but either way it was hilarious to watch.

Our next train was slow and we entertain ourselves with riddles, puzzles, and mind aggravating games like "green glass door" "paint a picture" and so forth. It wasn't until security came around to our car that we realized we weren't the only ones on the train. They knew we were American and were asking us questions about American history. You never really know how little you pay attention in class than when you are asked to repeat it out of the blue. I had no idea any of the answer and most of us could only give educated guesses. Apparently it is not normal to not know the history of your country. The security guard's name was Jimmy and we are now facebook friends. I told him if he ever came to America he could stay with us or his relatives in Aurora, whichever he preferred. He later told us what bus to get on after the train so that we wouldn't get even more lost.

So around 11 we finally made it to the hostel. 7 hours later, we put down our bags and decided where to go out for the night. It wasn't for a few minutes where we took in our surroundings of the hostel. It was quite literally a pair of bunk beds, a locked cabinet for our things, a toilet/shower combination thing, and sink. Luckily we were only paying $30 a night. It was all part of the fun I suppose, and knew it was going to be a good night. It was just a matter of what local bar is the best on the beach.