I have friends!

One thing that is almost certain when someone packs up all their belongings and moves across the world is the immediate lack of social life.  Apart from finding a job and a place to live, one also has the (sometimes laborious) task of making friends and creating a network of people to go out and have fun with.  Such a support group is extremely important when feeling like an outsider and without it things can quickly go south.  Thankfully though, as the title mentions, I have friends!

Already? Didn't you just arrive? Indeed, inquisitive author voice, I have! 

Luckily though, it seems that Sydney came with a built-in social life for Andy!  This past weekend was incredible and involved a Friday Saturday 1-2 punch of good friends and good times.

On Friday it was my friend Amanda's 23rd birthday.  Her and I have a really random history of hanging out and this time seems to be no different.  We first met in 2006 when I was visiting my best friend Erika in Montreal for week or two after graduating high school.  Fast forward FOUR years when I'm living in Germany as an English Teaching Assistant and she is living in the Netherlands studying abroad.  She came to Germany last year for Oktoberfest and crashed at my place for a night or two.  A month later we travelled to London together to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.  Since parting ways at the Hostel in London we've both done a fair bit of traveling and magically ended up living A STREET away from each other here in Sydney. Cray.zee.

So as I mentioned it was her birthday on Friday and we started the day off around noon at Tamarama Beach.  We spent a few good hours here grilling out with her roommates and other friends and taking the occasional dive in the ocean every now and then.  The weather was about 82F/28C and the water was really cold but served as a refreshing cool down when the heat became too much. After the clock ticked away a few hours and the weather dropped about 15 degrees, she had a few friends over for drinks and cake before heading out to a really sweet club called World Bar.

Saturday night was also quite a spectacular evening.  One of Ryan's Co-worker's was also having a birthday party...ON A BOAT!  But before I go further, I suppose you should first be introduced to Ryan.  He and I met while I was living in Madison for University and we've known each other for about 3 years now. Ryan moved here in June and found an apartment with his cousin Nathaniel and this is where I've been staying for the past week.

Well Ryan's boss thought it would be cool to throw a cruise party for all the September babies in the company and I was invited as a guest.  The boat was two stories and had a dance floor and bar on each level.  The DJ was skilled and definitely knew how to keep the energy high and the fists pumpin' but the most amazing part of the cruise were the insane views of the Opera house and CBD (Central Business District).  

Saturday night was one of those nights where I took a moment and looked at my life from an outside perspective:  Here I was sailing around Sydney Harbour on a freakin' cruise boat full of liqoured up party people - wtf! My life is super random, totally unpredictable and just the way I like it.

Sunrise in Middle-Earth

Alright, so I haven't had time to take many pictures but let me tell you, that sunrise I mentioned earlier was wayyyy worth the 13hr flight from LA to Auckland.  (My plane had a 2hour lay-over in Auckland, New Zealand - yes Monroe, that's near Australia).  If you know anything about me, you know that I am a HUGE nerd fan of the Lord of the Rings so having my first sunrise here be in the land of hobbits and wizards was pretty damn exciting.


Apart from the mind-blowing rising ball of fire in NZ, the flight wasn't that eventful, I watched Pirates of the Caribbean 4, Love and Other Drugs and Super 8.  All were pretty good but I remember being more impressed with Pirates than I was expecting.  After landing at Sydney International, my good friend Ryan picked me up and we made our way back to his place.  Unfortunately he couldn't get today off work and had to go in around noon.  This means we had just enough time to go back and drop off my stuff before heading out again; he really wanted to show me where he works just for future reference and I needed to go shopping, etc.


And now it's time for


FIRST IMPRESSIONS!
(Normally I would make a video blog for this type of thing, but as I am still gathering footage for my intro, I don't want to start any of those yet until it looks über-spiffy)


1. I wasn't quite sure whether to expect a more USA or European feel when I got here but after the few hours of walking around the city I can tell you that it is very much like Canada in that it is exactly like the US, but different.  There's no way really to explain it, it reminds me a lot of where I was just residing in California; it's got palm trees, its a bit dry, we have the beach....but its just different.  Maybe its all the public transportation?


2. They drive on the WRONG left side of the road!  I'm really glad (and OZ should be too) that I don't have a car or have to drive around the city, this whole thing just freaks me out.  And its not just the driving, in my London vlog I explain that this reversal of direction is not just valid for the streets, but also for pedestrians.  When taking the realllllyyyy long escalators up to the streets from the underground (U-bahn/tube/subway/whatever) it is common courtesy and knowledge to stand to the right if you are not in a hurry so that people who need to make transfers can rush along.  Well, a lady in front of me was standing on the left side and a few people had to awkwardly bustle past her, and after shaking my head disapprovingly at her, I glanced behind us down the escalator and noticed that I was the only one standing on the right side!  All those people had to awkwardly bustle past ME not her.  :'( culture fail


3. I saw 3! -  not 1, not 2, but THREE - trash cans that were covered with a sign that said "out of order".....wtf....how does that?...what?


4.  Sydney is super international. and by international I mean I'm pretty much living in China.


5. There is some definite "German residue" in my brain.  I can't help but find it odd that the people on all the trains and subways are speaking English.  It's like two separate phenomenon that were divided by very distinct contexts are suddenly being mashed together: usually I'm either riding trains in Germany or hearing English in the US, rarely did this happen simultaneously.   Also, I almost spoke to the cashier at the grocery store today in German. oops.


6. The birds are freakin' weird! More on this later, I definitely wanna record some of these sounds I'm hearing outside of Ryan's apt windows.  And they all like to sit on his balcony and stare at me.  Whatever, they probably think I'm just as strange.


So those were my first impressions of this lovely city, pictures to be up soon, but will probably post most of them on my Google plus account cuz its way easier and faster and they somehow look better on Google+!


Bis bald!

California Sunset

Hello and Welcome!


This is the new official Thunder Blog of Awesome!


In case you have not been paying attention to the goings-on of Nomad Hansi, I am currently in Ventura, California, the small beach town where my mom grew up and current residence of her side of the family.  I'm here because I have recently packed my life away into two (surprisingly small) pieces of luggage and am making my way toward Sydney, Australia.  I have been talking about this life-altering trip all year and have been on and off the idea of actually doing it.  Well, with less than 24hrs left until my 20-something hour flight departs from LA, I think its safe to say I will be going.


Why are you going? Where are you staying? Do you have a job? Do you know anybody who lives there?  These are all perfectly valid questions but the answers, I'm afraid, were not the intention of this blog post.  It may or may not temporarily pacify your raging hunger for information to know that all will be explained in the following posts.  So...here goes:


Being so near to the start of a new chapter in my life, I thought it pertinent to do some end-of-chapter reflection.  Honestly though, I'm finding that a bit difficult as this closing chapter was one of the shortest I have ever experienced.  Having only returned from my previous adventure mid-june,  I spent only about 3.5 months in good ol' 'Murka (fives weeks of which was spent at work, away from home) before scratching my newest wanderlust itch.


The short time I spent here has shown me that there are some things I will always miss about the USofA which can not be found elsewhere.  Apart from all the great things like home-cooked burgers, bon-fires and just a lazy day on the lake, one thing that never fails to amaze me is that feeling of never having left home when reunited with good friends.  There is something truly special about friendships that don't require constant communication and "maintenance" to remain strong.


One major aspect of my American life that I don't appreciate as much is my lack of independence.  Don't get me wrong - I will never reject an opportunity to stay at mom and dad's and get taken care of for awhile, but after about one or two weeks, it can get very old, very fast.  I have discovered that I am someone who simply needs to be on my own, doing my thing, and truly owning my own life.  So as saddening as it may be to leave mom and pop once more, nothing compares to the rush of excitement and longing I get when I think of getting out there and standing on my own two feet again.

So as I watch my final stateside sunset over the pacific ocean, I know that the comforts of home will be left behind and unseen, possibly difficult times lie ahead.  When I finally see the sun rise again on the other side of the world, it will be shining light on not only a new day, but a new world brimming with unfamiliar faces and strange lands begging to be explored.  But for all my excitement and anticipation for my new world and new life to begin, I think, for right now I'm just going to sit and enjoy my California sunset.