To the beach!

Today I met up with the kids from Oregon to ride the bus into town to go to the Strand, which is their boardwalk/beach area. It is a really REALLY nice area and there are pubs everywhere. We walked along the strand for a little while and headed to the beach to test the water. It was a little cold, about 75*, but still nice nonetheless. It turns out I forgot to pack my beach towel in my luggage, so nobody had one for drying off afterward so we did some air drying on the cement. During this time, some crazy old woman that we originally thought was a man started chasing down some skateboarders and yelling at them to piss off and get back over there if they dared. She finished it off with some other colorful profanities. She turned and explained to us that they had been bothering her and then walked away. Weird.
I think the best thing about the downtown area besides the beach would definitely be all of the parks situated within the city. There are these really awesome trees here called banyan trees which look drop lines down from their branches and they eventually grow into the ground so it looks like this massive, gnarled, many-trunked tree. We climbed a huge one in a park by the beach and took a really nice group pic, so hopefully I’ll be getting that soon to post.
We also hit up the tavern last night with a bunch of locals and other exchange students. Some random girl, Jeppo (her nickname), came up to us at dinner and invited us to go, so we went. Everybody is just so friendly here! The tavern was pretty cool too, despite the fact that my drinking skills are nonexistent. I had no idea what to order, so Jeppo ordered me a girly drink called a Fruit Tingle. I thought I was just going to get a glass of it, but it turns out she ordered me and the two other girls from Oregon a pitcher for the each of us. I didn’t know how I was supposed to finish an entire 1140mL jug on my own, but I sat down to make Ashley proud, pushed the glass aside, and stuck my straw directly into it to start drinking my beverage at a leisurely pace. As it turns out, fruit tingle isn’t something you ever want to drink that much of. It is a combination of booze, some sort of purple kool-aid type juice, sprite, and grenadine and is ungodly sweet. I didn’t finish it, but probably made it ¾ of the way through. No worries mom and pops, could still walk a straight line, talk coherently, and use good judgement! I did feel as though my teeth had rotted completely through thought and brushed my teeth 3 times before getting to bed.
I met a lot of cool people there and learned a few rowdy drinking songs. There was a kid named David who was DUI in his wheelchair and kept quoting Dave Chappelle who was absolutely hilarious. I think at one point I was crying I was laughing so hard. His favorite quote happened to be something about an ‘N word’ getting off of his couch and he had no qualms shouting it for everyone to hear. ..Multiple times. Well, I’ve made it up until midnight and I’m and still quite jet lagged and now even more exhausted, so I’m off to check on my gecko roommate and then sleepy time 