first night

Met more of the warehouse folks. all good people. learned about the herb in australia, they're into spliffs and I'm not much for tobacco, but when in rome...

caught a nap, slept for about an hour before i heard my name called.

Matt was asking if i wanted to go out to the party.

I dragged myself up through the jetlag and put on some shoes and a hoodie... it's fairly cold here as it is the middle of winter. Came out and met yet more warehouse mates(for some unknown but wonderful reason, all the girls here are beautiful), they were having a communal dinner. we debated getting a cab or riding bikes to the party, as we were all planning on getting shitfaced. We finally decided to take the one car that they own to the party, then get a cab home.

We drove through the city some, Matt - my Aussie host, another couchsurfer named Timor from Germany, and I. We got to the club, the Roxbury Hotel and found quick parking. As we came in the place was full of the fledgling activists who had been at the Sydney Opera House earlier in the day. Most of them were new college students - a bit younger than the crowd I was hanging out with.

The free piles of beer had already been consumed, but there was a lot of wine left, so we grabbed a bottle and 3 glasses and headed to a table. Timor and I sat and drank for a bit, then I decided to walk around. Met some cuties here and there. They were all nice to get to know, then we made our way upstairs. A bunch of people from our the warehouse were all hanging out on the smoking lounge, so the three of us joined them. It was the same seen I'd be in anywhere... a bunch of creative, intelligent drunkards discussing the plight of the world, the problems our generation has been left, the ineptitude of the masses, and our love of sex and drugs.

The free booze ran out at the party, and we realized we had isolated ourselves from everyone else, so we broke up into two groups and drove home (not enough free booze to be too drunk to drive) one group stopped for beers on the way back.

I realized that the main drink here is Lager... I hate Lager. they were totally unfamiliar with Porter and said the country has one Stout. shit.. looks like i'll be spending less money than I had thought.

We came back to the spot, and hung out in the 'Mud room' - a room with turntables, piles of hip hop and drum n' bass records, and a few couches. It's known as the mud room because it gets trashed and they dont mind... the rest of the place is pretty clean. Spliffs and Beers, good people, DnB... perfect.

Finally, I was getting worn out and made my way to my makeshift bed: three cushions on the floor in the corner of the costume room. A great night's sleep, and now I'm up to do it all again.

I miss my friends back home, but am having a wonderful time so far.

Today I plan to make use of my unlimited train/bus pass to see the city, then tomorrow we head out into the woods to work on the land where the festival will be held.

everything's looking pretty promising.