Graduate From the Class of 2013 Reveals What Schoolies Week is Really Like _ News.com

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    Lifestyle

    news.com.au | parenting

    Graduate from the class of 2013 reveals whatschoolies week is really like

    WE ARE used to seeing the worst of the worst in the headlines.

    But what's Schoolies really like for a high school graduate in 2013?

    Pashing, piercing, passing out ... and having an early night for The Bachelorfinale.

    We got one school leaver to keep a diary of his Schoolies Week.

    Autoplay ON OFF

    http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle
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    SATURDAY

    We did it. The class of 2013 has graduated after 13 years of school. Now, is there any better way to celebrate this

    coming of age than with beaches, friends, parties, and no parents? I don't think so.

    After waking up at about 8am on Saturday morning - feeling violently ill after valedictory party - it was time to pack my

    bags and head down the coast, to Schoolies.

    Two whole years ago, five friends and I booked Schoolies and have been overly keen ever since then.

    The check-in time for our hotel (Q1) was about 2:00pm. But after my late night, I only managed to check in to Q1 at

    about 3:30pm. Oops. After the induction, where we were given a run down of the hotel rules, we went straight up to our

    rooms.

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    The room has such a great ocean view and everything inside was very ritzy.

    At about 6:30pm, a massive storm struck the GC, and at one point, all of the night's festivities were called off. No beach

    party, no club parties, nothing. Luckily, it passed pretty quickly and everyone started to flock down to the beach for the

    first ever Schoolies party.

    I wasn't really sure what to expect, but any expectations I did have were definitely exceeded.

    The vibes at the beach party were insane. There wasn't a single person on the beach who was having a bad time! My

    friends and I all mentioned how we felt pretty safe at the venue, too.

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    Only students were able to get through the gates, and no alcohol was allowed through. The boys even had to lift up their

    shirts to ensure there were no flasks taped to their bodies. Most people, including my friends and I, were obviously

    already drunk.

    The tactic was to just drink at the hotel and venture down to the party later in the night. At about midnight, the beach

    party ended and we all travelled back to the room for some sleep. We were all very tired after a hectic few days.

    SUNDAY

    Waking up on the first full day of Schoolies felt very weird. None of us could actually believe that we had graduated

    school and were well and truly into Schoolies week. Most of us were quite hung-over and the only cure seemed to be

    greasy food.

    Straight after breakfast (which ended up being more of a lunch), we started to prepare for our pre-drinks. This involved

    making the most tangy and fruitful punch of all time - a recipe they didn't teach us in Home Ec.

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    We started to play some drinking games. Competitions like King's Cup, KIA, dance battles and many more were allplayed, and taken too seriously.

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    The beach parties were quite similar to the first night - a lot of people, dancing, music and fun. A couple of my friends felt

    they were coming down with a cold of some description, and headed back to the hotel. This left me and one of my

    friends down at the beach, tearing it up in the mosh pit. We ran into stacks of people we haven't seen in ages, too.

    Some that left our school in grade 3.

    It was really awesome to catch up with them again, and see how much they've changed.

    At around 11pm, my friend and I decided to get some pizza from Cavil Ave, and headed home. By then, it had definitely

    started to sink in that Schoolies was set to be a pretty sweet week.

    MONDAY

    Waking up pretty late in the morning, my roomies had already made me pancakes. Woo! Quickly after eating breaky,

    we decided to explore a little of Surfers Paradise. Much to our enjoyment, there was one of those weird inflatable balls-

    in-the-water type attractions. Without even thinking twice, a friend and I jumped straight into the balls and, well, had a

    ball.

    Taking a while to recover after the dizziness and lack of oxygen, we moseyed down Cavil Ave and had a quick bite to

    eat. I wanted to treat the day as more of a recovery day, as I had to travel back to Brisbane for an entrance exam at a

    university. With this in mind, I decided against the a.m. drinking/partying.

    I can't report on a lot that happened during the night, but apparently all the groups of friends met up and had a reunion

    dinner. Secretly, I was quite devastated I missed the reunion dinner.

    TUESDAY

    I didn't arrive back down at Surfers Paradise until late in the afternoon. During the day, my friends went jet boating as a

    daytime activity. They said it was really cool, and no one vomited, which was becoming a rarity for daytime outings.

    As soon as I got to the hotel room, it was t ime to get ready for a night of funtivites (fun activities). At 7pm we made our

    way up the sub-penthouse where our friends were staying. Pretty much everyone from out school started their nights out

    in this room. It was like a mutual meeting ground that happened to be 68 floors up, in Australia's highest residential

    building. No biggie.

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    The planners of Schoolies decided that during the week long event, there should be a rest day. The rest day wasTuesday, meaning no beach parties were being run. From our hotel, we could see that there were people and stages still

    on the beach. Apparently, it was a movie night. Instead of going to movie night, a friend and I decided to go Melba's

    nightclub. We felt obliged to, after receiving this text from 1800 Schoolies. Rude not to, really.

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    After leaving a burn on the dance floor from our erratic and fiery dance moves, we decided to head back to room.

    The wait for the elevator at Q1 can sometimes be quite a lengthy experience. Being so tired, spooning while waiting for

    the elevator seemed to be the only appropriate method of dealing.

    WEDNESDAY

    Pierce, cut, dye or spray. They were the only four rules of Wacky Wednesday - a concept our group had come up with a

    few months earlier.

    That's right, anyone participating was to pierce their body, cut their hair, dye their hair or spray their skin. I, myself, did

    all four.

    The one I regret most was dying my hair. Mum and Dad might not be big fans of the nose ring.

    It didn't quite go to plan and I ended up with brown patches all over. Also, my hair bleached so much that everyone

    started calling me Slim Shady. How embarrassing.

    To cover up, I decided to wear a cap and enjoy the night nevertheless.

    After have a sweet night on Tuesday, we decided to go back to Melba's for the night. Scotty T, from Geordie Shore, was

    making an appearance and we thought we'd check it out.

    And then we went home early for The Bachelorfinale. Despite what you read about the wildness of Schoolies, we do

    have our subdued moments.

    THURSDAY

    After breakfast (and dying my hair back to normal ... laters, Slim Shady) we thought it would be nice to see The Hunger

    Games: Catching Fire.

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    All of us love the Hunger Games trilogy, so we just decided to go see it. So did everyone else at Schoolies, apparently.

    At the same cinema. At the same time. But that only added to the ambience.

    That night, a friend and I decided that Schoolies is a good opportunity to make lots of new friends. So, at the party, we

    did so. We met stacks of different people from all around Australia. Everyone was so willing to share their life stories,

    which was good ... and bad.

    We left the beach party soon after and soaked up the atmosphere of Cavilll Ave. There, I saw my cousin who I don't

    actually see that often. We caught up for a few minutes, then went our separate ways. Schoolies is so awesome in this

    way, as it brings all of your friends (and sometimes relatives) together - even those you might have lost contact with.

    To finish the night, we - obviously - went to McDonalds to inhale some tasty, tasty cheeseburgers. When I arrived back

    at Q1, no one in my room was answering their phones and I didn't have a key. Instead of sleeping out on the street, one

    of my friends invited me back to sleep in their room. Her bedroom was something wildly different. She had what they

    called The Field of Dreams.

    This sublime dream station is literally a room with bedding from wall to wall. It was one of the best sleeps I've ever had.

    The Field of Dreams definitely lived up to its name.

    FRIDAY

    Waking up on the last full day of Schoolies was an extremely sombre experience. None of us wanted to leave. Instead of

    moping around the room, we decided to make the most of our little time left.

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    To kick the day off, we made another heavenly punch. This one, a little stronger. To accompany the punch and our newfound "maturity", we ate some adult food and talked about child things.

    We weren't really sure what to do on our last day of Schoolies. No options seemed appropriate and worthy of being

    totally awesome.

    In a bit of a daze, we ended up sitting around the room and talking for a couple of hours. Although it wasn't very

    interesting, we felt it was right to just chat, considering we wouldn't have many more opportunities to do so.

    At roughly the same time as the previous days, we travelled up to the sub-penthouse for some pre-drinks and pre-

    partying. Everyone was getting extremely wild, as it was the last night of Schoolies.

    We eventually headed down to the beach party for a short while and enjoyed the pleasant tingle experienced when theDJ drops the bass. Aaaah.

    After that, we continued the party on Cavill Ave.

    The number of people crammed into such a small avenue is insane! The herd of people were chanting, singing and

    dancing for about an hour. I've never experienced anything like it. We felt somehow connected, despite barely knowing

    one another.

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    After living up the moment on Cavill Ave, we walked back to the room. In a moment of complete YOLO, we decided to

    stay up to watch the sun rise. Such a good decision (unlike my Wacky Wednesday hair).

    Watching the sun rise over the Gold Coast from 44 levels up with the people closest to you is something that cannot be

    put into words. We weren't worried about packing, or leaving, cleaning up, going to sleep or saying goodbye. We felt

    truly and utterly happy.

    SATURDAY

    Waking up knowing that, in a few short hours, we'd snap back to reality was quite a sobering thought.

    It was a struggle to pack up all of our belongings; we didn't want to leave and we had only had four hours' sleep. We

    simply chucked everything we owned into our bags and headed out of the room. Surprisingly, the only thing that needed

    repairing in our room was a broken toilet seat (don't ask). That lifted our spirits, knowing we were getting our bond back.

    When we went outside to wait 45 minutes for an elevator, we were surprised to find a note left by our neighbours on floor

    44. The lovely old couple sticky taped it to the elevator wall, for us to see.

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    It was hard to drive out of Q1 and Surfers Paradise, after having such an amazing week.

    It didn't matter who you were, or what you looked like - all you needed was a positive attitude and a willingness to

    celebrate the end of school.

    From my experience, Schoolies is the best week of any young person's life.

    ###

    SOURCE: http://www.news.com.au/li festyle /parenting/graduate-from-the-class-of-2013-reveals-what-school ies-week-is-really-like/story-fngqim 8m-

    1226770345253

    Welcome to Schoolies

    0:44

    Get a sense of the vibe at the Cavill Mall on the Gold Coast, during this

    years notorious Schoolies week.

    http://www.news.com.au/video/id-c5YmtmaDrW-iofOPURC8nKazQ8pLOm3M/Welcome-to-Schoolieshttp://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/graduate-from-the-class-of-2013-reveals-what-schoolies-week-is-really-like/story-fngqim8m-1226770345253