My first and most gnarly weekend trip was to Surf Camp.
Surf Camp Australia sends representatives to the beginning of the semester exchange and study abroad orientation. My advice is not to sign up before this day, just because they give A$100 off at orientation, which brings the total weekend expense to about A$270.
I think this is the best way to learn to surf, even if at the beginning of the semester you'll feel like you have so much time. There's so much to do and the time will escape you.
This is the video they showed us at orientation. It got a lot of people excited to learn to surf, and it got everyone excited about surfers. ;)
Check out my Surf Camp album here.