Saturday is where I left off I think so its where I shall start from again… Oh joy for all you reading this, no day will be missed out! Haha, remember this is not a compulsory read.
Anyway, so Saturday started off well with a free pancake breakfast from the hostel and after several hours of Internet abuse I finally got the bus up to my new home. I dumped all my rubbish and had a potter around Rozelle Market. All the suburbs in Sydney have their own local markets, which sell everything from music, to vintage clothes to kebabs. It was a really nice hot day and I bought a white wicker chair for my new room.
I then headed off back to Glebe to meet Nina, we wandered round the market there and I considered buying a new leather belt as Ross has stolen all of mine…. Decided my budget should be reserved for the essentials though so Nina and I headed off to find bed sheets etc.
We walked down to Newtown (yet another fashionable suburb behind the university) but out sheet hunt was seriously scuppered by a complete lack of shops selling sheets. We made the most of it though and had an amazing Thai lunch for 3 quid each! I have really never seen so many vegetables; I was a very very happy bunny. We then headed into town to explore Paddy’s market and again failed miserably. It was worth the trip though as it really is an amazing market, it feels like you have stepped straight into China, with a funny amount of Australian themed souvenir stalls.
Finally we found everything we needed in the shopping centre right by where we started and I headed back on the bus to Rozelle to make my new bed. Had a speedy change over then bussed back to Glebe (yes my life is similar to a yoyo) to meet the Americans for dinner.
Alexa had cooked this amazing fish stuff, which she had got from Sydney’s famous Saturday fish market… I dealt with it all quite well until I found a baby octopus on my plate. Like an entire octopus with all its legs and suckers and head on still. I sadly couldn’t deal with this so I made Tyler eat it and relished in the moment when the head popped and he nearly chucked up all over the table. The four of us got through two bottles of wine and the better part of a bottle of Whisky before we left to walk into town. The plan was to go see Hybrid play but I was looking forward to a long sleep in my own room so caught the bus home and fell asleep instantly.
Sunday had been our Bondi beach day, but the weather looked horrible. It was really overcast and grey so Nina and I decided to save it for another day and we met at lunch and went to the Australian museum. A guy called Ed from the hostel came along as well and we went round 2 exhibitions, one on aborigines and one on Surviving Australia that we thought could be useful. Saw some of the weirdest stuffed animals ever and have decided that my new favourite animal is the greater Bilbo. Has amazing ears. I left at 5 to go and meet Annika the girl who had been on exchange at Glasgow last term. We, and 3 of her friends from SCA, went to get dinner at the Shakespeare pub and managed to walk a stupidly long way to get there. Had a cheep dinner then ventured out into what had become torrential rain. By the time I got back to the flat I was drenched and I spend a really chilly night not warming up properly.
I woke up this morning still quite cold and realised that the clothes I had washed the day before were wetter than they were to start with. Put them on spin again and hung them up in the sun, which was finally warming me up.
I got to SCA and headed up for our Mini induction. It was the same old stuff as last week but at least a little more relevant. After, Marlene (head of exchange) gave us a tour of the campus and then gave us our time to go to our respective subject. I was the only sculpture person so I went home for lunch and then came in for the 2 oclock class. I met my tutor Adam who can only be described as terrifying. I think the problem is he’s not that old. All my tutors at Glasgow are beardy and ancient, which makes you think that they are wise. Obviously being younger makes him need to be a complete hard-nosed, totally blunt B@$%&£d. Not sure he is really as bad as that but that was the impression I got from the other students.
Adam told me that I have to present all my work to the class next Wednesday morning so I am currently suppressing a massive panic as I have left all my work on my external hard drive somewhere packed away safely in a box in Scotland… could be Glasgow… could be Linlithgow…
I had my studio health and safety induction with the technician Colin afterwards, and it seems that it is a universal fact that Technicians and totally and utterly brilliant. He showed me round the studios and then ended up showing me the main workshops and introducing me to the guy who ran it Tony, who said he will teach me how to weld properly!
After all that and a bit of timetable sorting out I decided to head out and back home to try and find some of my work on the computer. I made myself a set of shelves out of two shoe racks and a load of bricks that were lying around the back yard. So at least now my room is much more tidy that it was before.
I did my first supermarket shop in Woolworth’s, which is still alive here (and seems to be food based rather than the uk type or woollies). By the time I got back to the flat Belinda was in so we had a chat and then dean came in and we all had a glass of wine (very civilized eh!) So I am in my room now panicking about my lack of work. I’m going to see what I put on my blog over the last year and see if I can use some of that…
Lots of love.
Me xxxxxx
P.s Have my first hot Glass Class tomorrow. Very excited!!!!!!!
Monday, 27 July 2009
Saturday, 25 July 2009
Australia 2 (the first week)
This week has been crazy, suddenly started going really fast! Sunday was still really woosy as I felt super jet lagged still. I got up and had a chat to Ross before heading out to visit the two flats I had organised to see on Saturday.
I got the bus up to Rozelle from the hostel and went to see flat number one. It is down a tiny road off the main street and I walked past it twice before I noticed it! Belinda opened the door and showed me round. The room had a bed in already which is good cos lots don't seem to have any furniture at all. I met her other flat mate Dean and his girlfriend. We had a nice chat and found out that she works for a teenage drug abuse charity and he is from Tasmania and works in management. Dean’s girlfriend was really nice and a Pilate’s teacher so maybe I could take that up! Then I left to go and see flat number two. It was further away from the Uni campus but in a really secluded private block of flats. Was very nice but the flat itself had almost no character. The guy Joel seemed a little bit strange as well. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but he just seemed a bit of a creep.
In the afternoon I decided to be cultural and stop panicking about flats so I headed over to the town centre and walked around circular quay. There was a big chocolate and coffee festival on. I felt so spaced out though I couldn't even face trying any.
By the time I got round to the Sydney opera house the sun was starting to go down. There was a beautiful vivid orange light illuminating it and it really did look stunning. After a wander round I headed up into the royal botanical gardens and mossied about looking at the massive trees. I also saw hundreds of Fruit bats (locally called flying foxes).
I decided as it was getting dark I should wander back and check out my timetable for orientation.
Monday was incredibly boring. We went into the great hall to be welcomed etc etc and sat in the freezing cold for about an hour. We were then split up and went into two (warm) lecture theatres. We sat there for hours and got bored listening to advice on how to get on a bus and ways to deal with feeling lost in a big city etc etc etc etc....... on and on and on. I was sat next to some people from Leeds which was cool as it made me feel a bit more at home.
After the tedious talks we had a free lunch and some of the clubs had stalls out that you could join at (no canoe club present sadly)
The lunch was pretty good though. Was a big buffet with lots of fresh fruit and mini sandwiches... I decided that my main aim for the week would be free food :P
The afternoon was as bad as the morning and as we left the guys from Leeds invited me out for a drink in the evening, by the time I got back to the hostel though I was totally shattered so stayed in a felt miserable and stressed Ross out on he phone which im sure he really loved! I finally fell asleep after a long time not being able to.
Due to my late night I missed the 1st morning lecture and sneaked in late. From all accounts I hand missed much at all! Over the break I chatted again to a German girl I had met the day before called Nina. We chatted for a while and I bumped into the group of English folk again. We decided to meet in the evening and go to the cinema. The afternoon lectures we basically a massive promotional op for all the tour companies and surf camps to tell us to spend all our money to go on trips with them. When we finally escaped and handed in all our forms and stuff it was still brilliantly sunny so I came back to the hostel and made dinner. I met Nina at 8 and we went to see the Proposal. (rubbish film really but nice to do something in the evening that wasn’t just sitting on the Internet)
Wednesday was pretty much a free day so I decided I should fill it with lots of things. In the morning Nina and I went on a tour of the Campus called a SPOC SAFARI, no idea what spoc stands for but it was a really funny tour, showing us the ugliest building on the campus etc (was the architecture building ironically, also looked almost as bad as Glasgow architecture building!
In the afternoon I set up my new Australian bank account and then headed back to uni to go on a tour called "walk to water" It took us from the uni all the way down to darling harbour, we walked through all the little back streets and stopped along the way and the guide told us stuff about the city, and Australian history etc etc. The main reason for going was a free drink that we got in a really nice bar in Darling harbour. Nina and I ended up sitting next to another English guy and a French guy in the bar. The English guy was really pitying that I lived in Scotland as apparently he thinks the accent is horrible and they are all thugs. He looked a bit put out when I told him I thought the accent was hot and men in kilts beat weedy English guys ten fold. ha-ha, was funny to see his face. Think Ross was pleased when I told him as well. :)
As Nina and I left to get the bus back to the hostel it started pissing it down, it was a proper downpour and by the time I got back to the hostel I was freezing. Had to do a quick change and head out to Rozelle to collect my keys.
That in itself turned out to be a bit of an adventure. I didn't realise that I had missed the last bus, so had to get a taxi to the flat. I tried to take money out form the bond and my card wouldn’t work, so I only managed to get out $500 on my other card, which was still $300 short of the deposit amount. I was really worried about it so phoned Dad and he said just to go anyway. It turned out fine, Dean didn't mind at all and he even gave me a lift back so I didn’t have to pay for another cab!
Thursday I had a really long lie in which I think wiped the last of my jet lag away. got up about midday and headed down to the uni for a swim in Victoria park pool. Its a public pool set in the middle of the park, its outside and 50meters! Was pretty chilly but was so nice swimming in the outside with trees all around. I walked back and got my phone sorted out at the shopping centre (had bought it the day before and it hadn’t worked properly). I got back and got ready for the International Party that was on in the Union and Nina and I headed down.
It was awful! It resembled a school disco with everyone talking in little nervous huddles and nobody dancing apart from a strange German guy. We got a free bbq which was good and then decided if it was going to get any better, we should start sampling the bar. After a few beers it did improve and I met Hermione who is from the group of Leeds people. I danced with them for a while and left about midnight to go and skype Ross as he got back from work (still finding it very hard to work out the time difference. 12 hours would be so much easier than 9!)
Friday morning I packed up the majority of my things and took them to the new flat. It was good to get in there and have a look around while everyone was at work, and I took some photos of it and put them on face book. I got back about lunch time and went to meet the girl Alexa who had been in my dorm all week. We had decided to go to Manly beach so along with two other Americans (Tyler and Michelle) we got the bus into town and took the ferry from just by Sydney harbour Bridge. The ride over was beautiful. It was really hot and sunny and the view of the coast was beautiful. We arrived and headed tot he main surf beach to check it out. Was massive! and really pretty. It was a bit cold to swim so we wandered along the beach and walked around the rocks to another little beach called cabbage bay and shell beach. I had my first ozzie Ice cream and we sat in a beach cafe as the sun was setting on the water.
It was freezing on the ferry coming back! I had all my layers on but Tyler and I braved the cold and sat right out on the front. Turned out Gay American Men are afraid of water! The boat was pretty rocky and he was squealing like a ten-year-old girl. When we finally go on the bus to go back to Glebe it was getting pretty late and I was starving. Decided to meet Nina on the way home and we got a takeaway pizza and a bottle of wine and then crashed in the TV room in the hostel and watched a film. Was a really nice way to end the week. I fell fast asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow and had one of my best sleeps yet. \
I am currently sitting in the hostel eating free pancakes for breakfast before I take the rest of my stuff to the flat. I need to do a big shopping trip today to get bed sheets and all the related gubbins.
Sorry this is so long and been so long coming! I will try and be more regular in future!
Loads of Love to everyone!!!!!!
Amy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
x
x
x
x
x
x
I got the bus up to Rozelle from the hostel and went to see flat number one. It is down a tiny road off the main street and I walked past it twice before I noticed it! Belinda opened the door and showed me round. The room had a bed in already which is good cos lots don't seem to have any furniture at all. I met her other flat mate Dean and his girlfriend. We had a nice chat and found out that she works for a teenage drug abuse charity and he is from Tasmania and works in management. Dean’s girlfriend was really nice and a Pilate’s teacher so maybe I could take that up! Then I left to go and see flat number two. It was further away from the Uni campus but in a really secluded private block of flats. Was very nice but the flat itself had almost no character. The guy Joel seemed a little bit strange as well. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but he just seemed a bit of a creep.
In the afternoon I decided to be cultural and stop panicking about flats so I headed over to the town centre and walked around circular quay. There was a big chocolate and coffee festival on. I felt so spaced out though I couldn't even face trying any.
By the time I got round to the Sydney opera house the sun was starting to go down. There was a beautiful vivid orange light illuminating it and it really did look stunning. After a wander round I headed up into the royal botanical gardens and mossied about looking at the massive trees. I also saw hundreds of Fruit bats (locally called flying foxes).
I decided as it was getting dark I should wander back and check out my timetable for orientation.
Monday was incredibly boring. We went into the great hall to be welcomed etc etc and sat in the freezing cold for about an hour. We were then split up and went into two (warm) lecture theatres. We sat there for hours and got bored listening to advice on how to get on a bus and ways to deal with feeling lost in a big city etc etc etc etc....... on and on and on. I was sat next to some people from Leeds which was cool as it made me feel a bit more at home.
After the tedious talks we had a free lunch and some of the clubs had stalls out that you could join at (no canoe club present sadly)
The lunch was pretty good though. Was a big buffet with lots of fresh fruit and mini sandwiches... I decided that my main aim for the week would be free food :P
The afternoon was as bad as the morning and as we left the guys from Leeds invited me out for a drink in the evening, by the time I got back to the hostel though I was totally shattered so stayed in a felt miserable and stressed Ross out on he phone which im sure he really loved! I finally fell asleep after a long time not being able to.
Due to my late night I missed the 1st morning lecture and sneaked in late. From all accounts I hand missed much at all! Over the break I chatted again to a German girl I had met the day before called Nina. We chatted for a while and I bumped into the group of English folk again. We decided to meet in the evening and go to the cinema. The afternoon lectures we basically a massive promotional op for all the tour companies and surf camps to tell us to spend all our money to go on trips with them. When we finally escaped and handed in all our forms and stuff it was still brilliantly sunny so I came back to the hostel and made dinner. I met Nina at 8 and we went to see the Proposal. (rubbish film really but nice to do something in the evening that wasn’t just sitting on the Internet)
Wednesday was pretty much a free day so I decided I should fill it with lots of things. In the morning Nina and I went on a tour of the Campus called a SPOC SAFARI, no idea what spoc stands for but it was a really funny tour, showing us the ugliest building on the campus etc (was the architecture building ironically, also looked almost as bad as Glasgow architecture building!
In the afternoon I set up my new Australian bank account and then headed back to uni to go on a tour called "walk to water" It took us from the uni all the way down to darling harbour, we walked through all the little back streets and stopped along the way and the guide told us stuff about the city, and Australian history etc etc. The main reason for going was a free drink that we got in a really nice bar in Darling harbour. Nina and I ended up sitting next to another English guy and a French guy in the bar. The English guy was really pitying that I lived in Scotland as apparently he thinks the accent is horrible and they are all thugs. He looked a bit put out when I told him I thought the accent was hot and men in kilts beat weedy English guys ten fold. ha-ha, was funny to see his face. Think Ross was pleased when I told him as well. :)
As Nina and I left to get the bus back to the hostel it started pissing it down, it was a proper downpour and by the time I got back to the hostel I was freezing. Had to do a quick change and head out to Rozelle to collect my keys.
That in itself turned out to be a bit of an adventure. I didn't realise that I had missed the last bus, so had to get a taxi to the flat. I tried to take money out form the bond and my card wouldn’t work, so I only managed to get out $500 on my other card, which was still $300 short of the deposit amount. I was really worried about it so phoned Dad and he said just to go anyway. It turned out fine, Dean didn't mind at all and he even gave me a lift back so I didn’t have to pay for another cab!
Thursday I had a really long lie in which I think wiped the last of my jet lag away. got up about midday and headed down to the uni for a swim in Victoria park pool. Its a public pool set in the middle of the park, its outside and 50meters! Was pretty chilly but was so nice swimming in the outside with trees all around. I walked back and got my phone sorted out at the shopping centre (had bought it the day before and it hadn’t worked properly). I got back and got ready for the International Party that was on in the Union and Nina and I headed down.
It was awful! It resembled a school disco with everyone talking in little nervous huddles and nobody dancing apart from a strange German guy. We got a free bbq which was good and then decided if it was going to get any better, we should start sampling the bar. After a few beers it did improve and I met Hermione who is from the group of Leeds people. I danced with them for a while and left about midnight to go and skype Ross as he got back from work (still finding it very hard to work out the time difference. 12 hours would be so much easier than 9!)
Friday morning I packed up the majority of my things and took them to the new flat. It was good to get in there and have a look around while everyone was at work, and I took some photos of it and put them on face book. I got back about lunch time and went to meet the girl Alexa who had been in my dorm all week. We had decided to go to Manly beach so along with two other Americans (Tyler and Michelle) we got the bus into town and took the ferry from just by Sydney harbour Bridge. The ride over was beautiful. It was really hot and sunny and the view of the coast was beautiful. We arrived and headed tot he main surf beach to check it out. Was massive! and really pretty. It was a bit cold to swim so we wandered along the beach and walked around the rocks to another little beach called cabbage bay and shell beach. I had my first ozzie Ice cream and we sat in a beach cafe as the sun was setting on the water.
It was freezing on the ferry coming back! I had all my layers on but Tyler and I braved the cold and sat right out on the front. Turned out Gay American Men are afraid of water! The boat was pretty rocky and he was squealing like a ten-year-old girl. When we finally go on the bus to go back to Glebe it was getting pretty late and I was starving. Decided to meet Nina on the way home and we got a takeaway pizza and a bottle of wine and then crashed in the TV room in the hostel and watched a film. Was a really nice way to end the week. I fell fast asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow and had one of my best sleeps yet. \
I am currently sitting in the hostel eating free pancakes for breakfast before I take the rest of my stuff to the flat. I need to do a big shopping trip today to get bed sheets and all the related gubbins.
Sorry this is so long and been so long coming! I will try and be more regular in future!
Loads of Love to everyone!!!!!!
Amy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
x
x
x
x
x
x
Saturday, 18 July 2009
Australia entry 1
Sunday 19th July 09
Its very strange waking up at 7 am and thinking you had better chat to your boyfriend before he goes to the pub. Not a totally unrealistic situation for some people I suppose but still not the usual routine of a functional relationship.
Yesterday felt like a mix of a very very bad hangover and a heavy flu. I arrived at 6.30 am just about the time my body was telling me I should be going to bed. I decided not to give into the stupid taxi prices from the airport and got the shuttle bus into town. Was a bit of a false economy as the bus dropped me right at the other end of the long street from where my hostel was so I ended up getting a taxi the rest of the way.
Got settled in the room and had a few min’s total panic about what the hell was I doing here! Phoned Ross and he calmed me down and then went to sleep. Very jealous of Ross’s state of awake-ness I considered just giving into the jet lag and sleeping all day, but I resisted.
Decided to be practical and start looking for flats. So after a free pancake breakfast from the Hostel, I got to work on the internet looking at some places near the uni. Fired off a few emails and decided to go to a viewing at 2....(hoping that I would still be awake then!)
I tried walking into town following the crappy map in the guide book, but the problem I found as the day went on, is if you want to walk about a town the maps are useless. The only roads that are named are the massive, loud, dual carriage way type roads, so its an incredibly un scenic route that you take.
After a noisy walk found myself in China town and in Paddy’s market. Massive indoor market where they sell everything from bananas to stolen phone parts. I made the most of this and brought a dodgy charger for my mobile. Decided then that as it had taken me at least twice as long to get to town as I had thought, I should leave tonnes of time to get to Rozelle for the flat viewing,
This was good thinking as I got on the wrong bus which went all round to world to get there. The flat was ok but the guy was a bit odd and it smelt of fish, so we are striking that one off the list.
After that I wandered down to the art school to have a look around and see if there were any notice boards up with ads for flats. I spoke to a guy working in the gallery there who’s a printmaking student and he told me where the notice boards were etc.
After not really finding any notices, I decided to walk back to the hostel in Glebe. Again, the same problem on walking on massive roads. I am going to buy an A to Z today!
Right, I need some breakfast so I will check in again soon. Going to see 2 flats today and then go right into town and up to the opera house etc.
Lots of Love Amy xxxxx
Its very strange waking up at 7 am and thinking you had better chat to your boyfriend before he goes to the pub. Not a totally unrealistic situation for some people I suppose but still not the usual routine of a functional relationship.
Yesterday felt like a mix of a very very bad hangover and a heavy flu. I arrived at 6.30 am just about the time my body was telling me I should be going to bed. I decided not to give into the stupid taxi prices from the airport and got the shuttle bus into town. Was a bit of a false economy as the bus dropped me right at the other end of the long street from where my hostel was so I ended up getting a taxi the rest of the way.
Got settled in the room and had a few min’s total panic about what the hell was I doing here! Phoned Ross and he calmed me down and then went to sleep. Very jealous of Ross’s state of awake-ness I considered just giving into the jet lag and sleeping all day, but I resisted.
Decided to be practical and start looking for flats. So after a free pancake breakfast from the Hostel, I got to work on the internet looking at some places near the uni. Fired off a few emails and decided to go to a viewing at 2....(hoping that I would still be awake then!)
I tried walking into town following the crappy map in the guide book, but the problem I found as the day went on, is if you want to walk about a town the maps are useless. The only roads that are named are the massive, loud, dual carriage way type roads, so its an incredibly un scenic route that you take.
After a noisy walk found myself in China town and in Paddy’s market. Massive indoor market where they sell everything from bananas to stolen phone parts. I made the most of this and brought a dodgy charger for my mobile. Decided then that as it had taken me at least twice as long to get to town as I had thought, I should leave tonnes of time to get to Rozelle for the flat viewing,
This was good thinking as I got on the wrong bus which went all round to world to get there. The flat was ok but the guy was a bit odd and it smelt of fish, so we are striking that one off the list.
After that I wandered down to the art school to have a look around and see if there were any notice boards up with ads for flats. I spoke to a guy working in the gallery there who’s a printmaking student and he told me where the notice boards were etc.
After not really finding any notices, I decided to walk back to the hostel in Glebe. Again, the same problem on walking on massive roads. I am going to buy an A to Z today!
Right, I need some breakfast so I will check in again soon. Going to see 2 flats today and then go right into town and up to the opera house etc.
Lots of Love Amy xxxxx
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