The disappointing mountains

Blue Mountains is such a famous thing. Everyone talks about it, and it seems to be a must-go-tourist-spot, obviously for all tourists, and of course, including me.

I didn't have time for it since I came to Aussie, and we missed the chance to join the 2 days 1 night tour group with the Unimates. So we had to come out with our own plans and route.

Me, Steph and Tony went there on Saturday. Woke up damn early in the morning, got on the train around 8-ish, fell asleep in the train, and guess what, dannnngggggg, we missed the stop to get off. The next thing we knew when we woke up, was almost everyone got off the train, and there's no turning back. This is not HK, where you can just go to the opposite rail and wait for the train to get back. Here, you have to wait for some 40-50 minutes for the next train.

Haha. So we wondered around this small lil town, we have no freaking idea where we were at. Luckily, we managed to find a stop to catch a bus back to our original stop. Wasted another 2 dollars plus I guess. Haha... and definitely a lot of time.

Anyway, we made our way to the Blue Mountains. Bought tickets for the steep rail, cableway, skyway, and hop-on-and-off trolley ride. Went around the main area of the Blue Mountains (forgot what they call that...), expected to see some cool falls during the Skyway, but  what we saw was just not what we expected. It was mini, and it looked like water coming out from the shower. Anyway, then spent time on the Gordon Falls, expecting to see another grand falls (like what we saw on the advert photo), and once again, got disappointed=.= OMG, what happened? No one could explain. Anyway, we then went walking along the trails in the mountains, took some photos...and got lost not long after that. Lost as in people told us we have to walk another 4km to reach to the next stop. Panicked for awhile, but luckily, we met a really cool man with a 4WD who was so kind to bring us to a landmark with MORE PEOPLE. Saw a little bit of sunset on the other side.

And then, it was fish n chips + some other fried seafood for dinner. Train back after that. Fell asleep again. But those Cantonese and perhaps South East Asians were talking and laughing so loudly that we couldn't concentrate sleeping....

Anyway, we were so tired. But at least, now we know what Blue Mountains is like. The mountain is definitely not blue, no falls maybe only some showers, and lotsa trees all around. Nothing special aight? Haha....

Missing the gym

Happy 20th Birthday BodyStep!! =)

I attended Lesmills quarterly Ultimate Super Workshop in Sydney.

It was spectacular.

And I really enjoyed it.

It made me think of those days I used to work in FF Penang. Those days of being a full time receptionist, part time receptionist, regular stepper, and eventually a BodyStep instructor. (Well, although I am not yet fully certified=.=) I miss those days, where I spend so much time gossiping about everything (hey, that's every girls' favorite ok..), where I attend Step classes so regularly, where I worked so hard to be good in BodyStep, and made all the effort to be cleared to instruct as a BS instructor.

I would say that I did not quite get 'there' before I left FF, and the gym life in Penang. I knew that I could do better, but I just didn't have enough time. If only I were a guy, maybe I could be better (you know males are always more favored everywhere, seriously =.=). It took me a lot of effort to make the class an enjoyable one, one that people will feel so happy and satisfied after attending it. Well, or I should say I didn't really succeed in figuring out the best method. It was just so hard, to please everyone in the class.

Nevertheless, I will never forget how I love BodyStep. I still do love it, and I enjoyed doing the MasterClass with the DVD presenters in the quarterly. I wanna keep myself involved in this world of GX instructors, although I know it'll be hard to do that in Hong Kong. But teaching is just a lot of fun (though stressful at times).....maybe Brandon kinda inspired me, too. Haha.

By the way, I learned a lot from the quarterly. It has been awhile since I made myself jump up and down like that for more than 5 hours in a day. It was painful too...haha...the push ups, the load on my triceps (which are tremendously weak =[ ) I'm so goinna get so much pain after this workout. But it made me realize that, my passion for fitness is still there, and it has always been there. I enjoyed quite a lot of the master classes, love the songs for BodyAttack and BodyBalance. Well, if I had more time, and perhaps more opportunities in Hong Kong, I would go for training in BB and BodyVive.

Haha, will see how it goes then.

Well Alan, I do admire you at times. Have fun BA+BS+BJ-ing yeah~~ You are one great instructor XD, I knew it even before you started any trainings.

Bye, April.

Owh May is coming. I'm getting so excited. Cz I'm going to Gold Coast, and I'll watch Mayday's concert. It'll be the last month having disastrous Mondays till Wednesdays non-stop classes. Life is all of a sudden....better.

Anyway, I had a really laid back week. Too much laying back I think this time. Owh, am I slowly turning into an Aussie?? Hell no...it was just a week I felt like doing nothing. Well, it makes sense right? You had a nice weekend, and there was this nice public holiday no school on Monday thingy, and then you are excited and you keep waiting everyday for the interview, and you got so frustrated and depressed when you lost your room key, but luckily an angel found it and you got it back.....stuff like that. Sounds tiring, didn't it?

We had this great and extremely filling Taiwanese dinner at this crepe shop. Yeah, it was good, a nice reward in fact. And we girls had some long chat together for about I guess 2-3 hours.

It was a nice way to end April, and I'm really looking forward to a great great month of May!! =)

Anzac Day

It is a day ....

"Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand, and is commemorated by both countries on 25 April every year to honour members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I. It now more broadly commemorates all those who died and served in military operations for their countries."

--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anzac_Day

I woke up at like 6.30am on that day to watch the parade. So can't believe that. Cz I've never been up so early to watch even Merdeka Day Parade for over erm, 19 years? Owh maybe there was one year where I was involved in the parade myself. Haha XP

The reason I woke up so early is because it was stated in the internet that the dawn service starts at 4am, and the whole place will be crowded with people from well maybe 3.45am. And I thought if I really wana see the parade I shouldn't make my suffer by tip-toeing throughout the whole parade just because I couldn't get a good view=.=

BUT....there was barely much cars or people on the streets when I left home at 7.30am. Hmmm? I was wondering what happened. Maybe because it drizzled a little in the morning...?

Anyway, I just walked around and I found myself a good spot to watch the parade, opposite Town Hall, where I can take some good photos with good background. Owh yea, they were giving out free Australia flag too...haha.

The parade did  start on time. A lot of taxis at first (I really don't know why...) then followed by armies, bands, old people especially in the parade. It was interesting at first I would say....but since I do not know that much about it, and it was kinda repetitive, so I left before the end of the parade. I had enough pictures of it anyway....and I was really sleepy.

Well, good thing I had a no school tomorrow because of this celebration!! Yippee~~~

The Orchestra and Alice in the Wonderland

Well, not that I watched the orchestra playing Alice in the Wonderland songs...haha.
It just happened on a same day.

The grand grand opera house

I was looking forward to enjoy a nice show at the Opera House, doesn't really matter what show it is. Drama, musical etc.
And Unimates actually arranged us for this romantic afternoon event, featuring "VIVA ESPANA - Spanish flair, Spanish rhythm and the elegant passion of Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez." http://www.sydneysymphony.com/seasons/2010/productions/2397-2010-Viva-Espana/details/
It was a really nice orchestra performance. And I felt so attached to music after not being in any similar performances for years. Ah....Dewan Sri Pinang, that's what I recall first when it comes to orchestra performances. And we only have to pay like RM5 or RM10 for night performances? Haha...well guess what, it was AUD30 (discounted price) for the VIVA ESPANA afternoon performance! But anyway, I really do miss music.

After that, we went to walk around The Rocks - Sydney. Well, before being any closer to this place, I seriously thought that this is a place with...erm, lotsa ROCKS. But well, it's actually a lil town, selling lotsa Australian specialities, some handmade crafts, and some nice retaurants, cafes and bars to chill. Anyway, we didn't have much time to walk around the market, which sells all those cute stuff as they end their business at 5pm SHARP. But we did manage to see some really nice necklaces (OWH, they are sooooo unique AND EXTREMELY expensive!!), had a stick of chocolate coated strawberries, tasted some sweet sweet Australian honey and had a AUD2 grilled butter corn (AUD3 off original price cause they're closing). It was cool, and we enjoyed it a lot. Planning to come back again sometime before we leave Aussie, and buy the necklace if we still have some cash left by the end of the exchange!! Haha.

Then we headed to Pancakes at the Rocks for dinner. This 24-hour restaurant was so freaking famous, and there is almost always a line of people waiting outside of its door. Luckily, we were there early and we managed to secure our seats pretty easily. The menu looked good. But that made me thought of Paddington Pancakes at Queensbay, which had a even fancier and larger variety of food choice compared to this. And so we ordered some dessert pancakes (both chocolate and butter milk pancakes) with some ice cream and fruits around. Overall, I would say it was yummy, but personally I think it's pretty overrated. Paddington could be so much better than this, and the price was much more competitive back there too. But, okay, no complains. Unless I'm willing to fly back home immediately for a pancake? Haha.

Our last stop for the day was Darling Harbour IMAX Theatre. That is the one with the largest IMAX screen in the world. So we scheduled ourselves for Alice in the Wonderland at 9.15pm. We were lucky enough to catch another cool musical fireworks display about 45minutes before the show. Don't really know what was that for, but presumably, Anzac Day which falls on the following day. And so we bought our tickets and ligned up to get into the cinema! OMG, this is the first time ever we actually have to lign up to watch a show. And we haven't got into the room until like 9.35pm? Haha. OZ experience.
The screen was good, 3D was kinda fun, Jack Sparrow was better in Pirates, and the story was predictable. Well, again, it was a nice experience.

And so, we ended this super tiring day. But yeah, I did have fun as promised right? =) Cheers!

About programming and auditing

I never tell you guys anything about the courses I am taking over here.

Programming is the one I enjoy most, next would be auditing, not because the lecture or the topic is interesting , but I just love my tutor a lot.

My Programming class~

I love dealing with high tech stuff, well of course when I can understand it.

I always see lotsa job ads talking about some additional requirements to apply for those technical or IT jobs. Something about java, C++, and the list goes on. Can't believe I have the chance to learn it over here during my exchange. My instructor and the coordinator course as well as my tutor is this super young guy (he just looks like a student!!). He's from HK but I think he can't speak canto well (that's what people say). But he's a really good instructor. He deliver very clear and good lectures, and he is good in helping us to understand the materials. It could be frustrating at times, not being able to solve the java code just because of some tiny miney error. But, it made me feel so happy and successful when I am able to do the work by myself. I really learned something out of his class, and I enjoy lab sessions too....

As for the auditing course, my instructor was pretty boring. Although there is no doubt that she has very deep knowledge in the topic. On the other hand, I have this super coooool and cute tutor (owh she's female, don't get "cute" the wrong way, haha) But her 1 hour tute every week just makes my school week end sooo much better. The way she explains auditing is just so interesting, and she's so good at cracking jokes, even very simple ones. Yeah, I really like her a lot. And I'm really glad that I changed my tute to her class.

Well you may wanna ask.....how about your other classes? Hmm, not worth mentioning them at the moment I guess...most of the time? Not interesting.

Sudden Decision. Gold Coast

We went crazy all of a sudden at one day.

Tiger Airways was doing this great sale great promotion thing. Getting you to fly across Australia. It costs as low as AUD19 one way to fly from Sydney to Gold Coast (normal price around AUD60 I guess).

So my housemate was like asking me, do you wanna go to Gold Coast for a weekend?

And I couldn't believe myself eventually agreeing to it.

And so we made our decision in only about two days. 

Skip class? (Not me though) Quizzes or assignments or essays around the corner?

Who cares. 

We came here for exchange. For the better OZ experience.

So, Gold Coast here we come.

Even if it's only the three of us.

Flying is fun. Taking 1000 photos in 4 days will be fun. Taking more jumping photos would be fun. Spending lotsa tiring yet crazy time together is fun. Especially when we only have less than 10 weeks together in this weird slow country.

Cheers Shiney and Stephy.

We'll have tonnes of fun together.

Easter Show

Backdated: 9th April 2010, Friday...

If you've seen photos from my Facebook, you would have known that it was a huge and interesting event.

Me and some exchange buddies went to the Easter Show a day after we came back from the Melbourne trip.

That was a major annual event for Sydney. And it was huge. There were so many things happening in the event. And once again I would say that I didn't have enough time to get around the shows, the exhibitions, and the fun and thrill rides. Other than that, yeah, it costs a lot too. The entrance fee itself costs AUD26 with student concession.

We spent most of our time with the farm animals. Seen sheep shearing, and milked the cows. We pat a lot of sheep, goats, cows, and even chickens in the nursery. Saw some beautiful horses too. Not to miss, the dog show, but we were there pretty late, and sadly, I missed most of my favorite animal, the dogs! We reached the showcase after the opening hours =( Other than that, we saw a grand parade, which to me was not so much of an interesting parade, it was just full of people bringing out farm animals and walking in circles. Haha. And then we missed the pig race, which was extremely exciting and interesting cause we felt the atmosphere through peeking outside the race area.

As mentioned there were some thrilling rides too. But it was way too expensive, some of the fun rides cost a minimum of 8AUD. Ya, 8AUD for like 5 minutes? Ahh...that's too much. But me and my friend tried playing at one of the game stalls, trying to win a huge huski toy!!! The HUSKI was soooo cute. But of course, guys are perhaps better in winning these games, as we saw quite a lot of guys wondering around with huge soft toys....argh~ But anyway, we got ourselves a very cute showbag, a brand which was never heard before, but it's mascot is pretty cute, as a reward.

摩天輪，那好像是回憶裏的幸福~

I had kebab as dinner. And we head to the main arena for some fun night show. There was the girl's stunt show, toyota XX stunt show, and the motorcycle stunt show. Haha, all of them were cool! And then there was this robosaurus which I was not so interested in. The night ended with the spectacular musical fireworks!!!

很燦爛的煙花~

We were extremely exhausted by the end of the day. Imagine being out and walking non-stop from 9.30am till 11pm. Not to mention my half-broken camera. 

But I'm glad that I came here. Without any doubts, it was indeed a wonderful day.

Last 10 days. Randomness.

It's down to the last 10 days of April.

This dog is sooooo cute. I wished I could smile like him...Random~

Well, I can't believe time flew that fast.

A lot of things happened in the first three weeks. There was this 10 day holiday, and there were tonnes of exams, homework and essays due after the holidays.

My exchange life was pretty different from what I expected, and what perhaps other people expected as well. Exchange was supposed to be full of traveling around here and there, and activities everyday if not every week. That's what I heard before going on exchange, and people even told me that exchange was the best part of their lives. 

WOW.

Can I assume that it is because I kinda came to the wrong country?

Anyway, from the above, you can read that I am not having a SUPER GOOD exchange life. I thought that feeling will only last for the first 2 weeks or maybe a month...BUT, It has been really exhausting for the past week or so. My mood just wasn't right to do all those stuff, those stuff like midterms, textbooks, writings etc. I wanted to do well so badly in all courses over here, but that is just taking too much out of me.

Hmm, I KO-ed a midterm last Monday, another midterm last Saturday, sprained my ankle badly on the same day, stayed up wide awake on Sunday to complete my 10% database online quiz and 30% 2000-word law essay. What a good week huh. And another midterm is coming up this Friday. Luckily, this one doesn't require that much strenuous reading.

I am starting to wonder a LOT about life. The more I grow up, the more complicated it gets.

I wanna go to Blue Mountains, Hunter Valley and Port Stephens. I wanna have more good food of this country which might only be well known for Fish n Chips. I wanna take more nice photos. I wanna earn this currency which is currently doing very well, at least earn back the freaking expensive student visa application fee. I wanna get a good exchange transcript. But it doesn't seem to be possible to achieve all in the next 2 months right? 

Time is flying. And I kept repeating this. I kept telling people around me that we're ending this exchange so soon. It's true right? See....you do some essays, you take some exams, you cook at home everyday, you receive the drafted exam timetable, you take more rest after not resting to meet some datelines, then you get a shock as the finalized exam timetable is so different from the drafted one (ya, I really don't understand the purpose of having so many versions of tt-s), you go marketing every Sunday evening for cheap one dollar stuff, you top up your expensive prepaid sim card, you pay rental, and you pay rental again, you start studying, you start to think about disposing some big items that you got for this 4 months plus exchange, you start packing, you went in for the exam, you either came out smiling from the exam because you don't care or you really did very well, you add a few more friends on facebook, you keep checking facebook, you keep uploading photos on facebook, you start eating a lot of junk food because without them you can't concentrate studying, you finish all exams, and you start thinking: does this feel like a third home to me?

Maybe not. 

Well, I'm goinna try to have more fun this coming week okay? I promise?

At the same time, I'll ensure that I really work hard for what I am studying.

Good luck and chill!

Owh ya, I wanna tell you guys about Easter Show! Will do that soon ya...=)

Whooosh. Half of April is gone.

Well, I'm still hanging in here. A lot of things happening and a lot of things to do lately. I wanna blog. But I just heaps (The Australian word, it means lots!) of things coming up non-stop that makes blogging something that has to be on the waiting list.

So, a quick quick quick update.

I started Easter Holidays the day after April Fool. I had one day rest on the first day of hols, and started all the fun the day after. I went to the Hoopla Festival on 3rd April, left Sydney for Melbourne on 4th April and stayed there till early Thursday morning, came back home like a deadly tired person on 8th April, went to Easter Show on 9th April, and became a good student on the last 2 days of my hols, just because I have a midterm on the day school resumes, which is 12th of April.

Why is my break sooooooo short la?

A photo I took during my Melbourne trip. I love this a lot. Randomness....haha.

Okay, I'll tell you guys more in detailed. Erm, when I finish these 2 crazy weeks of exams and essays and assignments.....

Cheers!

Easter is coming.....

 

Easter is coming coming coming.....

I never thought Easter could be such a big thing, in Hong Kong as well as in Australia. We have a week long holiday in Hong Kong, and 10 days holiday including Good Friday in Australia. We call that Easter Break, or Easter Holiday.

I never really noticed what Easter is like in Hong Kong. But in Australia, there's a lot happening during Easter. First of all, there has been a lot of sales regarding Easter. All supermarkets sell a variety of chocolate, some a lot in the rabbit shape, and others in the huge egg shape. They are sooooo cute, and definitely tempting. Owh, and some sell rabbit fluffy toys as well....

Other than that, there are a lot of events happening throughout Easter. I shall update you guys when I attend those events.

The Unimates Students Association had their coffee and cakes session themed as "Pre-Easter Coffee & Cakes". It was a fun session with some cute food serving a lot of people. Too bad, I didn't have enough time to spend there making more friends as I only had my 10 minutes break of lecture for this....

Another tutor of mine gave us eggy chocolates during tutorials too. How sweet is that!!

given by my tutor ^.^

So, yeah, it seems like a huge celebration that I've never experienced before....Happy Easter everyone!!

And a lil update over here, I will be spending time at Melbourne for 4 days 4 nights this Easter! =)

The football game

We have a lot scheduled for today.

 Isn't the rabbit very cute? =)

First, a local town festival. There were a number of stalls selling and promoting stuff. There are farm animals and creatures on display too. Locals bought themselves a cup of coffee, sat back, and enjoy the music and performances from some bands.

Next, the Thai Festival. This is a bigger one, at Tumbalong Park, near Darling Harbour. Well, I think most people in the festival are Thai. Haha...there were some thai products on sale, and of course a lot of yummy Thai food. Well, yea, they look indeed very yummy, but too expensive. There were some Thai performances on stage too. As usual, people sitting on the grass, enjoying their bottle of beer or wine.

 Then, we went to meet a HK star at Paddy's Market =.= Haha, yea, you heard me correctly, HK star, Joey Yung, she's goinna have a tour in Sydney tomorrow. Well, I think if I were the star, I would be disappointed with the crowd on a Saturday afternoon, well despite the fact that this is not a Chinese country. But she looked way too thin to me. Hmm, like people who hasn't been having enough food for some time.

 Then we walked to Central station, for the highlight of our day. The football game!! Well,  this is definitely my first time watching a football game live in a stadium, and I can't believe I gave it to an Australian football game. It is the Swans (Sydney) against the Saints (Melbourne). I think it's pretty fun, it got excited at some time, and it got kinda funny when supporters of different teams sit close by to each other. Well, I said this because there was a group of people supporting the opposite team, and a lady in that group shouted like hell throughout the game. =.= Haha, and the funniest thing is that she acts as though she's the coach or something, trying to get the players do what she think it's right to do...funny funny. Overall, I think it was a good experience, although we had to sit there from around 7pm to almost 10pm. Anyway, the Swannies did not win the game, we heard that the Saints used to be a strong team, and they made it to the finals last year.

What a hot and tiring Saturday. =)

Owh, week 4 of studies is over already!!!!!

The Malaysians Meet-up

When you're at a foreign country, it's always glad to meet with people from your own country~

I remember myself getting really excited to know the Malaysians when I first reached Hong Kong, and we are like a small lil community. It's always comfortable hanging around with people who will make you feel like home.

When I came to Australia about 6 week ago, I was excited about meeting Malaysians too. (As I heard that there are a lot of Malaysians around here) Perhaps, I got too excited. During Orientation Week of my uni, I went to a booth called SUAMS (Sydney University Association of Malaysian Students), and when they asked if I were a Malaysian, I "excitedly" answered "Yeah, yeah!". But all I got back was just some "Owh kay, would you like to join our association then? We have a lot of Malaysians here......" And from that kinda reaction, I just realized that, well, it's really not something unusual to see people from your own country. And when it's not something unusual, it won't be exciting anymore. A little disappointing at first, but I got used to it not long after. Now I realized that Hong Kong is so much less diversified compared to AUS. They have tonnes of Europeans, Americans, Africans and Asians (including Japanese....I'm saying this because there are ZERO Japanese in HK) in one uni (excluding faculty and staff). We have? 40 Malaysians, growing to 50 or 60 maybe, 30 Europeans, no Americans, 10 Africans....err. Well you get the picture. Perhaps it's because my university is still too young, and HK does not use English as their first language, hence not much people will opt HK for tertiary education.

Nevertheless, I managed to contact some friends from Penang, who are doing full time in Sydney. The funny thing as we only heard of each other during high school (diff high school somemore =.=), and we never get to know each other. This time, we got introduced by another friend whom I'm not any close to either. Haha.

I was glad to be invited to his place for dinner. It feels.......sooooo much more like HOME. Cause they cooked CURRY CHICKEN! =) And we can speak Hokkien, and most important of all, Malaysian Chinese!! Hahaha... I had a great time in their beautiful unit, and thanks for the hospitality. Thanks Sheng Yu!

I still do hope that I could meet Malaysians who are excited to meet other Malaysians though. Haha ~~

Career Fair

I accidentally noticed that there is Career Fair in USYD yesterday. In their advertisement, there are 7 big prizes to be given away, and one of them is a 1TB HARD DISK! Haha, so craving for all the prizes, I tried attending the fair despite having full day classes~

As I was in a rush, I forgot to bring my student ID there during my first visit.

And ya, the weird thing about a huge career fair is, it only starts at 12pm, and ends at 4pm. ONLY 4 HOURS.

But anyway, I managed to get in the second time. There were quite a lot of companies recruiting, mostly business related, and quite a lot of people too. I had a lot of fun getting lotsa free gifts from different companies, pens, notepads, chocolates, even a shampoo!! And I realized that a lot of them give out stress balls, so I guess Australian people have stress too? Hahaha.

Anyway, back to careers in Australia. Well, Big4 firms only hire people who graduated from local uni-s. As for the rest, they'll require you to have Australian Permanent residency before you apply for the grad job. Hmm....so it seems not possible for me to work here at all? But the salary package here is so attractive!!! One of the positions offered, a trader, earns you AUD100,000 per year!! Another job that I was really interested in was the Management Trainee like position by Qantas Airways. It is a two-year program and I really think that it will be fun. But still, the condition applies. I have to be a PR before being eligible to apply for it. Aih~~

And so, these are the freebies that I got from the fair. Haha....Owh, but I missed the free cup of coffee given by Deloitte (or 1 of the Big4 firms...)~

Emergencies Everyday

Something REALLY extraordinary here!!

You will hear emergency sirens all around the place every single day, especially during night time. This means accidents or perhaps fire happen here everyday. Well, no wonder people think that this is not a safe city, or a safe country. But to be honest, I don't really know what kinda accidents are those. But the sirens just made me feel so uncomfortable. Police cars, fire brigade, and ambulances. It's just so weird to see them around everyday. =.= Haha.

And today, it happened in my uni. The fire alarm rang in the building after I finished my tutorial class. Luckily it was AFTER the tutorial class because I seriously hate interruptions. But I just walked out slowly as though nothing is going on as I thought it was just another false alarm, or perhaps fire emergency practice? Apparently, most people vacated from the building. And the THREE fire brigades came =.= But, I still don't see any fire or smoke or any scenario that seems to need help from them. Oh, this is weird. 

Haha, but anyway, just to tell you more about life here.

Cross Ocean AGM

Well, that was truly an experience. I definitely wouldn't say that it was fun (because my ear aches badly throughout the 5-6 hours), but it really made me feel that I miss these people so much. It feels like, home, a lil. OMG, I can't believe I'm saying that HK is like my 2nd home now.
You should know how badly I hope that I could be there. People are so funny around, and I can laugh even by just some super random chats with all of them.

Overall, I think I just got less than 50% of the full AGM. I heard a lot of stupid stuff, and I really thank my dear jong members for helping me to answer quite a lot of stupid questions. Well, now that I have been a year of exco member, and gone through all those jong matters, I kinda understand more they wanna make it this way. BUT still, I do think that it doesn't really help much. Evaluations should be held, just not in AGMs. Now what, we don't have a P, IVP and the EVP anymore. So the society is stuck there?

This is just not right. But too bad, I am not the one who can change all these. I just hoped that people do realize one day.

The point is, I do want to be there, with those familiar faces that I miss a lot. Well, only a quarter of year to go, it should be pretty quick right? =)

Spit to Manly

Manly is just another beach.

I actually can't believe that have been going to all these beaches since I arrive. 3 different beaches in a month? Wulala....I don't even go to the beach near where I stay back in Penang that often, although it's just within walking distance, unless, hmm, maybe on some special occasion. To be honest, I'm not that much of a day beach person, meaning that I prefer going to the beach during evenings or perhaps night time. Not that HOT marr....and well, Penang beaches are so not comfortable to swim in =.= unlike what it is here in Sydney. People swim, surf, play balls in the sea, even bringing their tripods to take photos in the sea. So you can imagine how clear and clean the sea is over here.

This is another activity organized by Unimates. We were supposed to gather at Wynyard station at 9am = SOO early on a Saturday morning. And then we took a bus to North Sydney and started our walk to Manly Beach. It is supposed to be a 3-4 hour walk, and mentally I was definitely not prepared to do this as my mind was still sleeping at 10am. Haha. But still, I wanted to do this. Exchange is meant to be tiring, and it's definitely not just about sleeping till 12pm everyday.

Anyway, it was sultry hot!! I heard people saying that it was about 35 degrees Celcius on that day. Imagine that, walking under such hot weather for 4 hours? Ya, and the result is, the super tanned me again =.= Ahh....an extremely sad thing. But I don't regret joining this trip though. We walked pass a few nice beaches, and a lot of super nice and huge bungalows on our way. Really really cool bungalows indeed, they have huge swimming pools in it, and all of them have seaview!! Other than that, I really felt the life of Australian people extremely relaxing~~Everyone is just having so much fun with their family during the weekends, it just makes me smile =)

See? Relax~~~

Compared to the previous 2 beaches that I have been to, Manly is the most crowded one. The whole beach is almost full, be it on the sand or in the allowed swimming area in the sea. It was still very HOT!! And people are enjoying themselves sun bathing. But amazingly, the water was really cool, and we had fun walking on the shore, as the sand were sooooo smooth!!! Owh ya, there were few emergency sirens while we were there, sharks were cited! Too bad I didn't get to see them...haha.

It was a tiring day. And we even had a sort of Japanese Night invited by a Japanese friend after that. Oowh, I supposed this is good exchange experience? =)

Week 3 @USYD

Things are getting tensed up. I am currently settled down with 6 course, 36 credits, while normal people only takes 4 courses with 24 credits. I managed to arrange my timetable and am currently enjoying a 4 day long weekend. Yippee.. However, I do have 2 clashes in such a timetable, and I will listen to the recordings of those classes that clashes. One more thing, I don't really have any lunch time for schooling days from Mondays to Wednesdays. This means....STARVE! Yeah I'll only be having breakfast, and then dinner 9 hours later.

I have been interviewed by the Starbucks manager and he likes me and he said that he's goinna give me a reply by today or Monday (either to work at his store or other stores, but amazingly, in this huge NSW, there're only 9 Starbucks in total =.=). I have tried making sushi at a Korean-run Japanese Sushi place in Broadway Shopping Centre, one place across the street from where I stay. I would have to say that making sushi is definitely fun but.....making sushi at a korean place just doesn't sound right, owh ya, and the pay is freaking low.

Other than that, I just got accepted into the Internship Program for Study Abroad and Exchange students of the uni, which means that I MIGHT end up with 7 courses (because the internship is credit based), and that will kill me, and people thought that I am insane. It's an internship working with Sydney Observatory - a project on planning a holiday program for kids. Well, it definitely has nothing to do with my future career, but I supposed it will be a good experience for me, working with people that are extremely laid back? I haven't decided, as I'm kinda stuck with the number of courses I am allowed to be enrolled into. This is pretty much what happened throughout the week I guess?
One more thing, I have been really trying to study these few days, but I guess all my attempts weren't that successful. Oh gosh, can someone just gimme some suggestions on how to be more diligent? And how to extend my concentration span?
Being too busy during exchange definitely isn't good. I need some free time to hang out with people, to visit more places that I am supposed to, and to explore as much as I could. Hmm, how am I goinna achieve that?
I'll have a busy weekend again I think. Well, I guess this is what an exchange is supposed to be like.....there's never ending stuff waiting for you to do!!

In case you are wondering what the hell is the photo doing in the middle of my blog, this is one of my meals that I made here. It is a sort of instant food, and it took me around 105 minutes to prepare it. It only costs....I guess AUD1.50 the most? Haha, a great way for poor people to save money huh~~

People here

I am goinng briefly talk about the people here.

Well you've heard of them being laid back, and to me that's a huge issue!!!

Things normally get delayed for 1-2 weeks, such as....

1) My scholarship!! - I have submitted all relevant details by 22nd Feb, and finally I just got the money yesterday. It took them almost a month. And within that period, they keep telling things such as "I have already done this and that, and it should be there by XXX". Owh, it was pretty frustrating.

2) Internship! - I applied for the Study Abroad and Exchange credit-based internship 2 weeks after I came here as I was not sure whether I get to enrol into the courses that I really want to. I got a reply for a meeting with them in one sunny day, and when I emailed them regarding my free time to meet up, there was no reply until after the day was over, I then only got a reply from them the day after, after I EMAILED them AGAIN. Ok. They still met up with me anyway, and we discussed about the internships that I might be interested in. Then I was told that they will be keeping in touch with me soon. And so I waited and the add course period was over last Friday and I have yet to hear from then, and poop all of a sudden, this Monday, I was sent an email regarding the first training we are supposed to attend for this internship course. The whole thing was weird. I did attend the training which was extremely boring, and after the traning when I asked about the internship, their best answer they could give is just wait, because they haven't receive a reply from the employer yet. In my mind I was thinking, can't you inform me that you have already sent my application to the employer and we are awaiting for their decision soon after you have done so? I was about to forget about this whole internship thingy as I managed to enrol into the courses I wanted to and out of the blue, I am involved in it again. And so I waited for the employer's reply. The coordinator called me today, and told me the "good news" that I am accepted by the employer. But I'm in deep trouble. I am now enrolled into 7 courses, while I am supposed to be in at most 5 courses. She asked me to drop my other courses, which I really don't want to. And she told me she'll be sending the details of the internship to me immediately after we hang up on the phone, and I have not received any reply up till now. What a thing =.=

3) My courses! - This was quite some time ago, when I just arrived and start dealing with my enrolment. I was supposed to get someone to approve me for taking higher level courses. I was referred by my advisor to go to the Student Information Office of the School of Business and Economics. And so I went there and the lady asked me to see/email the ACCT UG coordinator in charge. I went to his office and he was not there. His colleagues doesn't even know when he will be coming back. And so I emailed him, and there wasn't any reply. And so I contacted the SIO again, and she said that I could refer to the professor teaching the course I wanted to enrol in. I emailed the professor and he said that I should be going back to SIO to start the application of approval process all over again. And meanwhile I still haven't got back any reply from the SIO guy. And so it dragged on and it frustrates me a lot. People in HKUST at least replies in 1 day the latest for such urgent matters. But people here, they just push you around, as they don't really care what other people is supposed to do, they just do what they are supposed to do.

I guess I have much more stories about them being extremely slow, not responsive and definitely inefficient. Most Asian people including some Americans have the same complaints too. I guess this is the culture shock that I am experiencing. Haha. In conclusion, this might not be a good place if I wanna live a rapid and efficient life. I will just be kek ki all the time...haha.

The nothing-much-to-do Sunday - White Valentines

We were supposed to go to the zoo today.

But, everyone was too tired. Tired of the not-supposed-to-be-tiring beach activities yesterday, and tired of schoolwork perhaps, tired of spending too much $$ in a weekend?

And so we decided to just sit back and relax at home, and finish whatever we have to to prepare for the next week.

I wasn't that obedient to stay at home though.

There were so many things happening outside and I really want to get myself out of my room and check them out. There was a food fest at Centennial Park, and a Wine Fest at Hyde Park. But all requires head charge to test the food or the wine. Well, I decided to go get some photos. I didn't go to Centennial Park though because it was a little far away, by foot.

It was just another weekend, shopping at Paddy's Market, wondering around the city to check if there're any other employment opportunities and photo taking. I did tell you that I'm desperate for a job right?

Owh ya, and it's White Valentines too, a day where guys are supposed to give back girls chocolate, if the girl gave the guy chocolate on 214 Valentines Day.

Well, honestly, I just found out that this day is originated by the Japanese, reflecting their unique culture of 「お返し」--giving back. http://www.tanutech.com/japan/valentine.html -- this explains a lil more if you're interested.

Second beach

Sydney, or perhaps Australia, is really famous for its beaches.

We have been to one, the Bondi Beach before school starts, and we decided to explore our second one, Coogee Beach.

Our initial plan was to spend our afternoon there; swimming, walking around, and perhaps playing some card games until we see sunset.

We reached there around 2.45pm. There were so many people at the beach, sun tanning, and swimming in the sea. Yeah, it was a sunny day, I guess it's a good day to go to the beach. There were almost 10 of us I remember, and only 4 of us can swim....hmm. So we went into the sea and started our battle with the waves. I'll have to admit that it was really hard, really really hard as the waves were extremely strong that day! Anyway, it is kinda my first time swimming in a real sea (I don't really feel that those in Batu Ferringhi can be named "beaches" and "sea"), and I had fun. Although I was really tired spending time understanding the ways to tackle the waves (Of course, I didn't go far enough, I wasn't that brave this time)

This time around, we played some other childish stuff, bury someone into the sand =.=

Haha...well some photos were taken and well, I think it is still fun to do such funny stuff with a bunch of friends occassionally.

And then....all of a sudden, the weather changed. =.=

It rained cats and dogs, and we hid at the lifeguards' shelter for awhile. It was around 4.30pm, and so we had end the beach day. We ended yet again with another meal of Fish n Chips, this time with two bonus calamari rings!! =)

And the exciting part of this trip is that.....we saw a HUGE RAINBOW!! It is huge...~~~ Everyone got so excited about it~~

And when we got back to the city, it was soooooo windy and cold. All of us can't wait to rush back home. Haha.

Well, all of us are goinna have a nice rest today!

Changes

Things got better in my 2nd week of lectures. I'm settling down with classes. I am not attending random lectures anymore. I am starting to plan for a perfect timetable, perfect as in having a 4-day weekend. I am maximizing the opportunity of taking courses here and transferring it back to HKUST, taking 6 courses, 4 of them are my core courses.

It was still a busy week for me. Some of my classes are scattered around the day. One at 9am, and the other one at 3pm. So I tried really hard to swap and play around my schedule. It was a really tough process, as people here generally do not know clearly what they are doing, and what they are supposed to do. I nearly gave up by the end of the week. 

Again, I realized that I will go broke again towards the upcoming week, as that will be the time for me to pay my fortnightly rental. And my scholarship money is NOT HERE yet.....!! Awh. This is definitely bad as

1) I won't have money to eat

2) I can't go out and enjoy

3) I might have to borrow money from people who have just known me for a few weeks?

4) I just can't do anything without money!

And so....this week, I was desperately looking for a part time job as well. The bad thing is, most places either do not want to hire international students on a student visa (max working hours per week=20), or they will not want someone who will only stay here for a few months, OR they want someone who can speak Japanese (because I tried several Japanese restaurants).....

Ahh....so finding casual employment is definitely not an easy thing to do. I'm still trying hard, hoping that perhaps Starbucks will hire me.

What else happened this week?

Owh ya, and books here!

Well, one thing that suits me here is that most lecturers encourage a lot of institutional reading.

BUT, most of them require textbooks, and textbooks are EXPENSIVE over here. Most of the new ones are sold at AUD120 and above. Second hand ones will still cost AUD50 and above. Mahalnya =.=

And the worst part is, most of the textbooks selected are the latest editions. They don't put any copies in the libraries (although there are like 8 libraries here?), or even if they do, a lot of copies are stolen.

YEAH, you heard me correctly, stolen =.= The librarian even told me, accounting books are quite slippery over here....ahh. So they knew the problem.

Evening! Fisher Library =)

So I guess that's pretty much about uni this week?

I gotta study real hard next week onwards!