Greetings all,
From some of you I have recieved messages about the lag in my blogging. Honestly I have had plenty of time to keep up with it recently but just haven't had much inspiration and have been a bit lazy during my school break. Since my last blog was near end of March, this one is about 4 months overdue.
My last posting talked about the Mardi Gras parade, which was during autumn season here. I was still in my pre-master stage and doing the preliminary 'Graduate Certificate in Business', which thankfully I've completed since then. Basically I had to get a 'P' (pass) or higher for each of my 4 subjects and so I studied like a madman for a few weeks before the finals. The overall results weren't too bad: 2 passes and 2 distinctions. Needless to say, once I found that I had completed the certificate I went out with some friends and celebrated. This was around the start of June and that's also when my long (and well deserved ;-)) semester break began...
My vacation period was approximately 2 months, so finally plenty of time to enjoy Sydney EXCEPT, now winter had come around! Sydney winters aren't too bad generally but we had quite a rainy and windy winter this year (according to locals) and so it wasn't really inviting to go out and explore the city + surrounding areas on many days. Temperature wise it doesn't get much below 12-13 degrees during daytime (at coldest) but nights were around freezing point. Consequently, most of my first month off I spent indoors, reading and watching some movies and also 2 HBO series (Oz and Six feet Under). I also did quite a bit of sports (mainly running) and revised my C.V./resume. I met up with some friends from school on occasion for dinner/drinks and met some cool new people through Fred, a friend who came to travel Oz for 2 months and who I know from my high school year in Tokyo, Japan.
Fred and I had planned a trip to explore a bit beyond Sydney. We were originally planning to head for Townsville to dive the Great Barrier Reef and also dive the SS Yongala (a 100 year old ship that's at 30 meters deep and one of the 7 diving-wonders of the world). Unfortunately the main diving company in Townsville was coping with very low numbers of people for the trip we wanted to take (first week of July) and couldn't get the boat full. Instead, we decided to take a road trip from Byron Bay up the Gold Coast/Sunhine Coast to Noosa Head and finish off with a 2 day stay on Fraser Island. The 5-day trip was great fun with some nice bush walks/jeep safaris (Fraser Island, see photos below) during the daytime and plenty of wine drinking and culinary delights at night. We flew back on a Saturday and a mutual buddy from Melbourne flew up to party with us that eve so we all headed for the various bars around the Sydney/Darling Harbour area.
Here are some photographs of the trip. If you want to see the pictures in a larger/full screen format, just double click on the embedded slideshow.
The following Thursday it was time for my second adventure: a week in Singapore to see Arvid (my brother), Pare (his wife), and their newly born baby girl named Mayuri. It was cool to see my brother in his new 'dad' role and Mayuri is an absolute doll. We all stayed on Joo Seng Road, which is a bit of a local area about a 10 min cabride to Orchard Rd. Apparently Arvid and I were the only caucasian (white) people in the area because we were constantly being observed by the locals. Great little hawker centres in the area though, which means that you could have a feast of a dinner for as little as 6 SGD (around 3 EUR). It was also the source of our morning dose of iced coffee, which was only 1 SGD, close to half a liter and served in a transparent plastic bag! While in Singapore I did a bit of sightseeing by myself and also Arvid came along for a few trips to Sentosa for instance, which is the main beach area of the city. Nights were spent eating great food and drinking some nice wines also, and the week was over before I knew it. Some pictures of this trip below.
My orientation week for the next semester at Macquarie Uni started a few days after I returned from Singapore. Since then, the weather has really been picking up here. Almost every day is very sunny and 19-21 degrees during daytime, and still a bit chilly at night. Considering that it's still winter here, that's not bad at all and spring is just around the corner (early September)! Right after orientation week I went on the so-called 'Aussie Getaway' trip, which was a weekend in a bush-land type of setting and with a youth hostel type of accommodation. The nice thing about this trip is that you get to meet lots of new international people who have either just arrived or have already been at the uni for some time, and they come from all over the world, so it's a great way to make new friends. Two weeks after the Aussie Getaway, the school organized another trip called the Darling Harbour Cruise, which was on a large boat with 400-500 people cruising the harbour for 2.5 hours, lots of pizza and an open bar. If you're interested in those pictures, go to my facebook page and check out my album and other photo's: http://www.facebook.com/people/Ilja-Swartsenburg/735792067.
I'm in my 3rd week of school already and time seems to be flying by even faster than last semester, which is also due to the large amount of studying that needs to be done. I've decided to take 3 'core' subjects and only 1 elective subject this semester so that I have 3 elective subjects and only 1 core for next semester. Teachers are really good so far and there is a much larger focus this semester on class participation, group projects and lots of reading and other homework of course. Hence, I have been going full-throttle and doing the readings/homework on a daily basis because you really cannot afford to fall behind when you're doing a master. Although I will be much busier than last semester, I am excited about all the new things I will be learning and although I won't be blogging much due to my workload, I will try keep my blog current on a fairly regular basis...
Thanks for checking in and till next time!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Mardi Gras and the first midterms
As promised in my last posting I said I would come back with a report on Mardi Gras and some pictures. The pictures can be viewed below:
In hindsight it's really too bad I didn't get more close up photographs of the parade but the reasons why will become more obvious as you read further ;-) That late Saturday afternoon I met up with some friends (6 of us in total) at Town Hall station around 5pm and we headed towards Hyde park, which is a 5 minute walk. The celebration/parade goes right past this park so we figured it would be a great spot to hang around. Before entering the park we decided to get some drinks so we headed for the bottle shop and picked up some reasonably tasty Sauvignon Blanc that was on special. Each of us had a bottle and we found ourselves a nice place on the grass near the entrance of the park.
Before we knew it we'd each finished our bottles and the party hadn't even started yet(kickoff time was 7:45 pm), so we went back to the liquor store and stocked up just in case. Upon entering the park again, a park guard told us that we wouldn't be able to drink any alcohol in the park since it's an alcohol free zone. Failing to do so would be an automatic fine of 300 AU$ and as we didn't want to walk around with lots of wine in our bags, we drank some more outside the park before going back in. The party itself was very colorful with lots of people-filled carriages riding from Oxford St. to the final destination near where we were.
Because I didn't have anything else to eat besides breakfast that morning, the wine hit me pretty hard and me and a German friend named Ronny ended up at Burger King (called Hungry Jacks in Oz) shortly after the festivities ended. I remember ordering a Whopper, taking it outside and then dropping it on the street, after which I played some soccer with it (the way my shoes looked the next morning made me remember what had happened). Still being hungry, I went back inside and ordered another burger and made sure I ate it INSIDE this time since I had by then figured out that I was in no condition to be roaming around Sydney while trying to eat at the same time.
Needless to say, the next morning I didn't feel as energetic as I normally do after 8 hours of sleep but I hit the books anyway and actually got quite a bit of work done since I was too tired to be distracted by anything else. When I spoke with my brother Arvid later that day, he actually brought up a very valid point and that is to use caution and not to get too much out of control in a place that's still relatively new to you. I made a mental note of this since he had actually called me on Mardi Gras evening and I couldn't recall that moment in my memory, which obviously says something about the level of intoxication that was reached...
Since Mardi Gras I must say that I have been a good boy as the focus has mainly been on my study and it's paid off it seems. Last week Friday I took my finance test and I heard today that I received a score of 6 out of 10. Normally that sort of grade doesn't impress much I must admit but in this case I was fairly happy with it since the test had too many questions for a 50 minute exam, which resulted in me having to skip a whole page of compound interest problems. If the examiner had allowed for an additional 10 minutes, then my score should've been more like an 8. Conclusion: I need to increase the speed of my thinking/working process so I can do more. However, I am certainly glad that at least I did all of the equations correctly, which shows me that I do have an adequate understanding of what the various calculations mean.
After the test on Friday night it was weekend so I headed for Darling Harbour where I had drinks with some people until 01:00. Saturday I went to the 3rd official Q-dance event ever held in Australia. Although this organisation's parties regularly sell out in home base the Netherlands, here it is still a very new thing and so I was excited to be a part of it. It really was an excellent party and the performances of most of the DJ's gave me an opportunity to release some built-up energy. Since the week prior to the event had been fairly exhausting, I left the party at 03:45 and was home half an hour later.
Last week has been about more studying and lots of homework, which just keeps coming back every week. I did a marketing midterm last Tuesday and although I don't have my results back yet, I know that it went very well. For the upcoming week I have 2 more tests, which are accounting and macro-economics midterms. Accounting consists of some basic definitions and principle theory, but mainly the trick is to know how to post transactions into journals, ledgers and to know how to create various financial statements. I expect little problems with this exam since I have worked on accounting consistently and have discovered only very few/small errors in my homework up to date. This weekend I should be working mostly on my macro but luckily I have plenty of time to prepare for it since it's only on Wednesday. In the meantime the weather forecast is OK for both Saturday and Sunday (24 degrees and mostly sunny), so it looks like I'll be enjoying one of the many beaches of Sydney again this weekend. I've heard some good things about Watsons Bay, so I will probably explore that region.
Hope I didn't bore you too much with the school/study talk but that's what life is about for me these days :-) Thanks for checking in, and to be continued soon!
In hindsight it's really too bad I didn't get more close up photographs of the parade but the reasons why will become more obvious as you read further ;-) That late Saturday afternoon I met up with some friends (6 of us in total) at Town Hall station around 5pm and we headed towards Hyde park, which is a 5 minute walk. The celebration/parade goes right past this park so we figured it would be a great spot to hang around. Before entering the park we decided to get some drinks so we headed for the bottle shop and picked up some reasonably tasty Sauvignon Blanc that was on special. Each of us had a bottle and we found ourselves a nice place on the grass near the entrance of the park.
Before we knew it we'd each finished our bottles and the party hadn't even started yet(kickoff time was 7:45 pm), so we went back to the liquor store and stocked up just in case. Upon entering the park again, a park guard told us that we wouldn't be able to drink any alcohol in the park since it's an alcohol free zone. Failing to do so would be an automatic fine of 300 AU$ and as we didn't want to walk around with lots of wine in our bags, we drank some more outside the park before going back in. The party itself was very colorful with lots of people-filled carriages riding from Oxford St. to the final destination near where we were.
Because I didn't have anything else to eat besides breakfast that morning, the wine hit me pretty hard and me and a German friend named Ronny ended up at Burger King (called Hungry Jacks in Oz) shortly after the festivities ended. I remember ordering a Whopper, taking it outside and then dropping it on the street, after which I played some soccer with it (the way my shoes looked the next morning made me remember what had happened). Still being hungry, I went back inside and ordered another burger and made sure I ate it INSIDE this time since I had by then figured out that I was in no condition to be roaming around Sydney while trying to eat at the same time.
Needless to say, the next morning I didn't feel as energetic as I normally do after 8 hours of sleep but I hit the books anyway and actually got quite a bit of work done since I was too tired to be distracted by anything else. When I spoke with my brother Arvid later that day, he actually brought up a very valid point and that is to use caution and not to get too much out of control in a place that's still relatively new to you. I made a mental note of this since he had actually called me on Mardi Gras evening and I couldn't recall that moment in my memory, which obviously says something about the level of intoxication that was reached...
Since Mardi Gras I must say that I have been a good boy as the focus has mainly been on my study and it's paid off it seems. Last week Friday I took my finance test and I heard today that I received a score of 6 out of 10. Normally that sort of grade doesn't impress much I must admit but in this case I was fairly happy with it since the test had too many questions for a 50 minute exam, which resulted in me having to skip a whole page of compound interest problems. If the examiner had allowed for an additional 10 minutes, then my score should've been more like an 8. Conclusion: I need to increase the speed of my thinking/working process so I can do more. However, I am certainly glad that at least I did all of the equations correctly, which shows me that I do have an adequate understanding of what the various calculations mean.
After the test on Friday night it was weekend so I headed for Darling Harbour where I had drinks with some people until 01:00. Saturday I went to the 3rd official Q-dance event ever held in Australia. Although this organisation's parties regularly sell out in home base the Netherlands, here it is still a very new thing and so I was excited to be a part of it. It really was an excellent party and the performances of most of the DJ's gave me an opportunity to release some built-up energy. Since the week prior to the event had been fairly exhausting, I left the party at 03:45 and was home half an hour later.
Last week has been about more studying and lots of homework, which just keeps coming back every week. I did a marketing midterm last Tuesday and although I don't have my results back yet, I know that it went very well. For the upcoming week I have 2 more tests, which are accounting and macro-economics midterms. Accounting consists of some basic definitions and principle theory, but mainly the trick is to know how to post transactions into journals, ledgers and to know how to create various financial statements. I expect little problems with this exam since I have worked on accounting consistently and have discovered only very few/small errors in my homework up to date. This weekend I should be working mostly on my macro but luckily I have plenty of time to prepare for it since it's only on Wednesday. In the meantime the weather forecast is OK for both Saturday and Sunday (24 degrees and mostly sunny), so it looks like I'll be enjoying one of the many beaches of Sydney again this weekend. I've heard some good things about Watsons Bay, so I will probably explore that region.
Hope I didn't bore you too much with the school/study talk but that's what life is about for me these days :-) Thanks for checking in, and to be continued soon!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Back to school - the 1st weeks
Much has happened since my last blog 2 weeks ago. After the initial period of settling in and acclimatizing to my surroundings, Monday 23rd of Feb came around and marked the start of my study at Macquarie University.
The first thing I noticed in each of my subjects is that at least 85% of the students are international students, reason being that many of these folks are missing 1 or more core subjects that they need in order to be able to enroll into the master program next semester. Out of those 85% inties, at least 70% seem to be of Chinese heritage or origin. From what I've seen in the classroom so far, pretty much all of them seem to be struggeling with the English level already. Considering the fact that the English level is not going to get much easier than this, it will be interesting to see who will still be here at the end of semester 1. Funnily enough, 3 out of my 4 classes consist of at least 4 students from the Netherlands so Holland is well represented to say the least!
During the first week of school, various student and external organisations hosted the yearly O-week (Orientation week) so stands filled the large uni's courtyard from Monday thu Thursday. Here students could get information for all sorts of activities or join clubs in the areas of sports, leisure, academics, religion etc. There was also a DJ in the center couryard playing all sorts of tunes ranging from R&B to some pretty funky and even hardhouse types of music. This almost convinced me to put on my dancing shoes for a bit to show the Ozzies how the Dutch 'get down and boogy'. However, I decided to let it be as it would not be fair to bring such mad dancing skills to a largely unsuspecting crowd, clearly not ready for an unannounced event of such epic proportions ;-)
On thursday night there was a 'Summer Haze' party at the school bar to celebrate the many successes of O-week, so lots of new students (both Ozzies and Inties) showed up ready to party. Both inside and outside were really crowed already by the time I got there and I walked around for a bit since I couldn't find the people I was supposed to meet there.
Before I knew it the police were onto me and told me I was walking around quite a bit and supposedly 'looking over my shoulder' (which is highly suspicious over here). To make a long story short: I was frisked, my school bag was emptied and the police dog who had checked me when I entered the premises was instructed to sniff me over 1 more time just to make sure. They finally let me go and so I joined my friends for a drink. Unfortunately that's were problem #2 arrived because to get a drink, you had to get in line for 30-40 minutes. I figured I'd just get a few pitchers of beer for me and my friends so I waited and waited and when it was finally my turn, the bartender told me that there was a rule that evening to give each person a maximum of 2 drinks. Their argument was that they could better monitor how much each person was drinking and avoid people getting to drunk. I have 2 problems with this, which are:
1.) It's a bar, people come there to to socialize and drink;
2.) All people were 18 or older, meaning own choice/responsibility.
From what I've heard since the event, many people have complained about these rediculous rules so from now on, the uni bar has decided to also place a bar outside where people can order their drinks during events like this. Problem largely solved.
The weekend of Feb 28th/March 1st (last weekend) was predominantly spent on studying for my classes, and I ended up at a nice BBQ in Centennial Park on Saturday night (see pictures in slideshow below). Around 20 or so people showed up and after plenty of burgers and beers we ended up at a bar that was close to the park. After that we decided to go to another bar but they wouldn't let me in because I was supposedly too drunk (which wasn't true at all). Later I heard that there was a rather strict door policy that night at most bars largely because of some large dance event that was taking place nearby. They were not letting people in with shorts and/or flip flops, and I was wearing both! Since I didn't suspect that any arguments would be considered by the security guys standing at the door, I chose to crack open my last stubbie before getting in a cab to take me back to the main bus stop near Circular Quay, where I jumped on my bus to Neutral Bay (a.k.a. home).
Here are some pics, mainly of my school during 'O'week and a few of the BBQ.
Today is Saturday and I've lived through my 2nd week of classes. Finance has really been the only 'thorn in my eye' so far, so I will need to focus hard on this subject tomorrow, Monday and Thursday. Supposedly there has been an overall failing rate of 40% for that course in recent semesters but the main thing is to keep up with the work each week and not fall behind at all. Teachers move on to the next subject each lecture and tutorial assuming that you've fully understood the material from the week before so if you haven't, then it's your own responsibility to get extra help at the numeracy center or by asking the professor for support on something specific through the online portal.
But first things first, today is MARDI GRAS in Sydney!! Mardi Gras here is very different from the one in New Orleans (USA) since the focus here is really on the gay community, so it's a gay pride parade much like the one we have every year in Amsterdam, only much larger. Mardi Gras Sydney is the largest event in the world of it's kind, and it starts tonight at 7:45 pm, followed by an all night dance party in the Hordern Pavilion with DJ's such as Paul Oakenfold and the Freemasons. Although I'm skipping the dance party, the festival should be a great event and I will definitely report back on it with some pictures to add to the dramatic effect...
Until next time!
The first thing I noticed in each of my subjects is that at least 85% of the students are international students, reason being that many of these folks are missing 1 or more core subjects that they need in order to be able to enroll into the master program next semester. Out of those 85% inties, at least 70% seem to be of Chinese heritage or origin. From what I've seen in the classroom so far, pretty much all of them seem to be struggeling with the English level already. Considering the fact that the English level is not going to get much easier than this, it will be interesting to see who will still be here at the end of semester 1. Funnily enough, 3 out of my 4 classes consist of at least 4 students from the Netherlands so Holland is well represented to say the least!
During the first week of school, various student and external organisations hosted the yearly O-week (Orientation week) so stands filled the large uni's courtyard from Monday thu Thursday. Here students could get information for all sorts of activities or join clubs in the areas of sports, leisure, academics, religion etc. There was also a DJ in the center couryard playing all sorts of tunes ranging from R&B to some pretty funky and even hardhouse types of music. This almost convinced me to put on my dancing shoes for a bit to show the Ozzies how the Dutch 'get down and boogy'. However, I decided to let it be as it would not be fair to bring such mad dancing skills to a largely unsuspecting crowd, clearly not ready for an unannounced event of such epic proportions ;-)
On thursday night there was a 'Summer Haze' party at the school bar to celebrate the many successes of O-week, so lots of new students (both Ozzies and Inties) showed up ready to party. Both inside and outside were really crowed already by the time I got there and I walked around for a bit since I couldn't find the people I was supposed to meet there.
Before I knew it the police were onto me and told me I was walking around quite a bit and supposedly 'looking over my shoulder' (which is highly suspicious over here). To make a long story short: I was frisked, my school bag was emptied and the police dog who had checked me when I entered the premises was instructed to sniff me over 1 more time just to make sure. They finally let me go and so I joined my friends for a drink. Unfortunately that's were problem #2 arrived because to get a drink, you had to get in line for 30-40 minutes. I figured I'd just get a few pitchers of beer for me and my friends so I waited and waited and when it was finally my turn, the bartender told me that there was a rule that evening to give each person a maximum of 2 drinks. Their argument was that they could better monitor how much each person was drinking and avoid people getting to drunk. I have 2 problems with this, which are:
1.) It's a bar, people come there to to socialize and drink;
2.) All people were 18 or older, meaning own choice/responsibility.
From what I've heard since the event, many people have complained about these rediculous rules so from now on, the uni bar has decided to also place a bar outside where people can order their drinks during events like this. Problem largely solved.
The weekend of Feb 28th/March 1st (last weekend) was predominantly spent on studying for my classes, and I ended up at a nice BBQ in Centennial Park on Saturday night (see pictures in slideshow below). Around 20 or so people showed up and after plenty of burgers and beers we ended up at a bar that was close to the park. After that we decided to go to another bar but they wouldn't let me in because I was supposedly too drunk (which wasn't true at all). Later I heard that there was a rather strict door policy that night at most bars largely because of some large dance event that was taking place nearby. They were not letting people in with shorts and/or flip flops, and I was wearing both! Since I didn't suspect that any arguments would be considered by the security guys standing at the door, I chose to crack open my last stubbie before getting in a cab to take me back to the main bus stop near Circular Quay, where I jumped on my bus to Neutral Bay (a.k.a. home).
Here are some pics, mainly of my school during 'O'week and a few of the BBQ.
Today is Saturday and I've lived through my 2nd week of classes. Finance has really been the only 'thorn in my eye' so far, so I will need to focus hard on this subject tomorrow, Monday and Thursday. Supposedly there has been an overall failing rate of 40% for that course in recent semesters but the main thing is to keep up with the work each week and not fall behind at all. Teachers move on to the next subject each lecture and tutorial assuming that you've fully understood the material from the week before so if you haven't, then it's your own responsibility to get extra help at the numeracy center or by asking the professor for support on something specific through the online portal.
But first things first, today is MARDI GRAS in Sydney!! Mardi Gras here is very different from the one in New Orleans (USA) since the focus here is really on the gay community, so it's a gay pride parade much like the one we have every year in Amsterdam, only much larger. Mardi Gras Sydney is the largest event in the world of it's kind, and it starts tonight at 7:45 pm, followed by an all night dance party in the Hordern Pavilion with DJ's such as Paul Oakenfold and the Freemasons. Although I'm skipping the dance party, the festival should be a great event and I will definitely report back on it with some pictures to add to the dramatic effect...
Until next time!
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Pictures of the start of it all...
Greetings readers,
After receiving some support from Pare, my sister-in-law, I can now show you some pics of my first 12 days in Sydney. This should come up as a slide show in my blog with some comments per picture. If you see no comments, just click on the picture to open it.
More to be added soon...
Also thanks to all those people who thought of my 36th birthday today. Until next time!
Ilja
After receiving some support from Pare, my sister-in-law, I can now show you some pics of my first 12 days in Sydney. This should come up as a slide show in my blog with some comments per picture. If you see no comments, just click on the picture to open it.
More to be added soon...
Also thanks to all those people who thought of my 36th birthday today. Until next time!
Ilja
Thursday, February 19, 2009
The start of it all...
Hello readers,
Although I'm new to blogging in general I've decided to set up this page after spending my first 12 days in an exciting and for me relatively new place called Sydney, Australia. It is quickly becoming my 'home away from home' simply because I will be spending my next 17.5 months here. Normally, home for me is the greater area of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, where I have lived for a good part of my adult life.
My main reason for moving to Sydney is to acquire a postgraduate degree in International Business. Taking the step to do a study abroad, whether it is to gain an undergraduate or postgraduate degree is something that many people dream about but may never get a chance to realize because of various reasons. I consider myself to be fortunate enough to have that opportunity and I have therefore taken the necessary steps to get myself accepted at a university which is considered to be one of the better schools in Sydney: Macquarie University. For those of you who are interested to learn more about the school and its programs, please visit: http://www.international.mq.edu.au/
The first week or so was very hectic to say the least and was mainly spent on finding myself a semi permanent place to live and to arrange things like electricity, gas, internet etc. Obviously it's most convenient to pay for those types of services through a domestic bank so I also set up an account with Westpac. During these 8 days I stayed at the Sovereign Inn hotel in an area called Crows Nest, which is in North Sydney. I'd heard from various people who know Sydney well that this would be a good area to use as a starting point because it's very centrally located (between Central Business District and school) and has a lot to offer in terms of great restaurants, bars, shopping and public transport. I must admit that their advice was spot on because having the luxury of leaving your apartment and having restaurants and shopping close at hand became one of my main selection criteria in finding myself the proper place. Hey, if you plan to live somewhere for the next 1.5 years you better get it right the first time around!
Searching for an apartment here is easily done through websites like http://www.realestate.com.au/ or http://www.domain.com.au/. Going about it this way will save you lots of time but be critical, and make sure that you don't just take the first place that seems 'satisfactory'. I ended up settling for a great little place in Neutral Bay that is completely furnished and has everything from a dishwasher to pots and pans, a washer/dryer, a living room with home entertainment appliances and all the necessary furniture and a comfortable bed plus even a floor to ceiling mirror closet much like the one I have at home in the Netherlands.
Since taking care of those arrangements I have had a bit of time to relax, going to places like Darling Harbour for drinks and to Manly Beach to enjoy the sunshine and the surf. I have also gone to Macquarie Uni a few times in the past week for orientation, pre-enrolment and finally enrolment today. I will be taking 4 subjects each semester (semester is 13 weeks) and this semester consists of accounting, principles of finance, macro economics and marketing. I will start classes on Tuesday with one course, 2 subjects on Wednesday and one on Friday, meaning I have no classes on Mondays and Thursdays. Every school day I start early morning, which allows me to have plenty of time after each class to hit the library and do what needs to be done.
I am certain that the new study will eat up a good chunk of my time on a daily basis and that's OK, but there is such a thing as life after work and so my other objective, which I consider to be just as important, is to master (hence the name of this blog site) the challenges and experiences that everyday Sydney life will throw my way. Basically I plan on working and playing hard so that when I look back 1,5 years from now I can honestly say that I have left no stone unturned and have 'mastered' Sydney in every sense of the word, leaving me with tons of extra knowledge, new friends and acquaintances and unforgettable experiences and memories to enjoy for a lifetime.
Next blog I will post some pictures of my experiences so far and the apartment and surrounding area of Neutral Bay. I will try to update this blog on a weekly or biweekly basis, so stay tuned and get ready for more! Also, free to drop me a line whenever... Cheers!
Ilja
Although I'm new to blogging in general I've decided to set up this page after spending my first 12 days in an exciting and for me relatively new place called Sydney, Australia. It is quickly becoming my 'home away from home' simply because I will be spending my next 17.5 months here. Normally, home for me is the greater area of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, where I have lived for a good part of my adult life.
My main reason for moving to Sydney is to acquire a postgraduate degree in International Business. Taking the step to do a study abroad, whether it is to gain an undergraduate or postgraduate degree is something that many people dream about but may never get a chance to realize because of various reasons. I consider myself to be fortunate enough to have that opportunity and I have therefore taken the necessary steps to get myself accepted at a university which is considered to be one of the better schools in Sydney: Macquarie University. For those of you who are interested to learn more about the school and its programs, please visit: http://www.international.mq.edu.au/
The first week or so was very hectic to say the least and was mainly spent on finding myself a semi permanent place to live and to arrange things like electricity, gas, internet etc. Obviously it's most convenient to pay for those types of services through a domestic bank so I also set up an account with Westpac. During these 8 days I stayed at the Sovereign Inn hotel in an area called Crows Nest, which is in North Sydney. I'd heard from various people who know Sydney well that this would be a good area to use as a starting point because it's very centrally located (between Central Business District and school) and has a lot to offer in terms of great restaurants, bars, shopping and public transport. I must admit that their advice was spot on because having the luxury of leaving your apartment and having restaurants and shopping close at hand became one of my main selection criteria in finding myself the proper place. Hey, if you plan to live somewhere for the next 1.5 years you better get it right the first time around!
Searching for an apartment here is easily done through websites like http://www.realestate.com.au/ or http://www.domain.com.au/. Going about it this way will save you lots of time but be critical, and make sure that you don't just take the first place that seems 'satisfactory'. I ended up settling for a great little place in Neutral Bay that is completely furnished and has everything from a dishwasher to pots and pans, a washer/dryer, a living room with home entertainment appliances and all the necessary furniture and a comfortable bed plus even a floor to ceiling mirror closet much like the one I have at home in the Netherlands.
Since taking care of those arrangements I have had a bit of time to relax, going to places like Darling Harbour for drinks and to Manly Beach to enjoy the sunshine and the surf. I have also gone to Macquarie Uni a few times in the past week for orientation, pre-enrolment and finally enrolment today. I will be taking 4 subjects each semester (semester is 13 weeks) and this semester consists of accounting, principles of finance, macro economics and marketing. I will start classes on Tuesday with one course, 2 subjects on Wednesday and one on Friday, meaning I have no classes on Mondays and Thursdays. Every school day I start early morning, which allows me to have plenty of time after each class to hit the library and do what needs to be done.
I am certain that the new study will eat up a good chunk of my time on a daily basis and that's OK, but there is such a thing as life after work and so my other objective, which I consider to be just as important, is to master (hence the name of this blog site) the challenges and experiences that everyday Sydney life will throw my way. Basically I plan on working and playing hard so that when I look back 1,5 years from now I can honestly say that I have left no stone unturned and have 'mastered' Sydney in every sense of the word, leaving me with tons of extra knowledge, new friends and acquaintances and unforgettable experiences and memories to enjoy for a lifetime.
Next blog I will post some pictures of my experiences so far and the apartment and surrounding area of Neutral Bay. I will try to update this blog on a weekly or biweekly basis, so stay tuned and get ready for more! Also, free to drop me a line whenever... Cheers!
Ilja
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