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!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
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!
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