Il mio Overseas a Sydney, Australia (Gen-Lug 2007)... e il mio periodo di Tesi all'Estero a Rotterdam/Utrecht, Olanda (Ott 2007-Mar 2008)!

1st February - House Moving

On Thursday morning we helped each other in packing our stuff and carry it to our new house, which luckily was just a 5 minutes walk from the hostel.
We paid our first week rents and started to unpack everything. My room, which was absolutely empty when I entered in it, after five minutes turned in a fully filled room (anyway I kept it tidy).

Here you are a brief description of the house and my room as well.
The house has got 10 rooms on 3 floors. All of them except one are single rooms, the remaining is a double room, so you can easily infer that 11 people are living in it. I will talk about them in the next page of my diary.
There is a common (and... err... not very tidy) kitchen, and even a bright backyard where people usually meet and can have a chat.
My room is quite big, it's not that cheap (AU$ 160 pw) but it's worthy (and consider that not so many of the others were cheaper): a sink, a small personal fridge, a tv, internet connection, two desks, two mirrors, a sort of wardrobe, a night table and a small balcony, very bright during the day.
I have also got some useless stuff in my room such as a bucket, a ventilator (which is useless because a bit dirty, and I prefer not to use it!) and two "white pages" (two telephone directories), even if we have not a landline.
The area, as I told you two days ago, is not considered the safest one, but we'll see if this is the usual commonplace or if it has some truth foundation ;-)

Postato da: DexterH46 a 10:39 | link | commenti (2)
sydney, accomodation

31st January - My Final Decision

You may not trust me, or you may, basically it's up to you.
We had to leave Alfred Park Hostel within 9am of Thursday (1st February). At 7pm of the previous day I was still going around visiting places and thinking about my final decision. Yes, I am a bit crazy, but everything was under my conscious management: I would have ranked all the rooms and then started to call the owners one by one.
And that is what I have done. After having received a text from Saul (the Italian guy I met in Scruffy Murphy's, can you remember him?) where he was saying that his landlord increased the rent for his room from 135AU$ pw to 150AU$ pw I modified my rank.
I filled a table to have a better comparison among all the opportunities (I have put it in higher quality if you click on it... please appreciate the meticolous job)

At first place (in yellow) came 62 Redfern Street, which actually was the same place where Federica decided to settle. I called the landlord, a girl had to visit the room but she couldn't the same night so... room was mine! Cashback! I went back at 8.30 to the Hostel, and told Federica that I could introduce her her new flatmate: it would have been me!

Postato da: DexterH46 a 02:01 | link | commenti (2)
sydney, accomodation

29th January - Looking for an Accomodation

On Monday we went -seriously- back looking for a permanent accomodation. In truth I had already accompanied Federica both Saturday afternoon and Sunday evening to see two places. In both cases she was nearly to pay the bond to get the place (she was really afraid not to find a place) but luckily I managed to stop her in both those situations.
So I made some phone calls while both of us were e-mailing people to arrange meetings, and eventually we began to visit all these places.
The first one (where anyway they were looking for a girl, as the one we visited on Sunday) was a bit... "particular". Some cockroaches on the way to this former-warehouse now converted in a 5 bedroom apartment, but the people inside were awesome!Some guys who invented food-hangers and a lot of strange stuff like a "dandle board" in the living room!
Federica didn't seem 100% keen with the place so we went on. She wanted to call the Ducth man we visited on Sunday evening but -lucky she- he answered that he still had to receive a previously arranged visit before making any decision.
In fact after lunch I arranged another meeting, nearly by chance, and Federica joined me. Even if it wasn't in the safest area ever (Redfern hasn't got this great reputation) as soon as Federica saw one of the two available rooms decided to get it and paid the bond.
I didn't do the same: we were going on and on finding better places, and had already other meetings arranged in the afternoon and in the following days (Tuesday and Wednesday).
Anyway my friend had been very nice: after she felt extremely better (after she found the permanent accomodation) she accompanied me on the restant part of the day to have a look to other rooms and areas both in central Sydney and surrounding suburbs.
We went to bed not that late, and it would have been our last night together with the young Irish couple who was living with us in the hostel: indeed, they were leaving Alfred Park the morning after.
This has been our 4mixed people bedroom. Sorry for the light,it was cloudy!

Federica sits down on a bed in our hostel bedroom

Postato da: DexterH46 a 08:23 | link | commenti
accomodation

28th January(III) - Bilgola Beach

At 4.15 or a bit later we reached Bilgola Beach. We tried to find a free-parking zone to save some money but no way, everywhere you had to pay, so this time we paid our few dollars to avoid another AU$77 killing fine.

The first sight of Bilgola Beach

As soon as we got onto the sand, we noticed that we may have caught a sunburn (our bodies turned red!), so Federica decided to lay under the shadow, while me and Sebastiano, after having put the lotion on ourselves, went through the rocks to a beach which seemed to be hidden and not accessible from anywhere.

Have a look to the beautiful colors under the water!

We discovered that the beach was actually accessible from another way, but there was a small hidden area between the two shores where we could see some beatifully-colored aquatic plants. Please note that to go there and on our way back we climbed some rocks in an unsafe area (don't you believe me?Have a look to the yellow sign!).

The road to and from "hidden beach" wasn't that safe...

... this is if you don't trust me!

When we got back, we relaxed ourselves by laying on our towels, except when I went alone to face some high ocean waves and currents (always close to the shore as everyone, especially because at 5pm lifeguards went away).

The last look to this piece of Paradise from the shadow

At 6.15 we went back to our car, remained there until the very last second of "paid parking", and then drove back to our beloved residence, Alfred Park Budget Accomodation.

Postato da: DexterH46 a 11:20 | link | commenti (2)
holiday, beach, sydney

28th January(II) - Whale Beach

On the way to Bilgola Beach, as already said, we stopped on a hill over Whale Beach. We didn't go down to the beach itself, but just admired the beautiful sights from the top of the hill, and took some pictures, basically to make our friends envious ;-)

Me, and the amazing Whale Beach behind

The marvellous beach without me (maybe is better ;-P)

After that, we got back into the car finally heading to Bilgola Beach.

Postato da: DexterH46 a 09:12 | link | commenti (4)
holiday, beach, sydney

28th January(I) - Palm (Fake) Beach

On Sunday Sebastiano (who actually was in Sydney to work for something linked with the European Union, and he had to start the day after) wanted to go further North. It had been a bit problematic waking up in time, but incredibly at 8.30 I was already up, so I could have a shower, a quick breakfast, and even went out to visit a church and do some shopping before coming back to be ready for the destination of the day: Palm Beach.
This beach is about 30-40 km up north, and according to Sebastiano's guide is one of the most beautiful in the world. We drove there, with me dealing with the map and giving indications. It took us more than we expected, especially because of the huge traffic in that direction. Anyway at 1pm we arrived, after having admired a lot of houses with a view on the Ocean... what a dream!

A view of the southern side of Palm Beach with villas overlooking the Ocean 

After a few minutes we renamed the beach into "Fake Beach"...there were NO palms except some but only into private house gardens! Except for this the beach was awesome. The sand was thick as the one we saw in Bondi, but in this case it was darker, with a reddish colour and, please note, both Bondi and Palm Beach sands were not burning our feet as it happens with the Italian sand.
We lied down under the sun and experienced the waves of this place, having a break with some food bought there (and even fed some seagulls, see pic). There were young people, families (more families and less young people if we want to compare to Bondi), some surfers and some sky-surfers, but even blue bottles, a type of jellyfish. Luckily they didn't get me.

A seagull, looking for some food from our hands

At 4pm we decided to move to another beach we saw while we were driving to Palm-Fake Beach, so we took our stuff and went to our car. Everyone who was passing near it was stopping and looking inside, so we thought "What is so funny/strange in our car?". As we were getting closer to the car we started to think and tell each other "Had we to make the parking ticket?Did you see any sign?". When we reached the car our doubts went away, a fine was waiting us... f*ck off!

The northern side of Palm Beach, the last view before we went away

Three idiots:none of us thought about the parking fee. And it has been even more humiliating, with the surrounding people seeing our faces (even if I was smiling and laughing about it) while they were packing their stuff without any fine to pay. So, AU$77, our driver offered us an AU$20-AU$20-AU$37 deal, but it was absolutely avoidable, just a little less enthusiasm when we arrived there and at least one of us could have thought about that. By the way, the name turned again from "Fake Beach" to "F*ck Beach", I guess no further explanation is needed, after I've just told you everything about the fine.
Realising that the trip costed us a lot of money this time, we decided to drive on the surrounding hills, where you can see awesome houses and villas and experience some breathtaking sights. Then we headed to Bilgola Beach, after taking some pics of Whale Beach from the adjacent hill (two pics in the following post).

Postato da: DexterH46 a 09:14 | link | commenti (2)
holiday, beach, sydney

27th January - Green Day Tribute

After a day strolling around Sydney center exploring the area where me and Federica will hopefully find soon a place, at dinner time my two Italian friends met an English and a Norwegian girl from the hostel, and learnt that the same night a Green Day Tribute would have taken place in Scruffy Murphy's pub just round a corner in George Street.
Federica was too tired to come with us after a walking day, but I wanted to enjoy Green Day music so decided to go (together with Sebastiano, who maybe would have preferred a club called "Chinese Laundry" and suggested us by some Italians(again!) we met in Tamarama.

After a show where the band played its own songs plus a couple of covers, the three young guys on the stage started their Green Day Tribute (err... let's say they've played "Bullet In A Bible"), which lasted more than a hour. They switched from popular songs (eg. Basket Case) to Green Day hits from their latest studio album.
It has been a really great night: some beers, good music and not only. I met an Italian guy who mostly likes the same music I prefer, got his number and an unofficial invitation for the next punk/rock parties in Sydney. Then he introduced his flatmates, a boy and a very nice girl from Sweden.The same day I finally unlocked my mobile and bought my Australian sim card... well done!In fact the same night, other than the number I told you, I also got the mobile number of the English girl who told my friends about the tribute. She is going to Melbourne soon and will be there in the next months: it will be good to see each other again when I'll visit the Victoria State capital.
This number has been really deserved 'cause I looked throughout the whole pub for her bag (which seemed to have been disappeared)... and has been really appreciated 'cause she's absolutely funny and, yes, gorgeous... unfortunately she has an Irish boyfriend in Europe! Furthermore -and it must be said- is one of the most easily "comprehensibile while speaking people" I've met here so far.
But anyway it wasn't the end: outside the place Sebastiano met an Irish girl from Cork and then introduced her to me: she will be in Sydney until at least the end of March and we can go out together with our friends because she gave me her e-mail address.
Good stuff... meeting all these people coming from everywhere in the world is really cool, everyone has his/her own story and you never finish to learn and hear new ones... I just hope I can meet all of them again... we'll see!

Postato da: DexterH46 a 07:57 | link | commenti (2)
concerts, sydney