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)!

31st March – Around Melbourne / 3 Evening

My rush to the airport, while I still had to stop in the hostel to get my stuff and meet two friends, had just started. Despite I was in a hurry I found the time to take a few pictures of tiny places in Melbourne. For example the church below, much smaller than the already shown St.Paul’s cathedral, but still very nice to see, hidden on a street of central Melbourne.

Then I finally met Balaji, and gave him all his stuff. My case became much lighter after this, so I could really easily carry it with one hand like it was a shopping bag. I went to Southern Cross station, where I would have caught my bus to Avalon airport after having met the great (and beautiful) friend I met in the hostel in Sydney. I am very happy to have met her.

Laura was waiting for me together with Chris at Hungy Jack’s when I arrived at the station. We suddenly ordered something to drink since the time we had was not that much, and started to have a chat. I asked them about the party I missed (and after their stories I was even more disappointed of having missed it) and then they asked me about the Great Ocean Road tour and the swimming competition. I already knew Laura and knew she was a really nice girl, but even Chris demonstrated to be a funny a cool person.

We had some laughs together until the coach arrived. I wished them the best of luck and they did the same to me for my studies. In that moment I felt a bit bad knowing that it would have been very hard for me to see them again, at least in Australia, and with just one more day I would have had the opportunity to spend some more time with two great people. Just the time for a picture all together, then I had to take my seat in the coach and relax, the journey to Avalon would have been of at least 40 minutes.

Once arrived in Avalon, a strange sign caught my attention, and since I had a lot of time to do the check-in, I stopped with no pain to take a picture of it. As you can see it was indicating the distances to other cities in Australia. The three thousands and a few hundreds kilometers to Perth may give an idea of the size of this country.

In Avalon airport I met again three girls from North America that were in the same trip to the Great Ocean Road the day before. They were flying to Brisbane, where they studied, so we couldn’t spend together more than a few minutes. The time of my check-in came shortly, then I decided to relax a bit on the flight, trying to sleep even if for a short time, to recover some time I had to sacrifice in the previous nights.

Once in Sydney I did my very best to get home as soon as possible in order to join Daniel’s birthday party (the celebration hold on Tuesday was just a “preview” of the real party) but my misadventures in Sydney were just begun, even if I didn’t notice it that day. The bus that was supposed to bring me one hundred meters from my house took another route for no reason, and when I realised that it was going further away from my house I stopped and got off from it. I was in front of the house of some friends (who actually were at Daniel’s birthday) and had to walk for more than a kilometer to my house, pulling my case. Luckily it wasn’t heavy, but it delayed my timetable of 20minutes. Enough to make me losing any bus connection to Newtown where the others were, so I had to stay at home, missing even Saul’s farewell party (Saul was the guy I met in Scruffy Murphy’s the first week... can’t you remember?). Hindsight I had to go to Daniel’s anyway, so I would have known something that would have prevented me by many troubles, but unfortunately I couldn’t imagine anything...

Postato da: DexterH46 a 08:01 | link | commenti
holiday, melbourne, journey/flight

31st March – Around Melbourne / 2 Afternoon

Straight after our “lunch” we tried for good luck for the last time at the Crowne Plaza Hotel to see if we could meet the two times in a row 100m freestyle swimming world champion Filippo Magnini.

We waited on the armchairs at the entrance and after five minutes I see on the other side of the ground floor a familiar face. I called “Filo” “Filo”. The guy stopped… yes I was right, he was Pippo Magnini! He came to me and Piergiorgio and started to chat with us. We took a picture together and when he saw the flag he said “So I was right... it seemed to me that there was an Italian flag coming from Pesaro but I thougt it was just my imagination after such an exhausting contest!”.

We talked for a few minutes and he gave me the appointment for the Italian competition which will be probably hold in August in our own city, Pesaro.

After the succesful mission we strolled happier than ever around the sunny Melbourne.

We headed to the National Gallery, and while we were going there we could stop into the nice Alexandra Gardens, from which I wanted to take a picture of Melbourne CBD to compare it with Sydney CBD. You can compare ‘em as well since I have posted a picture of both of them!

After our walk through the nature we entered into the National Gallery, and first of all we ate some food at its cafè since we were really starving. Then we started our cultural visit. We saw sculptures, photos and paintings (I would say copies of paintings), I just put one of them, which is also from one of my favourite artists, here. Try to guess who is the artist and put his/her name into the comments!You may get some points and who scores more points at the end of the adventure will receive a gift! Let’s try, it’s free!

At around half past four we came out because it was time for me to head back to the hostel to meet Balaji, one of my former flatmates in Sydney to whom I brought some stuff he couldn’t bring to Melbourne when he moved there. Of course I have done it for free, friends are friends!

Anyway on our way we could admire one more time the stunning St.Paul’s Cathedral, in the heart of Melbourne, and appreciate it from outside.

The clock was then saying something like 5PM. So it was time to say goodbye to Piergiorgio, but we gave each other our email addresses, promising to remain in touch.

Postato da: DexterH46 a 03:59 | link | commenti
sport, holiday, melbourne

31st March – Around Melbourne / 1 Morning

After such an amazing trip I had only one more day to spend in Melbourne, trying to see as much as I could, even if it meant waking up again around 8 in the morning to pack my stuf without missing the free breakfast in the hostel.

I started my day alone, going to the Flagstaff Gardens which were very close to my hostel. There I could appreciate a nice park with some beatiful flowers.

After that I headed to the National Library where I met my friend Piergiorgio. We knew it was too early to try to meet our champions, so we had a walk around the Yarra River talking about his job and my studies, and setting a plan for our visit to the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

We also took the opportunity to do a ride on the free City Circle tram, where we could also learn something more about the city since there was a recorded voice that was giving some information.

The morning was nearly finished and we were nearly starving, so we had a Belgian waffel (I guess this is the name, but am not too sure!) at Flinders Station from a small kiosk where a girl, friend of Piergiorgio, was working... delicious food!

Postato da: DexterH46 a 09:06 | link | commenti
holiday, melbourne

30th March – Great Ocean Road (3-The Twelve Apostles)

The last part of the Great Ocean Road trip was the one that showed us the best sights of this area. Roughly half-way the distance from Melbourne to South Australia we got to this magnificent place where the work of millions of years made these huge rocks seeming to emerge from the water.

---Great Ocean Road pictures coming soon---

Some people of the trip paid an extra $60 to have also a short time on a helicopter to view the area from the sky. While they were going on and off the helicopter I went through the walking path together with the two Irish girls and a couple more people of the trip.

After that we went down into an hidden small beach, created by the power of the waves in millions of years, and our guide Chris told us the story of a shipwreck that happened in that very place. A ship coming from Europe confused the light of a house as the light of an harbour during a foggy night, and the tragedy happened. Only two people survived, a boy called Tom (who was a sailor in the ship, and continued sailing even if it is said that he crashed other ships), and a girl called Eva (who actually was saved by Tom, but did not want to know anything anymore about Australia and ships since she lost the whole family on that night).

After the sroty unfortunately it seemed we were a bit late, so we did not go to the so called “London Bridge”, and we took the road back to Melbourne, passing through the inland for a faster journey, stopping in a desert city called Colac (which population is nearly 10000, and it is a big city in the area...) for dinner before making our way straight to Melbourne. Chris dropped each one of us where we wanted.

Unluckily it was quite late (around 10pm) to join my friend Laura (the one from England I met in Sydney in late January!) who was somewhere in a party, so I just went around with Piergiorgio for a short walk around Melbourne centre, deciding to meet the day after to try our last “attack” to the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

Postato da: DexterH46 a 08:53 | link | commenti
holiday, melbourne

30th March – Great Ocean Road (2-Animals)

During our trip we didn’t see only nice places, but we also got very close to several different typical animals of Australia.

Just before breakfast (or just after? Damn my memory!) our guide brought us into an hidden place next to a golf pitch where sometimes it was possible to spot kangaroos quite closely... and we did!

When it was time for lunch, while we were waiting for our food, we had another opportunity to get close to another characteristic animal: the koala! We had to be very careful not to get too much close, in fact even just touching them could be very harmful for the koalas and they may die for this. So we took pictures next to them without going further. Anyway it was enough, they did not move at all, in fact if you remember well they sleep for most of the time...

A few minutes and the lunch was ready, but before going to eat our food we still had time to attract to us some birds which populate the area. Colourful parrots came on us as soon as we got some small nuts (or something like that) starting to eat from our hands. Despite they were not harmful at all, some girls were still a bit scared of them and did not want to feed the birds, fearing they could decide not to stop eating “just” the nuts.

But the lunch in the meantime was ready. Some “lasagne” for me, please. They were not exactly like the original Italian ones, but actually they were not that bad, so I enjoyed my meal while I talked to two nice Irish girls who were taking part to the trip as well. 15 minutes and it was time to go, direction Twelve Apostles, but we had to say we had seen enough characteristic animals, totally free, in their own natural places.

Postato da: DexterH46 a 11:11 | link | commenti
holiday, melbourne

30th March – Great Ocean Road (1-Places)

Since I had the opportunity only for a short stay in Melbourne, I had to do as much as I could with no breaks, and no brakes! After an exciting day I had to wake up at 7.00 in the morning to do the Great Ocean Road trip. Luckily one of my roommates, Charlie from South Korea, had to come as well so he woke me up in time to get some cold water in the face to wake up and be ready for the mini-van that would have brought us into the adventure.

The first stop was near Torquay, precisely in Bells Beach, the place where the “Rip Curl” brand was born. Despite it was a cloudy day a lot of surfers were there to play with the waves, right in the place where every year Rip Curl holds a surf competition, with the best surfers coming from all over the world.

After our first stop we went on with our trip. The second stop was for breakfast, not much later actually.

The weather was still not the best one,but at least it wasn’t raining, so we could get off the van and stay under the sky while we were having some food and drinks. After the morning meal we had a few minutes to relax so I took a picture with the ocean behind me (even if without the zoom people who saw this picture said that the man wasn't me... eeeehhhh???!!! Oh yes, by the way... I am NOT walking on the water, it's just perspective plus the fact that I cut the bottom of the picture).

After our breakfast stop we jumped on the van again heading to the real starting point of the Great Ocean Road, which actually hadn’t begun so far.

The traffic was not crazy (it’s a nice road, but in a nearly unmanned area) so every single person took a picture of him/herself under the wood which sets the beginning of the popular track.

The early afternoon of the trip went on with us driving along the Great Ocean Road, with the aim of getting to the Twelve Apostles, but we also stopped a couple of times when we had the opportunity and when the landscape seemed to offer stunning views. Here you can find one of them, for the last part of the trip you have to wait a few more days...

Postato da: DexterH46 a 08:08 | link | commenti
holiday, beach, melbourne

29th March – The night after the gold medal

Postato da: DexterH46 a 10:59 | link | commenti (2)
sport, holiday, melbourne

29th March – Filippo Magnini 100m free World Champ

Just the time to have some food and then a two-hours rest in the hostel, and I was ready to go to the Rod Laver Arena. I checked ten times I had everything I needed: papers, flag, camera, then I left the hostel, but not before booking a day-trip for the following day to the Great Ocean Road.

I took a tram (yes, a real tram, Melbourne is lovely from this point of view) and stop after stop athletes coming from many nations were getting into the bus.

After a couple of stops I also noticed a familiar girl. She looked at me, I looked at her. A sight eye to eye and yes, she was Laura, the one who offered a place in her house for me to stay! What a coincidence! We had a 5 minutes chat, just the time I got to the Arena, and then we had to say each other goodbye, promising to meet again one of the following days.

Outside the arena, while I was taking some free stuff offered to the attendants, I met another Italian, Piergiorgio, who stopped me after seeing my flag. We became friends in a few seconds, and decided to stay together inside the building to be heard by our Italian athletes.

We entered into the building, with our lowest-class tickets. We were allocated into bad seats, but since it wasn’t wold out, we tried to gain a better position. While we were checking the availability of some seats, we met Ornella Rosolino, the aunt of the popular swimmer, Max. She knew I would have been there thanks to Juls and Là, two Italian girls who founded the Filippo Magnini FanClub and gave her the fanclub flag, sealing a good friendship between the two clubs (further than the already existing friendship between Max and Pippo).

Around 8pm it was time of the competition I was waiting for, 100m freestyle, where my friend Filippo had to defend the World title won in Montreal (Canada) in 2005.

The finalists were, from lane 1 to 8, Cielo (Bra), Sullivan (Aus), Van Den Hoogenband (Ned), Lezak (USA), Magnini (Ita), Hayden (Can), Neethling (RSA), Schoeman (RSA). The presentation, then the whistle, and then silence. The “beep” of the starter, the competition had begun! After the first 50 metres Magnini was 7^th, but didn’t give up. Started to come back, passing one, then one more, then a further one. His progression was marvellous, I started to scream his name pushing him to the end of the lane together with the other Italian supporters. Just a few seconds and all the swimmers were arrived, very close, hard to say who had won without the help of a computer. Then the names of both Hayden and Magnini appeared with a number 1 on their left. YEEEESSSS!!!! You can see from my video that in that very moment I went crazy, screaming and jumping madly! He was World Champion, one more time, two in a row, unusual in the 100m freestyle! You can check the results clicking --> here

After a few minutes I still had to recover, but the protagonists were back for the victory ceremony. The display was clear, and the flags as well, same time made by both Hayden and Magnini, two world champions, but it didn’t matter, my friend was there, on the highest step of the podium. In these situations you can really see “the best in the world”.

The Canadian national hymn has been the first to be played, then it has been the time for the Italian one. I started to sing with all the voice I had left, with the Aussies around me that initially encouraged me to sing louder and louder, and then joined the rhytm of our hymn together with all the people in the Rod Laver Arena, literally bewitched by the music.

Then the guys took a walk around the pool, and when Filippo saw the flag with the name of his city “Pesaro c’è”, he was astonished. I was there.

Other competitions took place the same night, we saw Phelps improving a world record and other tough contests, with the Aussie crowd going mad for their medals. But not as much as me!

Before going out me and Piergiorgio met Mauro and Lisa, a young couple coming from Italy (Piergiorgio lived in Melbourne), and we became friends, scheduling a meeting for the summer Italian Championships in case they would have taken place in Pesaro. I texted a couple of friends, and hoped my International friends watched the competition on the tv.

Postato da: DexterH46 a 12:17 | link | commenti
sport, holiday, melbourne

29th March – Sydney - Melbourne

Postato da: DexterH46 a 07:24 | link | commenti
holiday, melbourne, sydney, journey/flight