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)!

20/03/2008 – 2) The after race

After the crowning, it was time for the sparkling wine to be opened.
But in the meantime it was necessary to dress like a true Doctor.
A suit taken (thanks to Chicco!) in Pesaro which maybe needed some work to look similar to a biker’s suit, a replica helmet of one used by Valentino and the English, Australian and Dutch flags.

A “thank you” goes to all those who have participated in some way with their wishes and congratulations.
A BIG “thank you” goes to those who sacrificed study, work and other duties to be there for my discussion, proclamation and/or podium ceremony.
Some of them are in the picture below, but not all of them unfortunately. So I list their names here: special thanks to: Andrea F., Andrea M., Arnaldo, Chiara G., Chiara L., Clarissa, Elia, Elisa, Fabio, Fabrizia, Federica, Francesca C., Francesca D.L., Giacomo, Luca, Lucia, Marco, Paolo. For sure I will not easily forget their presence. Promised.
In the evening I have then surely appreciated the “visits” from Elisa, Federica, Gabriel who joined the others. If I knew it before I would have invited for the whole day the three “guests” of the evening, so Anastasia, Francesco and Susanna, nice guests... it will be for the next time!

Postato da: DexterH46 a 13:53 | link | commenti
party, unibo

New Year’s in the Dam

For the last day of the year we want once again to Amsterdam.

We left Rotterdam in the afternoon because we knew that it would have been a very long day! Walking through the streets in Amsterdam made the time flying away. Here the square was still quite empty… but it was still more than 7 hours from the midnight, as you can see from the screens.

After a couple of hours we were back to the Dam. More people were there and it seemed we were about to celebrate the New Year despite actually we had to wait more than five hours.

Quite soon it was time to have dinner at an Italian Restaurant. No matter it was “Italian”, but Dino’s was absolutely better! While my friends, the two girls from Pesaro and the other two Italian boys, decided to take a pizza, I tried something different: Lasagne (served at roughly 200°C). Not the best decision, but my friends had not to celebrate more than me!

After leaving the restaurant (where we tried to stay as long as possible because it was raining outside) we spent one more hour in the area and at “elevenish” pm we were back in The Dam. The area was really overcrowded in any direction: you could just turn and see that hundreds (I would even say thousands) of people were filling any place.

Then something strange happened. They started a show on the stage and when it was 2 minutes to midnight we started to prepare our champagne with calm. I think that more than 2 minutes passed –and in fact, to be honest, many fireworks started to paint and brighten the sky from the surrounding areas. But only after three more minutes (so five in total) the countdown started on the screens. Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, … a big 2008 came out!

And then, before a massive quantity of fireworks started from behind the stage, the wishes to everyone, written in Dutch. The same I am wishing all of you… happy new year! Or, better… GELUKKIG NIEUW JAAR!!!

Our celebrations ended in a private party quite near where we danced, drank, chatted and so on... at least for one day (plus one night) I didn't think about my bad exam and bad health... I am sure it will be enough for you that we were back in Rotterdam the following morning at 8! :-)

Postato da: DexterH46 a 00:12 | link | commenti (5)
holiday, amsterdam, party, netherlands

17th November – An Italian supporter in Delft.

The same night I went to Delft to see the football match between Italy and Scotland, played in the United Kingdom. I met my Italian friend Luca who studies there, and with all his Italian friends we went to a pub to see the match. Netherlands was playing later in the night so we had the opportunity to conquer our room in the pub and watch the match (there was an horrible music instead of the commentary, but at least we had the images). Italy won 1-2 and assured the qualification for the next European Championship which will take place in Switzerland and Austria next summer.
After the match we went into the flat of Federica, one of the two girls who were there. We had a tasty dinner together and then started playing a drinking game. It was funny, but just for a while. After 5 minutes the girls were always making errors so they were the only ones always drinking, we had to make mistakes on purpose to drink some alcohol! :-)

After we finished both the food and the drinks I went with Luca and two friends of him (one Spanish, one Dutch) to Rotterdam to end the day clubbing somewhere in the centre.
I was quite tired but at least I was going out after two hard working weeks. And it had been nice until Luca has been kicked out because wearing a hat. This forced all of us to go out (we couldn’t leave our mate alone!), walk around looking for another place before heading back our homes at 4 am!

Postato da: DexterH46 a 20:04 | link | commenti (2)
sport, holiday, party, delft, netherlands

16th July – Souvenirs

“God Forgives, I do not”, is a popular sentence from a movie.
I must admit that sometimes it applies to me as well.
Everytime someone did something wrong, I added this place, company, or whatsoever in my black list.
And since I am a non-violent one, the only way for me to have something back was what Homer Simpson called in one of the sketches, “souvenir”. Please note that all the items shown here are "borrowed".

February – 333 Club (George St.):
Bouncer: “Wait, you can’t go upstairs”
Me: “Why? My friends are there, what’s wrong with me?”
B: “You can’t go with those shoes”
M: “Is it a matter of how I look like or a matter of my behaviour, being drunk or so, which I am not? Are you seriously saying it’s for my shoes, paid much more than any flip-flop wore by many girls upstairs?”
B: “Okay, you can go, enjoy your time”
M: “Thanks mate”.
This time I did not get anything... I still was too much good.

April – La Cita Club (Darling Harbour):
Bouncer: “Sorry man, you can’t get in”
Me: “What’s wrong with me?”
B: “There is a dress code here”
M: “Really? Last week I had exactly the same clothes, but I could get in. How comes?”
B: “It’s management decision”
M: “Okay, I am just asking why last week yes and today no, since I have got exactly the same stuff on. Tell me what’s the real problem, if any, and I go away”
B: “I can’t do anything, it’s management decision”
M: “Okay, let me speak with the manager, who will change idea if he/she wants some customers next week”
B: “Okay, get in, but next time don’t put me in trouble”
M: “It’s not my fault”.
This time I did not forgive. A glass as a souvenir. Deserved.

Then how could I forgive UTS and their jokes against me? Mugs mugs mugs... souvenirs! More than ten. I could not accept the sentence " Please provide official documentation to support your case (i.e. Death Certificate) within 3 working days" which I found outrageous. Here you are a mug, but I offered them as gifts to some friends as well. Deserved.
Finally the 2hours delay in KL made me missing the MotoGP race live. A pillow and a cover from my plane. Deserved.

Postato da: DexterH46 a 12:25 | link | commenti (2)
party, bureaucracy, sydney, announcements, journey/flight, the battle of sydney

27th June – Farewell BBQ/2 : The participants

My time to say “goodbye” came as well.
On 26th I finished with my exams (...) so I decided to take a farewell party together with my adventure-mate Federica, who was coming back from Uluru on that very day and would have left Sydney again the day after.
I sent a lot of invitations, but unfortunately many of my friends were already travelling (do you remember? The Germans, the Chileans, ...), and a few of them were sick (Chiara, Mala, ...) or had already other plans (like an Aussie girl who will come to Bologna Uni in September, unluckily I couldn’t meet her).
Even Eva was missing. She told me she would have been back for the end of June, but then she probably changed her plans, and when I texted her to invite her, she replied she was in Darwin, which means 3-4 hours away on a plane. That was the last chance for us to meet, and I really believed in it, but actually I had to accept a different reality a further time, and, believe me, it had been very sad... I wanted to say “goodbye” to her by person, even with the boyfriend next to her, but I couldn’t :-(
Luckily someone was still in Sydney and could come.
My Italian friend Silvia from Verona was among them, and she brought two friends of her from her own city in Italy. We had a chat at the BBQ and promised to meet each other again once travelling up north in the East Coast.

Postato da: DexterH46 a 13:37 | link | commenti
holiday, party, sydney, accomodation

27th June – Farewell BBQ/1: Invitation

On Wednesday evening I will have a BBQ at my place, to say goodbye to all the nice people I met in OZ.
Many of them will not be here because they are already travelling around OZ, anyway if you are in Sydney you cannot miss!
There will be people from my groups in all my subjects, some of my flatmates and some Internationals as well.
Unfortunately I am a poor student and my scholarship does not cover food and drinks for many people, so I kindly ask you to bring your own food and drinks (even because I do not know your preferences) .
Anyway some meat and some drinks will be provided (ok, I will not touch the beers in my fridge until Wednesday! :D ). We will provide the fire as well, don't worry, it will be lighted up at around 5, so you can start to come from 6.00 onward knowing that we'll never be in time!If it rains we'll find a solution as well, don't worry...
My house is in Redfern, the address is 62 Redfern St, Redfern 2016.
From Central station is very easy: get out in Chalmers Street and walk along Chalmers Street for 2 blocks (2 traffic lights) until you cross Redfern Street. Turn left and after 20 metres you are arrived. My doorbell is number 6, but if I am not in my room you can also ring one of the following: 1,3,8,9,10 (or my phone).
I attach a map to ease you on your way... so please do not send me hundred texts, and remember that the excuse "I could not find the place" is not allowed as well!:P
It will be the last opportunity to see many (if not all) of you here in Australia, and I really care about it.
So I look forward to see you there, and feel free to bring other people!See you on Wednesday!!!
Cheers,
Iurij

MAP:
The red/purple line goes from Railway Square to my place (for those who don't know where the Chalmers exit is)
The light blue line goes from the Chalmers St. exit to my place (for those who don't know where the Railway Square exit is)
The blue line goes from UTS to my place (for those who will still be studying in the Tower and don't know where Central Station exits are)

Postato da: DexterH46 a 17:46 | link | commenti
holiday, party, sydney, accomodation

23rd June – “Goodbye Germany” in Glebe

On Friday night some Germans were having a party in Glebe, at Tobi’s place. I really wanted to join them, but I was very late and I had to make my last effort for the exams, while 99% of my friends had already finished by that time. So I missed the party. But I accepted to miss it only when I knew that the day after I would have had the last chance to meet them agagin to say goodbye. Patricia, Silvia and Simona did the same.
We met in small restaurant in Glebe. The guys had their flight leaving Sydney Airport at half past eight, or something like that. The meeting time was quite late considering this, anyway they had calculated everything... nearly everything! When all of us were ready to order after some time spent chatting and waiting for Tobias, the man appeared, with a “tower” behind him.

Postato da: DexterH46 a 15:41 | link | commenti
party, sydney

21st June – “Goodbye Chile” at Nude

What would have probably been the last Thursday at Nude Bar came when I still had one exam to go.
I was feeling more relaxed, three exams out of four were done. In the meantime I didn’t receive any invitation for the Maria & Eva farewell party I mentioned last time, so I suppose they could not organise anything.
But further people were about to leave. The Chilean team was leaving Sydney on  Friday so I had to go and say my “goodbye” to all of them.
It happened, as said some lines above, at Nude Bar... of course, it was a Thursday! But when it was half past midnight, after we had moved to the Side Bar (a classic on Thursdays, I guess you understood it), I went home. I was still a student, many of the others were not anymore (and I’d like to underline that for my Uni I had to get good marks, while some of the others just needed a “pass”, the equivalent of an Italian “18”, “19” or “20”).
We promised each other to keep in touch, I hope it will happen. We will see.

Postato da: DexterH46 a 09:22 | link | commenti
party, sydney

15th June – Full Moon Party/2

At the same party many more people were present.
Among them Ish from California, USA, and his girlfriend Monica from Norway.
The former is a man of mistery. First of all he always went along with all of us perfectly. Then on this party he confessed to be some years older than us. Unbelievable! Secondly he always told us his name was Ish. Actually we found out he has another name, and Ish is just a shorter name for it. None of us knew before this Full Moon Party! He also runs a business of resorts and is planning to expand it all around the world. Finally he also taught how to surf to some of us (unfortunately not me because I woke up late that day) for free. Legend!
His girlfriend joined us fewer times, nevertheless she always turned to be a nice one. During an exam I also found out she attended one of my courses, Financial Management... unfortunately it was too late to help each other in studying it!

Guillaume, another French guy, was there to study at UTS, but when the time of leaving was coming closer, he found an internship to stay longer in Sydney. He was always present at the parties, but is one more I met only at the end of April / beginning of May, making me thinking that maybe at the beginning I spent too much time with a “closer” group. I will never know the right answer to this question, I will just stay wondering about it.

Postato da: DexterH46 a 20:26 | link | commenti
party, sydney

15th June – Full Moon Party/1

I left the faculty after having partially solved my personal battle with the tutor, as mentioned before.
Just outside UTS Tower I met Eva. She just came out from her last exam, but seemed quite busy with her classmates. I said “hello” once, but she did not hear me. Then they moved closer and she greeted me. I replied, sure that I would have seen her the same night at the Full Moon Party at Daniele’s house in Chippendale.
The previous time something crazy happened (I don’t have the pictures...dammit!): the house was going on fire! In the real sense of the terms! Some small fireworks had been thrown to Daniele while he was dancing on the fridge (yes, on the fridge!), one finished on a jacket and the flames were on it, before Daniele with a cover stopped them.
This time the crowd was huge again, but at least not so dangerous!
I’d like to introduce you some more friends of mine, in case you haven’t seen them so far or you have just forgotten them. The Mexican Linda had been quite unlucky as me with exams date: her last one would have been one day before mine, on 25th June. A very nice girl who unfortunately I met quite late, only at “my” Blue Mountains trip.

Then the Russian/Dutch Zjenja. He was born in Russia but he lives in The Netherlands at the moment. A professional photographer in the opinion of many of the internationals. Definitely a very sociable person, one who knows when is time to joke and when is time to be serious. He had also been Claudia’s and Luciano’s flatmate.

Postato da: DexterH46 a 09:04 | link | commenti
party, sydney