Australia 2007 --> L'Olandese Volante

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)!

Eccomi

Utente: DexterH46
Studente (ex!!!), volontario, lavoratore, tifoso, appassionato di musica, viaggiatore per il mondo, lottatore pacifista... scegliete voi!







  • Contattami
  • Il mio profilo
  • Linkami

Ultimi Commenti

Archivio

oggi
marzo 2009
febbraio 2009
dicembre 2008
luglio 2008
marzo 2008
gennaio 2008
dicembre 2007
ottobre 2007
settembre 2007
agosto 2007
luglio 2007
giugno 2007
maggio 2007
aprile 2007
marzo 2007
febbraio 2007
gennaio 2007

Feeds

  • RSS 2.0
  • ATOM 0.3
  • Powered by Splinder

Contatore

visitato *loading* volte

mercoledì, 24 ottobre 2007
Memories: Sydney Harbour Bridge Walk 2007

From an email received almost 6 months ago... : A swarm of hyperactive Peer Networkers, Tandem and international students from UTS descended upon the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Sunday 18 March to help it celebrate its 75th birthday in style.

They came brightly dressed in greens and golds to show their support for Australia's national and historical icon while taking part in the Bridge Walk.

“It was very thoughtful [of the UTS organisers] to arrange this event…it is a day the international students wouldn't have known about otherwise so it is good to get them involved,” said Michelle Beattie, a Marketing and Tourism student.

Rebecca Lai agreed that, “It is lucky for them [international students] because they get to celebrate with local people and it shows them that we can be very festive.”

The UTS contingent joined the group of more than 200,000 people taking part in the 3.6 kilometre walk, which started in North Sydney and ended in either Darling Harbour or The Rocks. All who participated in the walk received a free cap to commemorate the day.

For those who missed out on the walk, there were many other activities to experience around the area. Highlights included a ferry and workboat race around the harbour, fly-overs of historical planes, an Aboriginal smoking ceremony and the dazzling bridge lights illuminating the night sky.

Allen Lui, the UTS organiser, said the day was a great success. “It is a ‘once-in-a-lifetime' special event and it was about time PNs got together with the international students…to foster the university's international community.”

Further pictures can be found on http://photos.all.id.au/al_20070318_BridgeWalk

Postato da: DexterH46 a 20:34 | link | commenti
holiday, sydney, uts

venerdì, 07 settembre 2007
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

sabato, 25 agosto 2007
12th July – Goodbye Aussieland

I arrived in Sydney Airport at something past 10PM, took a bus (massive saving once again!) to 62 Redfern Street, had some food offered by Harrison and Emilie and then I went to UTS to sleep.
Yes, my last night in Sydney was a homeless night, but after all the troubles UTS caused to me I deserved a free night accomodation at least!

 
After that I went back “home”, took Luciano’s bicycle (thanks mate!) and rode down to the bank where I changed my bank account. Yes, changed, not “closed”. It means I will come back.
A few minutes and I met Daniel in the GSB. I borrowed the last items from UTS (I will post something about borrowed stuff at the end of the month) and run home with him. Then, at home, a quick lunch with the rice I received from Silvia and Francesca from Italy. Daniel and Harrison have been great, helping me in closing the case (and, believe me, it was very hard, we had to work all the three of us together) and bringing me to the bus stop where I said my last goodbye to someone in Australia. I don’t know how it has been possible, but no tears for me. I arrived at the airport finishing my TravelTen, checked in (I had nearly 26kiloes in my case, but they didn’t say anything), sent my last messages and took my seat on the plane. Goodbye Aussieland.
Among the stuff I had to delete from, the international mailing list (which did not work that much), the UF club (which had been great), the BIG club, which I could not enjoy that much...
http://groups.google.com/group/internationaluts2007
http://www.uts.edu.au/international/
http://big.it.uts.edu.au
Goodbye all my friends. Goodbye beautiful places. Goodbye my dreams. Goodbye Aussieland.

Postato da: DexterH46 a 19:30 | link | commenti
bureaucracy, sydney, accomodation, uts , journey/flight

domenica, 19 agosto 2007
8th July – The Redfern Church

The last Sunday in Sydney and Australia corresponded to the last time I went to the church in Redfern.
This church had often been not so rcrowded. Saying the same concept in other words, let’s say there were not so many people going there. But it had a particular characteristic, it was the church where Australians, white people, were mixed with real Australians, aboriginal people.


Then in the afternoon I had to finish to empty my room: two French girls, Emilie’s friends, were taking it.
All the posters I had put on the wall, the Australian road signs, the flags... everything had to go in my case.

I had to clean my desk as well.
All the items that Francesca and Silvia, my great friends, sent me from Italy, so two dvds, a cd, a funny box, some pics, the Italian food I would have had on the last day, a letter, some postcards from my own city in Italy. But also the palm branch, the Great Ocean Road postcards, the motorbike calendar and the piece of paper with the Austrian city where Eva comes from.

The room was totally empty at 3PM, I received my bond back (and a 10 days discount as well) from the greatest landlords ever, which increased my savings one more time if you consider that from mid March onwards I received a $10 weekly discount to replace the toilet paper, the plastic bags inside the bins and to bring the bins outside on Sunday nights because the waste-service lorry was coming to collect them. You can make your own calculations...
Then I could go to the train station where I had to catch the train to Brisbane. 14 hours on it were waiting for me, the longest non-stop travel ever... the weather was not the best one and I had to run to get in time to the station. When I asked for the ticket the teller told me that the train may have been full. A few seconds in which I was scared of having to come back home and postpone the trip again, but then he came back, gave me the ticket, and told me to run because the train was about to leave: I had only 30 seconds... a lot of time considering my “Italian trains experience”, with trains caught when they had already closed the doors or while they were moving! ;-)

Postato da: DexterH46 a 20:55 | link | commenti
holiday, sydney, accomodation

7th July – Goodbye great bike

The same night, after my (short and incomplete) walk, I had to meet my Financial Management team member, Anh from Vietnam.
We battled hard in our FM group project. She worked a lot on it and I added my knowledge. We were quite happy when we handed in the paper but when our teacher brought it back tha mark was 9 out of 20... so a FAIL! She could not believe it and did not want even to see the paper. I decided to act differently.
First of all I asked to see the paper with the solutions.
Then I took ours and compared the two of them. Once I spotted that the man who checked the papers was a ridiculously lazy one I claimed a further revision from the subject coordinator.
She warned me that doing this, we could even have had a worse mark. But I was sure we were right so I persisted in my complaint and after thirty minutes our mark magically changed from 9/20 to 13.5/20... 4.5 marks more, 50% of what we initially got!
I hoped that the “doctor” who checked our papers had been fired.
By the way, let’s go back to my goodbye to my friend. She wanted something mine to remember me after our winning battle, so I decided to sell my bike to her, even if someone else offered me more money. But it wasn’t a matter of money, it was a matter of friendship. Nevertheless if I consider all the money I saved using the bicycle I have to say it has been a great affair!



Then she brought me some coins and notes from Vietnam (I do collect International money) and she wanted just $5 when she gave me the equivalent of at least the double! No way to convince her I had to give her more money.
Then it was the sad time to say each other goodbye, we took a picture, and we wished each other the best, promising to keep in touch.

Postato da: DexterH46 a 09:28 | link | commenti
holiday, sydney, uts , the battle of sydney

sabato, 18 agosto 2007
7th July – Bondi to Coogee (Bondi) walk

My last “full” day in Sydney came suddenly.
I decided to do to Bondi to Coogee walk, a walk which was not supposed to be as much spectacular as the Manly Scenic Walk I did in April, but which anyway was worth to do according to the Lonely Planet guide.
I started from the golf coure north of Bondi Beach. There were some Aboriginal engravings on the rocks which looked interesting. At least it was quite easy to spot the stuff they were representing.


In the same area it was possible to have some stunning views.
In the first one you can see the cliffs. This golf course in fact is just next to the Ocean, and the height is considerable. In other words, if you throw your ball outside the course, man, you’ve lost it!

In the second image I wanted to offer my readers a view of the North side of Bondi, so standing in the golf course I pointed my camera to the north rather than any other (maybe more popular) direction. And you can see one more time the immensity of the Ocean.

After stopping to get pictures I started the walk properly.
Since I was late I tried to use some shortcuts. I arrived next to a house and there were some stones emerging from the water. The waves were not arriving there, so I thought it was safe to cross the water there, jumping from a stone to another...

… but as soon as I reached the middle of the path (seriously, right in the middle) I heard a noise coming from my left. A high wave was coming right there! As soon as I noticed it I had to choose in one second either to go on or to go back or to jump in a hidden place on the right of the path. I chose this last option because it was the one requiring less time and the one which would have brought me to the safest place in terms of water. I could not avoid to be drenched by the wave but at least I was on a rock above the sea level. I had to wait a few minutes to let the water going back... I was nearly thinking I had to call the emergency to rescue me! ;-)
So I managed to escape from the bad situation and decided to go back to Bondi Beach through the longer but safer way. I arrived in Bondi Beach, but I was very very late on my planned walk time.

I crossed Bondi Beach, the first one I saw when I arrived in Sydney (do you remember?) from the northern side to the southern. Then I looked to my watch and noticed that mine was an impossible mission, I would have never finished my walk in time, so I took the last pictures and went to the bus stop to come back in the city centre.

Postato da: DexterH46 a 09:23 | link | commenti
holiday, beach, sydney

venerdì, 17 agosto 2007
6th July – Sydney Tower

In the afternoon I met Daniel at the Sydney Tower, to use a ticket I purchased a few months before when I went to the Sydney Wildlife with him, Nicolas and Tobias.
Everything was perfectly planned, but my curiosity made us a bad joke...
On the way to the tower I met a man who was playing a guitar at the corner between Liverpool Street and George Street. The funny and crazy thing was that in the meantime he was holding another guitar on his nose! Don’t you believe me? Check this picture!!!


So I lost a couple of minutes there to take a picture and to see this man. The result was that when I joined Daniel at the Tower we were still in time... but with around thirty people in front of us into a queue.
It was the last chance I had to go there, so we decided to go anyway. We took a funny picture before taking the lift, causing the laughs of all the presents, and then entered in one of the two operating elevators. By the time we were on the top, anyway, the sun was already disappeared. We wanted to see the sunset, but because of my 5 minutes late, we couldn’t :-(
So we “just” experienced the view from 300m above the ground. The best pictures we could take at that time were the ones toward the west. In the following one you can admire the Harbour Bridge from our point of view.

And in the last one you can check another bridge in Sydney, which is situated further west, and that can be used rather than the more popular Harbour Bridge to cross Sydney from south to north or viceversa.

Postato da: DexterH46 a 23:06 | link | commenti (2)
holiday, sydney

6th July – Australian Museum

Time was running out, and after all my misfortunes I had to run to see what I hadn’t seen in Sydney yet.
I had to choose something among the Australian Museum, the Maritime Museum and the Art Gallery.
I had already been in an art gallery in Melbourne, and the Australian Museum promised to be the most characteristic of the country among the three, so I went for it.
At the entrance there was the skeleton of a dinosaur which probably lived in Australia millions years ago.


Then a very nice photographic exhibition was held in a smaller room. In it you could see some wonderful pics of many places all around Australia. Moving on there was the aboriginal area, with all the manufactures of the people who lived in this land for thousands years. In this area even a cell of a prison that gives an idea of how a cell was so bd to live in.

A few metres away, the Aboginal flag and the Torres Islands flag, with the explanations of the colours and symbols of these two flags. In the picture, the Aboriginal is on the top, while the Torres Islands is on the bottom.

Then it was possible to admire hundreds and hundreds of minerals, with some panels illustrating the story of the “gold rush” in Australia. The visit to the museum was pleasant, then I came out. $5 well spent.
Outside the sun was shining, it was a bright sunny day so I could have a look from both outside and inside of St.Mary’s Cathedral, where I hadn’t been before.
The building is very nice, and they are maintaining it in order to have it (I think) ready for the 2008 Youth Day, which will happen at the end of July.

Postato da: DexterH46 a 09:58 | link | commenti
holiday, sydney

giovedì, 16 agosto 2007
3rd July – Two for one cinema

Once I finished the exams I could finally concentrate on my holidays, which anyway had already forced to be reduced by the UTS superficiality.
I went to the agency where the girls (Simona, Silvia, Claudia, Federica and Sophie) had booked their trip to the East Coast and asked for information on how to join them from the following days in Hervey Bay in order to go to Fraser Island.
On that night, anyway, I was still in Sydney so I could enjoy the “special offer” of the Greater Union cinemas in George Street. Someone found that inside the cinema all the rooms were connected by a gangway. In other words, after a movie you could try to sneak into a further one.
I met my friends at 6.00 PM. We wanted to see Transformers, but it was full for all the four shows for that night, so we had to choose something else. Max gave up (he was there basically for Transformers but had another appointment, so when Transformes became impossible to be seen he decided to go away) so I remained with Andrea and Sylvain.
We bought an icecream at Hungy Jack’s, claiming a second one for free because the first was – in our opinion – smaller than usual. We did not succeed in our complaint, so we told them that we would have gone to the competitors the following time. Come on, it was “two for one night”!!!
Then we chose our movie: “Ocean’s thirteen”. We purchased the tickets, stopped for a picture with The Simpsons at the entrance, and entered into the room.


We watched the movie from the second row (the room was not full, but we could not find three seats next to each other), not very comfortable but still ok, and the movie was quite nice.
Then, at the end, we went out, stopped for a while in the toilet and... went straight to another movie, randomly!
We took our seats and waited the first images. When we understood it was Spiderman III, we made our considerations: Andrea had already seen it so he decided to go for a further one, while me and Sylvain remained there because we were too lazy to join Andrea and anyway it was a new movie for us!
Andrea chose another room randomly, he found “The Fabulous 4”, but we could see him before the end of our movie because his was shorter. He did not like Fab4 so much. Neither we enjoyed a lot Spiderman III. We thought for a while to complain to get the ticket refunded, but then abandoned this odd idea! ;-)
We left the cinema and say goodbye each other. Unfortunately when I got home I had a very bad headache. The following morning I woke up with further fever symptoms.

Postato da: DexterH46 a 10:37 | link | commenti (2)
cinema, holiday, sydney

martedì, 14 agosto 2007
1st July – Sunset in Sydney

Yes I know, you may wonder “what the hell was he still doing in Sydney? Hadn’t he to be on holiday?”. You are right, I had to, but UTS, University of Total Suck (the named given my Dusan turned to be perfect), made me the thousandth bad joke... they “lost” one of my exam papers and they forced me to retake the exam unless I was happy to get a “0” (zero!) in the final paper. Can you believe it? You will read soon what exactly happened...
So on Sunday I could only relax in the GSB before going back home to study again in the evening. From the Graduate School of Business, where I was chatting with Daniel, we could appreciate a nice glimpse of the sunset in Sydney, and I wanna offer it to you.


Postato da: DexterH46 a 22:38 | link | commenti
holiday, sydney, uts