Long Time No See, Stranger

A certain Mr Oliver Amphlett has come out to visit! 

I went to go meet him at the airport and after a little bit of an emotional (on my behalf... with everyone staring, it was very embarrassing) reunion in the airport we headed off to begin our intense three week catch up and travel adventure!

We spent the next few days mooching about in Sydney, waiting for Oli to get over his jetlag, going to places like Searock, UNSW campus, Circular Quay etc. As my standard jetlag cure for everyone who first arrives in Sydney (Harry was the first victim, my family shall be the next), I made him do the Coogee to Bondi walk. It's quite a long walk, but the views are amazing and you go down into each little cove and can see all the different beaches. The walk finishes by walking past Icebergs which is a super famous sea pool/bar/club just on the edge of Bondi, and then you end up right on the beach where we stopped for a few drinks at The Bucket List.

We spent some time shopping in Surry Hills and found the most amazing cupcake place called Sparkle Cupcakery which is a very cool little place and the cupcakes are YUM.

We also found a shop with a skate park in the back of it....

...how incredibly hipster. I also found my new favourite shop which is called Service on Oxford Street. It stocks loads of amazing one-off stuff by Australia designers and everything is beautiful and very unique, but sadly pretty spenny. 

One of the days we went to the markets in The Rocks and then headed to right underneath the Harbour Bridge for Oli to do some of his long exposure photography.

We also went to go see Justin Martin play at The World Bar with Harry which was a good night out, and met up with Nelly for a nice supper at a gorgeous little tapas place near home called The Spanish Fly. So strange to all be out in Sydney together!

We leave for our big East Coast road trip early tomorrow morning... very excited!

B

Sound Sick

I got caught unawares this morning. I tumbled out of bed and went to my Electronic Music tutorial and for the first half an hour we listened and critiqued a few people's pieces that were played out to the tute. Then, for the next half an hour, our lecturer got us to play around on an interactive sound website. At first I wasn't really very interested but in my hungover state was quite happy to just faff about on a computer for a while. The piece is by a woman called Katharine Norman and is an interactive sound essay called 'Window'. This is what she has to say about it:

" Window is part of a new series I hope to make about place, and about how listening contributes to our sense of place. Making Place (2013) is a companion musical work for live interactive sound and image/text with piano(s). Made with Processing and puredata software, it was commissioned by duoDort and composed in 2012 with funds from Arts Council England and the Britten-Pears Foundation, and premiered at Sonoritis, Belfast in April 2013 (one piano version) and Falmouth University, May 2013 (two piano version). "

Here's a link to the piece. Have a play around if you fancy, it takes some time to get into it and you kind of have to understand about the logistics of sound editing, but it's interesting anyway. Obviously it's a sound piece, so listen with headphones for the best effect. Her whole project is about experimenting with sound and how it can define and make a place. For this piece, she recorded out of her bedroom window at different times of day to capture the soundscape she heard, and then collaged all the sounds together. You can move through the different times of day and play with EQing the different frequencies of the sound and in effect, make your own soundscape out of the one she has recorded. There's also some accompanying text to read as you move through the piece. I know this sounds all very artsy and kind of a load of BS, and that's how I felt at first, but then suddenly I really understood her piece. Katharine lives in Cambridge back home in the UK and so the sounds she hears, in particular the birdsong, is very weirdly familiar. There was one point in the piece where I managed to get it to sound exactly like our garden at home, by lowering the volume of the traffic and turning up the sounds of the birds, in particular that pigeon noise, and I cannot even tell you how weird it was to be sat in a lecture in Sydney, Australia, and suddenly be utterly convinced that I was back at home. It kinda freaked me out a bit and I just sat there listening to that one bit for ages. SO strange.

We all talked about it afterwards, and all the Australia's said that they enjoyed exploring the work, but that it didn't really do anything for them. Then the lecturer asked me how I felt and I told her about how nostalgic it made me feel and how I couldn't believe how much it reminded me of being at home. Suddenly everyone was looking at me and I felt all weird and sad and I nearly started to cry! Must be something to do with being hungover, you know that weird depressed feeling you sometimes get the next day? Yeah, well, that. I didn't think I was homesick at all but it's funny what can trigger it.

When she let us go I ran off pretty quick and am now snuggled back in bed with strawberries and listening to John Mayer, pretending to be in Skiathos/my kitchen and missing home a bit. I'll be fine later, we're all heading off to the beach this afternoon as the weather's nice and the surf's good, but right now I miss you, fam.

B

Moo, Da, Ella and Me on Ella's 18th

Post

I received my first piece of post from home today! A lovely letter from the one and only Lizzie Nash, all the way from Salisbury.

We've promised to each other that we'll write back and forth from Australia to UK this year to make keeping in touch a little more exciting. I am yet to write my reply but I promise I'll send it soon!

If anyone else fancies sending me a little piece of England then you can find my address in the Write To Me! section of this blog. I love writing letters and receiving something from home in my letterbox is genuinely the most exciting thing!

Missing everyone,

B

Goose's Blog

This is Goose...

And this is her blog, which you should also follow....

http://goosegoestoinfinityandbeyond.blogspot.com.au

Tally's Birthday

This morning I met my flatmate, Isabelle. She's from South Korea but goes to Cornell University in the states and is lovely! She was only there for a bit to drop off some of her stuff but we agreed to meet later at the 'Afternoon Tea' that UNSW is hosting for all the international students.

The tea was held at 3.30pm in the sports pavilion overlooking the sports ground called 'The Oval'. We all chatted and grabbed some more free food and drink and I managed to find Dan who's a guy also doing Music at Newcastle who's done the exchange too. We all met loads more people, some great, some not so great... I had to teach this one 6ft American guy called Dylan how to make instant coffee because he filled his cup half full of the granules and then was about to add only milk. Bizarre...

It feels like freshers all over again, which I guess it kind of is because we're all new, but it seems weird because we're two years older now and it should be really easy to just all get along, but some people are just so... awkward!? I have met some really nice people though, and I'm sure I'll meet loads of Aussies when I start lectures on Monday. There are hardly any Aussies in halls because in Australia, most of them live at home and then go to their local uni.

After the tea I grabbed some stuff from my room and then hopped on a bus to Circular Quay and caught the 6pm ferry to Manly to go see Tally, a friend from home, who's birthday it was. Tally's come out here to stay with some family friends in the Northern Beaches to work and travel round Australia for a few months. The ferry ride was incredible as it was already dark and we left the harbour between the Harbour Bridge and the Opera house and the city was all lit up - it looked amazing. I sat outside for the whole journey and happily snapped away.

Tally met me off the ferry at the other end and we were taken out for dinner by Sam and Helen, the people she is living with. Sam is a musician, a hip hop artist, and Helen is his mum and they live in Belrose just above Manly. Helen took us to Hugos, an amazing pizzeria by the water, and treated us to some amazing pizzas and wine. After dinner, Helen took all of Tally's presents and balloons home and we went to go meet Sam's friend Nick in a nearby bar. A few drinks later, we headed home to chill at Sam's house and celebrate Tally's birthday late into the night.

The next day, Sam and Nick had to work, but Tally had the day off and so we headed into the city to go exploring. We spent most of the day shopping and I invested in a new pair of trainers as I have vowed to myself to get fit. I chose the offensive purple and orange colour so that I can't accidentally-on-purpose lose them in my room and actually, I quite like them! They're super comfortable too and should earn me kudos with all the sporty Aussie's.

Tally and I headed to roam round Darling Harbour and we stopped for a drink at the Cargo Lounge, where I also bought her a chocolate fondant as a birthday treat. I really liked the atmosphere down on the waterfront so I asked at the bar if they were hiring, but the girl said to come back in a few weeks when the summer season starts to kick in and they up their staff numbers.

Once we were tired of walking around, Tally came back with me on the bus to see where I lived and I showed her around the campus a bit. Whilst we were in my room, we remembered that we'd heard that Fat Freddy's Drop were playing in a month and a bit, and so we booked our tickets together. If you don't know who Fat Freddy's Drop are, they're an amazing reggae/ska band who we saw at Outlook Festival last summer.

Tally soon had to head back to Manly as she was working early next morning and I went to go find the others to tell them to book their tickets too.

We have an induction day tomorrow with all the other international students... doesn't sound like it's going to be much fun, but it'll be useful I guess.

B

24 Hours Later...

…and I’ve finally arrived in Sydney! 

The journey was long but not too bad, being in Business Class probably helped a bit (thanks Mum!). Check-in at Heathrow was quick and easy, and the goodbyes came around pretty quick as I had to move on to go through security. Both my parents and my sister Ella came with me to the airport (Hannah was at a festival...) and they handed me over a goodbye card with some lovely well-wishings and a bit of money to spend in Duty Free! After a few tears and much talk of how exciting it will be to see them all again when they come out for Christmas, I headed off to begin my adventure alone. They hung about a bit to watch me er… well… queue for security (!?) and then finally waved for one last time and headed home again.

Security was also quick, though I did get frisked (as usual – I need to learn to take my jewellery off), and then I followed my nose into Duty Free where I found my favourite perfume on sale. Rather than being content with saving a bit of money, I decided this was money I had to spend in here, and I spent the next half an hour hunting around, trying out all the new ones, to pick a new scent to mark the beginning of the new Australian me!

I wondered around a bit, window shopping and contemplating what to eat, and suddenly stumbled across the Star Alliance Lounge. As I got closer, I saw the sign saying ‘First Class and Business Class Passengers Only’ and a whole list of airlines – including Asiana Airlines. Of course! How could I have forgotten!? I signed in at the desk and wandered into a peaceful low-lit room where tired business men were drinking red wine and furiously typing on their laptops, and a few families were trying to stop their toddlers from screaming. People were coming and going with various combinations of food and drink and settled themselves in one of the hundreds of comfy armchairs and sofas. I suddenly felt very out of place and sheepishly snuck over to a table at the corner. I walked over to the food service area and asked a waitress in a quiet whisper if all the food and drink was free. She laughed loudly and told me that EVERYTHING was free, and so, embarassed and with half the lounge now fully aware of my presence, I helped myself to some mini sandwiches and a gin and tonic.

The lounge was perfect, it had wireless internet, cosy sofas, departure boards on every wall so that you didn’t have to even move to check your flight, and nobody gave you a second look if you went up to get your *ahem* fourth drink. I browsed through some emails and chatted briefly to a mum about how my mum used to feed us drowsy Calpol when we were little to keep us quiet on aeroplanes (she said she’s keep it in mind for next time!).

Sunset at Terminal 1

Finally my flight was called and I made my way to my gate, zooming through the Business Class queue and was ushered to my seat by a smiley hostess. The plane was one of the newest that Asiana Airlines had and the Business Class seats were like little mini cubicles all to themselves. We each had a personal tv, slippers (!?), headphones, a little toiletries bag with L’Occitane (!) goodies inside, a pillow and a blanket. I made myself comfortable, playing with all the adjustable seat controls and was soon offered a glass of champagne. Don't mind if I do!

The plane filled up quickly and we took off on time. Once the seatbelt signs were off, the hostesses came round and offered us each a menu with a Western or Korean choice for supper. Then next unfolded our tables for us, and placed down a white table cloth, placing on top our own personal little salt and pepper shakers, a napkin with silver cutlery inside (apart from the knives which have to be plastic) and poured us a drink of our choice (another gin and tonic please!). The supper they served was six courses long: bread, salad, starter, main, cheese, pudding, and then tea and coffee afterwards. The food wasn’t incredible, but was a hell of a lot better than normal plane food...

The amazing view as we left Heathrow

I slowly felt myself slipping into a food coma and used the seat controls to make it into a bed, falling into a deep sleep quickly and easily. I slept for a good seven hours - which is so unusual for me on a plane! – and woke up just before they started serving a ‘snack’ (which was hardly a snack at all seeing as it was another three courses!). 

We landed at Seoul in South Korea at 6.30am English time, 3.30pm Korean time. Incheon airport was amazing, huge high ceilings and everything was glass and marble. I made my way to the Asiana transfer lounge and here I booked myself in to have a shower (YUP!) and grabbed some more free food. Four hours of wireless internet, food, drink, and a shower later, I hopped on to my second plane.

The plane was delayed 10 minutes but this didn't seem to be a problem as we still landed on time once we reached Sydney. We landed at 7.30am Australian time and I made my way through customs. This queue took a little longer as you have to declare all food and medication etc., but finally I got through and followed the signs to the 'Meeting Point' in the arrivals hall, where I was to meet my UNSW transfer.

Sat in the Asiana Lounge

View from plane as we left Seoul

I met up with a whole bunch of New York students and one guy who was at Birmingham Uni and we were herded into a shuttle bus by two UNSW students who handed us each our welcome pack and drove us to our relevant accommodation. We arrived at my accommodation, The University Terraces, at about 9.30am and one of the guys helped me with my suitcase to the lift, showed me how to activate my access card and wished me luck for the semester ahead. My apartment is in the East Tower on the 7th floor and is very modern and clean. I am sharing with a Korean girl called Isabelle who goes to Cornell University in the USA and we each have our own bedroom but share a bathroom, kitchen, and living are. I haven't met her yet but she will arrive in the next few days.

I've just unpacked all my clothes into my little room (pretty basic but nice; a single bed, a desk, a bedside table and some storage shelving for my clothes and books etc) which took me all of 10 minutes - 30kg of luggage is not a lot! - and have had a quick shower. A family friend of my Step-Gran, Julie, called Amber is coming to pick me up at 11am and I'm going to stay at hers tonight so that she can help me get my bearings and take me shopping to get me some sheets and towels, and stuff to kit out my room.

So far, so good! And hopefully I will stay awake long enough today to make sure that I have a good night's sleep tonight and conquer any jet-lag. My body has no real ideal what time it is and so I am hoping to use tonight to reset my body clock. I don't have any internet in my apartment yet, so this has been typed up but won't be posted until I sort everything out, but next update will come soon!

Lots and love from Sydney,

B.