Whistle for the Choir

Song of the Day:The Fratelli's - Whistle for the Choir

Another week breezes by as quickly as a blink of an eye. Before you know it, 1 year will be gone and it will be time for me to return home. Oh no! There's still so much of Brisbane and Australia that I want to see and explore!

Uni life has officially begun. This week, it has all been lectures with no tutorials. What surprised me the most is the size of these lectures. They're huge! It's an average of 300 students per lecture. Not that I'm complaining. There are more eye candy too. Hehe. I hope they are all in my tutorials. The bloody thing is all the lectures are held in various places in the campus. And you know how huge the uni ground is. I have this lecture at Place A till 2pm. And then, I have to walk to attend another lecture at Place B, situated at the other end of the campus starting at 2pm! What do they think we are? Bionic women able to walk 500m in just a few minutes? Let me say, it better be all worth it in the end. I hear, walking can help in weight loss.

So, the days are filled with classes and uni activities but at night, that's when the fun begins. Or rather, lack of it. We were in the city once, walking at Queen Street - the premier shopping destination on a Saturday and when we walked into Harvey Norman, we were dismayed to discover that it was closed! At bloody 4.30pm! C'mon! That's preposterous! What else to you expect us to do on a Saturday then? Anyway, maybe it was for the better too that shops close so early that day. I was in my shopping spree mood. Oh dear. And the sale is still ongoing. Tell me, how can I resist the temptation?? There are clothes available for as affordable as $10! In fact, yours truly did buy a couple of blouses. There was one blouse I saw which was the in-fashion these days that cost $10. Talk about a bargain! Hehe. Yeah I know. No more shopping for the month for me.

The city centre is a cool place to hang out. Besides Queen Street, there is also the casino located at the end of the street. I have not the opportunity to enter the place just yet but I heard there is free coffee available. Across the bridge, is South Bank where the hip and happening crowd hangs out. That is also the place where one watches movie for the cheapest price there is. There are other places to hang out and explore but alas, I have not done so. This weekend, I will be making my way to Indooroopilly and Sunnybank. Indooroopilly (I wonder where did they come up with the name from? In-door-oo!-pilly) is a neighbourhood commercial centre somewhat like Toowong while Sunnybank is where the Asian community rules. There are lots of Asian food available there apparently. Aah! Can't wait for my wan-ton-mee!

Life in Brisbane is slow. However they do walk pretty fast here as evident from the fact that each time we walk to the uni along the path, someone or other will definitely overtake us. Or maybe, it is just us walking slow. It takes about 10-15 minutes to walk to uni from my apartment. Oh! I forgot to talk about my apartment!

It is just lovely. Absolutely splendid. Maybe I'm just biased seeing as how my room overlooks a large field. Almost every evening, there will be people (guys!) playing football (soccer as it is known here) but alas, I'm too far to see anything. Damn. Where is my binoculars when I need it? Oh, did I mentioned that we also have a swimming pool? Not that it is of much use now seeing that it's winter.

Speaking of which, the weather ain't so cold these days. Oh thank lordy! But in the mornings when I wake up, it can be pretty chilly and you'll be tempted to just wrap yourself in the comforter and stay in bed. My cure? A steaming cup of hot chocolate to get rid of the morning blues. Aah... My stomach is rumbling just by the thought of it. Wait a minute. I didn't have my lunch today!

Time to go home and cook. Yeap. Me. Cooking. Will wonders ever cease? Haha. Truthfully, it is more like my housemates cooking and I, watching. Or rather, doing the dishes. Haha.

I have loads more to say really but guess it will be left till the next time. Bye. For now.

Picture

Song of the Day: Kid Rock & Sheryl Crow - Picture

As promised, pictures!!!


This was taken at Southbank, with the view of the Brisbane city as my backdrop. Gorgeous heh? That's the Brisbane river that runs along the city like the Amazon River. The CityCat which is the ferry is a way to travel around. It's really great but at night, it can get pretty chilly. Did I mention that it's freezing cold here? Brrr......

This was taken at the entrance of my alma mater. Gosh, the uni is huge! And the worst part is, I have to walk everywhere to attend my lectures and tutorials. From my apartment to my faculty is a 15-mins walk. However, the best part is: I get to lose weight and ..... see cute ang-mo's walking too. Wahahaha.

This was taken at the mini-park behind my apartment of which I can view from my balcony. Yeap. I have a balcony!!! [evil laugh] I just moved into my apartment yesterday so I'm still excited about it. There will be more pictures of my apartment in later entries. In fact, I believe there will be a whole entry dedicated to it. Hehe.

It's still a few days away from the start of the semester so taking the time to prepare for it and also buying stuffs for my apartment. Oh yeah, I need to get some chic winter clothing too (as my brother suggested. Wahahaha). Everything about Brisbane is cool including the weather. The guys here are better to look at [drool] and the scenery is pleasant. The libraries here are free too (which means I need not have brought 7 paperback novels in the first place) and the cinemas here are theater-ish. Nevertheless, the food here ain't so great. I miss Chinese hawker food!

That will be all for now. Getting hungry and will probably chow down some food at the refractory (aka cafeteria). By the way, UQ campus is like a bird zoo. Everywhere you walk, you will definitely encounter some species of exotic looking bird. In fact, some of them will threaten to steal your food while you're eating too. Most say they are not dangerous but ..... you can't be too careful these days.

Number of cute ang-mo's sitting within my viewing vicinity in the library: 5

:)

Land Down Under

Song of the Day: Men at Work - Land Down Under

G'day mate! I am finally here in the land of kangaroos and koala bears. Sorry it took so long for a blog entry but this past 1 week (I've been here for 1 week already? Wow), have been busy getting orientated with Brisbane roads, buses, enrolling, looking for the perfect place to stay, getting my fill of eye-candy (Oh man, this place has loads of ang-mo hunks!), eating cheap food (mostly bread, darn, I need to lose weight ler) and most of all, enjoying the cold breeze. Gosh, it's cold here.

Well, throughout the past 1 week I have:

1. Gone to Southbank (the hottest spot in city) to watch Harry Potter 5.
2. Gone window-shopping at Queen Street (the premier shopping location)
3. Ate Thai, Chinese, Taiwanese food (ironically haven't tried Western food just yet)
4. Practically walked 1/3 of the huge UQ campus (haven't walked so much in my life before)
5. Sat on the CityCat, the Brisbane ferry (which gives you exclusive views of the city skyline)
6. Gone to Chinatown and ate a full course meal (the ko-lo-yoke here ain't so bad)
7. Learned how to talk in Aussie slang (only when I talked with Aussies ler)
8. ....and many more I have forgotten for now.... (You know la, my pathetic memory)

Anyway, this will be short entry as currently I'm in the library awaiting to attend the next orientation session. So far, it has been great! But the nights are pretty boring as everything closes at 5pm. Yawn. Till the next time, adios!

P.S: More details and pictures in the next entry, I promise!