Melbourne F1 Grand Prix

Courtesy of my buddy, CCL, I was able to attend the Melbourne F1 Grand Prix warm up race yesterday at Albert Park. 

Thanks to him, I was also able to get my textbook and some clothing from my Mum and also some food premix from my Darling. Yeah~ 

The F1 event was huge, with warm up race for the F1 racers. On top of that, there were also fighter jet flight exhibition and parachuters making their way to the event. I guess this will be my first and last F1 event because of the noise pollution. I don't understand why people can pay hundreds of bucks to go and have their ear drums damaged. I am lucky to have my in-ear earphones with me so I can minimize the damage. A Caucasian beside me recorded the noise pollution as 106 decibels! Insane!!! Moreover, the noise pollution was causing me a headache after just 20-30 minutes watching the race cars zoom by. 

Nonetheless, this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I will make sure it remains as once in a lifetime. =)

8.5 more months to go!!!

It's been exactly a month since I came to Melbourne. Time flies and I hope it can be faster... All in all, I am adapting well. Only thing I am still trying to adapt to is the erratic weather. It can be super cold like 13-15 degree Celsius in the morning, but can jump to 25-28 degree Celsius in the afternoon. 

Lessons are progressing pretty fast, but I guess I am getting the hang of things. Just need to read up and read up prior to the lectures. Still trying to arrange time for rest and relax. This Sunday will be spent going to Camberwell Photography Market to see what they have for sale, followed by IKEA trip to see what else we need for our room. 

To everyone who is concerned, please do not spread rumours of me trying to commit suicide, or sinking into depression to my family. I admit there is a bit of adapting when I came here, but it is not as extreme as you think that will drive me to the brink of suicide. I have too many things left undone in life to die right now. So please, don't spread any rumours. I am doing well here...

Thanks!

I Want My Rainbow!

I was a bit emo yesterday. I don’t know why. The actions of going to school in the morning, attending classes until lunchtime, going back to my room and studying until late night just make me feel so... depressing. I really don’t know what was going on in my head. Just felt a mixture array of feelings. Depressed, lonely, sad, helpless, uncertain, uptight, frustrated and many more… 

Maybe I’m not used to studying every minute and second. Here, I study every minute and second I have other than school, bathing, jogging and cooking time. Seriously, it IS every minute and second. ZQ and I don’t have any entertainment. No video game console, no handheld games, no TV, no radio, no newspaper. We have only our laptops, jogging shoes and cooking utensils. Lectures are difficult enough. Couple lectures with assignments and paper reviews. Hell…

 

We didn’t even have the time to go explore around Melbourne. The only places we have been are IKEA, Docklands and the city area. Considering the fact that I am here for almost a month, it is a shame I haven’t been out exploring. But with the heavy study load we have, we have no time to lose. We are being forced by circumstances to study every minute and second.

The only consolation I have from yesterday is the double rainbow I saw from the kitchen after the rain. I do hope I will get to see my own rainbow soon…

Moomba Waterfest

Went to the Moomba Waterfest on Sunday. Fotoholics are supposed to meet at 8.30pm at Federation Square to take pictures of the fireworks. But ZQ (my room mate), Eric (Taiwanese friend) and I decided to go early to take a look at what's happening at the waterfest. 

The first sight that greeted us were these huge makeshift amusement rides. The reverse bungee ride, though makeshift, was taller than that of what Singapore has. At AUD$30 per reverse bungee ride, it is so much cheaper here. I've done the actual bungee jump, so no need for this one. Hahaha~ The waterfest already had a makeshift water stretch for wakeboarders to do their stunts. Here's a picture of one on the go~

The city of Melbourne resembles that of Raffles Place from a distance. Maybe that is why I don't really feel foreign here. The waterfest had many mini-game booths for kids and adults to try their hands on it. 

Here are some pictures of the fireworks. Not very spectacular as I'd expected. But since it's free, I can't complain much. Moreover, I have had space to stand around with my tripod and take such pictures, so I count myself lucky. In Singapore, whenever there's such an event, forget about the tripod because there will be no space for you to mount your tripod. People will be stampeding you over. Ok, enough of the crapping. Enjoy the pictures!

Updates

Tomorrow will be going for the Moomba Waterfest in the evening with the Fotoholics club to shoot fireworks that will be shown around 9.30pm. Hope to be able to capture some nice pictures since I haven't really shoot fireworks before. It will be an invaluable experience for me in terms of photography. 

The first week of university life has passed and I am currently having a hell of a time trying to understand what is going on. I have so many lectures which I don't understand. I am trying very hard every night to try to make sense of what has been taught. I sleep around 12+am almost every night. It may still be early to you, but considering I am having morning classes every day, it is just insufficient sleep for me. My dark eye circles are getting worse despite my eye cream... Weekend is burnt on going to Queen Victoria market to get meat, vegetables and fruits. Spent about AUD$38 per person for about a week's supply.

Will be mugging tomorrow. Sad... People are out at the Moomba Waterfest and I am staying in my room mugging. Guess all my weekends will end up like this... 

Thin

Things are thin in Australia. The oxone layer is thin. Plastic bags are thin. Toilet paper is thin. People are thin. Clouds are thin. Toilet seats are thin. 

Toilet Bowls

Every time I see a toilet bowl having its lid closed, I fret. Opening it can have only 2 consequences. One, you are relieved to see a relatively clean toilet bowl for you to either stand peeing or sit shitting. Two, the contents in the toilet bowl send you have nausea for the whole day and nightmare during the night.

I have had 4 times here to have to face this situation. Out of these 4 times, I have had 3 of the second consequence I mentioned above. Why can't the previous user do a simple thing just to pull the flush? It doesn't take a lot of energy or effort. It takes less effort than trying to clean your ass! 

So what is wrong with these people?!?!

2nd Day in School

Had only 1 lesson at 9am this morning. Frontiers of Cell Biology. Looks pretty OK at the present moment. I reckon it will get tougher as time goes by. Will see how...

I am intrigued by the technology UniMelb has. Bose sound system in the theatre. Equal number of PCs and Macs in the computer centre. Turnitin system to check for plagiarism of submitted reports. Accurate forecast of weather in our login student portal. 

Been reading up lecture notes on upcoming lectures. I guess this is the main difference between a diploma and an university education. You have to be prepared before the lecture. Going to finish reading up my notes before I go take a shower and sleep. Tomorrow's lesson is at 9am. So have to wake up at 7.45am.

Good Night in advanced... Sweet dreams...

Post-First Day of Uni Life

Went for my first lecture in Advanced Techniques in Molecular Science in the morning at 10am at Medical-ESJ King Theatre at the Medical Building. Can see most people are in their own cliques, so it is difficult for me to break into their groups. I am not those proactive people who actively introduce themselves to everyone. Hence, I make no friends in school today.

Pre-First Day of University Life

Tomorrow will be the first day of my university life. I don't have any emotions right now. I don't know whether to feel excited, nervous, stressed or relieved. Maybe mixture of emotions is like colour mixing. You mix all the colours together and what you get is black. So maybe a mixture of various emotions is causing this emotionless feeling. 

Bought a new toy. Logitech Pure-Fi Express Plus. Got it at an unbelievable price! So much cheaper than in Singapore! I bought it for AUD$99 which would otherwise cost around S$150+. Cool~ But the thing is, when I bring it back to Singapore, I will have to buy an adaptor for the socket. Nonetheless, I am happy with my new gadget! Yeah~

Will update tomorrow on my first day in school. Stay tuned~