A Week In Melbourne

Time flies, and I hope it flies faster so I can be back. Not that I am home sick. But the weather here is insanely unpredictable. It can be cold like 18-19 degrees Celsius and the next moment, temperature soars up to about 30+ degree Celsius.

This week has been a roller coaster ride. First, my subjects. Initially, I couldn't get my subjects to fit in nicely into my time table and I get plenty of clashes. But after a clarification email from one of the subject coordinators of Advanced Techniques in Molecular Science, I can choose 1 out of the 3 practical sessions. This made my time table look so much easier to fit the rest of the subjects.

I just joined the Photography Club. The club is known as Fotoholics and has a few Singaporeans in it. (I wonder why do I meet Singaporeans so often here in Melbourne...) The club made a pretty cool (and cheap!) card for me. Will upload the picture of the card later tonight. 

Thought of joining other clubs, but I am afraid of the time commitment I need to set aside for such activities. I have very much wanted to join the snowboarding and the anime-watching club. But I thought the high cost of starting the snowboarding activity might set me back a couple of hundred bucks back. As for the anime-watching club, I'm better of watching free animes online than pay a membership fee... Everything in Melbourne is all about cost savings...

People here can sit almost anywhere and everywhere... Pavements, grass patches, benches, roof tops, hallways, corners etc... You name it, they can sit on it. Don't they realise there might be bird shits, bugs, ants and other nasty stuff on these places? Girls in short skirts or low cut tops can sit and expose almost anything you can imagine of... Insane...

There's going to be a party diner at Unilodge tonight, so I'll be expecting free food... Hope to snap some nice photos and post them online, maybe tonight or tomorrow...

*Updates*

Whenever Australians mention BBQ, please don't expect chicken wings, satay, fish and chicken fillets, fishballs, marshmallows or beer. What you are going to get are just hotdogs wrapped in bread. We went to the Science Student Society "free BBQ" and we had 2 of these. Then at the Unilodge BBQ, we had the same thing too!!! Four of these to be exact! So 2 x (hotdog+bread) for lunch and 4 x (hotdog+bread) for dinner. So I will be prepared if I am invited to BBQ here again in Melbourne.

Need to get a track suit so that I can jog at night. Will be going down to Docklands to get that cheap AUD$50 New Balance track suit. Need another pair of cotton track pants so I can sleep better in the cold night. My legs are freezing from the cold and think blanket. Hopefully I can find a good deal for a good blanket at Docklands tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Updates

Finally, my subjects are all done... What a relief... The past few days have been torturous due to the clashes in time table between the different subjects, especially the Advanced Techniques in Molecular Science. After the coordinator sent an email asking me to select one out of three days. After which, everything becomes so much easier... So my time table is all done...

Went for the orientation today. It is so much different from those of Singapore universities. No stupid games, no flag days and no donations. We just get into an orientation group and the group leader will bring us around to show us the different theatres and eateries around the campus. Pretty informative and useful for new students. 

The feeling of being in Melbourne is not as daunting as I have expected. The high percentage of Asians here pretty much resemble that of Singapore, maybe just a little bit more Caucasians. That is why I don't feel foreign at all. I don't know if this is a good thing or bad thing... Made a few friends here in Unilodge. A Guangzhou guy, an Indonesian guy, a Malaysian guy, a Taiwanese and a New Yorker. So from the percentage of my friends, you can see why I don't feel foreign. 

Tomorrow will be my second day of orientation. Tomorrow should be just talking about academic and enrollment stuff. Hopefully don't take up a lot of my time. Everything here is money, money and MORE MONEY!!! To use the gymnasium or swimming pool, you have to be a member of the sports society. Being a member for a semester costs AUD$210!!! FOR ONLY A SEMESTER!!! And to join the Student Union, you have to pay AUD$99 per year. Being a member of the Student Union will entitle you to weekly BBQs, discount food and coffee, usage of a recreation library and up and coming activities. Practical manuals have to be bought at AUD$20. So you can imagine how expensive things can get here... Per meal if you eat out will be about AUD$7-AUD$15. So cooking your own meals is definitely an invaluable skill. So I guess I won't be going to the gym or pool anymore. I'd just stick to the standard jogging, pushups, sit-ups and burpies. Maybe I might just join the Photography club or the Weekly Watchers of Wonderful Anime club. Yes, they have many interesting clubs and societies here... Learn from overseas universities, Singapore!!!

Melbourne

Finally, I am in Melbourne, embarking on the next chapter of my life. It is emotionally very difficult for me to leave behind my family and my girlfriend back in Singapore. Especially when my sisters are busy with work and my mum hasn't got a baby to care for at the moment, it is emotionally painful for me to leave my poor mum alone. Nowadays, she can only watch Korean DVDs to keep herself occupied in the daytime. My sisters and dad are all working, so my mum will be home alone. It really pains me to see my mum like this. So I am hoping my sisters can slow down their pace of work and spend more time with my mum during my absence.

As for my girlfriend, I am equally sad to leave her alone back in Singapore. Nonetheless, with the help of technology like MSN and Skype, we can see each other via webcam quite frequently. At least it will help to cut down the love sickness. Hahaha~ 

My subjects are clashing in time slots, so I will have to make a trip to the university to ask for advise and see if I can do some adjustments to it. Still hoping to make it into a 3- or 4-day week so I can sleep in late and have more time to catch up. I am going into 3rd year straight, so I guess there will be a lot of work to catch up on. 

If need be, my address here is as follows:

Unilodge@Melbourne

Room 1122

746 Swanston Street

Carlton, VIC 3053

Australia

If you think you want to smuggle some instant food stuff to me, please feel free but do note that it might be confiscated if checked by the Customs. Hahaha~ So if you are feeling rich, feel free to do so. I will be most appreciative. Hahahaha~

My Internet connection in the room is finally up, but the speed is only 4MBPS, which is only half of what I am using back home. Moreover, the limit is only 30GB per month. Not too sure this is inclusive of the download capacity. If it exceeds the 30GB capacity, the speed will drop to 64kPS. Sucks! So for uploading of photos, I guess I will do it only in the university campus.

OK, I am going to bathe now... Do stay tuned for more information! Keep a lookout on my Facebook for pictures! Take care and cheers mate!

Give It Up

Priority Seats: Give up your seats for those who need it more than you do.

I abide by this rule because I truly think these people deserves the seat more than I do. Being an able young man, standing for a few stations isn't going to kill me. But I have had a few bad experiences which caused me to think otherwise.

1. As usual, I will sleep on the morning train ride to work. Periodically, I will wake up and see if there are people who needs the seat more than I do. So one morning, I saw this elderly man standing in front of me. I signaled to him that he can have my seat. But he turned to me with a hostile face and said he has stood long enough and don't want the seat. People around the elderly man were looking at me in a weird manner. Imagine my embarrassment despite my kind act to offer him the seat.

2. This morning, I gave up my seat for a pregnant lady who didn't even bother to smile or say a simple "Thank you". This is not the first time I experienced this. Not that I am hard up for that, but I feel that Singaporeans need to be more gracious in manners.

A friend told me to 'give and not to expect return'. Can you work for a company for free? Will you donate all you have to a poor person? Will you give up one of your kidneys to a complete stranger? Will you give one of your eyes to a blind man?

Congratulations!

Congratulations to myself! I have been awarded my company's scholarship to pursue my degree at University of Melbourne. Therefore, I will be leaving on February 2009 to Melbourne. Before that, I will be bringing my mum and my sis to Tokyo and Hokkaido, Japan in January. I am excited about these two trips. 

For my studies, I will be going straight into 3rd year of my course. If my results are good, I am hoping that the university will offer me another

 year of Honours study. Hopefully my brain c

an still function properly to secure myself good grades. Heard from Hwee Teng that Melbourne has got very nice (and unpredictable) weather. 

Started playing with a DSLR recently and am addicted to it! Hahaha~ Here are some of the pictures I took with a Canon 400D with EFS 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS USM lens.

寂寞考－盧廣仲

寂寞考
詞曲 盧廣仲

結束十頁的筆記 記不住那一種感覺
桌上煩人的考題 怎麼算也都是無解
誰了解我 救的了我
空氣裡有個聲音 偷偷說
你沒有用

你關心我的最近 說你也有同樣心情
面對這類的問題 我們總是沒有力氣
鐘聲響起 怎麼繼續
我跳不出相同邏輯
不斷追著我 一整個學期

沒有意外 一直重來
也許簡單還是一樣的難
說過的那些話 還是不明白
在諜對諜之間徘徊
沒有意外 又要重來
只好在圖書館找回一點浪漫
幽默的安慰著我然後笑著說
可能是
寂寞它考倒了我

這是意外 我好想重來
只好在圖書館找回一點浪漫
幽默的安慰著我然後笑著說
就讓我
寂寞考寂寞的過 寂寞的過
寂寞它考倒了我

結束十頁的筆記 寂寞還在我身邊

Updates

Many things have happened since my last update.

1. Went for a Hong Kong trip with Linda, Christelle and Soo Tin in July.
2. Went for a conference in Arizona and toured San Francisco with Christelle in August.
3. Went for program retreat at Yishun SAFRA and had a good time having fun with my colleagues.
4. Crashed an NTU lecture on Cancer.
5. Ordered my laptop.
6. Ordered an iPod Touch 2G.
7. Fell during rollerblading and got myself an entire week of MC.
8. Awarded DSO Undergraduate Scholarship to go study in University of Melbourne for a Bachelor of Science (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) in February 2009.
9. Got hooked onto Iron Maiden's album .
10. Still learning how to play "Memory" and "Canon in D" on the piano.