The Academic Year draws to a close…

I am now officially a ‘Boostie’. Boost Juice Bars are only just beginning to pop up in other parts of the world, there are only a couple in the UK at the moment, but in Australia they’re everywhere, every bustling street has one, every shopping centre homes a Boost and you can’t walk very far in any major city or suburb without seeing someone walk past with one of their drinks grasped in their hands.

 

The concept behind Boost was a healthy fast food alternative. There are low fat smoothies, crushes, juices, boosters, wheatgrass shots…nutrition galore! And everything tastes amazing! I’m really enjoying working there, I’m sure the novelty will wear off at some point, but it is a great place to work at the moment. The owner and manager are actually English, so it’s been awesome to chat over the rugby whilst prepping some fruit! I work three shifts a week at the moment, with my working visa restrictions, but hopefully will be able to pick up some more work when I finish uni for the summer in a couple of weeks, and there’s the other waitressing job plus babysitting!

 

Yes…not long to go before the academic year of 2007 ends at the University of New South Wales, and strangely enough I find myself with no pending examinations. I’ve got a couple of tests next week, but nothing major, so it’s pretty stress free at the moment! And looking ahead to a 4 month holiday, it ain’t looking too shabby. Especially when conversations with my fellow 3^rd years back in Edinburgh are inundated with references to how much work they have these days! Of course, it’s completely bitter sweet, 4^th year is going to be a hard slog for sure, but that just makes me more determined to enjoy this year. And I am planning on doing some pre-honours course next semester to pick up the pace a bit more, the only reason I wasn’t able to do that this semester was due to unforeseen cancellations and staff changes. So I am hoping for a more challenging second semester in March.

 

Speaking of summer holidays, inevitably thoughts turn to home, especially being the festive months. I am lucky enough to have my family coming over which I can’t wait for. I will be spending Christmas in Byron Bay with my sister; my parents will be joining us in Sydney for new years. I am so excited!!! But still, four months is a long time and talking with other exchange students who are returning to their native countries, the idea of going home for a little bit of it is something that has crossed my mind. Ultimately though I know I have made the right decision in resisting the urge to go home, catch up with friends and spend Christmas with the entire family as is customary. I did that on my gap year and although it was wonderful to see everyone etc, it’s my biggest regret from that year. So experience definitely tells me that it will be worth it staying the whole hog, I’m sure I will look back and be glad I stayed. I can’t wait for the summer to unfold!

 

The next few weeks I will just be working until my sister comes on the 17^th of December, we’re heading to Byron Bay, so I am sure there will be much to write about then, but until that point there won’t be much out of the ordinary to tell you about. So until then…or until something worthy crops up, I’ll hold off on the blog!

Going extra-curricular

I was about to begin this Blog with something like ‘As I begin to settle in…’ or ‘As I get into the swing of things…’ when I realised that I’ve already been here for over 5 weeks –  this is already the longest period I have ever spent outside of our island.  I’m in 3^rd week of classes and this week took my first midterm.  It would appear that I am both settled in and in the swing of things and I didn’t even notice it happening!

Until now however, (mainly due to a lack of interesting things happening) I have failed to mention my joining the University Waterski and Wakeboarding club.  Gone are the days when the weather forces me to partake in nothing but indoor sports and the cold water keeps me on dry land – I’m in California and I’m doing something cool!  For the small inconvenience of $350 membership and an ever-so-slightly invasive physical examination I became a member last week and this week finally got involved in my first trip up to the lake.  Apparently it was something of an event in which they get all their Alumni to come along and engage in a little water based fun followed by a little alcohol based fun… 

First thing’s first – the water based fun.  I was pretty pleased with myself that I could get up pretty consistently, remain upright on the board and occasionally cross the wake of the boat if I tried really hard.  Then my turn finished and I sat back to watch everyone else.  People were skiing backwards, flipping, flipping with rolls, passing the rope between their legs – even putting tables in the water to jump on and slide along!  My jaw was almost permanently on the floor throughout.  By the end of the day I was definitely ready to prove my worth following my rounded humiliation on the water! So food was served up and the kegs were tapped and people started to socialise for the evening.  Social dinking definitely takes on a different format here; not worse, better, more crazy or less – just different.  For example, instead of my usual drinking games and a steady flow of beers, I did my first keg stand.  What’s a keg-stand?  Basically, I wrap my lips around the tap of the keg whilst one person is pumping it and a couple of other people are holding my legs in the air, such that I’m drinking upside down – the aim being to remain drinking for as long as possible.  Ok, so that’s finished (48 seconds by the way) and someone walks over to introduce me to their favourite drinking contraption (these people are so inventive!) – a beer bong.  Pretty much what you might imagine, a thin tube with a funnel at the top is filled with beer and a valve at the bottom releases it into your mouth when you’re ready.  At this point beer hits your mouth faster than it ever has before! I’m no scientist, but there’s some build up of pressure somewhere and the result is beer being in your stomach before you realise it’s in your mouth!

The next day of skiing, as you can imagine was a little bit slow but much the same – leaving only the journey home in which I was mightily impressed by the cars that students bring to University here!  Not only did about 8 people bring trucks up to the lake, but the truck I came home in had DVD players on the backs of the seats!  If that’s not the American dream then I don’t know what is…

San Francisco

Sorry I haven’t updated in a bit, as I’ve hinted a little in the last couple of blogs, they work you hard in this country! The work has really started to pick up and I’m not helping myself by swanning of to San Francisco for the weekend!

My sister, who’s been travelling across the US for a couple of weeks came to visit last week and, after a couple of days in Santa Barbara we took a Greyhound bus up to San Francisco, where she would be flying home from. If anyone hasn’t heard of Greyhound buses, then I guess the nearest equivalent is National Express or Megabus back in the UK, but these examples don’t really serve to explain the Greyhound experience! The trip to San Francisco – approximately a 5½-6 hour journey I’m assured – took us 10 hours on the way and took me (thanks to my bus being delayed by three hours and then cancelled) 14 hours on the way home! Apart from the students on the bus it is littered with almost every American stereotype you can think of – most notably tobacco chewing rednecks! On our eventual arrival we checked into a hostel and found ourselves a very drunk man outside our room who, with his swaying to and fro, provided an interesting obstacle to entry. Having negotiated this we skipped through and got some much needed sleep, waking only in the morning to find drunken man had left, stopping only to leave most of his innards all over our bags.

Once we made it out and onto our tour bus though, we discovered that San Fran is a very cool city. We checked out all the sights you’d recognise from the movies, including that crooked street and the ridiculously steep streets, which give a really good view of the city. We caught a cable car down the hill, making sure that we were hanging off the edge the whole time and for lunch we stopped for an In-n-Out Burger. I’d never heard of it before I got out to California, but everybody here thinks it is the most amazing fast-food restaurant there is. Don’t worry if you’ve never tried it though – it’s not!

The best part of the city I thought though, was the tour of Alcatraz. If anyone ever goes to San Francisco it would be criminal not to do it. The views back across the bay of the city are amazing and the prison itself has an amazing history for a building where people only left their cells for an hour a day! It’s a shame we didn’t really get to see the Golden Gate Bridge as it was a bit far away, but the views of it from Alcatraz were pretty sweet.

All that was left to do then was to get up at 6 in the morning on Monday to catch the earliest bus home and get back in time for class…

Oktoberfest

I don’t exactly know what Oktoberfest is…I think it’s a German thing, and there’s another blog on here from someone who’s on exchange in Munich so that makes sense. Where ever its origin, for some reason Oktoberfest is a massive thing here at New South, one massive night at the union; 8 bars, a heap of DJs, dance floors galore and a hell of a lot of people trying to get in!

The event started at 4pm and went on till midnight, an early finish; I think it was something to do with the license. I actually didn’t get there until around 8:30pm. The queues were absolutely massive, so we decided to have a few sneaky drinks at a nearby pub before we braved the hoards of people eagerly awaiting entrance. A line for New South students, a line for non-New South students, a line for non-students and a whole lot of other lines that I’m pretty sure were just disorientated, interspersed with rowdy people getting thrown out by the police! Anyway, after about an hour of frustratingly patient waiting we were finally allowed into the venue, and it was pumping!

First port of call…the bar…and then it was time to pick a dance floor. I’m fairly musically illiterate so I’ll stick to my own terminology…there was a hardcore dance area, bit of a rave, some r ‘n’ b beats creeping around the corner etc…I’m presuming that all the major musical bases were hit, although I didn’t get a chance to explore all of them. We chilled outside and chatted and then went into the main Roundhouse (the name of the union, and no, it’s got nothing on Potterow) dance floor which was awesome. And before we knew it the lights were on, the DJs were saying good night and the bouncers determinedly began directing the crowds out of the building…what a shame!

Onwards and upwards, we went back to the Regent which was pretty jam packed for a Thursday night, presumably they received a lot of the outpour from Uni, by the outfits people were wearing, I would guess so. I do so love the student attire on nights out, is there any other time in life when you can legitimately dress like a cartoon gone wrong? And wear it loud and proud? The spectrum of colours, songs, banter and German style braces (I have no idea what the proper description is for those funny little outfits) was a sight for sore eyes, sublime, just sublime.

And to top it off, a bit of Spice Girls at the end of the night, ‘Stop right now thank you very much’ and as is customary, I listened to those wise icons from the wondrous decade that was the 90s, after a word perfect sing a long accompanied by a sharp dance routine, it was home for me. A good time had by all.

Start of Term

For all the students out there who think a lecture is the perfect opportunity to catch up on some sleep/play Tetrus on your laptop, here is some great news; a lecture in a language different to your own is ten times easier to ignore, given that the chances are you won’t be able to understand 50% of what people are saying anyway. If, like me, however, you are putting yourself into 15grand of debt because you actually ENJOY LEARNING (!), this may not be the best of news. After my first week of enduring German lectures and metaphorically ****ping myself every time, let’s just say it’s not turned out to be quite as easy as I had hoped. I’m not quite sure WHY I had hoped they would miraculously be easy to understand, but hope isn’t usually linked to logic (and hence I keep the dream alive that I will marry Mel Gibson one day; despite his happy marriage, five children, and oh yes the small problem of his alcoholism).

One great thing people do here is give a short applause when the lecturer finishes the lecture. I really like the tradition. It’s always a bit anonymous in England when we just pack up and leave without thanking someone for making the effort to speak to us (and let’s face it, it can’t be that easy to talk to the Tetrus-playing, apathetic, hung-over group we inevitably become after three weeks of partying too hard).

Even with this minute setback, I have really enjoyed my first week of the semester. My language course was brilliant and I have met some great friends through it, but whilst it was going on it felt like a separate reality to actually being an authentic student at a German university. Now, after being in Tübingen for five weeks, I have finally started getting into the university routine. It feels great to finally be taking part in more permanent things that will last for the whole of my time here, rather than little bits here and there that end up making you feel a bit like you are drifting and without roots. I am so much more inspired to improve my German when faced with such challenging interactions than I could ever be staring at a grammar book all day. Being here is really making the language come to life for me, and making me want to be a part of it.

Another thing from this week that has made me want to raise my linguistic game is that about 30% of all books on my reading lists are English. I’m studying things like the Koran and ancient Jewish history here, so don’t assume the English books are on the lists because the leaders in the field are English speakers, you’ll find the leaders are Hebrew and Arabic speakers. I am just blown away by the assumption that everyone can speak such good English. I want to level things out a bit, it’s so unfair that it is not accepted as necessary to an English person’s existence to speak another language fluently. It blooming well should be.

Running around town

My classes started out well on Monday and I think that I’ll be learning quite a few useful things!

I’ve been in Okayama for quite a while now. It now feels like home. I don’t overwhelmingly miss anything and many things now just seem to be part of life. That’s not to say that there are not some things are still so out of what I see as the ordinary that I nearly crash my bike.

That’s what I really notice now. Cultural differences and similarities. As my ability to express myself better in Japanese improves so does my ability to notice the way people treat each other–Small physical cues and pauses in speech. I was sitting in a group and playing games with Japanese students a couple of days ago. The way that they picked a team captain consisted entirely of a couple of flashes of eye contact and a nod. These kind of things are strange, especially now that I can notice them.

One of my friends and I went to Kourakuen Gardens (one of Japan’s top gardens) on Tuesday. The Gardens were themselves, very stunning.

But the most entertaining part of the day was not so much walking around the garden as it was deciding to take a bit of a detour on our bikes rather than going right back to the international student dorm. Making a left turn rather than a right. Biking alongside the river was eyeopening. We saw parts of town that probably very few foreigners venture out to see. Normal parts of town. Not the busy city center or playground and playing field filled parks. The places where people live and have their local ramen shops.

It felt as if we were passing through multiple cities and continents. The architecture we saw varied from old kudzu covered abandoned houses to run-down white remnants of industrial boom and well-kept traditional homes with large gardens. This is the kind of thing that you can’t see if you stick to the city center. Life as it passes out of the city and into the town.

Okayama is surrounded by hills and intersected by several rivers. We crossed one of these rivers eventually and found ourselves biking alongside a narrow highway. One thing that I’ve mastered in Japan has been bowing while riding my bike. I’m amazed at how considerate cars are towards bicyclists. Even when there is enough space to just carry on as usual, many cars will do all that is humanly possible to give you as much space as they can. I don’t know if it’s pure reflex in the I don’t want to get sued kind of way or genuine politeness, but I’m nearly certain that it’s the latter. I base this on what I’ve seen so far. Random people have bent over backwards to help me out, tried to muddle through my Japanese, tried their best to simplify directions.

We eventually found ourselves in front of Hotel USA. It’s funny how things seem to come in a full circle.

Arriving in Okayama

I arrived in Japan nearly two weeks ago. My flight was nice and long. By that, I mean that I was dead tired when I arrived in Okayama. Luckily, I was picked up at the airport by the university along with a couple of other students attending Okayama University for the year.

As soon as I went walked through customs the realization hit me–wow, everything is in Japanese. It sounds kind of silly to say that, but it really is the overwhelming feeling that I remember having that night. The ride to the international dormitory was characterized by neon signs, tiny cars, and a very strange feeling in my stomach.

My first two weeks

My first two weeks in Okayama have been quite exciting. The morning after I arrived, I bought a bicycle. Bicycles are everywhere. I’ve yet to need to got anywhere in Okayama that I can’t bike to. A couple of international students who’ve been in Okayama were kind enough to show all of us new students around. Okayama is big enough to get lost in, but small enough to find your way back home in. Big landmarks like the central station, the mountain with the ferris wheel and stadium have become my new cardinal directions. It’s funny how you figure things out in a new place. My small notebook has become and invaluable way of processing all of the new information I’ve had coming at me for the last two weeks.

Everything is in Japanese. All my trips out–to eat, to shop, to just find my way around have been learning experiences. Things that I just would not learn in a textbook. New words and phrases seem to cement themselves in my mind quickly because they are things that I need to use on a daily basis, not just things to cram in for a test or quiz.

The university does not run so much differently than any other university. There are several unions. The food the unions here have everything that the food back at Edinburgh University lacks. The prices are fantastic, the food is good and the atmosphere is lively with free cold tea to boot. The university introduced me to two Japanese girls who I’ve really hit it off well with. I don’t have much to say about the university itself yet, because my classes start tomorrow.

First impressions

• People have been so helpful. I’m sure I make some terrible slip-ups when I’m using Japanese, but the people don’t laugh or act impatient.
• People have been so helpful. I’m sure I make some terrible slip-ups when I’m using Japanese, but the people don’t laugh or act impatient.
• The food is wonderful. So far I’ve had okonomiyaki, ramen, yakiniku, ramen and very interesting take on a hamburger. It’s fun to just point at things and see what you get, because it’s all exciting and new.
• I’ve left my shopping in my bicycles basket quite a few times and each time I’ve returned my things are still there.
• Everything is written in Japanese

Well, I’ve got my first classes in the morning! I’ll be checking in later!

update

This week has been amazing.  So much has gone on that I have had little time to write!  My social life has certainly picked up. On Saturday I went to the Noordermarkt with Hannah, Jesse and Chris, friends from uni and friends of friends.  There is so much to see and do at that market.  It’s amazing! It’s certainly going to become a Saturday ritual.  It begins at nine and lasts till four.  There are fresh vegetables and produce like huge mushrooms, fresh roma tomatoes, pesto, basil, goat’s cheese, fresh gnocchi and dried fruit! The market itself is situated in Jordaan, at the end of Prinsengracht next to the Noorderkerk so very easy to reach by bike.  The area is also full of little delis and vintage clothes shops.

                Sunday was a cultural day ) I went to the Rijksmuseum with a French friend living on Prinsengracht next to Anne Frank’s house.  The museum itself is staggering to look out from the outside.  The architecture is stunning.  It’s situated at Museumplein, naturally, next to the Van Gogh museum.  With a museum card you can gain free entry into nearly every museum in the Netherlands. Inside there are various artefacts hundreds of years old, including tunics, armour, cannons, replica ships and of course, paintings!  There is a huge exhibition of Rembrandt’s work and that of his pupils.  At the very end we were confronted with the Night Watch, a beautiful work that was attacked not so long ago by a madman and slashed.  The painting itself has undergone changes in the past. A whole segment of it was sliced off in the eighteenth century.

                The weather has been so sunny it has been a pleasure to cycle about the city. Each day I get up about seven or nine and wrap up warm as it gets a bit chilly when the wind is up.  Classes this week have been enjoyable.  In Gender studies, we were looking at the representation of men and women in magazines; in contemporary literature we read Reading in the Dark by Seamus Deane; we watched Persuasion by Jane Austen in Literature, Love and Lust and then studied Nietzsche in Philosophy.

                I have been discovering the joys of shopping on Kalverstraat.  It’s a huge street parallel to Rokin and Spuistraat full of all sorts of interesting shops.  My favourite purchase, of course, is long novelty socks. )

                This week marks the beginning of the Amsterdam Dance Event.  Last night, or technically this morning, I was dancing my brains out to Gabriel and Dresden at the Cineac on Rembrandtplein.  Tonight, I’m off with friends to a place called Melkweg, a converted dairy farm, to see Fedde le grande!  I can’t wait.  Then, after arriving home at about 6am, I am to wake up again at nine, wash, dress and get to Schiphol in order to catch a flight to Dublin and then later back home to Edinburgh for a few days.  It is a reading week here.  We have the mid-term exams.  Being lucky, my first exam is not till the second of November.  I have been reading and studying in advance this month to afford some time at home which will be very much appreciated!

Till next time, have fun!

Kirsty. x

Etiquette

This blog is going to describe some of the subtle aspects of culture that I have been attempting to understand in the last few weeks; ie what is considered polite and what isn’t.
Over the past four weeks I have not just been exposed to German culture; my language course had people from 23 different countries attending it. Given that I still am unable to understand our own rules (please enlighten me; why am I being impolite if I don’t offer to pay when I don’t want to, rather than pretend I want to until my half-hearted pleas are argued down?) , I am starting to feel a little overwhelmed by those of others. My learning curve has been steep. Here are a few rules I’ve learned the hard way so that you don’t have to;
1) I am the first to admit my Geographical knowledge is a little shaky, however until I came to Germany this didn’t seem to matter. Yesterday I admitted defeat and purchased a map of Europe. For the next week, rather than studying German vocab, I will be studying the map. Hopefully then I will stop giving people the impression I am ignorant and xenophobic (I know I is ridiculous but I honestly thought Prague was in Poland!). Strangely enough, it is rude in every culture to confuse someone’s motherland with a completely different country. Ahem.
2) The English like to queue. After four weeks in Germany I have realised that THIS IS A GOOD THING. Queues bring order into an otherwise uncomfortable struggle which I now have to face each week at the cheakouts of my local supermarket.
Now even I admit to occasionally pushing in (joining a friend further along/ wearing a low cut top to get beer faster), but I always have stabs of guilt afterwards and feel ashamed as I imagine the deadly stares everyone’s projecting onto my back. Yesterday as I was buying my map, a lady at the cheakout pushed in front of me, and then actually turned around and smiled. Please note, then, that the etiquette of queuing in not universal. Indeed, that the basic principle of a queue- that the person in front is the person who should be served next- is not a “basic principle”, but more of a guideline. Jack Sparrow knows what he’s talking about.  Knowing this will save you a lot of heartache if you ever visit Germany (especially if you visit Oktober Fest).
3) It is not rude in German to say something directly. The phrase “I am very glad that you feel comfortable enough to offer me advice, however…” would never be used by a German. Thankfully, it is not considered rude to just say “you are wrong”. Take a moment to think about how refreshing this attitude is. If you don’t want to pay, you can say so. If someone is talking rubbish, you can contradict them. I went to an all female school, and people were constantly getting upset because they had misunderstood something someone didn’t-quite-say. The amount of time we, as a nation, waste in vocally procrastinating is ridiculous.
I make this point because after the lady smiled at me in the queue, someone behind me told them off and sent them to the back. This would never, never have happened in England. We would all have stood very quietly frowning at the person, and then discussed how rude they were with our friends/on our blog

The Sweet Smell of Victory

Now, I’m not going to pretend I’m some die hard rugby fan, up until last weekend I had been somewhat disinterested in the Rugby World Cup, partly due to the inconvenient time difference but also due to the fact that I was constantly being told how badly England would be doing this time around, being more of a football girl, I couldn’t really bare watching another English team being defeated. But alas, how the tides have changed….

All the soccer girls from Unigames got together at Martha’s house on Saturday night for a party and reunion post-games, an opportunity to relive the glorious times past, re-create the antics of court (we found ourselves propped up in the middle of Martha’s living room coercing her other guests into the proceedings of court) and wear our bronze medals (obligatory). But this was not only a night of catching up with the girls, concocting our traditional potent unigames punch and exercising our dancing skills…oh no…This was a night of magnificent athletic ability (+ one aesthetically pleasing Jonny Wilkinson).

The TV was put on in the corner and with one eye on the antics and another on the screen, the excitement built. Having attended a friend’s BBQ in the afternoon, I was suitably ‘tipsy’ by the time the game started Sydney time; victory and alcohol complement each other beautifully. The final whistle blows and I am dancing to my heart’s content, fist clenches galore, cries of ‘ENGARLAND, ENGARLAND, ENGARLAND ENGARLAND NAH NAH NAH!’ echoed throughout the room. Though mostly Australians, the people at the party didn’t seem particularly affronted by this dramatic victory by the Poms…I suspect some avid fans were merely sulking in the corner and thus went unnoticed. Many dismissively announced that they didn’t even like rugby. Thus followed several phone calls to Australians who I knew would be dreading my call, after a suitable amount of ungraceful boasting, a couple of calls to the homeland were in order, I needed some English enthusiasm. Wonderful, just wonderful. I was truly elated that evening, an awesome night! No matter what happens against France, we knocked the Aussies out, and that’s pretty dam satisfying!

As far as everything else goes, I’m all sorted with employment now. I’m working at Boost Juice, whose slogan is ‘healthy fast food’, they do all sorts of awesome smoothies and juices, absolutely love their stuff! It’s just down the road so really convenient and my boss works the rosta around my other commitments to New South, so it works out really well. On top of this I have a casual job doing functions waitressing at Uni. Again, really flexible, easy work that slots into my timetable. I’m really pleased I’ve got all of that sorted now and have some much needed income coming in! It will make a huge difference to my plans for the summer, which is just around the corner! Woohoo, can’t wait!

Oktoberfest next week – really big deal, another get together with the soccer girls, should be awesome fun!