But to my surprise, up until today I’ve probably seen like 4 or 5 sweatshirts on the streets of Melbourne that read “Carolina” or “Tar Heels”. No joke; I was most definitely surprised! I even managed to yell “woohoo Carolina” at two of the people that I saw. Unfortunately, I received no reaction. To my disappointment, the people wearing the Carolina shirts clearly had no idea what it meant. I feel like that’s a common occurrence here. People probably sell/buy shirts of which they don’t know the meaning. It reminds me of India. Except there, people sell bootleg stuff and claim it as real. lol.  

Anyway, I think I did however discover at least one person who knows of the Tar Heels. Although I didn’t meet the person, I found a car, an old Mustang, that had two stickers on the back bumper, one for each of the past two NCAA National Championships that Carolina has won in ‘05 and ‘93! So, that’s how I know there’s at least one Tar Heel in Australia, besides me of course!

P.S. As I was writing this post there was a fire drill, so I had to leave. This is why I hate dorms!

P.S.S. If you haven’t seen it yet, you have to go see The Dark Knight! It was an amazing movie!

    I ride the tram down 2 blocks [Aussieland Photos 3]

    Yo, we going the right way? [Aussieland Photos 4]

Me at the Red Scooter for Monash Abroad welcome dinner.

Flinder’s Street Train Station

An Old Tram on Flinders Street

Me with Colonel La Trobe near the Victoria Library

The Melbourne Museum

Well the day after I arrived, Monday, I pretty much slept all day. It was mostly a gloomy day. I went to the dining hall thing for lunch. It was, um… okay. lol. Yeah i guess it pretty much sucked. But I also went almost when it was closing so perhaps that had something to do with it. Anyway, on Tuesday the orientation began at 9:00am with what they called “hot drink and yummy pancakes breakfast.” It wasn’t too bad. The orientation began by giving us a brief overview of Australia and it history. It was fairly interesting and the professor giving the mini-lecture was definitely entertaining. He also gave away a few prizes for answering some history questions right. In fact, he even gave away a six-pack of beer to some girl for answering a question. haha. Anyway I should have enjoyed it while it lasted, ’cause after that it was downhill. It got pretty boring. Honestly, I don’t remember half the stuff that was said and most of it was repeated like twice, clearly unnecessary. I won’t bore you with what was talked about.

I met some cool people who I soon befriended this week. I’ve met like a few people from UCLA, someone from UCSB, someone from UCSD, a girl from France, a few others including three students from NC State. I also met people from Japan, Germany, and several other places. So, a group of us have been hanging out with each other going shopping and roaming out into the city. It’s been pretty fun. Because we are exchange students, our orientation was actually like two weeks before classes start, so most of the “real” Australians, if I can call them that, are not even here yet so I therefore haven’t had a chance to meet many of them.

During the week we went to the city almost everyday. For your information Monash University has like 6 campuses in the state of Victoria in Australia. The two main campuses are known as Clayton and Caulfield. They are both in the suburbs of the city as opposed to Melbourne University which is near downtown Melbourne.  Caulfield is probably about 20 mins from the city center and Clayton is probably 40 mins from the city center. Most students live and study on the Clayton campus. In order to get to the city, you have to take like a bus to the train station and from there ride the train into the city and get off at one of like 4 or 5 stations that are on the city loop (including Flinders St. Station, Parliament Station, Melbourne Central, Southern Cross, and I think one more that I can’t remember right now. Anyway, we usually get off at Flinders Street because its near one of the most happening places.

On Tuesday four of us (friends from UCLA and NC State) decided to go get dinner in the near the city somewhere. We got off at the South Yarra Station which is like right before you get to the city. Supposedly its the place to go for fashion and clubs. We eventually came upon this restaurant called Amigos. It was a mexican food place, which surprised some who were told that its very difficult to find mexican food in Australia. Whatever. We decided to get the chefs menu which said it feeds four, but it turns out that we still had to pay individually. Slightly unexpected, but it was very much worth the money, considering we had nachos, fajitas, enchiladas, salad, and dessert. I think Australians take their time when they eat, cause they waiter was taking forever to serve us each time. After that we were going to go out, but all of us were tired so we decided to call it a day.

On Wednesday, Bill, who is the Monash Abroad activity coordinator person, planned a trip to Federation Square in the city. Most of the study abroad/exchange students came and we walked along the Yarra river (near Flinders St.) and took a ride on a Giant Sky Wheel. That was okay. It wasn’t anything exciting. Bill took us to a nearby bar later, but me and the NC State kids decided to go out and wander around. So we did that and eventually headed back to campus. Oh, we also enrolled in our units (or courses) on this day. We visited our Faculty (or School/Dept).

On Thursday evening we went to Chaddy’s!!! (aka Chadstone Shopping Centre). It’s pretty much a huge mall. It has two levels. It has a Meyer and a David Jones which are pretty much like Macys or Nordstrom. It also has a Toys”R”Us, a Target, a K-mart, a Borders, a Coles (which is a popular grocery store around here), and Hoyts (which is a movie theater). In addition, it has two food courts, and tons of stores, including an Armani Exchange. It’s apparently one of the biggest, if not the biggest, shopping complexes in Australia. So yeah it was fun! In fact, I went back there today because some of my friends had to get a few things. Oh and on Wednesday I bought a cellphone.

Oh Friday! So, on friday night we had a welcome dinner at a place called the Red Scooter located in the suburb of St. Kilda (which is near the beach). The Monash Abroad dept rented out the place. It was like a really nice venue! Supposedly its used for private events and wedding receptions and stuff. [It's sad that I kept thinking how great this venue would be for an afterparty. lol.] They served us an Aussie BBQ and drinks. They also played the US anthem in recognition of July 4th! Oh and there was also some dancing. After that, we all (including much of the Abroad coordinators) went to a bar in the city. Yeah we learned on friday night that drinks here are mad expensive (along with everything else for that matter). I could probably write a whole post regarding US vs Aus price comparisons. lol.

And lastly on Saturday, my friend from NC State and I went to the gym for a while. So apparently we have to pay for the gym too. It figures, since we got to pay for everything. I should have just gotten a membership that day since I paid like a quarter of how much it would cost for a month just for one day. Some of us went out later that night and went to a club near Chapel St. It was an interesting experience. We were planning on going today too for someone’s birthday, but its been raining so we decided to just hang out in the halls tonight. 

But, yeah overall its been pretty fun. Melbourne is a really nice place. We’ll see how busy I get when classes start and how often we’ll be able to visit the city. I have some photos on facebook. The links are below. Until next time, adios!

Aussieland Photos 1
Welcome Dinner and More! [Aussieland Photos 2] 

-pkat

12:45 PM (Australian time- whatever the abbreviation for that is)

So I made it to Australia… finally.  I’m in my room in the dorms or “halls of residence” as they call it here.  The flight was good.  It actually wasn’t that bad. 

Although the flight from Los Angeles to Sydney was 14 hours, it wasn’t too terrible.  I actually got a good seat, in that I was sitting behind a bulkhead separating first class from economy so I ended up with a little extra room and nobody sitting in front of me.  I also had a window seat and therefore the best option for taking naps.  I watched bits and pieces of several movies.  I think they showed like 5 movies.  I also slept several times.  The Sydney airport is actually pretty nice, based on the little bit that I was able to see.  I had to chill in the Sydney airport for a couple of hours before I re-boarded United flight 839 (I believe it was a different plane than the first tho).  We were delayed for a little while in Sydney while we waited for planes to clear the way and planes to land.  But we did go up and an hour later we were in Melbourne.  In Melbourne I had to go through immigration, wait for a significant amount of time to pick up my baggage, and then clear customs.  By this point it was over an hour past the time that I had informed the University that I’d be arriving.  But luckily there was still a driver for Monash there who was picking up another individual, so I was able to get a ride as well.  I then arrived, checked in, listened to and got a bunch of information and was handed my room keys.

——

10:25 pm AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time)

So I met up with one of my parent’s friend’s cousins who lives in Melbourne.  He’s a fairly young guy who’s been living in Melbourne for almost 3 years.  He met up with me near my dorm and we decided we’d head to the city.

Apparently Melbourne’s vast network of transportation is a quite common way to travel.  [Oh quick note: It was pretty cold outside, colder than I though it was, probably mainly due to the wind.] We got on the 703 bus where we proceeded to purchase a metcard for me, a day pass for me to be able to travel on any bus, tram or train.  We rode the bus to a bus stop near the Clayton train station.  We went to the station and waited a while for the train to arrive.  Once it did we got on and traveled on it for about 25-30 minutes until we arrived at Melbourne Central Station, which is actually one of three underground stations that are part of the city loop.  Anyway we spent some time walking around the streets of downtown Melbourne, I suppose.  We drank some coffee and later met up with his roommate and watched a movie at the theaters there, which may I add are much bigger than those in the US.  Anyway, after that I had to make the trek back to the Monash Residence Halls myself, because it would be impractical for them to accompany me when the route to their apartment is different.  So I took the Pakenham train and after 25-30 mins got off at Clayton.  Unfortunately, since it was Sunday and past 8pm or something, the Bus back to Clayton Campus had stopped running.  Yeah not too good.  But I managed to, after waiting for quite some time, catch a taxi along with an asian dude back to the residence halls.  So yeah, I think that was enough of an adventure for my first day in Australia.  I’m really tried so I think I’m going to sleep now.  Goodnight!

Here’s a photo of my room in the Halls.

Friday, June 27 2008

11:00 am (EST)

So I’m sitting here in Washington DC right now, when I’m supposed to be on a flight to Australia.  Why? Well take a guess.  My flight was late.  My flight from Washington-Dulles was supposed to leave at 7:05 pm on Thursday, but it was delayed by 2 and a half hours, thereby making me most definitely miss my connecting flight out of LA. So, instead of flying to LA and arriving there late only to spend the night there and wait all day for the only flight to Melbourne which is at the same time everyday, I decide to stay at IAD.  We have some family friends here who were kind enough to pick me up from the airport and let me spend the night.

Now I have a flight from IAD to LAX at 2:51pm. I just hope this flight isn’t delayed, but just in case, I have up to 5 hours leeway.  So 5 hours flight TO LAX, 5 hours IN LAX, and another 15 or so hours to Melbourne.  Fun stuff.

——

3:00 pm-ish (EST)

Yeah, so now I’m on my supposed-to-leave-at 2:51 flight to LAX, but lucky me - IT’S DELAYED!  But this time, I’m actually in the plane.  We had been taxing for a couple minutes when we stop and we hear the engines turn off.  Then the captain comes on the intercom (i think this is the first time I’ve flown on a flight with a female pilot), and she says that air traffic control has put a stop on our plan because of weather on our route.  Apparently other flights experienced the same thing.  So, we’ll be sitting on the runway for about 30 mins.  But I don’t think this will affect my flight out of LAX considering I gave myself 5 hours in between the flight, in case something like this were to happen. 

——

6:15 pm (PST)

I have arrived in LAX after my 5 hour 20 min flight from IAD.  The flight was quite boring.  What was interesting was that everyone around me seemed to have those Bose headphones.  The two guys beside me, one guy in a row in front of me, one guy in the row behind me, and another dude in my same row on the other side ALL had Bose headphones.  I mean seriously how can everyone have those?  Were they like giving them out for free or something?  It was interesting.  Anyway I just at at some mexican grill food place in LAX.  It was pretty crappy.  Can’t believe I spent over $10 on it.  I guess thats what you get at any airport - overpriced food.  Whatever, I’ll just get some Starbucks later, at some point during the next 4 hours that I have to kill at LAX.

It sucks that in over 24 hours I’ve only gone from Raleigh-Durham to Los Angeles.  And its gonna be another 24 hours until I reach Australia.  My flight leaves here at 10:26 pm or something.  The flight actually goes via Sydney; so, of course we’re going to be stopping there.  It’s something like 14 hours to Sydney and another 1 hour or so to Melbourne.

I don’t think there’s any free internet in this airport; at least no wireless where i’m sitting right now.  I’ll check somewhere else later.

——

8:45 pm (PST)

I found internet, but its T-Mobile and you have to pay for it, which I don’t want to do.  Blah.  I just realized that 14 hours is a very long time.  Yeah, hopefully I’ll be able to sleep for most of it.  If not, I’m going to be extremely bored.  By the way, if you’re wondering how I’ve been writing all of this, I’ve been using my phone to write it, except since I’ve gotten to LAX - been using my laptop.  So, I’m just sitting here now at a nearby gate, listening to music on my laptop; watched a video earlier that I had on my laptop.

Surprisingly I received my visa less than a day after I applied for it.  It was all done electronically. Apparently, you don’t even need to have a stamp or paper in your actual passport. When they scan your passport, the visa shows up on the computers.

Now that I got my tickets booked, I have to figure out what all I need to take with me. Since Australia is in the southern hemisphere, it has opposite seasons. This means i’ll be arriving at the end of winter and leaving in the summer, spending most of my time in their spring. It should be interesting.

I’ll try to keep everybody updated on what I’m doing via the internet of course. Check back here at my blog to find out what I’m up to. In fact, I put up a theme specifically for my Australia posts. You’ll see what I mean if you click on the Australia category. You can also keep up with me on twitter. And of course facebook.

I leave on June 26th! Wish me luck!

The members include a trio who go by Simz, Seku, and Simone. Eric Sim, who I’ve known since my freshmen year in college, is the man of beats. The hip-hop beats that he creates can be compared to the those heard at the top of the music industry. Seku, who I just recently met, is an amazing guy and a talented artist. Simone, who I also met, is bottom line: an amazing singer.

This group has a great dynamic that is apparent in their performances. Rare Formula recently opened for Musiq Soulchild, a platinum album and award-winning soul artist, at a concert in Memorial Hall at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They also just released an free downloadable EP called Planetarium Soul with 8 impressive tracks. With several gigs coming up, Rare Formula is gaining popularity and I wouldn’t be surprised if they get signed to a record label and go big.

Another individual worth noting is my friend DJ Rang who does the DJing at Rare Formula’s live performances. His mixes are ridiculously good. Search YouTube for “bhangra” and one of his mixes is currently number one! So, when you get a chance, check out Rare Formula, as well as DJ Rang and get the EP while its free!

For more information check out the following:

• Rare Formula Myspace Page at: www.myspace.com/rareformulamusic
• Rare Formula Official Website: www.rareformula3.com
• Rare Formula Facebook Fan Page: www.facebook.com/pages/Rare-Formula/24030093696
• DJ Rang’s YouTube Page: www.youtube.com/rangbird

Below is their biography (from their myspace page):

What do you get when you mix an Asian element, with a native island chemical, and a Hawaiian Bronx-tale ingredient………….. You get a collage fusion of retrograde motion better known as RARE FORMULA…… An electric trio that consists of……Simz, Seku, Simone…. who all met on their musical journey in Chapel Hill, N.C., everyone in pursuit of their own personal careers. But…when Seku was discovered by the cofounder of La universe, Suede(Camp Lo)….he saw a vision for the young inspired artist although it wasn’t until he was introduced to these other 2 individuals that the picture would become clear. He knew that when all three of these unique colors blended together, the visual and musical painting would become one of the worlds most praised pieces of art. So the three formed one in the rarest way! Their combination of electronic/ international / glam-rock/ hip-hop/ R&B soul is organically composed with a very vivid twist. In the same lane as those who did it before them such as The Fugees, Black Eyed Peas, and Digable Planets, they take what it is to be a two male, one female trio to a different time and space. They are not trying to follow in the shadows of anyone- they aim to break newer ground….The tight family, that used to be on separate paths, now plot together real hard on their reign in the industry. They will eventually do solo projects to show the depth of each entity. However the deepness and trueness of who they are individually and collectively will be introduced to the world as RARE FORMULA! THE mixture you never thought of.

Happy 2008!

So the semester is almost up. Exams are almost done. I should be studying right now, however, I am stuck pondering whether or not I should upgrade my Powerbook G4 to the newest version of the Apple operating system, Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.

From the looks of it, Leopard seems to be a great operating system with amazing features, including Quick Look, Time Machine, and a updated Mail application. But unfortunately, there have been many issues with the new OS, especially when it comes to compatibility. I came across a couple of articles that seem convinced that its too soon to upgrade. The Unofficial Apple Weblog in had a few interesting reasons not to upgrade, including one about Photoshop having issues on Leopard:

[Leopard: Should you upgrade?]

• If you have only one computer and it’s your production machine, don’t upgrade.
• If you work with Adobe software and need your software to work reliably, don’t upgrade.

Here’s another website that has the Top Five Reasons Not to Upgrade to Leopard.

Can it really be that bad? I mean apple has already pushed out its first update for Leopard, 10.5.1. I think I’ll be fine as long as I can use my important programs (Mail, Safari, iTunes, MS Office, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, and some others). I just hope my computer can handle it and doesn’t become slower.

So, I think when I get a chance over winter break, I’ll upgrade to Leopard, of course making a bootable backup of my current system. I’ll test it out and make sure that I’m still able to do my work (web design, video production, and everyday usage).

We shall see how this goes. Wish me luck!

UPDATE (April 2008): I never did upgrade to Leopard.  My computer is very old and I don’t think it would show any performance benefits.  I’ll likely wait to use Leopard ’til my next Apple computer (which probably won’t be until after I graduate college).

This is hilarious!

“Internet TV series follows the adventures of Jack Bauer in an alternate universe where he is a pizza deliver agent for PDU. Constantly preventing Pizza Hut attacks and protecting his loved ones from cougars Jack may be having his worst date yet.”

Part One:

Part Two: