Thursday 29 July 2010

Volkswagen Spectacular


This weekend we'll be going with some mates to a yearly car-show in the Nambucca Valley called the Volkswagen Spectacular. It started in 1984 and is basically for people (or V-Dubbers as they call themselves) to show off their old VW's :) There are races, barbecues, swap meets and a parade.. This might very well be an interesting weekend haha!

2010 Volkswagen Spectacular from BigBoard Productions on Vimeo.

Wednesday 28 July 2010

Update

Sara and I went to the police station today and left our witness statements about the incident. That's probably the last step that I will be needed for, and it feels kind of good to have it all over with. Now it's in the hands of the police, the woman and her lawyer. There will be a court case on the 10th of August and I don't need to be present for it if I don't want to - but of course I want to be there!

A lot of you have been asking about the university.. Besides getting lost on campus every so often, things are going pretty well :) They seem to have a relatively high tempo - not in each separate course per se, but if you consider the fact that we're doing 4 courses at once, I have a feeling it's gonna get kinda hectic! I'm also beginning to understand how things work here, and even feel confident on the crazy buses now. I can take myself to school in half an hour! (Note: very proud of myself.)

Another thing of note: everyone is incredibly friendly here in Australia.. Like, really friendly. Like, ok-I-was-just-asking-you-to-point-me-in-the-direction-of-the-bathrooms-you-don't-have-to-describe-the-entire-journey-into-the-last-detail-so-please-let-me-go-pee-now-thank-you kind of friendly! Or maybe I've just become way too accustomed to the cold, uninterested Swedes that kind of jump away when you try to ask them anything on the roadside, that I've forgotten what normal people are like haha..

I haven't really gotten the chance to get my camera out at all yet, but will try and get some nice pictures of the city, the school and our house for you all soooon.. :)

Saturday 24 July 2010

Video

A little video I made a few weeks ago.. for kicks :)

Friday 23 July 2010

Photoshoot

Well I had to make the most of it, didn't I? ;)

I e-mailed Anthony Byron because I'd liked his portfolio, explained my situation, and asked if he'd be keen to take some badass fightclub-esque pictures before the black-eyes faded. And he was! Here's the result.. Let me know what you think :)

Wednesday 21 July 2010

We've got a house!

We've signed the lease on our new accommodation and moved in last night! Sara and I now live in a cute little 1950's Queenslander in the West End (of course) with 2 french students, Valentine and Eric. If you want to send anything, (postcards, chocolate, vast sums of money..?) the address is:
58 Hardgrave Road
West End, QLD 4101

Picture of the snoz

Well the swelling has gone down now at least.. And the police have made an arrest! Good news! So we'll be making our way to the station tomorrow or so to see if it's the right woman. Hold yer thumbs!

Tuesday 20 July 2010

My face..

Well, besides looking like an avatar with a broken 6cm wide nose and 2 blackeyes, I'm fine! :P The cops said they've identified the woman and are looking for her as we speak. Which is comforting.. People stare as I walk past and pull funny faces as they try to figure out what's happened to me. They probably think I have a violent boyfriend haha.. I mostly just tell them it was a nunchuck accident. It makes me feel hardcore ;)

Sunday 18 July 2010

Random violence..!

This was the most bizarre afternoon of my life. I got my nose smashed in by a random crackhead on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Am still in a state of shock..

Sara and I had been at a café in the West End, and at about 4-5 pm when the sun started to go down we decided to start making our way back home. As we were crossing the street we hear a bottle smash and a woman screaming and swearing, and as we look over she sees us, locks eyes with me and screams "What the f* are you looking at?!" My instinct tells me to just look away and keep walking, but before I even realise what's happening, she's right in front of me and smashes a bottle into my face. Shocked beyond words, I grab my face, see blood, and crunch my nose back into place. Sara realises that the woman is clearly high on something and isn't done with me yet. We start to run and she actually chases us for a bit..! Thanks to being reminded several times during orientation what the Australian emergency number is, I dial 000 immediately and they send a police and an ambulance. A guy on a bike behind us (the wonderful Stanley, thank you so much!) saw everything, stayed with us until the cops arrived and agreed to testify.

When the paramedics came, they fixed up the worst of the bleeding and got the basics out of the way. The cops arrived and asked us for a quick statement, but told us to go to the hospital first, and come to the station tomorrow instead. I had my first ambulance ride (woop woop?) and the paramedics were really lovely. Everyone was asking so many questions about what happened, and what she looked like, etc etc, but I was in such a state of shock - I could hardly grasp what had just happened! I had just gotten my nose smashed in completely out of the blue while strolling down the road on a Sunday afternoon - by a completely random stranger! See kids - drugs are bad, m'kay!

The cops found the bottle and are seeing if they can get any fingerprints or CCTV images from the bottle-shop so as to identify the woman. And if they find her, I'll be pressing charges of course - for the second time in a month. Ridiculous.

We sat in the emergency room for about 5 hours (and I was on the fast-track list of patients..!) and I finally got cleaned up and sent home. No stitches thank God. But I've been told that if I'm really lucky I might have two gorgeous black-eyes tomorrow. (One of them seems to be coming on beautifully already.) First day of school here. Fantastic. I'll be the foreign student with the sunglasses on indoors, a nose the size of Jupiter and two black-eyes. Way to make a first impression. Hey, at least nobody will forget who I am..

But I am thankful nonetheless, because it could have been so much worse. The bottle could have been broken, she could have slashed my eye, she could have thrown the bottle at my head from behind, she could have done all sorts of things. It could have been SO much worse! Despite the circumstances, I am thankful! Going to try get a good night's sleep now, hope I don't bleed on the pillow haha.. The nose still aches quite a bit, but to be honest - the tetanus shot hurts more than my nose does right now. Gah..

Friday 16 July 2010

House hunting

It's been almost a week, and we still haven't got a house.. We're still staying at Beren's place (thanks for your patience!) and have been to look at lots of houses, but nothing has been very good yet. Sara will be studying at UQ and I'll be at QUT, so we're looking for something in the West End so as to be kind of in the middle. Also, the West End seems to be the more alternative, artsy and laid back part of the city - just our kind of place! So we've kind of already moved in mentally even though we haven't found a place yet haha..

Please hold your thumbs for us so that we find something good - and sooooon!

Thursday 15 July 2010

Happy birthday to me!

Us birthday children got a cupcake at school, and everyone at orientation sang for us haha.. it was quite sweet :) The evening was then spent exploring The Valley with Sara for the first time. The Valley is basically where all the pubs, clubs and other fun things are.. We did discover, however, that the average age in Brisbane's nightlife seems to be about 19. We did find a nice place though called X&Y, where we've already decided we're gonna become regulars. We've made friends with the manager and have already got VIP status it seems :) Good work for one night!

Wednesday 14 July 2010

Orientation

I'm starting to realise just how big QUT is compared to Malmö University. New students don't have a standard orientation day like we do back home - we have an Orientation Planner on the QUT Virtual website where we have to pick out events and plan the entire week ourselves. Slightly confusing at first, but it all seems to be working out alright!

I'm at the Kelvin Grove campus, which has got a lovely kind of little village within it with cafés and shops and things.. I will probably be spending many afternoons reading here on some corner café, enjoying the bustle around me :) Still trying to figure out where everything is and how the buses work.. Buses are incredibly confusing, and once you're on them you simply have to know where you're getting off, because there are no signs and no warning! But I'm learning and figuring it out.. it's good to get lost in a new city because that's how you really get to know it ;)

Monday 12 July 2010

The trip thus far on a map

20 Jun: Malmö
21 Jun: Johannesburg
21 Jun: Maputo
10 Jul: Johannesburg
11 Jul: Melbourne
11 Jul: Brisbane

Saturday 10 July 2010

Ayoba!

Sitting at Illy's café at the Joburg airport, free coffee in hand. As I was buying internet-time at the counter the guy asked if I wanted something to drink, so I replied jokingly, "Sure - if it's on the house.." to which he replied, "Well then it's on the house!" Stoked. It's fantastic how friendly South Africans have become during the World Cup. Ayoba!

Now I'm stuck at the airport for 8 hours before my next flight to Australia - which will be an incredible 17 hours long. Waiting for Antz to come harass me, I could do with some company..!

Friday 2 July 2010

The police drama continues

Today as we were driving home, we saw a car that had been stopped by two police in grey uniforms (security-police) in the same spot that we'd been stopped yesterday. "Pull over! Pull over!" I yelled to Dad, and we both trotted over to the stopped car. Dad said "Good afternoon, are you having a problem with the police?" And he replied that yes, they had taken his driver's license and told him that he had to pay a fine for making an illegal turn. So we told him - and the policeman next to him that was trying to get us to leave - that that was the exact same thing that had happened to us yesterday. We explained, very politely, to the policeman that his colleagues that had done this yesterday were now on their way to a court-case and that their boss had stated very clearly that security-police were 1) not to leave their posts outside the bank, and 2) not supposed to take fines. The man in the car who had had his face buried in his hands when we arrived, now had a smile from ear to ear. We said good day and left. Not even ten seconds later, the policeman gave him back his driver's license and the man drove off.

I was well chuffed! I'm going to be doing this every time I see any security-police harassing drivers! (And we'll probably have our tires slashed eventually if we keep this up haha..)

Thursday 1 July 2010

Taking the police to the police

This morning was not like any others. Today we, the civilians, were the police! We're tired of corrupt police asking for bribes at the roadside, so we decided to do something about it. The story is a bit long, so instead of posting the entire thing here, you can read it here instead. I'm super keen on making this story heard by as many as possible, so send it along to any you think might be interested. And please do let me know what you think! :)