Agnes Water & Town of 1770

Am sitting in sunny Agnes Water right now at the 1770 Backpackers enjoying my midterm.. :) Why, why, why do I have to go back to the city?? I want to stay here!

This backpackers feels like a luxury hotel after our night in Bundaberg haha.. We went surfing yesterday which was really fun (3 hour surf-school for $17!) and today was spent on a tiny secluded beach a short boatride from the 1770 marina. The only bummer is that it is SO windy, so we can't go diving as the currents are too strong and the visibility won't be too great :( This midterm will be my only chance to dive on the Great Barrier Reef so I'm reeaally hoping that the wind will die a little so we can go diving before the week is over!

Last night I finally saw my first kangaroos and wallabes - and they were not in a zoo ;) We did a sunset tour with a guy called Paul, who took us all over the peninsula here to look at the roos, and finally to a lookout spot where we could see the sun set over the water (one of 3 places where you can see that here on the Australian east coast). The trip was rounded off with a cold beer on the rocks by the bay as it got dark outside - so lovely.

I'm seriously wishing I didn't have to go to class for the rest of my time in Australia. I'd love to just do the rest of my assignments online and stay here in Agnes haha! But the week will have to end, unfortunately.. such is life. But until then, I'm going to enjoy every last minute of this place :)

Bundaberg

Spent a night in Bundaberg. Traumatised.

The backpackers was soo dirty and the whole city kind of smelled of sweat. Even the distillery was a bit of an anti-climax. What a waste of 24 hours haha.. Oh well, it's experiences like this that makes us appreciate the good places!

Midterm

And midterm is upon us! Will be travelling towards the Great Barrier Reef with Sara and Lola.. First stop is the famous rum distillery in Bundaberg for a night, then on to Agnes Water and the town of 1770 which are in the middle of a few nature reserves, and on the edge of the reef. Hoping for some wicked scuba diving!

We don't really have much else planned, we'll just kind of wing it from there.. If you don't overplan things and have really high expectations then you can't be disappointed. If something sucks we'll move on, if it rocks then we'll stay - simple as that :)

Sneak preview

Got a phonecall from the police today who told me that the woman pleaded guilty and that a date has finally been set for the trial! Yay :) On the 20th October, good folks, I will be making my court debut.

Have been working like a maniac on the material for my new website these last 3 days and finally got everything done! The new website (which is www.annabrandberg.com if you haven't already figured that out) should be up and running by the weekend.. But here's a sneak preview of some of my design work for you who are wondering exactly what it is I do in class :)

And maybe this is a great time for some shameless advertising - if you need any graphic design work done, give me a shout! Anything from logos to business cards to posters to menus.. you name it. If it's in print, I'll do it!

Photoshop

I love love love love love Photoshop <3

(And yes, I should be doing more productive things right now..)

Liyana, the movie

Award-winning director, Aaron Kopp, and award-winning photographer, Amanda Kopp (also known as two of the most amazing people I know, and a part of my "extended family") are now working on Aaron's new film, Liyana. It is a documentary and animated adventure about a group of incredible orphans in Swaziland. The orphans live on the self-sustaining farm, New Life Homes (known as Likhaya Lemphilo Lensha in siSwati), a farm that Aaron's parents started many years ago and that my parents have also been involved with throughout.

The farm is developing wonderfully and the project is a truly sustainable one that has improved the life for about 30 Swazi-orphans in a real way - far from big donor driven projects and aid dependent structures. Aaron has made an inspiring short film about the farm, which won the "Golden Palm" at the Mexico International Film Festival, as well as “People’s Choice” and “Best Documentary” awards at other international festivals. See Likhaya here, it is only 15 min long will help you get to know the project better.

In Aaron's new film project, the children will learn to write an original African fairytale inspired by their own life experiences together with internationally acclaimed African storyteller Gcina Mhlope. I can imagine it'll be nothing short of amazing.

The making of this film is, however, dependent on talented inspired people like Aaron and Amanda, as well as on financial support from people like us. Even the tiniest donation makes a world of difference.. Please have a look at the project's website shown below and pass the message on - we need this information to spread like wildfire!

http://liyanathemovie.com/

End of year travel-plans

It's starting to become time to begin planning what we're going to do our last few weeks in Australia after term ends. If there is one great tip that I got from Frida (the girl who went to Australia in the year above me) it's that - if you can - don't choose subjects with end-of-term exams. As a design-student, most of the courses we do have continual assessment over projects that we work on throughout the term. This is great, because it means that while the rest of Uni is sweating over exams - you're home free to start travelling! ;)

The only problem for me is that Sara, who is studying at University of Queensland, has exams.. And she only gets to know what dates they are in October, which is quite frustrating as we don't know if we'll be able to travel together at the end of the year or not.. And it would SUCK to travel without her, seeing as we've already travelled to the other side of the world together!

But either way, there is somewhat of a plan.. If Sara does have exams and can't travel before I leave, then I'll probably go to Cairns and Magnetic Island on the Great Barrier Reef with a lovely gal from Chile called Lola. But if Sara doesn't have exams when I'm free, then we go to FIJI! :D

So here's to hoping.. ;)

Finding a job

Some people have asked me if I had trouble finding a job, but to be honest, getting a job here was quite easy. About a month ago I printed out 20 copies of my CV and walked around cafés and restaurants in the West End and asked if they needed any personnel. If they did, I asked for the manager, shook their hand and left a copy of my CV. On one afternoon I dropped off about 10 CV's - that same evening I had my first job trial at Wild Pepper. I did another trial the next night at Archive. As I'm only going to be in Brisbane for a few months, it obviously becomes a lot harder to get a job since employers want someone who'll stick around, but you can still get a casual position doing odd days.

I now work at Wild Pepper every now and then, which is super convenient as it is right across the road. Literally about 30m from my front door! Archive had some real fun people, but it wasn't the kind of job I was looking for.. But two days ago I started another casual job at a catering company called Zen Catering, which seems real nice. (Pssst! Future exchange students! Big tip: Contact them & send them your CV!)

Hopefully I'll be getting some more coin now to finance more escapades down under.. :)

Laundromat musings

As I walked to the Laundromat today I was struck by a thought.. Back home in Sweden I would never leave the house in roughly the same state as I got out of bed. I wouldn't be caught dead in public without at least mascara. But here I am now, in trackpants, flip-flops, greasy hair and no makeup, walking down my street in the West End with a basket of dirty laundry - and somehow this doesn't bother me at all.

But I realised that there is a difference between Malmö and Brisbane. In Malmö, despite its population of only 300 000, once you leave your apartment, you are smack bang in the middle of the city. But in Brisbane, the West End somehow feels like a village - despite it only being a 5 min drive from the CBD of a city of over 2 million people. I have restaurants and shops directly across the road, but no high-rise buildings and crazy traffic like you do outside of your apartments in Malmö.

And that's not to say I like the one better than the other, because both are great in their own way.. But I must admit I do enjoy being a part of a little, peaceful community, despite the fact that I love living in a big, bustling city. It's like having the cake, and eating it :)

Whale-watching in Hervey Bay

Hervey Bay.. wow. Just.. wow.

Mitch's parents own a boat-tour company that does whale-watching in the bay, and for his birthday they let him take some mates out for the weekend in two of the boats. The water in the harbour was an absolutely stunning turquoise colour, and once we got out into deeper waters, the ocean was the most intense blue I've seen in my life. I'm not exaggerating! On the second day we sailed north in the hopes of catching a glimpse of some fins, and we must have seen at least 8 whales up close and personal - mothers and babies :) Mothers teaching their little ones to play - she'd start jumping and splashing, and the baby followed suit. Unbelievable. I do believe I had my finger glued to the shutter-button permanently for hours on end haha!

The evenings were spent around bonfires on Fraser Island, and the days were spent sprawled out on the deck enjoying that gorgeous sunshine.. When we finally got home on the Monday evening, I had taken almost 1000 pictures - no joke. And the greatest part of the whole thing was that a 3-day whale-watching trip on a boat with a guide can cost you about $300 - whereas we got the whole thing for the $20 we each chipped in to cover fuel costs ;)

Without a doubt the best weekend I've had since we got to Australia.. <3

Sailing in Hervey Bay!

I'm writing scripts and drawing storyboards like a maniac so as to get this Digital Media assignment done by the end of the night.. Deadline is only on Sunday, but the next 3 days will be spent on a sailing boat in Hervey Bay, so I need to get this done today!

Hervey Bay, which is located at the bottom of the Great Barrier Reef, is famous for whale-watching, as it's where whales come to give birth. Right next to it is Fraser Island, which is the world's biggest sand-island. Our friends rent a boat in Hervey Bay every year and spend a weekend away, and this year Sara & I have been invited to come along. I'm hoping for an awesome weekend.. :)

Valentino: Retrospective

Went to Valentino's Retrospective fashion exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art today. Such gorgeous haute couture.. breathtaking! And crazy to imagine every single detail was sewn by hand - down to the last little sequin.

It was also interesting to see up close the dresses that, for example, Jackie Kennedy wore to her second wedding, the classic one that Julia Roberts wore to the Oscars when she won Best Actress, the one Cate Blanchett wore when she won Best Supporting Actress, the stunning red one Brooke Shields wore in a famous Vogue photoshoot that defined 80's style, and on, and on..

Valentino made a point of including one red dress in every collection he made, as he believed that every woman ought to own at least one red dress. And the exhibition even included with the first red dress he made, from his first ever collection.

Click here for more info from the gallery!

Photo Media

Handed in my first Photo Media assignment today.. It consisted of 1 Pictorialism photo, 1 Still-life, and 2 Abstract photos of the same object. I'm most happy with the still-life, but will post them all up here for your viewing pleasure..

Spring

Throughout August, whenever I said that I could feel spring arriving since it was becoming a lot warmer, people were very quick to correct me and say that the first day of spring isn't actually until the 1st of September. And, sure enough, on the 1st of September, like clockwork, it got HOT. Overnight, just like that. So bizarre..