Forgot to update the last few weeks...
Here's from March 23-April 5th:
This week was rather busy. I’ve got a lot of due dates and an exam coming up (wouldn’t think it was possible to become overwhelmed with work while taking just three classes but it really is!) so I tried to get a lot of it done during the week at night. It didn’t work out all that well so I will probably be up late tonight (and Monday and Tuesday night) doing writing and studying. Oh well, it was worth it for the fun weekend we had.
Last Wednesday was interesting. JACS had an Industry Career Day on campus. It was really well put together; they did a good job, although the turnout was lower than expected. The funny thing I learned about JACS talking to their president, Naomi Lim, is that it was actually started up a few years ago in response to the school newspaper closing up shop, basically. It was sort of in protest to that and then turned into this thing like let’s at least have a journalism/communication society in place of having a newspaper at the very least. Apparently university newspapers in general are not as popular over here like they are in the States. So at this event they basically had five successful people from the communications industry, one from broadcast, one from PR, one in podcasting, another in sports, one in print magazine-and they all talked about what they do and how they got started and advice for people looking to graduate soon. And I of course photographed all of this. One guy in particular, Cameron Reilly, who started up The Podcast Network, got in a mini argument with Chris Jones who is an editor for mX magazine about how print journalism is basically a dead/dying business and how he thinks it is going to be totally gone in less than 10 years. So I think he really scared half the students in the room who were journalism majors. But I don’t think they have anything to be afraid of because the most important thing is nothing you learn at uni is to go to waste, it’s just that you might need to learn more about technical skills, how to edit, how to use a camera, how to speak and have a presence on camera, etc if you expect to make it in journalism in the future because it won’t just be about how well you can write.
Anyway, on Friday, after a week of on and off (mostly on) rainfall, we decided we needed to leave the city, so we got on a train to the Sunshine Coast and stayed in Noosa at quite possibly the shadiest backpackers resort in the area. I kid-it wasn’t that awful. Candace may or may not have bed bug bites on her ankles, that’s still a mystery. Out roommates were three Irish girls who are backpacking their way through the country on a gap year between high school and university, a Dutch guy who thought he was really funny and tried to convince me that the Us Magazine on the floor was his and he liked to read about Lindsey and “Bush” (I am assuming he meant George Bush?) so that was all very interesting. We shared a tiny bathroom with 10 people for two nights and decided we are not the type that could handle backpacking like so many people here tend to do. It’s fun to hear everyone’s stories. I think backpacking abroad is a lot more common for Europeans than Americans, haven’t quite figured out why that is though.
Saturday morning we woke up pretty early and got breakfast in Noosa, where we were staying, along their main street, Hastings St. We ate at this little place that was totally cute and I got toast and grilled tomato and egg whites and Candace got the most amazing blueberry filled pancakes and Lindsey got this heaping fruit salad and it was just so good and fresh tasting and surprising a really good deal. I felt like Racheal Ray on “$40 A Day” actually all weekend (does anyone watch that show?) except for me it was like $40 A Weekend instead. After we got on a bus to Eumundi to go to their market, which is open only Wednesdays and Saturdays and is enormous, has at least 200 little stalls that people have set up, selling all kinds of stuff from jewelry and clothing to furniture and teapots. It was awesome. It took us three hours just to walk around it. All three of us got jewelry from this one lady whose name was Hermione, she makes the beads all by hand, fires them, paints them, designs all the jewelry and assembles it by hand, all by herself. And the jewelry was gorgeous. I got a really simple bracelet with white circular flat beads that sort of reminded me of the islands or something because they looked like flat pebbles you find on the beach. And I got a little pouch made of kangaroo fur and other trinkets to bring home! It was fun. And the weather was just fine, a little drizzly here and there but overall fine.
When we got back to Noosa the sun was out so we lounged on the beach and watched the surfers and it was lovely. Then we got dinner at this cute, fun family-friendly type place over the water. Candace and I split fish and chips because that’s wallet- and waistline-friendly and it was so delicious. Then we thought it was only appropriate after our shopping spree at Eumundi that we go see “Confessions of a Shopaholic” at the ‘cinema’ down the street. It was totally cute and we basically were cracking up the entire time. So that was a really lovely end to the day.
This morning after we checked out, we walked to the Noosa National Park and walked along the coast there, watching the surfers and taking in the nature and all that. We were going to explore the park more but decided since the sun was out we would enjoy it. So instead of laying out on the sand like normal people do we climbed down onto the rocks down where all the surf was and laid our towels out there and soaked up some rays. It was surprisingly nice and not uncomfortable until it actually did start raining a bit heavier and so we sort of scooted off. By that point it was almost time to go so we grabbed a bite to eat, I tried salmon rissole for the first time, and then headed back to the train station to get to Brisbane. It’s really only a 2 hour drive to Noosa from where we live, but with public transport it takes about 4 hours. But it was worth it, the Sunshine Coast is beautiful, a bit more upscale, sort of like the Nantucket of Cape Cod, (not that there are hostels on Nantucket), but not unaffordable and really pretty.
On the train home, we learned an important lesson while watching some man getting “caught” by the security on the train. He had his feet up on the seat! Apparently that is not allowed, and just 20 minutes before they had asked me to put mine down, as I was napping and didn’t realize that was an “offense.” So that poor guy got one warning and then got a $200 fine. I would have cried if that happened to me! OK OK, no feat on the seat, I got it!
This week it’s work work for classes, studying for a biology test Wednesday, and getting ready to leave for Fraser Island on Thursday morning. Never a dull moment!
This week was rather busy. I’ve got a lot of due dates and an exam coming up (wouldn’t think it was possible to become overwhelmed with work while taking just three classes but it really is!) so I tried to get a lot of it done during the week at night. It didn’t work out all that well so I will probably be up late tonight (and Monday and Tuesday night) doing writing and studying. Oh well, it was worth it for the fun weekend we had.
Last Wednesday was interesting. JACS had an Industry Career Day on campus. It was really well put together; they did a good job, although the turnout was lower than expected. The funny thing I learned about JACS talking to their president, Naomi Lim, is that it was actually started up a few years ago in response to the school newspaper closing up shop, basically. It was sort of in protest to that and then turned into this thing like let’s at least have a journalism/communication society in place of having a newspaper at the very least. Apparently university newspapers in general are not as popular over here like they are in the States. So at this event they basically had five successful people from the communications industry, one from broadcast, one from PR, one in podcasting, another in sports, one in print magazine-and they all talked about what they do and how they got started and advice for people looking to graduate soon. And I of course photographed all of this. One guy in particular, Cameron Reilly, who started up The Podcast Network, got in a mini argument with Chris Jones who is an editor for mX magazine about how print journalism is basically a dead/dying business and how he thinks it is going to be totally gone in less than 10 years. So I think he really scared half the students in the room who were journalism majors. But I don’t think they have anything to be afraid of because the most important thing is nothing you learn at uni is to go to waste, it’s just that you might need to learn more about technical skills, how to edit, how to use a camera, how to speak and have a presence on camera, etc if you expect to make it in journalism in the future because it won’t just be about how well you can write.
Anyway, on Friday, after a week of on and off (mostly on) rainfall, we decided we needed to leave the city, so we got on a train to the Sunshine Coast and stayed in Noosa at quite possibly the shadiest backpackers resort in the area. I kid-it wasn’t that awful. Candace may or may not have bed bug bites on her ankles, that’s still a mystery. Out roommates were three Irish girls who are backpacking their way through the country on a gap year between high school and university, a Dutch guy who thought he was really funny and tried to convince me that the Us Magazine on the floor was his and he liked to read about Lindsey and “Bush” (I am assuming he meant George Bush?) so that was all very interesting. We shared a tiny bathroom with 10 people for two nights and decided we are not the type that could handle backpacking like so many people here tend to do. It’s fun to hear everyone’s stories. I think backpacking abroad is a lot more common for Europeans than Americans, haven’t quite figured out why that is though.
Saturday morning we woke up pretty early and got breakfast in Noosa, where we were staying, along their main street, Hastings St. We ate at this little place that was totally cute and I got toast and grilled tomato and egg whites and Candace got the most amazing blueberry filled pancakes and Lindsey got this heaping fruit salad and it was just so good and fresh tasting and surprising a really good deal. I felt like Racheal Ray on “$40 A Day” actually all weekend (does anyone watch that show?) except for me it was like $40 A Weekend instead. After we got on a bus to Eumundi to go to their market, which is open only Wednesdays and Saturdays and is enormous, has at least 200 little stalls that people have set up, selling all kinds of stuff from jewelry and clothing to furniture and teapots. It was awesome. It took us three hours just to walk around it. All three of us got jewelry from this one lady whose name was Hermione, she makes the beads all by hand, fires them, paints them, designs all the jewelry and assembles it by hand, all by herself. And the jewelry was gorgeous. I got a really simple bracelet with white circular flat beads that sort of reminded me of the islands or something because they looked like flat pebbles you find on the beach. And I got a little pouch made of kangaroo fur and other trinkets to bring home! It was fun. And the weather was just fine, a little drizzly here and there but overall fine.
When we got back to Noosa the sun was out so we lounged on the beach and watched the surfers and it was lovely. Then we got dinner at this cute, fun family-friendly type place over the water. Candace and I split fish and chips because that’s wallet- and waistline-friendly and it was so delicious. Then we thought it was only appropriate after our shopping spree at Eumundi that we go see “Confessions of a Shopaholic” at the ‘cinema’ down the street. It was totally cute and we basically were cracking up the entire time. So that was a really lovely end to the day.
This morning after we checked out, we walked to the Noosa National Park and walked along the coast there, watching the surfers and taking in the nature and all that. We were going to explore the park more but decided since the sun was out we would enjoy it. So instead of laying out on the sand like normal people do we climbed down onto the rocks down where all the surf was and laid our towels out there and soaked up some rays. It was surprisingly nice and not uncomfortable until it actually did start raining a bit heavier and so we sort of scooted off. By that point it was almost time to go so we grabbed a bite to eat, I tried salmon rissole for the first time, and then headed back to the train station to get to Brisbane. It’s really only a 2 hour drive to Noosa from where we live, but with public transport it takes about 4 hours. But it was worth it, the Sunshine Coast is beautiful, a bit more upscale, sort of like the Nantucket of Cape Cod, (not that there are hostels on Nantucket), but not unaffordable and really pretty.
On the train home, we learned an important lesson while watching some man getting “caught” by the security on the train. He had his feet up on the seat! Apparently that is not allowed, and just 20 minutes before they had asked me to put mine down, as I was napping and didn’t realize that was an “offense.” So that poor guy got one warning and then got a $200 fine. I would have cried if that happened to me! OK OK, no feat on the seat, I got it!
This week it’s work work for classes, studying for a biology test Wednesday, and getting ready to leave for Fraser Island on Thursday morning. Never a dull moment!