There's no I in meat pie

I have no idea what it is supposed to mean, but I heard the guy next door yell it and suddenly I remembered how over due this is.

According to my last post I'm not a man of my word, as I said this would be before May, but here we are. Sorry about that, won't let it get out of hand like that again :)

Well, where to begin. I seem to be having a pretty even amount of good and bad luck. For example; at the beginning of April, I was moping about because everyone over here was going home for Easter. Which would be a bit hard for us Aussies, and the thought of home and family was painstaking. Then one fine monday morning, a message from Aunt Maggie, asking if I wanted to come to France for Easter. Pwoar! Who could turn that down? I planned to skip thursdays class to get to France, and maybe spend a few hours in Paris. However, once I got to Frankfurt Hahn, my plane was completely cancelled. The bloody thing hadn't arrived so I had to wait for 3 hours, and all I got was a 5 euro food voucher. It helped with a beer and Mexican, and a call from a few of the boys back home helped pass the time. When I got to France, I could see the Eiffel Tower from the plane, but was as far as I got. Maggie and Brian's place is about 3 hours from Paris, near Poitiers. It's hard to describe how beautiful their cottage/home/maisonette is so I will post photos. It was so nice some time with family, and consume a shit load of chocolate [and booze]. Brian and I usually cracked a beer by noon and would polish off quite a few by dinner [wine] time. Which would go late in to the night with poker [and spirits]. The days were filled with relaxing along the river, firing off a few rounds, fishing, and more drinking. The time there was perfect for me to come down to earth, yet it still feels so surreal being in another part of the world. Come monday, I was quite relaxed, and actually happy to be coming back to Mainz. 

Uni has been picking up quite a bit of pace. Photography is still on the backburner as the main project isn't until we go away to Hungary on June 7. Illustration was a bit of a drag as I could not come up with a concept, but Adrienne saved the day and now I'm pretty confident...It's drinking the WATER! [sorry for the personal joke, but it has to do with the Water Drinking Bird...Simpsons...nuff said]. The sort of main subject at this point in time is Essential Film Society. The class has decided to organise a movie night based around the theme of 'Invasion' and we're holding it in less than 2 weeks. The promotion side of it is in full swing. It began a few weeks ago where we posted images of a space invader [from the game{logo}] around the campus, followed by posters which slowly reveal information about the night over the coming weeks. Jane, Age, and I just put up a massive invader in the foyer, each pixel was 30x30cm made from black card. Pictures will be posted up soon, but for now 

http://essentialfilmsociety.blogspot.com/

Catch up on Amsterdam and Berlin soon.

to be continued...

N.B. I typed this about 3 weeks ago and didn't post as hadn't resized pics yet...

to see more photos go HERE

Oops

Getting a while between posts but there is an update coming soon...at least before the end of April :)

Early settler

Well it's been quite a while between posts but there hasn't been too much to report. The first few weeks was all a bit of a blur so I'm glad I got it down (also a lot of partying!). But I find now things are starting to feel a bit more normal, well as normal as can be when living in another country. I was cooking myself a big ol' steak the other night, thinking that I was starting to feel comfortable and can develop some sort of normal routine. Afterwards I translated the packaging and turns out I was eating Swine Cervical Steak...yum! Anyway the point is that I'm settled in and really enjoying myself...even if things aren't what they first seem.

Classes have finally started and I'm excited as hell! The basic translations for my classes are; Illustration - everyone is amazing at drawing, I'm hoping to improve my skills...alot; Essential Film Society - a group based subject where we create an event/movie night and organise everything from the films being shown, promotions, location etc, and; Photography - obviously the subject I am most looking forward to and hoping to get a massive body of work from. We are going on a photo shoot to Hungary for a week at the end of May which I'm really looking forward to. The last subject is German, which has been going for 2 weeks already and a barrel of fun. The teacher is really helpful too so hope to learn quite a bit while I'm here.

Yesterday I went along with a group of Erasmus students to Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (history museum) in Beethoven's home town of Bonn. It was great to see photos and memorabilia from post WWII Germany up until the present. Though there were some horrific photographs from the camps, made me feel quite ill. Afterwards about half of us stayed around to see a few of the sights. It was pretty late in the day so we didn't get to see much but from what we did see it was a beautiful city and I think I will go back there again soon and make a day of it. 

Now that I have settled in and have all my classes locked in I can finally start to make travel plans. I booked flights to Berlin today for the end of this month. Am planning to do a lot of sightseeing around Germany but also have quite a few other places which I want to visit such as Turkey, UK, Spain, France, Sweden, Denmark, and of course The Netherlands (Amsterdam...should be quite fun). Bis Bald!

Fully Sick

Yuuuuuk! Yesterday I woke up and I was violently ill. I am not going to divulge any disgusting details but lets just say it was quite uncomfortable. This was after saturday which was the riverboat party, a day for all the new local and international students to get to know each other. It was 5 euros and the day started at 2pm on campus. We kicked it off with some drinking games, and a hell of a lot of free alcohol. From there we went to the other campus to have some dinner and more alcohol. Then at 8pm we stepped on to the boat and from there the night goes a little bit shady. The next thing I remember is getting off the boat at 1am. From there, some boys I had befriended that day, Joao, Alvaro (both from Spain) and Stanislas (from France), took me to this strange little bar tucked away somewhere (we now have no idea how we got there or how to find it again). The inside was decorated with white bubble wrap, some sections you could fold back the walls and there would be more hidden rooms with projectors playing random images on the walls. Also, the guy who designed the bar was there so we were hanging out with him and he showed us some more hidden little rooms which we would never have found. One was downstairs and the floor was covered in plastic, and underneath was glass which cracked when you stepped on it. Weird, but uber chic! Also, the best bit about the bar was you got to choose how much you wanted to pay for beers, so we paid about 3 euros for a few rounds. Needless to say it was quite the night.

On Friday Jane, Adrienne and I went to Frankfurt for the day. It was great timing because their newest addition to the city was this gigantic shopping complex with what looked like a glass vortex built through the middle. It looked fantastic from the outside and from the inside it was like something M.C. Escher would have designed. 

Mainz so far

Well I've been here for just over a week and so far so good. Although today I woke up with a major cold, hardcore blocked nose and feeling rather poo so I took it upon myself to stay in bed all day and watch movies. This of course has nothing to do with the copious amounts of alcohol consumed in the last week, last night included.

I haven't actually started my studies yet (subject enrollments are next week) but already I am loving Mainz. It's not as big as I first gathered, which is good because finding my way around isn't too difficult. I have been walking the streets every day to try and find my bearings and am finding it easier each day. Each trip I try to walk a different path and seem to always end up in the Altstadt, which is a beautiful area and seems to bring about something different each day. Except on Sunday, where practically every shop is closed for family day. The only shops which are open are little kebab or pretzel shops. Handy for snacking but inconvenient if you need milk or any other supplies.

So last thursday night turned out to be quite fun. We went to a bar called Quartier Mayence for my tutor, Kati's, birthday. There I also got the chance to meet Eva, head of TOM(Tutors of Mainz), her fiancee Kristian, and a few of their other friends. Jane, Adrienne and I hit it off really well with them so Eva and Kristian offered to have birthday drinks for me at their house on saturday night. Another great night! We sat around in their apartment for hours, drinking just about anything and smoking sheisha (black grape is the beast flavour). Afterwards we stumbled out of the tram back to Jane and Age's, where on the way we met another group of foreigners. A mix of French, German, and Lithuanian, and they happened to be staying one floor above the girls. So we went back with them and partied in their kitchen to the wee hours of the morning. Turned out to be a great 22nd birthday. 

Friday night we went to a club recommended to us called Funfzig Grad (50 degrees). Was pretty expensive entry but the drinks were cheap, the music was good (deep progressive house), but turns out friday nights tend to attract a younger crowd, namely 18 year olds and younger. But still, a ripper of a night. We met these randoms on the way out, Dennis and Tobi, who were good for a chat until the tram arrived for the girls. My bus wasn't coming for 2 hours (as it was close to 5am), so I was going to walk home but the lads would hear nothing of it. They put me in a taxi and even paid for it! How's that! Needless to say we're now facebook buddies, ha!

As Wednesday's are Uni night, Georgia, Jane, Adrienne, myself and 2 of Georgia's friends went to 50grad. It was quite a different crowd from Friday, and the music wasn't so good (black music[what we call R'n'B]), but it was good to dance to. Turns out the girls in Germany approach boys - a lot. Best news ever! 

Touchdown

Woooo Hooo! Finally after a massive flight I have arrived in my new home town for the next few months, Mainz. After Singapore I had a quick stopover in Heathrow, such an amaying Airport. It was absolutely ginormous and pretty futuristic. Definitely going back to visit while in this part of the world.
When I got to Frankfurt airport I was met by Georgia, one of my friends from Melbourne who has already spent a 6 months in Mainz and decided to stay on for another semester. We had to catch the train from the airport to the Hauptbahnhof (main train station). As soon as I stepped out I had a smile the size of a Grandioso Parma. Mainz is such an amazing town. I've already taken lots of photos and will promptly post up once I have the Internet at my appartment. It is a pretty decent sized room, big enough for one person and already I have made a friend on the same floor.
Last night Jane, Adrienne and I (two other mates from Swinburne who arrived on Monday) went to Aldi's for some groceries and made our own dinner. I pretty much passed out afterwards as I was so tired from my flights. My tutor emailed me today and coincidentally it is her birthday so tonight it looks like we will be having a little party in Altstadt (old city). We went there today and had a Turkish Kebab with Erich (our design/exchange coordinator) as he said it was the best place for Kebabs in Mainz (of course they're the best...they are Turkish!)

Stopover in Singapore

So turns out free booze and high altitudes equals lots of fun! Stuck in Singapore for a few hours while the stewards come in and clean up the mess and the plane refuels. British Airways are really, really good. The touch screen individual movie screens are f*ing sick, especially being able to choose what you want to watch. Anyway, just a quick update, I think the next leg of the trip is going to be the biggest slog, close to 20 hour flight...eeek. First Heathrow, then Frankfurt.

Leaving Australia

After an amazing weekend of non stop partying and sad goodbyes, I'm just about ready to leave. Just did my online check-in with less than 24 hours until I depart. Have packed all my bags and think it's just on the limit of 23kg...phew! Not much else to say other than 'Goodbye Melbourne!!! I'm going to miss you'

Virgin Post

Blog cherry...POPPED!!!

And it didn't even hurt. This is just a quick post to say HELLO and welcome to my very own blog spot.

This is quite a momentous period of my life as I am about to embark on an amazing exchange program through my University, Swinburne, with a cousin campus in Mainz, Germany. With less than two weeks before I depart I am starting to get a little nervous as I don't know a word of German. I'm sure I'll be able to pick up the basics while I'm there.