SPLENDOOOOURRR GRRRR

SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS 2013. Oh yeh, I was there. Rumour has it, it's Australia's biggest festival of the year.

So Siobhan, Tim and I hired a WICKED camper-van for the weekend. No, not wicked as in I'm using this word to be cool. Wicked as in the name of the infamous camper-van company. Little did we know, they're well known for painting their vans something like this...

Thats the driver there, happy as anything, ready to head back to Byron Bay. We were landed with the Grand Theft Auto van, classy. Three in a bed, kitchen in the boot, and an engine that sounds like it's ready to die at any moment. It was brilliant. I honestly think that travelling Australia in a camper would be the funnest way to do it. Especially when theres two blonde chicks driving a van which looks like it's been painted by a teenage boy caught up in a video game.

The music at Splendour was amazing. Quality music all round. Alt J, Haim (who I have been dying to see live), Of Monsters and Men, Alison Wonderland, Flume, Empire of the Sun, Mumford and Sons...just to name a few. I have to say Haim where a highlight purely because of their enormous talent vocally and musically. It made me wish I took up the drums when I was younger like I planned to. I think mum was a bit concerned about the noise it would cause.

All of us were working as volunteers, which gave us a free wristband to the festival. Picking up trash turned out to be fun when you were being offered drinks and watching bands. It's the way to go if you can't afford a festival! Also, you get your own 'Vollie HQ' where you can make food, shower, socialise and like me, make porridge at 2am because you're that addicted to it. Shame that it exploded in the microwave. Another highlight has to be watching a grown woman wet herself in public, in front of me, with no shame. Urine came flooding out of her and I really did not know what I was witnessing for a moment. Is she about to give birth? Am I imagining this? Can anyone else see it? Oh no, she's just pissed herself because she's smashed. 

Siobhan and I giggled our way through the trip whilst old man Tim stayed in the van and slept. I don't think the German was quite prepared for Splendour. Tensions were a bit high at times and I definitely found out that Germany and England have larger cultural differences than expected. But I won't go into that here, because most of the time Splendour was spent like this:

Happy.

It's funny how you just click with certain personalities. Not to get soppy, but I always think it's special when you find someone you get on with so easily and comfortably. Fair enough you might have a lot of friends, but theres only ever a handful which you can say are actually 'you're type of person'. I feel like I've known Siobhan for years already, when it's only been three weeks. Luckily we only live 10 minutes away from each other in England. Bizarre. 

So that's the SPLENDOUR ADVENTURE for ya.

Delayed check in

It seems I have been slacking a bit with my updates, so there is a lot to catch up on;

BYRON BAY! Yes we went to the magical little bubble of happiness revolving around surfing, drinking and sleeping. Everyone on this island seemed so content with their lives and were the most relaxed people I have ever met. Mind you, when you're living on this:

why wouldn't you be?

I had a skydive planned, against mum's wishes, but luckily for her it got cancelled. Bit of a disappointment, but there will be plenty of opportunities to do that. We met a lot of the 'Gold Coast' students on this trip and it seems they are a bit more cooler than everyone here on Nathan Campus. The herd of Americans I had been searching for live there along with the beach that I want to wake up to every day.

This weekend I am heading back to Byron Bay for 'Splendour in the Grass' festival. Me, Siobhan and Tim are hiring a camper-van (200 bucks each OUCCCCH), driving down and doing some volunteering work in order to gain a wristband. Hopefully it'll be sunny so whilst I am moaning and picking up litter I'll be catching a tan. Knowing Brisbane and it's temperamental mood swings at the moment it will probably rain. It's all part of the fun! That 200 bucks just on a camper-van is bugging me though, so yesterday I gave out a bunch of CVs and fingers crossed something will come of it.

CLASS HAS BEGUN.

Being the new kid sucks and is such an odd feeling. It's like you have a bug on your face and nobody wants to come near you, apart from the brave few. Gradually people start to talk to you and ask questions which makes everything a lot easier, rather than standing there looking like billy no mates.

It seems Australian Theatre has this huge battle with itself about identity and self discovery. To me it seems a bit over the top and to be honest I reckon they should just get on with it and make some cool theatre. There was a lot of 'new country' talk and 'we hate Britain' comments, awkward when I began to speak in a British accent.

I guess this is all part of the challenge when you study abroad, and I'm hoping in the long run it'll pay off. 13 weeks of lectures to go, then I'm free to do whatever I want. For now, it's 8.20 am and I need to catch the bus to my 'writing for performance' lecture. To go and be the kid with the bug on her face again.

See ya

Possums and Goon

So the title has some reflection on the past couple of days here in Brissy....

I was walking back to my flat when I saw, what I thought was, a Koala bear. Obviously this led to me prancing around like an excited tourist. Until I was told it was actually one of these:

The Possum. Australia's rodent which is apparently a bit snappy at times. It looks quite cute in the picture but what you can't see is the long creepy tail which follows. I still like them, it reminds me I'm on the other side of the world where creatures like this roam the bushes. Not forgetting Turkeys of course, they are everywhere! You'll find them crossing the road with you!

Onto the 'Goon'; Australia's infamous cheap alcoholic beverage consisting of dirty sour wine. Well, thats what the red tastes like, the white isn't too traumatic. It comes in a foil bag which is placed inside cardboard wine crates, perfect to guzzle down if you're in a rush, not so perfect if you're trying to impress anyone. Our first flat party went a little something like this:

...and the spillage of Goon ended up with me a little something like:

The hairdryer had to come out, it was essential. Us international students have formed a rather nice family all in the space of 2-3 days. It's funny how we forget that it is possible to connect with people who might not initially have anything in common with you, and may seem like the kind of people you don't usually hang out with. They are the ones that usually turn out the most interesting and diverse. It's crazy how we have people from Germany, Italy, France, South Korea, England, America and Denmark all sitting in the same tiny room. It's also strange that even though all these nationalities are present, everyone can speak English. It almost makes me feel stupid that these people can speak and write and pronounce the language perfectly, yet I know just the one. I wish I had made more effort with taking languages seriously. But, it's never too late!

My eyes are closing and the screen is becoming blurry which tells me I need to get to my bed. 6am alarm set as we are off to Byron Bay in the morning, can't wait!

OVER AND OUT 

Australia's 'Winter'...

I made it!

I'M HERE! The eight week countdown quickly vanished and now I find myself sitting in my new flat in Brisbane.  I arrived at about 10pm and since have found out who my flat mates are, demolished a pizza, and began to un pack.

So far I have only met one on my flatmates who is indeed AUSTRALIAN! Her name is Naomi and she is truly lovely. Thankfully she's a bit of a gym freak like me and so I'll have some motivation to keep myself healthy whilst I'm out here. I feared being lumbered in a flat of all internationals as they do back home at my university, but I was proved wrong when I found out I will in fact be living with quite a few Aussies.

The flat is surprisingly nice and I've even got a king single bed! I know your probably thinking 'great, well done, clap clap', but I have never ever had anything bigger than a standard single. Not so luxurious is the bathroom, one shower shared between eight people and two toilets. To be fair it isn't bad at all, and we have weekly inspections so it has to be kept clean.

So it's nearly 1.30 am here and it's 4.25pm at home. I think I might try to sleep so that tomorrow can be a cracker. Up early to get some food, a phone, bus pass, gym pass and all the boring bits in between.

I'll have more detailed updates and stories coming soon, but for now G'DAY MATE.