In the land of Oz

27 facts about Aussies and their lifestyle

1. Don't mock the accent...hey!
2. Aussies are layed back and fun to hang out with, however, I noticed that relationships often present themselves as superficial...at least here at Bond Uni
3. They love to drink, but they are not really good at it. Either they are just not used to it or they are all leightweights. Anyways considering the prices of alcohol this isn't a bad thing!
4. They love a good barbie (BBQ)
5. Aussies do not like drama and are mindful about other people, still direct and outgoing though.
6. G'day mate! They are always up for small talk, wherever you go people will ask you about your day and how you've been. Don't you dare not chatting with the cashier about god and the world.
7. Australians are obsessed with staying healthy. There is no 'too early' when it comes to working out, as a matter of fact go to the gym at 6am and I guarantee you it will be packed with ridiculously skinny and fit people.
8. There is no real national cuisine, they love good food and have some really nice and fancy restaurants but there's nothing particularly Australian to the food. Well except if you order a kangaroo steak...
9. There are however, some products which can defo be related to Australia: TimTam, Vegemite, pies... (kinda similiar to English habits)
10. No worries!
11. Lots of natives haven't been to the places international students and travellers came here for. I know Australians who have never been to Ayers Rock or Cairns. Whaaaat?!
12. Humpty Doo, Mugdbeera, Burrumbuttock... are totally reasonable names for towns...NOT?!
13. At the Gold Coast dressing up is a must for nights out. Often too short, too bright and too tight it reminds me of England, however, there are also many stylish people running around here. Even in daytime most people dress up, or just pay attention to their looks.
14. Bright colors! Girls at the Gold Coast love their clothes to be bright and to show flesh.
15. Where are the hippies we all expected? Sorry to disappoint you but if you imagined hippies and surferboys to be the norm you were wrong, just like me! It really depends on where you go in Australia, styles differ from city to city!
16. Hot pal? Well I cannot deny there are some good looking guys to be spotted at the beach, some bars or sometimes at Uni, but the hotties do not tend to go out in surfer's or hang out around Robina.
17. They earn a shitload of money! And they need to...considering the prices. Everything is so expensive down under, from alcohol, to food, to clothes, living here without having a job will get you broke in no time!
18. There is no I in the word Australia
19. Sushi is cheap!! Dream come true, saving me money and getting me through the first weeks of not wanting to cook...
20. Australian television is different! Lots of advertisement and news... oh and of course there is Home and Away.
21. Thongs are shoes! Duh, what did you think of, you little piggies?!
22. Names have to be shortened or you're not a friend... (My name's Cathy btw)
23. The plural of you is youse
24. Ants, cockroaches and flies in your kitchen...normal thing ain't it?
25. Train or bus timetables do not exist, and if so the drivers are not aware of it. Seriously I have never seen a bus here arriving or leaving at the indicated time. Pain in the ass if you have to wait over half an hour for the bus which totally comes every 10 minutes...or so!
26. Toast is bread and does not need to be toasted! Ugh the ones not coming from Australia, England or America will get why I do not understand that eating habit! Actually one of the things I miss most is real bread (that doesn't cost 10$ a loaf), croissants, buns, pains au chocolat... oh you lovely bakeries!
27.  Having a pool, spa, bbq and fitness area in the living complex is normal even for student accomodations (I like the way you're thinking Australia)

Here's the national anthem in case you're interested...I think it's a beautiful one!

 kisses from down under!

sweaty days, annoying assignments

This weather is killing me...

 

I know I shouldn't complain about the weather in Australia, with us having around 27 degrees and most of you guys dealing with sweater weather already. However, I really do miss those days where you can just sit on the couch, a blanket wrapped around you and having a nice cup of tea..without sweating your ass off! Don't get me wrong! I do love summer and everything that comes with it, but I find it hard to enjoy the heat without the sun. Since a few days (maybe even weeks) it is incredibly muggy at the Gold Coast, the sun is playing hide and seek with the clouds, unfortunately the extreme heat doesn't vanish once the sun is gone. Out of nowhere it can start raining, which at times is a relief, but makes it really hard to enjoy days off... As the weather is so unpredictable I haven't been to the beach or pool in quite a while (not that I have time to do that anyways). In the evenings or early mornings it is raining cats and dogs, which is not that bad as it cools off a bit and I can actually sleep without tossing and turning all night long.




Seeing that I got much on my plate anyways (uni-wise) you might think that this weather would be convenient for me to not get distracted...well yes and no! Yes because as I said going to the pool or beach has become a rarity. No because it is boiling hot in my room and I am so close to just melting away. I often go to the library only to enjoy the benefits of air conditioning, which also helps my studying, but for some of my assignments I cannot leave my room. The specific assignment we're talking about is my podcast for digital media. My task is to write a script about censorship and make it informative but also intersting for my audience. Sounds fun, and it is! I love the idea of working with new software and learning more practical media stuff. However, in order to create a podcast of good quality, you must find a place where you can record as undisturbed by any kind of noise as possible.
I have tried several places outside because I liked the idea of recording in nature, which is supposed to be calm and relaxing...bollocks! Those insects and other animals living in Australia are anything but quiet! (Sometimes I wake up only because of one tiny bird screaming his head off on my balcony). So I quickly got rid of that idea and tried out the library. Main library is not a possibility, as there are way too many talkative students, who would be better off studying but choose to come to the library to chat with their friends and drink coffee all day long. So I tried out those silent study rooms, which aren't too bad but every now and then there's somebody walking past in their thongs making more noise than a herd of horses... So I decided to barricade myself in my room and record the whole thing there. I did the script writing in the library of course, and thought how hard can it be to spend some hours in a tiny room when you're distracted by work? VERY! Problem is that I have no air conditioning in my room and in order to have the best possible quality I must reduce the noise to a limit, so opening windows or doors is not an option! Better get it over with as quick as possible then... well after already one day of recording in my room I found out that it is not as quiet as one thought it might be. I never realised this before but there is so much noise around you the whole day! I live with 3 other people in a house and I cannot expect them to not talk or move around while I'm doing my thing, but as it never disturbed me so far, I didn't think it would matter that much. I was wrong! Every now and then it's quiet and I get a bit done, but then all of a sudden when you think you're actually getting somewhere, someone is making food and what it seems juggling with those plates, or hoovering the floor...even just sneezing makes you want to throw your laptop at somebody for ruining the record. I know this sounds a bit extreme, but believe me if you're stuck in the same tiny room all day, sweating your butt off to get something done and realise that at the end of the day the recordings are just average and not even close to finished, there is no way you don't turn into a sad little fury.

Conclusion: If there's a heat wave you just shouldn't be forced to study or work at all! No seriously I'll probably stop sitting in my room all day to study because that will make me sad and grumpy and my surrounding will have to suffer for it... So I'll try those silent study rooms at uni again, maybe I can sneak into the law library because somehow I imagine those people not wearing thongs and being quiet around one another. I'll find a solution, perfect recording isn't possible anyways and I shouldn't expect too much because with such a noisy laptop there is no way I'll be satisfied with the result anyways. If anyone with heaps of money reads this, feel free to sponsor me by buying me a mac, I would really appreciate the gesture! ;-) No for real now, I'll do my best as I have done so far and I'll just hope it will result in good marks.

Thanks for reading, I'll keep you posted! xxx

home is where your heart is

 feet may leave a place, the heart does not

Three months ago I came to Australia, excited, nervous and open minded. I did not realize at any moment of the journey that after my parents will leave, I will have another 4 months left in this amazing country. I did not want to overthink it, so I just ignored it. Now, months after my first day in Robina, the frighting few hours of moving into the villa in the shores, the exciting first encounters with other international students, I must say that up until now I still wasn't fully aware of me having settled in! Yes, I've been enjoying life down under, seen many beautiful places and extraordinary animals, I made friends and I met some people I just can't cope with, I had good moments and bad ones, from smiling from ear to ear, to crying my soul out...I had it all and I'm glad I did. I live here now, I settled in...the thing is, now that I come to the conclusion how much I got used to this place and how it became yet another home for me, I have to leave in less than 4 weeks! Ironic isn't it?

As a matter of fact, it is not the first time something like this happens to me. As a human being infected by Wanderlust, I've got a few places I would call my home! First is of course Luxembourg, to be more specific Beringen! I love it, I miss it and would never trade my hometown for any other city. I'm happy that I grew up in this tiny town, the people know each other, my whole family lives there and it is the place I spend most time at. Of course it also my home because of the people I grew up with. Family is home, so I guess wherever I would met up with them it would feel like home, because it is the only place where one can be exactly himself without fearing rejection. Then there are my friends, the ones it seems that I'd always known such as Sharon my best and oldest friend, but also those who gained a place in my heart later on in my life (JvB I guess I mean you guys).

At the age of 20 I went to Costa Rica for a month. I know, four weeks don't seem like an awful lot of time, but it depends on how intense the time is you spend at a place, and believe me those were four intense and amazing weeks! I lived in host family, sharing a room with two other girls and the house with several other volunteers. As we were all there for the same reasons, to see more of the world, experience other cultures and help children. We shared the same values and interests, I guess you can imagine that we all got along very well. The house immediatly became a home, our host mother's cooking skills were amazing, the whole family seemed so happy and friendly, and those friends I made over there...let's just say: good people! I loved every bit of this journey and Samara has a special place in my heart, just as much as Chinampas where I teached English to 20 adorable and sweet kids. They may have been used to different volunteers coming up there and leaving again, but every day they were excited to see our faces once more, to learn from us and more importantly talk to us. I could get used to doing this for a very long time, and I think that's already indicating that Samara became yet another home for me.

After my A-levels (or as we call it: 1ère) I moved to England, to study at Kingston University in London, eager to learn, to grow up and have fun. Living in student accomodations has been a challenge, its tiny rooms drive you insane at times and I cannot tell you how much I hated this impractical kitchen or minuscule bathroom. My flatmates turned out to be nice, but moving in with people you have never met in your life, into such a small space...that is something very frightning! It turned out to be okay, not that bad actually. I got along with my flatmates, we weren't exactly what you would call best friends but we talked to each other and I liked them. It was just as the rooms: okay, I guess. Hold on. If it was only 'okay' and bearable, why would I call this home? I lived there for a year: I studied there, celebrated my birthday, had long skyping sessions, cried because of uni stress, bursted out laughing because of a stupid movie, got homesick, had friends staying over and enjoyed living on my own for the first time. I lived there, enough said! All in all, it was an experience and even though I would never choose  to move in there again, I know that if I would go back now and step into that hallway, it would feel as if nothing had changed. It would feel like coming home...to my tiny room, way too small bed, awful carpet, annoyingly cold shower and those horrible fire alarms going off in the middle of the night (well in the morning, but I'm a student hey!).

All of these experiences made me come to the conclusion that home does not have to be a place, it can be a memory and remembering emotions or situations, it just makes you feel alive and like you belong somewhere. Memories are always related to feelings and if there were only one or two happy situations you can link to a place, it means that it somehow gained a place in your heart and head. Isn't that what we all want? Something to remember, to back someday and tell our stories, the places we've seen, the people we've met... In the end I want to be able to say that my home cannot be located to one place, it is the world and its people.

Credits for that last sentence, and all in all for inspiring me on writing something like this, go to my sister, Jill, who has made this statement a million times before me, 'die Welt ist mein Zuhause'. My family likes to travel, especially my grand-ma who is always touring the world, and I guess this desire to see more of this planet comes from that side of the family, even though the other side was also very interested in other cultures. However, I think that my sister was my biggest influence, we always had a strong bond and I guess it is normal for younger sister to look up at older ones and kind of imitate them. So yeah, I think my sister definitely encouraged me to become so fond of travelling and I'm thankful for that.

Anyways, there's a new home waiting already...GVSU! I hope it will be just as good as the one I found at the Gold Coast. Not yet sure whether I'm sad to leave this place or excited to start somewhere new. We'll see, all I know is despite all those lovely places I haven been and yet have to see, at times I really do miss home home and cannot wait to get comfy and see those familiar faces I miss most once I'm back 'home'. (Nothing and nobody can beat childhood memories)

until then, lots of kisses from far far away!

Get on it!

The Kin in concert

Kisshead, the Kin, Janina and I after the show

On Wednesday Janina and I drove over to Brisbane, picked up a friend of hers on our way and had dinner together at a nice restaurant. I treated myself with a yummy steak as the restaurant was known for their grilled food, and I know this may sound totally random but most students will understand why I'm pointing this out as meat is so expensive and students just can't afford to have it that often, or simply can't bother to cook something which needs to taste amazing to be actually worth buying it... Anyways, after our little treat Janina and I headed off to Alhambra Lounge where a concert of the kin was about to take place, we bought our tickets earlier on and even though neither of us knew a lot about the band or their songs we were excited to finally attend a concert after all this time in Australia. The reason why we went there was mostly because Janina knows the father of the two singers, as she has worked for their father's company a few years ago in Melbourne and still keeps in contact with the family. So he pointed out to her that she was more than welcome to come by and as she is very much into music herself she was happy to do so, and she asked me to come along which I'm glad about because it turned out to be one of the best nights down under I had so far.
Kisshead was first to perform, playing a range of cover songs and some of her own songs, and I've got to say she has an amazing voice! Next was the band slip of stereo and those guys totally rocked the stage, making the audience dance and sing along to songs most of us didn't even know. And then finally it was time for the kin to perform.

They recently toured with Pink and, as they announced that evening, have the honour to go on tour with her once again this year. They're not that famous yet but after what I've seen that night in Brisbane in that tiny hipster lounge, they definitely have the potential to be headliners sooner or later! They just released their album Get on It so that's also what their tour throughout Australia was called and they have some great songs, amazing voices and skills so the night was a huge success and I'm glad I've got to see them for only 15 dollars (believe me one day you'll have to pay much more to see those guys)!

For me a highlight of the show was the two singers stepping off the stage and asking the audience to gather around them in a circle, they then performed two of my favourite songs Mary and Abraham in an acoustic version and so close to their fans. The whole ambience was great and the band seemed very layed back and happy to be there.

After the concert, Janina and I talked for a little while to the singers' father and to Kisshead, until the band appeared again to talk to their fans and take pictures with them. Later on they came to us and asked Janina about why she knows their father and so we got into a conversation with them and stayed a little while to chat. They were so nice to us, invited us to their next shows in America as I told them that my next destination will be Michigan and gave us free band shirts and their newest album. All in all really layed back and friendly guys so check out their music!

Here's a video from the show Janina made:

enjoy!

and also very IMPORTANT: don't forget to check out Janina's music as well, she has an album coming out in February (German Pop Music and a lovely voice & personality) so like her facebook page JA Nina and stay updated!