UniSA International Orientation

Check it out! I'm in a few of the clips running/walking around in the water.

Look for the pale pale skin!

Ceramics

I had my first day of school today and it was terrifying. You'd think that at a certain point you'd start to feel less nervous. But new school, new country, new class, new people, unfamiliar discipline - they all come together to create feelings of nervousness.

Today I started my first class, Ceramic Production Techniques, at my third university as a part of my second degree.  numbers. I dunno but they seem swirl in my head a lot these days.

Ok so we as Canadians consider ourselves friendly people. In fact, anyone who's traveled can attest that our general reputation is that of being friendly. Let me tell you, the Ozzies trump us hard core! As I was looking for my class someone who saw me looking a little lost came up and asked if I was looking for ceramics and then pointed me in the right direction. Friendly encounter 1. Then as I went into the ceramics studio, the only other person who arrived early said "Hi, How you going?" (The Oz way of saying how are you?) as soon as I walked in. As did most everyone else who arrived after. Friendly encounter 2. Then the head of ceramics came and welcomed us at the beginning of the class and introduced us to our instructor and gave us contact details. She made herself so approachable it was amazing! Friendly encounter 3. This all within about 15 minutes.

So class got off to a happy friendly start. And then the reality of what I was doing set in. So here's my list of pros and cons for my first UniSA course

Cons:
-art supplies are expensive and since I came so poorly prepared I will have to spend some money on basic tools as well as the materials needed; clay and glazing (I didn't bring any art supplies with me. None! I will have to buy a 3rd pair of protective workshop glasses - ugh)
-I will not be good at this. Probably not for a while. I will try to be patient with myself
-I don't know how to approach sketching ideas if I have no idea what kind of skill level I'll have

Pros
-I get to play with terra cotta clay very Monday!
-I don't have to worry about how good I am at it cause I just have to pass to get credit at Ryerson
-I get to work with my hands and do something physical rather than purely visual
-I get to play with clay!
-I get to play with Clay!
-I GET TO PLAY WITH CLAY!!

So despite being quite scared that I'll never be able to master the pottery wheel never mind produce 4 pourers (pitchers) and 4 bowls (project 1), plus a collection of objects (project 3)

Interior Architecture Studio class tomorrow- wish me luck!

Hot Weekend

So Friday was the opening night of the Adelaide Fringe Festival. Living downtown, I had no idea how many people actually live in the Adelaide area and its like they all came out for this parade. This parade was different than any I had been to before though. First of all its was an evening parade beginning at 8pm. You could never do that because of weather in Canada but here, 8:30pm and the temperature was still well into the high 20s at least. Add crowds and no doubt everyone was sweating. The other thing that was different was that it was one sided. What I mean by that is that people were meant to watch it from only one side - and I was on the wrong side. It seems the fringe here is largely cabaret and circus influenced and that came out in the parade. Here are a few shots from the parade. (the night time lighting made it difficult to photograph but I did my best)

In Canada we have horses, here they had camels in the parade

People climbed on anything to get a good view

Dragon like "float"

Parade from the backside

The large majority of the parade was little kids showing off circus tricks, some of which were impressive but it looked like a few different circus academies were being represented. I'm sure it would have been better had I been on the other side but I have to admit that I was not all the impressed. It did get me thinking though. I'm not sure I've ever actually been to a parade that was great. I mean what exactly is good about a parade? Maybe you can leave me a comment with your thoughts on Parades.

Regardless, my friends eventually found me and since the barricades wouldn't let us get to one another we decided to leave and hang out. There were many festivities going on that night so we headed to campus for the Grand Opening of the UniSA CityWest campus pub.

These were set up in the outdoor "beer garden-like" section of the pub so we embraced the given photo opportunity here L-R: Me, Tansi, Matteo, Gerald, Jazz

Carmen and Fan

Outdoor pub space

Cardboard stools everywhere!

Saturday at the Beach

The next day, my friends and I had plans to go to the beach again. Since the forecast was 39degrees, we decided it would be safer for our skin if we went a bit later in the day. So around 3pm we headed to Grange Beach which is about 45 mins on the tram away but is literally and the end of the tram line and super easy to get to. Gorgeous is an understatement and Hot doesn't even begin to describe it!

Glenelg Beach!

Yup I really am here!

This is Vicky, my flat mate from Hong Kong

Wedding Pictures on the pier

Fishing for Crabs

People jumping off the pier into the water below

the view from the pier

Open water and endless sky

Can you see us? we're right in front of the twisty slides

All you can see is beach melting into the ocean

The sun begins to set- that's mine and Matteo's shadows

 

 

After the sun set we got ready to go but as we came up from the beach there was a stretch of grass laid out in front of a saxophonist playing beautifully. It just begged us to stay... so we did.

I'll leave you with these images of my life here to date.

Tomorrow I start school.

Wish me luck!

Good Day

Today was a good day. I got a lot accomplished and tied up a few loose ends which always feels good. I got my health care sorted out. Now typically this is something you sort out prior to leaving home. And I thought I had. However, to save some money (approx. $340 AUD) I decided to come on a Work Holiday Visa instead of a Student Visa. Now I reviewed all the conditions and triple checked with the Australian Embassy to ensure that I was eligible and everything was fine. What I didn't check was the fine print on the "mandatory" Overseas Student Health Coverage. It is mandatory. For students. On a Student Visa. and only those on a Student Visa are eligible. I discovered my error on my 5th day here. So the last week has entailed many phone calls, meetings, lots of research, emails back and forth, help from my parents, a few tears of frustration, and finally several solutions. Everything moves a whole lot slower when business hours don't line up too. But this morning, with the generous help of my boyfriend, I finally called my provider and purchased health insurance to cover the remainder of my trip. And get this! after I receive my refund for OSHC, I'll have actually saved an additional $100 AUD!

Next I had meeting with one of the companies I am working for based out of Vancouver. I don't know exactly how I've arranged my life like so but I have multiple sources of income, all based in Canada, the have agreed to let me work remotely for them. This morning's meeting was with Once A Tree Furniture, with whom I interned after my first year of design school. They have beautiful stuff which you can check out here.  So after a short meeting, I was set up to start some of the work for them. Working remotely often takes longer to set up but can be very beneficial in the long run. Check!

Next I did some work for my other boss, Prof. Catherine Dowling of Ryerson's Interior Design Program. I am her Research Assistant for the semester and thankfully she was also open to me working for her from Australia. Skype is one of my best friends out here for many reasons! No meeting with her this morning but I did some of my own work on the subject.  I find it so interesting and a complete collision of my former career and my future career. I love the topic but I admit that I'm having trouble making myself just sit down and read the articles. I never was great at just sitting down and reading for hours unless its a novel and totally unrelated to school. But I will persevere! The project is still in its infancy but we are studying how design and physical involvement affect education and learning. So the idea of Kinesthetic Learning and how we can design the built environment to facilitate a hands on learning environment that gets the whole body much more involved. So we're studying both school design and curriculum design. Its still very open so I'll get to have a lot of influence over the direction of the research. Its also focused on Japan cause that's of personal interest to my professor.So I've been reading articles on everything form the science of how our brains and bodies work, to the study of children's development with toys. Its all actually very fascinating and I keep finding myself drifting into tangents around how to encourage creativity and the issues with our systems of evaluation in education. Tons to sink my teeth into.

Next I headed out for some errands. A few quick stops that also tied up some ends. So rewarding when you can check something off your list for good!

The weather has been really hot here. I'm talking around 36-39 degrees with a very high UV level. So I have to admit, I'm kinda hiding from the sun a bit and holding out for next week when temperatures are supposed to be in the 29-32 range. Trying to take advantage of the extreme temperatures, I spent the rest of the day working for both of the above companies and followed that with some cooking in my kitchen. I skipped out on going out tonight cause I've been out almost everyday and just needed a night to myself.

No grand exploring today but very productive and I'm a happy girl.

Miss you and love hearing from all of you!

Sunny Stroll

First to follow up from where I left off. I went to play basketball yesterday with some friends. Now I have had to come to terms with something in my life. I am not a particularly athletic person. I've never wanted to be lumped in with the girls who can't play sports and are really bad at it, but I need to face the facts. I am one of them. No really I am and its ok. For years I was dancing and thus of course athletic in my own right. I was very fit and am the first to argue that dancers are athletes. That being said, when it comes to almost any traditional sport I'm just not that good. So then I have a choice. Do I not play because I'm not good and I feel bad for my team every time I miss a pass or miss a basket. Or do I just say to myself, So what? So what if I'm not that good, I'm gonna play anyway and have some fun while I'm at it. And I did. And it was fun. And no one kept score and everyone got passed the ball and we all had some fun. So I am going to embrace my non-athletic, not-that-good-at-sports side and say Who Cares?



Today I decided to explore Adelaide a little bit more. I noticed that a friend of mine had some beautiful scenic pictures of Adelaide and I wanted to see these places for myself. I was about to leave my apartment when I got a call from one of my friends. They had the same idea as me so off we went adventuring together.

This Art installation is found in Rundle Mall near my house and is called "The Mall's Balls"

We wandered onto the University of Adelaide Campus. It has big beautiful old brick buildings, much like you would find at McGill University in Montreal or Harvard University in Boston.

Uni of Adelaide Campus

It looks like a church but its not!

Their student center had this cool plywood construction with all kinds of nooks and crannies where you can study, eat or hang out and lots of assorted fun soft and hard seating.

Do you think if we labelled our garbage "landfill" they way they do it would make anyone think twice about what they throw out?

Beautiful old brick and stone pathways with bridges leading everywhere. 

After we left University of Adelaide campus we headed down to the river that runs through Adelaide, called the Torrens River and into Karrawirra Park. Gorgeous!

Torrens River

Real Life Black Swans!

Gorgeous fountain

Stairs and pathways and lights- what an ambiance!

This is what's on the other side of the Festival Center

Setting up for the Fringe Festival

So I had a wonderful day exploring my new city. When I came home I had mail!! A very special  Thank You goes to Samra and Asher who made me some artwork for the walls. Thanks to CJ for taking the time to pen me a letter. And Thanks to Ryan who sent my first letter which arrived just a few days after I got here!

More adventures in the days to come!

RSID meets UniSAID

Today was my Interior Architecture orientation where I was in with all the first year students who are about to embark on the beginning of a 4 year adventure. I remember those initial days and hours. I remember how terrified I was and uncertain if I belonged or had what it took.

The faculty seem great overall and the head of the faculty reminds me a lot of Prof. Vogal back home.  I also got to meet the profs that will be doing 3rd year studio which I am in. They have also informed me that there is one other exchange student though they seem a bit confused. I've been told her name is Jennifer (or Jenny) and that she is from Napier in Scotland but another professor said she had an American accent. They also think she is in 2nd year classes so really, I don't know.

The building I am in is beautiful and totally breathes the essence of Architecture and Design in its modernity. I tried to capture a few shots of it.

Hallway / Pin Up display space

Studio space that can be opened up to make it larger

concrete, glass and steel

The doors all align just like we learnt in Design History- anyone remember what that's called?

This is the bridge I walk under every day to get to school

Public space artwork <3!

So that's a little taste of my new school. Off to meet some friends to play a little bit of basketball (if we can find somewhere). Ciao!

Share

I'll keep it short and sweet. Here are some photos that my friends took. So credit goes to Matteo, Bertine, and Gerald and a special Thank You for sharing your eye and your photos.

Holding the whole world up!

L-R:  Fan (china), Gerald (italy), Bertine (holland), Me (canada), Matteo (italy), and a Random guy we'd never met who wanted to be in our photo.

I'm hiding! You can't see me behind this tree!

 

 

Bertine and I made dinner together this evening in my apartment. A 2 person potluck of sorts. Yum!

  And another amazing sunset finished off the weekend. I can't believe I've been here a week already!