Tassie

Dansk

Jamen halløjsa,

Hjemvendt fra Tasmanien. En dejlig tur på 5 dages tid, hvor jeg fik set lillebroderen til Australien. Desværre fandt jeg ikke min egen Mary Donaldson (nej den joke bliver aldrig gammel). Jeg har allerede lagt nogle billeder op, og der vil formentlig komme flere til.
Vi ankom til Hobart tirsdag morgen, efter en lille flyvetur. Derefter fik vi vores lille campingbus eller hvad man kalder sådan en. Vores tur kunne begynde og den første seværdighed vi besøgte, var Port Arthur, et nedlagt fængsel. En spændende oplevelse, hvor jeg desværre må erklære at jeg ikke fik set spøgelset af den lille pige. Øv øv øv. Onsdag kørte vi op langs østkysten til en park. Det var her at jeg fik set min første wallaby 'in the wild nature'. Utrolig hvor tomhjernet man bliver, når sådan et lille kræ kommer hoppende. Ihvertfald fik jeg taget omkring 30 billeder af en busk og nogle ører. Senere fik jeg dog et par ordentlig billeder af min lille ven. I denne park fik vi også nydt et godt måltid til en vidunderlig udsigt. Generelt var Tasmanien en smuk ø, imodsætning til Fyn. Vi må bygge et bjerg på fyn og nogle ordenlige strande. Torsdag fik jeg lov til at køre. In Launceston skulle jeg drøne rundt, som en forvirret gås, idet vi ikke anede hvor vi skulle hen. Ud på den rigtige motorvejen kom jeg dog. Efter et hurtigt stop på en rimelig kedelig hindbærfarm, endte vi i vores anden park. Her fik jeg lov til at holde en lille wombat, hvilket på den ene side var stor oplevelse, men dog var den wombat ikke specielt glad for at en dansk idiot skulle holde om den, så den gjorde sit bedste for at komme væk. Der ud over fik jeg i denne park set tasmanske djævler, en kookaburra, kænguruer, flere wallabies og voksne wombats. En dejlig tur, og det var meget specielt at komme så tæt på dem. Fredag kørte vi tik Cradle Mountain, hvor vi gik en lille tur, der varede 2½ time. Lørdag kørte vi tilbage til Hobart, da vi ville se lidt af "storbyen". Flere af de byer vi havde kørt igennem på Tassie, bestod af 10 huse, og så var den by slut. I Hobart fik vi set en juleparade og der var ligeledes et marked. Underligt at se julemanden, når det føles som om det er sommer. Jeg fandt også lige en butik, hvor de solgte danske ting og havde lidt dansk historie. Om alt var korrekt, vil jeg ikke udtale mig om. Nå men campingbussen blev afleveret, flyet blev nået og nu er jeg tilbage i Melbourne, godt i gang med at planlægge den næste tur. Alt går godt, og billetten tilbage til DK i marts, bliver snart bestilt.

English

Hello hello,

Back from Tassie. It was nice to spend five days on the little brother of Australia. Sadly I did not find me a Mary Donaldson, say the prince of Denmark did. I've already uploaded some pictures of the trip, but I'll probably upload more, after I get the pictures from the friends I travelled with.
We arrived in Hobart, tuesday morning after a short flight from Melbourne. We picked up the caravan that we had paid for and was ready to begin the trip. The first thing we saw was a Port Arthur, a prison that had been closed down. Very interesting to listen to the stories about the prison. Sadly I did not see the little ghost-girl, that aparently is haunting there. Wednesday we droe up the East coast to the first park. It was a very beautiful drive. In the park I saw my first wallaby. It is amazing how stupid you get, when there is a small wallaby close by. Think I took like 30 pictures of a bush with ears. Okay I did get a few good ones after the wallaby came out of the bush. In the park we had lunch with a great view.
Thursday was my turn to drive. A confused goose in the middle of Launceston, is how I would describe it. We had no idea, where we were, and then it's not really fun being a driver of a big caravan on the "wrong" side of the road. Haha but we found our way. At the next park we saw more of the Australia animals, such as wombats, Tasmanian Devils, more wallabies, kangaroos and a kookaburra. It was amazing to get so close to the animals. Even though I must say that when I was holding the little wombat, I didn't get the feeling that he really liked it or trusted me. But come on, who would?
Friday we went to Crandle Mountain. It was really nice and we went for the shortest walk around a lake. It took about 2½ hours. I think it was really beautiful Crandle Mountain.
Saturday we drove back to Hobart, because we wanted to see a bit of the "big city". It was scary to see that some to the towns in Tassie only had around 10-20 houses. A town/city on the map and still there aren't more than 10-20 houses (it's a ghost town if you ask me). In Hobart we saw a christmas parade and they also had a market. It is so weird that they are having christmas parades at the moment. It does not feel like christmas at all. I also found a Danish shop, but lets just say that not everything in the shop, was a symbol of Denmark. We handed in the caravan, flew back to Melbourne and that's where I am now. Planning my next trip. Everything is fine and I'm soon going to change my ticket to marts, where I'm returning to Denmark.

Here we go again

Hej allesammen!

Det må være på tide med endnu et indlæg. Jeg nærmer mig 4. måned i Melbourne, hvilket er helt vildt. Tiden er gået utrolig stærkt, og jeg kan slet ikke forstå, at vi allerede er i november måned. Desuden er varmen kommet. Jeg er ligesom en isterning i en ovn. Desværre bliver det kun varmere med tiden.

Men hvad har jeg så fået tiden til at gå med? Skolen har taget meget af min tid, da RMIT som jeg allerede har nævnt, kræver meget af os. Jeg har klaret mig rigtig godt i mine fag er meget tilfreds med min indsats. Eksamerne er også overstået, og nu kan jeg så bare vente på resultatet.

Der ud over har jeg været til Melbourne Cup, som I kan se i de billeder jeg har uploadet (ja jeg har endelig fået smidt nogle billeder op). MC var en positiv oplevelse, selvom jeg fik alt for meget sol i ansigtet, og nu kan komme i top 3 i en Rudolf-look-alike konkurrence.

I fredags holdte jeg så 2 julefrokoster. Den første julefrokost var med ca. 25 gæster hvoraf hovedparten var danskere. Om morgen havde jeg så julefrokost eller hvad man skal kalde det med 5 danske kammerater gennem Skype. Øl og burgere kl. 6 om morgen i en allerede beruset tilstand, kan kun være en succes.

Ellers kan jeg fortælle at jeg vender tilbage til Danmark i marts måned. Jeg har fået en mulighed som jeg ikke kan sige nej til. Kort fortalt så vil jeg skrive om en virksomhed i Bangladesh og det kræver at jeg er i Danmark og kan rejse til Bangladesh. Hvornår jeg rejser og i hvor lang tid, det kan jeg ikke fortælle på nuværende tidspunkt, men formentlig bliver det fra maj til juni måned.

Mine rejseplaner lyder som følgende. Jeg tager til Tasmanien om 9 dages tid, herefter rejser jeg med at tage til Aderlaid i slutningen af november, starten af december vil jeg gerne til Sydney. Herefter håber jeg lidt på at tage videre til Brisbane og Cairns. I februar vil jeg så forlade Australien og tage til New Zealand. Igen så er det kun Tasmanien der er sat fast. Mine andre planer er meget fleksible.

Jeg kan forresten lige indskyde at jeg skal til Australian Open i slutningen af januar, så det kan være I er heldige at se mig :-)

Det må være nok for denne gang. Dog lover jeg at jeg skriver meget snart igen. Desuden er det jo også kommet billeder op.

Martin

En sidste ting før jeg slutter af. Nu hvor jeg er færdig med skolen, så har jeg meget mere tid. Og da jeg er blevet en stor fan af skype, så kan folk bare skriv til mig og vi kan aftale en skype-tid. Hmm hvordan det kom til at lyde som et indlægt i en kontakt annonce, forstår jeg ikke.



Hey everyone!

I think it's time for me to write something again. I'm closing up on 4 month in Melbourne. It's crazy. Time is flying by and I still can't believe that it's already November. Furthermore the warmth has come to Melbourne and I'm like an ice cube on an oven. And sadly i know that it's only going to become warmer. HELP me ;)

So what have I been doing? School has taken a lot of my time. I have just finished the exams and overall I'm very happy with myself. I've done my best and participated in the classes. The only thing I can do now is to wait for the results. Don't worry though, I have already passed all the courses.

I have been to the Melbourne Cup, which you can see in the pictures (yes finally there are pictures on the blog). MC was a very pleasant experience even though horseriding isn't my cup of tea and the sun wasn't very nice to me at the Cup. I look like Rudolf right now.

Friday I had two Christmas dinners. At the first one we were around 25 people and most of them were Danes. No big suprise there. In the morning I then had my second Christmas dinner though Skype. Beer and hamburgers. Does it get better than that? And I was already drunk at the point so what a big succes. It's a great talking to some of my Danish friends.

I can tell all of you that I'm coming back to Denmark in Marts. An opportunity has arised that I just can't say no to. I don't want to go into details but I'm going to write about a company from Bangladesh in my thesis and therefore I need to be back in Denmark. Around May I will go to Bangladesh to do some research for about a month, I think.

So my travelling plans in Australia. I haven't made the big plans yet, other than I'm going to Tasmania in around 9 days. Other than that I think I'm going to Aderlaid in the end of this month, then I want to go to Sydney in the beginning of December and then Brisbane and Cairns. New Zealand will be my last stop in February. Everything can change though.
Oh yes I'm going to Australian Open in the end of January so to all my tennis friends, you better be wacthing when I'm there.

I think that was it for now. I promise that I'll write much more soon.

Martin

Oh yes one final thing. I have much more time on my hands at the moment and I do enjoy to skype so if anyone wants to Skype with me, I'm more than ready.

Fiji

Bula!!!

Hjemvendt fra Fiji. En fantastisk rejse, som jeg vil se tilbage på med et bredt smil. Simpelthen ubeskriveligt. Nå men jeg vil prøve at forklare, hvorfor jeg synes at Fiji skal opleves.
Turen startede fredag aften kl.22, hvor Liesbeth og jeg tog en taxa til lufthavnen i Melbourne. Efter nogle timers ventetid steg vi ombord på flyveren. Vi var på vej til Fiji. 4-5 timer i flyet gik snildt for mig, og jeg har endnu ikke har nogen problemer med at flyve. Det er egentlig lidt hyggeligt, synes jeg. Flyet landede uden problemer i Nadi på øen Viti Levu. I lufthavnen fik vi en fin modtagelse, folk var utrolig venlige. Vi købte et Bula Pass så vi kunne sejle rundt til de øer, hvor vores ressorts lå på. Derefter skulle vi så bare vente på bussen, der skulle kører os ud til vores båd, som sejlede til vores første destination, Octopus Resort på Waya Island. Mens vi ventede blev vi introduceret til Fiji-time. Åbenbart tager alting sin tid på Fiji. Folk er ikke lige så præcise, som de nok burde være. I hvert fald fik vi at vide at bussen ville samle os op fra lufthavnen mellem 8.30 – 9.00, men den kom først 9.20. FIJI-TIME. Vi kom med bussen, blev afleveret og efter en kort ventetid, sejlede vi mod Waya Island. En bådtur på 1½ time, som ikke var yderst behagelig, så jeg er glad for at jeg ikke bliver søsyg.
Octopus Resort
Da vi ankom til Octopus Resort fik vi en syngende modtagelse, som blev afsluttet med Bula (velkommen, hej). Vi fik en velkomstdrink og blev derefter ført til vores hytter. En lækker hytte. Lige ned til stranden, og den havde alt, hvad vi kunne ønske os. Der ud over havde vi et lille stykke af stranden med strandstole dertil. Fik lidt middagsmad, nød stranden og så var det blevet tid til aftensmad. Rigtig god mad. Aftens underholdning bød på ballondans, limbo, øl stafet og æg transport med balderne. Deltog kun i øl stafet og jeg var elendig, hvis jeg selv skal sige det. Herefter kom vi i snak med et amerikansk par, og vi fik nogle drinks i vores hytte. Søndag mindede utrolig meget om lørdag idet vi lå, som to dovne, søløver på stranden. Lavede ingenting. Om aftenen var der film, men da hverken Liesbeth eller jeg ønskede at se den, så valgte vi i stedet at spille nogle nervepirrende spil of backgammon. Desværre var der ikke megen gang i den, da filmen sluttede, så vi valgte at krybe til køjs. Mandag var vores sidste fulde dag på Waya, så der skulle ske noget. Vi valgte at lægge på stranden. Ej vi havde fået at vide at vi kunne besøge en landsby, så den tur valgte vi at deltage i. I landsbyen fik vi en rundvisning, derefter skulle vi smage Kava (speciel drik). Smagte ikke specielt godt, og den klud de brugte, så ikke specielt lækker ud. Men da mændene altid blev og fik nogle stykker mere, så måtte jeg drikke tre. Nam nam. Herefter optrådte indbyggerne med nogle sange og dans. Ærlig talt, så kunne jeg simpelthen ikke lade være med at smile. Jeg synes det var fantastisk. Om aftenen var der krabberace, og min elendige krabbe, Spot (den var så lille at der ikke kunne stå et nummer på den) gik ikke videre fra de indledende. Efter den aftalte krabberace fik vi nogle drink. Den amerikanske fyr, Brian, og jeg gik ind i et drabeligt spil krig, der efter to tætte spil endte med 1-1. Pigerne og en anden amerikansk fyr, Paki, gik i seng, mens Brian og jeg delte en halv flaske elendig vodka (rent) mens vi spillede poker. Havde det forbavsende godt dagen efter indtil vi kom på båden.
Botara Beach Resort
Næste stop var på Naviti Island. Botara Beach Resort. Det tog ca. 45 minutter med Bula båden. Der var rigtig mange mennesker, men en stor amerikansk gruppe på ca. 30 unge mennesker, skulle af sted, så vi endte med at være alene sammen med en gruppe fra New Zealand. Gennemsnitsalderen var vel 65 år, men de var nogle flinke mennesker, og der gik ikke længe før vi havde fået en invitation og et visitkort til når vi kunne til New Zealand. Hytten vi fik tildelt var vældig fin. Ikke helt samme kvalitet som Octopus Resort, men bestemt til at leve med. Vi tog ud at snorkle, det havde vi ikke gjort på Octopus Resort. En dejlig tur og der var en masse flotte fisk, og jeg svømmede lidt længere ud. Pludselig så jeg den. En Reef-shark. Den angreb mig, og vi sloges i flere minutter før jeg fik den nedkæmpet, og aftensmaden var reddet. Pjat. Jeg angreb selvfølgelig hajen, vi sloges i flere minutter, før jeg fik den nedkæmpet. Okay måske fordrejede jeg sandheden en smule, men det var min første haj og sandheden er, at jeg blev en smule nervøs. Godt nok var det en ufarlig haj, men den var alligevel rimelig stor. Oh well min første haj. Dagen efter kom et engelsk par og vi snakkede lidt med dem under og efter aftensmaden. Tidligere på dagen havde vi været på fisketur med de gamle mænd. Alle fangede minimum en fisk undtagen Liesbeth og jeg. Viser bare at vi hverken dur som fiskere eller backpackers. Om aftenen blev vi underholdt af landsby beboerne med sang og dans. Torsdag skulle vi videre til sidste ø.
Otto and Fannys
Sidste ressort vi skulle bo på var på Tavewa Island. Da vi kom til Otto and Fannys var vi virkelig optimistiske. Indtil da havde vi haft en fremragende tur, og Tavewa Island var så flot. Den flotteste af øerne vi havde været på og vandet var ubeskriveligt. Desværre gik det hurtigt ned ad bakken selvom vi fik en flot solnedgang. Der var mange myg, myre og vi fandt tre kakerlakker, som blev elimineret og deres indgange blev blokeret. Til aftensmad (ikke særlig god mad) snakkede vi med et tysk par, og fortalte dem, hvad vi havde oplevet. De synes det var rimelig underholdende, men da vi var færdige ville de lige se om de også have kakerlakker, da vi ville sprøjte vores værelse. Det viste sig at deres værelse havde utrolig mange kakerlakker, og de tyske pige ville under ingen omstændigheder sove i den hytte. Eftersom jeg havde undersøgt hele vores hytte for kakerlakker uden at finde nogen, så tilbød vi det tyske par at sove hos os, og de takkede ja. De fik tilbudt en anden hytte, men jeg kan godt forstå de ikke ønskede det. Vi fik snakket sammen og aftalte at dage efter ville vi rejse væk og samtidig kræve at vi ikke skulle betale den fulde pris. Fredag gjorde vi hvad vi havde aftalt og fik fire senge på vandrehjemmet på Octopus Resort. En degradering sammenlignet med hvad vi havde haft, men Octopus Resort var fedt at slutte af med. Før vi tog af sted havde vi dog aftalt at vi ville se the Blue Lagoon, og der var vi så et par timer. Desværre ingen Brooke Shields.

Sidste dag på Octopus Resort gik hurtig og før vi vidste af det, så var vi på vej tilbage til Viti Levu. Vi mødte gruppen fra New Zealand og valgte at tage med dem, eftersom deres hotel var lige overfor lufthavnen. Hotellet var udmærket, men dagen efter skulle vi vente nogle timer før flyet afgik, så de blev brugt på pool, læsning og shopping i lufthavnen. Turen i flyet gik fin undtagen der sad en pænt irriterende ældre herre på min højre side, filmen vi så var Star Trek og maden var ikke specielt imponerende.
All in all har det været en fantastisk tur. En tur som jeg aldrig vil glemme og jeg kan varmt anbefale Fiji til alle dem som overvejer det. Det er absolut pengene værd. Til sidst vil jeg slutte af med at sige tusind tak til Liesbeth for en fremragende på grænsen til legendarisk tur. Turen ville absolut ikke have været det samme uden dig og derfor er jeg rigtig glad for, at du var min rejsepartner. Tak.

Bula!!!

Returned from Fiji. An amazing trip, which I can look back at with a big smile. It’s impossible to describe. I’ll try to explain why I think Fiji is a place to be seen.
The journey began Friday evening at 22, where Liesbeth and I drove by cab to the airport in Melbourne. After a few hours of waiting, we boarded. We were going to Fiji. The 4-5 hours flying were no problem and I haven’t yet have any problems with flying. Actually it is a bit cozy. The plane landed without any problems in Nadi in the Island Viti Levu. In the airport we were well received. We bought a Bula Pass so we could sail to the Islands were the resorts were, that we were going to stay at. After this we waited for the bus, that was going to drive us to the boat, which was sailing us to the first destination, Octopus Resort on Waya Island. While we were waiting we were introduced to Fiji-time. Apparently everything on Fiji takes time. The people are not on time as they ought to be. The bus should have picked us up between 8.30-9.00 but it came at 9.20. FIJI-TIME. We came on the bus, and it drove us to the boat. The boat trip look around 1½ hour and it wasn’t really that pleasant, so I’m happy I don’t get easily seasick.
Octopus Resort
When we came to Octopus Resort they were singing to us and the song ended with Bula (welcome, hey). We received a welcome drink and after this we were taken to our burs. A nice bur which was by the beach and it has everything we had hoped for. Furthermore there was a small part of the beach that we could have to us selves with two beach chairs. The day went by with food and lying at the beach. After dinner the entertainment was some contests. Balloon dance, limbo, beer race and a game where you had to transport an egg with your butt. I participated in the beer race with disappointing result. After this we started talking to American couple and had a few drinks at our bur. Sunday was much like Saturday in that we were two lazy sea lions on the beach. We did nothing. At night they showed a movie but neither Liesbeth and I wanted to watch it so we decided to play a thrilling game of backgammon. Sadly there wasn’t much going on after the movie ended and we went to bed. Monday was out last full day on Waya so something had to happen. We choice to lie on the beach. No we were told of a trip to a village on the Island, so we decided to go on that. In the village we were shown around, and afterwards we tasted Kava, a special Fijian drink, it didn’t taste very good. But the men always took more than one, and so did I. Nam nam. Then we were entertained by the inhabitants of the village with song and dance. It just made me smile. Fantastic. In the evening we had a crab race but my stupid little crab; Spot (it got its name because it was too small to have a number on it) didn’t do very well. After the race we had some drinks and then the American guy Brian and I played a bloody game of war, which ended 1-1. The girls and another American guy, Paki, went to bed so Brian and I shared half a bottle of bad vodka meanwhile we played poker. I didn’t feel as bad as I had feared the next day.
Botara Beach Resort
Next stop was on Navita Island. Botara Beach Resort. It only took around 45 minutes with the Bula boat. There were a lot of people on the Island when we came, but we soon discovered that around 30 Americans were leaving on the same day so we would be the only ones on the Island together with a group from New Zealand.
The average age of the people from NZ was around 65 years old, but they were really nice, and it didn’t take long before we had received an invitation to NZ. The bur we got was very nice, not the same quality as the one on Octopus Resort, but definitely something we could live in. We decided to snorkel a bit because we hadn’t had the change to do that while we were on Octopus Resort. There was a lot of beautiful fish and I dared to swim a bit out. Suddenly I saw it. A Reef-shark. It attacked me, we fought for several minutes before I killed it, and dinner was saved. No it’s not true. I attacked the shark, we fought and I killed it. Okay maybe the true story is that I saw it and nothing happened and even though it wasn’t dangerous it still was big. My first shark. The next day an English couple arrived and we talked with them during and after dinner. We had earlier been fishing with the old NZ guys. Everyone but Liesbeth and I caught a fish. We are no fishers or backpackers. In the evening we were entertained by the inhabitants on that Island. Thursday we went on to the last Island.
Otto and Fannys
The last resort we lived at was on Tavewa Island. When we came to Otto and Fannys we were optimistic. So far it had been ad wonderful trip and the Tavewa Island was very beautiful. It was the most beautiful Island of them all. Sadly that was the positive things even though we saw a nice sunset. There were a lot of mosquitoes, ants and 3 cockroaches, which I killed and then I blocked where they came from. At dinner (not impressive food) we talked to a German couple and told them about the cockroaches. They thought it was funny but when we were done they wanted to see if they had any, because we wanted to spray ours to make sure they wouldn’t come back. They soon found out that there were a lot of cockroaches in their room and the German girl didn’t want to sleep there anymore. Because I had checked out bur, we offered the German couple to sleep in our bur and they accepted. They were offered another bur, but they didn’t want another one. We talked with them and decided that we would demand a refund the next day and find another place. Friday we booked four beds in the dorm on Octopus Resort. Not the same as we had had before but still nice to go back to the resort. Before going back to Octopus Resort we went to the Blue Lagoon for a few hours, sadly no Brooke Shields.
The last day on Octopus Resort went fast and before we knew it, we were going back to Viti Levu. We meet from group from NZ and choose to go with them to their hotel because it was very close to the airport. The hotel was nice and the next day we waited a few hours in the hotel with reading and pool. Then we shopped in the airport. The trip in the plane went okay even though the movie was bad, food bad and not enough space.
All in all is was the perfect trip. A trip I’ll never forget and I can recommend it to everyone who is thinking of going there. It’s worth the money. Finally I would like to thank Liesbeth for this amazing trip almost legendary. The trip would definitely not have been the same without you and I am really happy that you were my travelling partner.
Tak

Melbourne - 14 dage/days

De 2 uger som studerende i Australien er rundet. Det har været nogle travle dage og jeg har ikke haft meget tid til at nyde opholdet hernede. Jeg har fået en australsk bankkonto med hjælp fra en venlig ældre kvinde, og det pudsige var at jeg var derinde på min fødselsdag var det ligeledes hendes datters fødselsdag. Verden er lille engang imellem. Jeg har nogenlunde fået mine fag på plads, selvom jeg lige skal have besluttet et sidste fag. Vi har været alt for sent ude med at vælge fag, og det kan vi heldigvis takke International Office for. Tror aldrig jeg har mødt så uduelige mennesker, som dem der arbejder på IO.
Jeg har fået sendt de relevante papirer til hotelguide som havde arrangerede hotelophold som ikke eksisterede hernede og samtidig vil de dække taxa udgifterne, så det er rigtig dejligt, men nu må vi se om de ikke bare tager resten af mine penge i stedet.
Så har jeg fået australsk nummer, og det var ligeledes en kamp, da jeg skulle have fjernet låsen på min gamle mobil, så det skete gennem skype med direktør Lund. Takker igen.
Endelig så har Liesbeth og jeg lige fået accepteret 2 lejligheder, men vi har været lidt uenige om, om vi skulle tage en af dem eller ej, idet vi gerne vil have en tredje lejlighed, der er meget bedre på alle punkter, såsom pris, placeret i forhold til RMIT osv., men jeg mener bare heller ikke at vi kan blive ved med at vente. Vi får svar i morgen og så må vi se om vi skal blive endnu en uge på vandrehjemmet. Det er ikke så slemt at bo på vandrehjemmet og vi gider heller ikke betale en formue for ingenting, så regner med at vi har noget i løbet at næste uge. Og ja vi går hernede som det underlige ægtepar/kærstepar, men nej vi er ikke kærester og bliver aldrig nogensinde kærester. Så jeg regner ikke med at jeg skal forklare det mere, føler mig som en båndoptager, der gentager det lidt for meget J
Jeg havde en rigtig god fødselsdag ellers, sammen med Jacob Lykke (en kammerat fra Asb som nu har været hernede i 11 måneder og vender tilbage til DK d. 27. juli), Liesbeth, Peter (Asb) og et finsk par som vi har mødt (Vesku og Tuuli), som er nogle søde mennesker.
Der ud over så trives jeg godt hernede. Har stadig ingen stedsans, så jeg er ofte rundt på gulvet når vi er i the city, men skidt med det, jeg lærer det nok.
Skal jeg være helt ærlig så holder jeg mere og mere af Melbourne og Australien for hver dag der går. Men damn der er mange asiater hernede. Det er helt vildt. Samtidig er det altså rimelig dyrt, så det gælder lige om at finde de rigtige steder at købe mad, tøj osv. Jeg skal i hvert fald have købt noget varmere tøj idet det jo er mega koldt.
Har haft undervisning i denne uge og må indrømme at det er meget anderledes i forhold til Danmark. Jeg synes de har flere krav og så er de helt tosset med fremlæggelser, så det skal nok blive fun. Synes selv jeg er ved at vænne mig til at snakke engelsk, så tror jeg vil blive glad for det i sidste ende, og jeg fik da også ros i går for hvor godt jeg snakker engelsk. Okay han var en smule beruset, men en kompliment er vel en kompliment om den kommer fra en ædru eller beruset person. Sammenlignes Asb og RMIT, så er Asb bare elendig, ligesom Aarhus Universitet. Sorry. Teori, teori, teori men når du så kommer på arbejdsmarkedet kan du ikke bruge det til en pind. Wow så kan I Kloge Åger virkelig bruge jeres fine 12-taller. Haha, ja okay måske er jeg lidt bitter fordi jeg ikke har fået et 12-tal. Håber at opholdet på RMIT vil gavne mig lidt mere. Jeg har blandt andet valgt Creativity in advertising, hvor vi skal komme op med innovative ideer og skitsere dem. Jeg er så meget på røven. Yes det bliver en udfordring af dimensioner, men hvis jeg kan få banket det ind i min hjerne, tror jeg det vil gavne mig, hvis jeg ønsker et arbejde i udlandet.

Okay tror det er nok for denne omgang, skal jo også skrive det på engelsk, så jeg gider ikke rigtig skrive mere. I er meget velkomne til at sende mig e-mails. Jeg havde åbenbart nogle problemer med at modtage e-mails fra d. 14. juli – 18. juli, så hvis jeg ikke har svaret er det fordi jeg ikke har fået den. Send den igen og du vil få en sød lille e-mail fra mig.

Ciao Martin

English:

The 2 weeks mark has come. It has been some busy days and I haven’t the time to enjoy the city yet. I have now an Australian banc account with the help from a nice older woman, and the funny thing is that when I got it, it was on my birthday and it turned out, the same day was her daughter’s birthday as well. Some times the world doesn’t feel that big. I’m also almost done with getting the right courses, still missing one though. We should have been quicker to get the best times and best courses, and this I can thank International Office. Never meet so useless people as them working at IO.
I have send also the necessary papers to hotelguide which arranged the stay in the hotel we booked, that wasn’t in Melbourne and they will also pay the costs for the taxi so that is good. But let’s see if I get the money or they’ll just take all my money on the Danish account.
Furthermore I’ve received an Australian phone number, which also was a struggle, because my Danish phone was locked, so I had use skype with my father so he could get everything fixed with the Danish mobile company.
Finally two apartments have been accepted, but Liesbeth and I aren’t sure if they are of interest because they are really expensive and we are hoping to get another apartment that has everything we can’t. It is not so bad living at the hostel so if we don’t get the apartment, we may have to stay here another week, but that will be fine.
And yes people see us as the weird couple, but no we are no a couple and we will never ever be a couple, so quit asking me, sick of saying the same thing J
I had a really nice birthday with my mate Jacob Lykke (from Asb, who has been in Australia 11 months, but is returning to Denmark, the 27th of July), Liesbeth, Peter (Asb) and a Finnish couple that we’ve meet (Vesku and Tuuli) who are nice people.
Other than that, I like Melbourne, I still have no clue where I am, when we are in the city, I get so easily lost. To be honest, every day that goes by, makes me like Melbourne just a bit more. But damn there’s a lot off Asians. It’s crazy. Furthermore the prices are similar to Denmark so you need to find the right places to buy food, cloths etc. I need to buy some warm clothes because it’s freaking cold in Melbourne.
This week I have had lectures in four courses and I have to admit it is nothing like in Denmark. I think they demand more from us and they are also in love with presentations, so that will be a challenge. I’m getting more used to asking and responding to questions etc, so I’m hoping that in the end, I will like this learning process. If I compare Asb and Aarhus University to RMIT, I think RMIT is so much better. Sorry. It’s all about theory in Denmark and how much can we use, when we are done. Nothing. I hope I will learn new approaches here. One of the courses is Creativity in advertising, where we have to come up with innovative ideas and skits them. You’re probably thinking, good luck Martin Lund, and you’re right. It’s going to be a big challenge, but then again this can benefit me in the end, if I want to have a job outside Denmark.
Okay that’s all for now. Apparently I couldn’t receive emails between the 14th and 18th or around that period, so if anyone has send me an email without an answer is it because of this. I’ll respond every email that I receive, as soon as I can with either an email or a phone call (mostly family will get this).

Ciao Martin

I Australia/In Australia

Dansk:
Så er man sørme kommet til Australien. Tror det har været min værste tur i mit liv indtil videre. I tænker sikkert, at jeg bare tuder, men jeg vil gerne lige argumentere. Turen startede kl. 9.30 fra Nørre Åby sammen med mine forældre. Normalt tager det cirka 2½ time at køre til Hamborg og da de åbner lågerne 12.30, mente min far vi sagtens kunne køre kl. 9.45. Jeg ville gerne køre lidt tidligere. Det gik rigtig godt derned af indtil 80 km før Hamborg. BOOM og vi sad i kø. I starten var jeg nu meget rolig, men efter man har siddet i 1½ time og kørt 2 km, så begynder man at blive rimelig nervøs, skal jeg fortælle jer. Panikken bredte sig også da vi godt kunne se at denne kø kunne tage lang tid, og vi kunne ikke komme af. Gennem sms’er fra Liesbeth fik jeg fortalt at efter 14.40 kunne man ikke tjekke ind længere og med 1 time til at køre ca. 70 km var jeg klar til at leje et værelse i Hamborg og købe en ny billet. Med speederen i bund, en masse held og en lille smule vanvittig kørsel, nåede vi det med 5 minutter tilbage. Fik at vide fra Liesbeth at jeg var ligbleg, da hun så mig. Nå men vi fik mig tjekket ind og jeg fik taget afsked med forældrene. Derefter skulle jeg lige have en øl, hvorefter Liesbeth gerne ville shoppe ind. Da jeg var færdig med min øl, ville Liesbeth lige se hvornår flyet fløj, og vi besluttede derefter, at det var en god ide at gå imod check in, da det stod på skærmen. Så vi gik derhen og da vi ankom, fik vi at vide at det var sidste udkald, hvilket betød at havde vi ikke gået derhen, så havde vi misset flyet og min fars vilde kørsel havde været forgæves. Vi kom på flyet, og turen til Dubai var rigtig god. Opholdet i Dubai var heller ikke til at klage over, og derefter ventede en lang tur på 14 timer i fly, som ligeledes var fin på nær at mit tv gik i stykker, da vi havde fløjet i 12 timer. Skærme og jeg er simpelthen bare ikke venner. Vi ankom til Melbourne lidt over 22 og efter en tur igennem deres sikkerhedssystemer, kunne jeg gå ud af lufthavnen med en afslappet fornemmelse. Vi skulle bare have en taxa og derefter hen til hotellet som jeg havde booket. Vi fandt en taxa og fortalte taxamanden hvor vi skulle hen. Taxamanden kendte ikke hotellet. Han ringede til taxaselskabet og de kendte ikke hotellet. I telefonbogen fandtes vejen ikke i Melbourne, og da vi spurgte en flink mand i et andet hotel, kunne han heller ikke finde det. Sikke en perfekt slutning. Vi gav op og i stedet fik et værelse på det andet hotel. Fik en god nats søvn. I dag har der været lidt problemer med at finde en stik til strøm, fordi Australien skal være anderledes end resten af verden. Indtil videre er jeg helt vild med Australien :-)

English:
I’m in Australia. Think it has so fare been my worst trip ever. You’re probably thinking by now, what a crybaby, but let me explain. The trip began at 9.30 a.m. from my parents’ hometown, Nørre Åby. It normally takes around 2½ hours to drive to Hamburg and as they the gates at 12.30 p.m. my father thought we just could drive 9.45 a.m. and still have plenty of time. But I wanted to go a bit earlier. In the beginning it went really well until we were 80 km from Hamburg. BOOM and we were stuck in traffic. In the beginning I was calm and collecting, but after being in a car that in 1½ hours has driving 2 km further, you begin being pretty nervous, I can tell you guys. The panic spread when we could see that the cue could be there much longer and because we couldn’t get off the road. I was texting with Liesbeth and she told me that I had until 2.30 p.m. and then the gates would close and since we had 1 hour to drive 70 km, I was ready to get a hotel room in Hamburg and buy a new ticket. With the accelerator pressed down, a lot of luck and a bit of insane driving we made it with 5 minutes to spare. According to Liesbeth I was white as a ghost when she saw me. But I got checked in, said goodbye to my parents. Afterwards I wanted a beer and then Liesbeth wanted to go shopping. When I was done with the beer, Liesbeth wanted to check when the flight was leaving and we decided that it would be best if we went towards the next check in. So we went to the check in to the plane and when we came there they would telling us it was the last call, which meant if we hadn’t gone to the plane, we would have missed it and my fathers’ crazy driving would have been a waist. We were luckily on the flight and it went fine to Dubai. In Dubai there were nothing to complain about either, and then the flight of 14 hours was the only think between us and Melbourne. This flight went fine as well even though my television brook when there was 2 hours left. Screens and me aren’t the best friends. We arrived in Melbourne at 10 p.m. and after getting through the security system, I was much more relaxed. We only had to find a cab, and drive to the hotel I had booked. We found a cab and told the driver where we were going. He didn’t know the hotel. He called the taxi company and they didn’t know the hotel either. In the phone book we couldn’t allocate the road it was on and a nice guy in another hotel couldn’t find it either even though it should have been close by. A perfect ending. We gave up and booked a room in the other hotel. Got a good night’s sleep. Today we have only had problems with getting power for the computer, because Australia has to be different compared to the rest of the world. All in all I’m loving Australia so fare :-)

Forberedelse til Australien/Preparing for Australia

Dansk:

Siden januar har jeg haft travlt med at få alt på plads med turen til Australien. Det er ikke så let at være freemover. International Office der burde hjælpe os, har indtil nu været uduelige, så jeg har måtte klare det hele selv. Derimod har de ansatte på RMIT i Australien været utrolig hjælpsomme, så det har været en god støtte. Status er, at jeg er blevet optaget på RMIT, fået betalt study fee, flybilletter, visum og lægetjek. Jeg rejser derned d. 11. juli og skal starte i skole d. 14. juli, så der bliver ikke lang tid til at få et overblik over Melbourne. Desuden er min sidste eksame på ASB d. 30. juni, så sommerferie bliver der heller ikke meget af. Nå skidt med det. Jeg er allerede begyndt at glæde mig som et lille barn, til jeg skal derned. Jeg er overbevist om at det den gamle Martin som tager afsted d. 11. juli ikke er den samme som kommer tilbage igen.
Bliver en fantastisk oplevelse, som formentlig bliver forlænget et halvt år i New Zealand, hvor jeg vil skrive min kandidatopgave. For tiden hygger jeg mig med legatansøgninger og eksame.Tror ikke jeg har mere.
Det er så starten på min lille blog. Smid endelig en kommentar, det vil være dejligt.

/ciao


English:

Okay I'm going to try this in English.

I've been busy planning the trip to Australia since January. It isn't being a freemover, I can say that much. The International Office which should help me, has so far not done anything for me. On the other hand I think the staff at RMIT have been very helpfull and a good support to a stupid Danish boy, who has no clue what to do. My situation is that I've paid the education fee, the plane tickets, visa and has been at the doctor. I'm leaving Denmark the 11th of July and starting school the 14th of July, so there won't be much time to see the city. Furthermore I have an exam the 30th of June so who needs summerholiday. Oh well. I'm looking forward to this trip as a little kid, who is going go get another piece of cake. I am sure that the old Martin, who is leaving Denmark, isn't the same who's coming home again.
It's going to be an amazing experience that hopefully will be extended 6 months in New Zealand, where I can write my theses. At the moment I'm enjoying myself with applying for some grants and studying for exams. I have nothing more right now.
This is the beginning of my little blog. Feel free to write a comment, I would appreciate that.

/Ciao