Travel woes

I tend to get travel woes easily. It's not really homesickness, but just a general uncomfortableness of living out of a suitcase, drying your towel on your bunk bed rack/radiator, having a personal space of your bed by 1m height (and if you're lucky, a place to open your suitcase) and the whole constantly moving thing. It makes me wonder about how gypsies do this permanently...they have no real 'home', just places they reside in and are relatively fond of. I get horribly irritated in such a situation and turn into this all knowing, selfish, stubborn bitch who recluses more and more. And in saying that, I apologise to everyone I have travelled with and reached this stage with...it's not fun as I am sure you have found out. X

holiday

things are finally coming together.  and i'm starting this new phase of organisation with a new blog, as i haven't blogged properly in a ridiculously long time.

the winter break was amazing. i've seen some beautiful places, places which i will probably not visit for a very long time again, if ever. in love with berlin...the architecture, the culture, the prominence of world war two ever so present but remembered so beautifully. love the holocaust memorial. hauntingly beautiful.

and barcelona - truly amazing.  like a little beacon of beach, sunshine, heat, culture and fantastic food. had an amazing night out with the hostel to some amazing club on the beach beginning at 1.45am.  good times. 

for now, i am back in rainy, depressing nottingham.  one 100% exam, one 50% assignment down...one more 50% assignment to go.  they have truly left the worst 'til last. the only thing keeping me going is the chance of snow, the possibility of a new camera (nikon d3000 slr!) and perhaps a delicious ted baker bag.  all on the credit card which arrived in my hot little hands today.

slowly, but surely i will get back into this blogging thing.

baby steps!

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torture

sunday : 5pm - 2am mushrooms
monday : 5am wake up, 9.40am flight, 11pm sleep
tuesday : 9.30am wake up call, 10am jog, 10.30am tute, 1pm lunch, 2pm - 1am interim crit prep

what does the rest of the week bring? 

wednesday : 24 hours of architecture?
thursday : interim crit, emma's birthday?
friday : dinner?
saturday : 4am wake up, 6am flight to rome?
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the dam

amsterdam was fabulous. such a beautiful, yet disgusting city. my eyes have seen too much, and are scarred for life.

mushrooms were incredible. absolutely nuts. i was there, but not really. literally floating above my own body. my head wasn't screwed on and everything and anything seemed to be hilarious. we walked around and around in circles, we pushed our pad thai around on our plates due to our inability to eat it and we spent hours doing literally nothing. 


a good fun weekend - one that only comes once in a blue moon.
X

a moment of weakness

i am not sure whether it's because my eyes are dry, or because i am actually sad/homesick/exhausted (feel free to add any negative feeling to that list), but things just seem to be terrible at the moment. and although i do love eating my body weight in sub-par food, if i continue this way, i most certainly will be the size of australia and will have to buy two plane tickets on the way home - depressing thought. it's getting colder, work is getting harder and i want to be on a beach sunbaking more than anything in the entire world.

91 days until my flight home.

X

ps: amsterdam was fun.

20091119

i couldn't think of a title for this one, so this one's simply the date.

things have been relatively fun. last night was the nusex booze cruise which was fantastic. free booze all night with an after party at bodega (my new favourite hangout). malibu & pineapples all night, with trashy brit-pop as well as a few sneaky old school 90's classics...hit me baby one more time.

monday was my first notts archi-hangout. gatecrasher's traffic light party. wheyyyyy. fun all round, but drinks were ludacris. £5.50 for a jagerbomb? i don't think so. i'm sticking to gatecrasher on wednesdays and fridays strictly.

architorture hasn't been too bad. i whipped up a quick 1:50 sketch model in the two hours before my tute and it was relatively successful! interim crit on thursday - i will have to put my head down and butt up after this weekend.

in my intoxicated state, i finally applied for chipperfield's berlin internship last night. fingers crossed. i don't even know if i want it or not, because it will fuck up my life about 100 times more than exchange has...and i kinnnnd of don't speak german. i'm kind of keen to settle down and stay in one place for a while after this. perhaps a few weekend trips around australia, but nothing too drastic. i'm the most elderly eighteen year old ever.

speaking of travel, amsterdam tomorrow.

it shall be a blast.

i intend to have enough crazy stories to fill this blog for years by monday afternoon.

big love.

X

places

so a lady on the bus on the way to dublin airport asked me where i was from.
good question.
my parents are from hong kong & singapore.
i was born in melbourne, australia.
i now live in brisbane, australia.
but i'm studying in nottingham, england.
so what does that make me?


i am starting to see the affect of gen-y's & their travel. i alone, know at least 10 people from australia in europe at the moment. everyone is constantly jetsetting - & through the aid of lamespace/blogs/email/skype - frankly it doesn't really matter. in some cases, i am speaking to some people more since i got here...now how does that make sense?
X

58.51

that's exactly how much i made tonight. lies. okay. that's how much i came home with. ben and i found ninety quid at maccas. god. what a loser who left that there. went to gatecrasher tonight. fun fun fun. 'kaiser chiefs'? lies. again. ergh. but okay. i did slam my pointer finger on my right hand in a door. i am lacking feeling. but that's okay. i did make 28.51 quid tonight. so yay. hell yeah. amsterdam here i come. 
X

dublin, ireland

as i sit in dublin, comforted by the warm ambient light in daen's room, i realise how much i miss nottingham. it's the gaelic on every street sign, the torrential rain as i am trying to cross the road to topshop & all the damn green that is getting to me. i miss florence boot & the comfort of home. & i miss everyone back home in australia. 


where are you? come back. you know who you are.


i am sick. i am sick of the feeling of being sick, the fear of getting sick & the wondering whether i am sick or whether it's all in my mind. 


things just aren't the same on the other side of the world. 
& i'm not sure they will be the same when we get back. 
X  

thursday

it's thursday. 


in first year, that meant eight hour drawing torture. in second year, that meant design lecture and studio. in nottingham, it means four hours of mind-numbing archi confusion...survived only by designing clan logos, scribbling people figures all over sketch books and coming up with ridiculous nicknames. 


it was fascinating, though, what we came up with. theories of space vs. place. is there a difference? is there a boundary? what is the relationship?


thursday, also meant the booking of various flights for the christmas time. i am berlin, krakow, barcelona, vienna, munich and edinburgh bound. how exciting. 
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the other side of the world

it has been quite a while since i have blogged, i know. 
how slack of me.


but what a perfect excuse - i am now in the uk! how exciting. the last few weeks have been a complete emotional rollercoaster (to be completely cliched). i went to so many international student talks about culture shock and how to deal, blah blah blah. but honestly, nothing can prepare you for being on the other side of the world, completely by yourself (fortunately in the same language as yours) and having to make friends - quicksmart.


fortunately, i have been lucky. i've been popped into the smallest, arguably most beautiful hall on campus with my now-best friends literally two or three doors away - florence boot hall. it's a half hour walk to lectures (i choose to take that as a positive - massive campus university which allows me to exercise whilst walking to my lectures?) but definitely the nicest part of university park. the people are great. of course, they are all eighteen year old high school graduates who constantly want to get drunk, but they are great fun. the food, however, not so great. i have never missed asian food so much! (and eaten so much sweet corn for that matter...the english are nuts about sweet corn). 


freshers week a few weeks ago, was intense. every night was some kind of stupid themed party, starting at the ripe hour of seven pm, meaning i was wasted, and in bed by about one. unfortunately, that has meant that even now (third week), i have been unable to stay up past twelve when out. highly embarrassing story #1 - i may or may not have fallen asleep at ocean (student club) on friday night...


architecture is fun, but not quite what i am used to. firstly, there are 180 of us in second year, almost double what i am used to back home. we have been separated into 'units', and i have been lucky enough to be selected into unit one - solar decathlon! we are the only UK entrant in the european solar decathlon in madrid in june 2010. how exciting! it gives me a fantastic excuse to come back in june, providing it doesn't clash with uni work back home.


travelling plans are going better than i could ever imagine. i was in london last weekend with one of my oldest friends, charlie. it was a truly amazing weekend. we managed to fit in all the main sights on london into four very short days (thankyou for the great weather, london!) and went out as well. the londoners certainly know how to have a good night out. i don't remember much, i am sad to say, but i believe we were out in mayfair. not this weekend coming, but the weekend after, i am off to dublin, to visit daen, a fellow UQ architecture slave. it's also halloween at this time - so we might head up to derry (northern ireland) to have a look around. then a few weeks after dublin, is rome with gordon, yet another UQ student over here on exchange. it should be good to have a look at the architecture, now that i know what i am actually speaking about. and then - a massive winter/christmas trip with grace, sina, ben, simon and matt: berlin, krakow, barcelona (with sam), vienna for christmas, amsterdam, edinburgh for new years, glasgow and perhaps back to dublin for a little before uni starts again in mid january.


it's past midnight here, so i will call it a night.
more stories from notts to come!
X

the olden days

recently, things have been like the olden days - the summer just past. working full time, watching the oc obsessively and sleeping at obscure hours. uni is finally over, and although i have had a bit of free time, i wouldn't be able to tell you where it has gone. i suppose i've been sick, which is how my body is telling me to stop and slow down (hence the oc - i'm halfway through season one and it is great)

the big trip is soon - leaving in just over two months! how exciting. i've started making lists / plans and it's all coming together. i'm thinking i'll pop into nottingham for my orientation and immediately make my way to munich, germany for oktoberfest with sam and daen (with luck). no idea about accommodation / costs but future-candice can work that one out.

we won our touch grand final last weekend! and this weekend we've got a bar tab at the orient (vomit) but it's still a bar tab so that's great. pyjama party last weekend was lots of fun - the best bit being, coming home loose at a reasonable hour having been drinking for the last 7 and crawling straight into bed.

splen soooooooon. i'm so fucking excited i could eat my ticket (but won't, of course).

X

i'm outta here!

i'm outta here. nottingham, here i come.

lemons

when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.

things are slowly but surely getting worse at a fast rate - but i am certain i will pull myself out of this situation. i'm determined to:

a) not to be ridiculously poor in the uk in september...going to work more, spend less, be more frugal and less impulsive about purchases

b) get to the uk in one piece...that means getting into nottingham, passing uni this semester and surviving this ridiculously cold "autumn" weather that has decided to hit brisbane

c) (in conjuction with the above) enjoy the next six months before i leave

i have discovered i am very stubborn about certain things - once i make up my mind, i don't ever change it. and if i want something, i won't stop until i get it. i choose to spin this...positively haha. and i am making a promise to myself that i will do the above.

i would upload this photo i found on archiblog.blogspot.com today of nottingham's city - complete with trams, old victorian brick buildings and new modern architecture but of course i am on an old old old computer which moves at the pace of a snail on weed so i won't even attempt it. however, if i manage to purchase a macbook tomorrow and don't get mugged on the way home, i will upload it. yayyyyy. 

X

sunday sesh and monday moods

following our WIN against a friend's team in touch last night, a sunday sesh was in order...involving drinks (starting very late), so late that i accidentally missed a friend's birthday at the RE, reminiscing on an old relationship with the ex, possibly spiked midori+lemonade which resulted in various body movements which may have looked as though i was throwing myself against a metal pole...all in all, a good night but definitely felt the affects of fun this morning.

i mentioned once before that there are just some people you meet in life who will always have a small place in your heart, no matter how long it is since you have seen them. and it is completely up to you, as to whether you would prefer to keep the relationship between the two of you idealised or not...a perfect friendship frozen in time or one which has the potential of being completely ruined. which is right? and where is the point where you know that you should take that chance, otherwise you will regret it forever?

unfortunately, some bad news today regarding travels...a friend (my travel companion in february 2010) was rejected from his host university due to 'lack of studio space'. i am sure they can pull up one chair and share the love around...surely they have seen clueless?

"So like, right now for example. The Haitians need to come to America. But some people are all, "What about the strain on our resources?" Well it's like when I had this garden party for my father's birthday, right? I put R.S.V.P. 'cause it was a sit-down dinner. But some people came that like did not R.S.V.P. I was like totally buggin'. I had to haul ass to the kitchen, redistribute the food, and squish in extra place settings. But by the end of the day it was, like, the more the merrier. And so if the government could just get to the kitchen, rearrange some things, we could certainly party with the Haitians. And in conclusion may I please remind you it does not say R.S.V.P. on the Statue of Liberty. Thank you very much."
X

you were the last high

tuesday night 150409
=
helen todd + candice chan + three monkeys, west end + turkish bread + english breakfast + romantic walk #1 + pineapple gelati + southbank + perfect parallel park + photographic evidence of said park + romantic walk #2 + gerties, new farm + 2 for 1 drinks + running into friends (brisbane is small) + taco tuesday @ alibi room, west end + delicious long-haired nose-ring bearing boy + 'where can i find you, candice' + two buck bean taco + cloudland, valley
=
funfunfun

wednesday night 160409
=
maria quirk + daniel troy + eleanor todd + candice chan + wagamama's, wintergarden + dreaming of overseas + travel plans + cute cafe (name forgotten), city + delicious citrus pudding-thing + more english breakfast + comfy couches + chats
=
funfunfun

...and it's only wednesday.
tomorrow i shall be a recluse, hiding in the queensland state library with books on 15th and 16th century architecture, manners and personal privacy. i shall attempt to ignore facebook/phone/society/distractions/attractive nerds in the library/ufo's - but admit this is unlikely.
back to work on friday ($payday$), much needed for the weekend coming.
strict budget is failing miserably, especially with my dear mastercard and recession sales (oh so tempting) - perhaps i will start playing lotto to try my chances.

zzz's needed for a big day of architectural theory tomorrow. X

neurotic

international travel involves a different kind of organisation - a neurotically strict kind of planning. it requires discipline, an understanding of airports and an awareness like no other. this is no walk in the park, this is the real world (not the tv show). similar to the amazing race, i guess. it's times like these, blackberries, pda's and i suppose even old school moleskine journals come in handy. the art is in the balance - the balancing of the best flight vs. the best airline vs. the quickest route vs. luggage restrictions vs. window/aisle seats. practice definitely makes perfect. and i have applied for a frequent flyer membership to make sure this happens. X

ooh, naughty, naughty.

so, i have a review tomorrow, in exactly twelve hours.
the week has consisted of painfully constructing models using balsa, zap-a-gap (designed to increase nail polish remover sales, i swear), plastic and paper. possibly the best models i have made to date, but i am uncertain of the actual ideas behind it. fingers crossed i will not be burned tomorrow. and, in true architecture style, tomorrow night will be a big, fat celebration ie. messy drinks at someone's house.

mother and father duck found some cheap-ass flights to london a few days ago - i am talking 1400 or so. i found cheap ones flying a different airline, yet, cannot book them due to my lack of acceptance letter. all this organisation is scary, however - this may really be happening. it seems as though this decision to study abroad may be one of the main influencing decisions of my life. whether good/bad, who knows. X

ps: love to port o'brien's 'i woke up today'

modernism in london

new tate modern 2 building, london.

incredible use of transparent/translucent materials to create a glowing set of 'blocks'.
to be completed in 2012 for the olympics, i think i'll book my flight back now. X

travels, cash & models

home: "chapel hill house" / owenandvokes

the thought of leaving home is so exciting...a new place, new people, new experiences. needless to say, i am ridiculously daunted by the idea of being completely alone in a completely different country with no-one to depend on. but i am excited to learn more about architecture, life, myself and different places. the sacrifices being made are starting to become evident: time, cash, relationships. but a wise person once said "travel is never a bad experience". X