Soccer - and David Beckham!

So I´ve been on my summer break for a week and a half now... The weather has been crabby almost the whole time - rainy, cloudy and windy :( I haven´t done all that much of anything exciting. I´m suprised how many things I gotta take care of before returning to Finland. Geegal is going to be under renovation and everyone has to move out next week. We had an option to be relocated either in Gumal or Bulga (other UTS residences) but I chose to end my contract and receive almost $1000 of my already paid rent back. I´ll be in Sydney only 12 more days after returning from East Coast, and I´ll be living in Moy´s room in Gumal while he´s in Mexico. I don´t think I mentioned I´ll be doing a 2-week long road trip from Cairns to Sydney, along East Coast, with Juulia. I´m flying to Cairns on Tuesday and I can´t wait to begin our journey! So from now on my address will be:

215A, 161 Broadway

Ultimo, NSW 2007

Australia

We´ve had several barbeque parties here in Geegal lately! People are already leaving for traveling before going back to their home countries, so we´ve had some farewell parties, as well as Birthdays. Moy cooked us heaps of delicious Mexican food on Sunday, and yesterday we celebrated NingNing´s Pre-B-Day. I baked pullas for everyone and it didn´t take long till all of them were gone :) Besides parties I´ve been shopping (or "shopping" - not buying anything but looking at stuff that I´d buy if I had more space in my suitcase & more money), to the movies, reading books outside etc...

Moy´s Birthday BBQ

On Monday morning I received a text message from my new friend Mahmoud. He had gotten tickets to go see a soccer match Sydney FC vs. LA Galaxy and invited me to join him. As you might know, David Beckham now plays for LA Galaxy, and his coming to Australia was such a big deal! It was indeed his first time playing here. So I was really excited to go to Telstra Stadium to watch the game :) Already being inside the huge stadium (it was the main stadium during the 2000 Olympics) was an exprience, especially since we had tickets at a premium section. There were over 80 000 people watching the game. Sydney FC played well and won 5-3! David Beckham was hot and made one goal even though he got injured during the first half of the game. So watching the game live was tons of fun, and now I can say I´ve seen one of the worlds hottest soccer stars lol.

Telstra Stadium

Mahmoud and I watching the game

David Beckham on the big screen

I´m all done!!

I´m finally all done with my studies at the UTS :D I had my last exam this morning, and now I´m just hanging around, thinking about all the fun things I´ll get to do... I think I´ll actually write a list of everything I still wanna see and do in Sydney before leaving home. It´ll definately be tons of outdoor activities!

Since my last update I´ve been studying, studying, studying... I dunno why I spent so much time studying even though my goal was just to pass my subjects. I did well on economics, totally blew my finance exam yesterday, and about my HRM exam today I really can´t say anything. But the most important thing is I´m all done and don´t have to spend (waste) any more time sitting inside studying. I did study outside every now and then, though. Broadway Cafe has nice big tables outside, which are perfect for studying while drinking coffee.

What I like about the summer in Sydney are all the different festivals :) Many neighbourhoods have their own street fares and there´re several music, performance and food fests around the city, as well. Last Friday I went to the Rocks with Renar, Cody, Renee, Maryse, Kamilla and Inger. First we had dinner at Pancakes and then we walked around the night markets while listening to live music performances. Then we took the bus to Bar Broadway, where we stayed for a while before going to check out this party at The Loft (our uni bar). It costed $10 to get in so I decided to head home instead and watch a movie. On Sunday I went to Glebe Street Fare. It was a perfect summer day and I spent over two hours just walking along the street and looking at all the stalls. There were tons of them! For lunch I had a delicious Malesian spring roll and a Japanese chocolate pancake. I´m really gonna miss all the international food! I also bought a pretty necklace and 1m-long licorice (the same stuff they sell at markets in Finland).

Night Markets at The Rocks

Glebe Street Fare

Now I´m gonna go outside to enjoy the sunshine and read a book (Jane Austen´s Emma) before going to the gym... I still can´t believe I needn´t study anymore, it feels so unreal :)

My pictures

Denise took these pictures of me for her photography project.

Just an update

I´m bored of studying so I thought to update my blog even though I haven´t done anything that exciting lately... Fortunately I finished my last assingment on Thursday, so I´ve only got 3 final exams left before I´ll be all done with my studies at UTS! In a way I´m already looking forward to going back to studying at LUT to really contribute towards getting my degree. I´ve taken beneficial subjects here and learned many new things, especially during the second semester, but none of them substitute any of the compulsory subjects of my degree. The only thing I´m not looking forward to doing is taking those B2 and B3 maths that I smartly decided to skip as a freshman :/ But my general attitude towards studying is extremely positive! The longer I work at simple jobs such as sales assistant the stronger I feel I really need to get a challenging job to be satisfied. And by studying a degree I can get the kind of job I´ll be happy performing.

So, what all have I done besides studying... I´ve been to a few parties. Last Friday I went to Carlos´ and Jamie´s Housewarming Party in Glebe. They share a nice two-storey house with a small backyard. The party was good, meeting some new people and drinking Finlandia Vodka that I shared with Sharon and Carlos. From the party we went to this nice cocktail bar. I really liked the decorations - an aquarium, lots of wood and red lights - and it was nice sitting there for a while even though I couldn´t afford to buy any drinks. Yesterday I went to another party. It was Andre´s Farewell Party. It was storming last night (I got completely wet walking there and back!) so all the people were packed inside making it crowded and hot. The two best things of the party were the DJ (a professional playing a good mix of techno, latest pop hits and Latin music) and sangria (Spanish/Latin drink with red wine, juice and fruits). Even though I knew hardly anyone there I had a good time dancing :)

At Andre´s Farewell Party

Last Saturday I went to Food and Wine Festival in Hyde Park. The park was full of stands selling different kinds of foods and wines, and lots of people. The queues were quite long and I hadn´t a lot of time to wander around before the stands closed, so I just bought sushi. It was the best sushi I´ve tasted so far :P The two huge rolls were filled with salmon, prawns and some delicious sauce. I sat by a fountain eating them, listening to a music performance and looking at people. Once again I got to experience how friendly Australians are :) These girl and guy sitting next to me just started chatting with me and invited me to join them to walk around the fest area. After leaving the fest I bought an ice cream and walked towards Darling Harbour, from where I went to Paddys Markets to buy some veggies and fruit before going home.

Food and Wine Festival

Fountain in Hyde Park

Speaking of food (why am I always writing about food lol) I cooked Mexican food with Moy and two of his friends on Wednesday. We cooked tortillas with chicken, avocado-onion-tomato sauce, potatoes & sausage and another set of tortillas with mushroom and cheese. So much fun cooking with people :) We made enough food for everyone to take for lunch to uni/work the next day. Today I´m cooking chicken curry with Sharon; already getting hungry...

Chinese pop concert

On Monday I skipped my finance lecture to go to a Chinese pop concert with Sharon and her family. First Sharon and I met her two brothers at a Japanese restaurant near Town Hall for dinner. I had delicious teryaki chicken with rice and sallad. Then it was time to take a cab to the Opera House, where the concert was held. Outside the house we met Sharon´s mother and some of her friends, who also came to the concert. It was held at one of the smaller theathers, which was almost full of people - we were the only non-Asians there! Sharon´s mother knew the event organizers, so we got front row seats and some special treatment during the concert.

It was young pop stars from Shenzhen (a city close to Hong Kong) coming to perform in Australia for the first time, and the concert was filmed and broadcasted live nationwide China! Even though I don´t speak Chinese, and therefore didn´t understand what they sang about, I really enjoyed all the music, songs and costumes :) All the artists were good performers and it was easy to tell they enjoyed being on the stage. I guess some of them are pretty big names in China since they had their own music videos playing on screens behind them.

Beautiful singer

This one guy was the Chinese Idol or something and many of the Asian girls went just crazy when he was singing. I gotta admit, he was really hot ;) During his second song many girls climbed up to the stage to give him flowers and get their pictures taken with him. Sharon´s mother encouraged us to go, too, and we finally decided to go when he was already finishing his song. But when we were about to climb to the stage this security lady told us we weren´t allowed to go anymore. That´s when one of the organizers crabbed flowers from this Asian girl who also wanted to go - she looked so disappointed - and gave them to us, permitting us to be the last persons to greet him. So up the stage we went, and I handed him the flowers, but we were kinda confused and didn´t stay long enough to have our picture taken with him. It was such a fun teenager moment, though lol.

The Chinese Idol

One of the last things was a traditional Australian campfire song performed by few of the Chinese singers. The event organizers had asked us (Sharon´s family, friends and me) to join them on the stage to sing with them. So there we were standing, trying to sing the song - which I had never even heard before - on a live broadcast! The eight of us were invited to join all the artists and organizers for group pictures after the show, too. I bet we got such special treatment partly because we knew the organizers, but mostly because we were the only Western people there, kinda representing Australians. We hung around for a while after the concert was over, and I got interviewed for the broadcast. The lady was really friendly, asking me questions such as what I thought of the show, who was my favorite (I couldn´t remember her name so I just described her), if I knew any Chinese or if I had visited China etc... She also said I was beautiful :)

So, that was our moment of fame! It´d be interesting to know how famous the singers actually are in China, and how the broadcast turned out. We might get a DVD of it, which would be so cool. After the concert Sharon and I decided to stay for drinks at the harbourside, viewing the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Two of her friends joined us, and we spent some time sitting there and chatting. We took the bus home right after midnight, still excited about our first experience of Chinese pop music! Now we also have this huge poster of the pop stars hanging on our loundry room wall :)

Res Ball & Good Food Month

Yesterday was the annual UTS Residential Ball. This year its theme was the 20s and it was held at the Spanish Club. I was too lazy to make any effort to find a 20s costume, so I just wore this dress I had bought some months ago. I tried to make my hair wavy but it ended up being too curly so I just put it in simple low bun. The only 20s thing I had was bright red lipstick. Anyways, it was fun dressing up and going to a club! It was quite a few of us going from Geegal, so we met outside for some group pictures before taking the bus to the Spanish Club. Everyone was dressed nicely, more or less following the 20s theme... Some people at the club were wearing some really cool stuff: dresses, headbands with feathers, hairstyles, hats etc. We were given two free drinks - beer, wine or soft drinks - and some small snacks. There was also a professional photographer there. The club was rather small but nice, and it was nice being surrounded by 20s looking people. The only thing I missed was some jazz music to create a true 20s underground athmosphere. Instead they were playing just normal dance music, which was fine for dancing, of course. After dancing, talking to old and new friends and just hanging around Cameron and I decided to leave somewhere else for cheaper tequila shots. We crossed the road to some hotel bar and sat there for maybe over an hour drinking shots of tequila - we both had two - and talking. Then it was time to head to V Bar, where the after-party was held. It´s a nice club with two levels. They were playing Spanish type dance music downstairs, where our group was dancing. I was fairly drunk and felt pretty tired, so I took a cab home with Cameron and Maryse before 3am. All in all, it was a very nice night indeed :)

Girls picture: Renee, Sharon, NingNing, Claire, Kamilla, Inger, I and Maryse

Anders, Claire, Cameron, I, Sharon, Loure Lou, Renar and Tim

Today I slept in till 11am and had late breakfast with my new coffee. It´s caramel flavored Irish Cream coffee from Gloria Jeans and I just love it :P It was a beautiful day so I decided to go to The Festival of the olive to Elizabeth Farm in Western Sydney. (It´s Good Food Month in Sydney this October, and there´re lots of different events going on in the city. On Thursday I went to Hyde Park to Asian Noodle Night Markets. There were lots of stands selling Asian dishes at very cheap prices and the park was decorated with colorful lights. There were some Chinese dance performances, as well, and tons of people. I only bought two small things, but really enjoyed the athmosphere of having the fest right in the middle of the city centre, all those people coming there straight from work still wearing their suits, just relaxing, chatting, sitting or walking around.) Well, back to the olive fest... It took over an hour to take the train and bus there, but it was worth the trip. The Elizabeth Farm was commenced in 1793, and it contains one of the oldest European buildings in Australia, surrounded by a beautiful garden area. I wandered around in the historical house, which was furnished like back in the 1800s. The farm was a perfect location for the olive fest. There were lots of stands selling olive oils, bread, spices and some artcrafts. They all had free sampling, too. Then there was a main stage, where different bands and dance groups were performing. I liked especially this Greek Dancers group. And in the taste tent some top chefs gave food preparation demonstrations. I watched one of them. This lady prepared ricotta, lamb and salsa. I wish the taste samples had been bigger, though. After wandering around and enjoying the sunny weather and food sampling for a couple of hours, until the festival ended for the day, I walked around in the neighbourhood for a while before taking the train back home. There were some really nice (and posh) houses. Now I´ve been just sitting on my computer writing this story. Soon it´s time to go outside to celebrate Kamilla´s and Inger´s Birthday. They´re having a barbeque in the court yard.

The Elizabeth Farm House

By the way, I didn´t do that bad on my finance mid-term exam, either. I got 82%. It´s funny how well I´m doing with my studies considering how little time I spend on them...

Boooorriiiinggg

It´s thundering and pouring rain! I´m happy I decided to skip this party at Circular Quay tonight and stay home instead. I bought chocolate, so I´m just gonna lay in my bed eating it and reading some magazines Sonja sent me. I´ve got Finnish Cosmopolitans, Trendi and Aalef. Receiving them really made my day, thanks darling :)

I´ve been working tons this week. Giordano is having tables at the centre court of the shopping centre, which means we´re selling clothes at two different places. I´ve been working down at the centre court and have actually enjoyed it quite a bit. It´s a lot of people down there so it doesn´t get boring at any time. Also, Mel has been happy with me making quite a lot of sales :) Hopefully I´ll keep getting enough work shifts to earn money for all the traveling I´m planning on doing.

Besides work and uni, I haven´t actually done anything worth mentioning this week. I went to Chris´ party on Saturday. It was in his house in Newtown and his flatmate, who´s a chef, prepared some delicious barbeque food for everyone. It was around 30 people there; just hanging around, making new friends, eating and drinking... I hadn´t planned to drink anything but the 2 Smirnoff Douple Blacks I had brought with me, but ended up going to a nearby bottle shop to buy some Bacardi Breezers, too. I get drunk so easily nowadays. I think it´s because I drink so seldom compared to how often I used to get drunk. Anyways, the party was good - we were actually dancing in the living room - until the police showed up. It had been just a regular party with music and no fighting or anything, but I guess in a way it´s kinda unfortunate living opposite to the police station, apart from the safety it provides.

I can´t believe how fast this year has gone by! It´s already October and I´ll be back in Finland in 3 months. In a way I feel like I´ve been here for a long time already and it´s time to go home soon. I haven´t been this happy for a long time, though :D It feels good waking up in the morning feeling excited about the new day and all the activities ahead, instead of feeling just indifferent and stressed. But I believe at the end it all depends on your attitude towards everything - Your life is how you make it be!