...in a land far, far away...
Wednesday, 17. September 2008, 09:26:19
It has been exactly one month now since I started my journey to the Gold Coast in Queensland (QLD) Australia, where I am studying a semester at Bond University.
After my two-day stopover in Kuala Lumpur I got onto my plane heading to a tiny Coolangatta Airport directly at the Gold Coast. On that plane I got to meet Allan. A friendly and more than generous Aussie who offered me to stay at his house if I wouldn't get lucky finding accommodation.
The next five days I stayed at the Surf'n'Sun Backpackers hostel from where I started my search for accommodation. It was around that time when I realized that Australia isn't really that big in offering broadband internet. You can get it at a couple of places - to horrendous prices - or, and that is if you live here, get a tariff with limited bandwidth.
I finally managed to find a place that had an open wifi hotspot to start my search for a room close to the beach as well as to the university. After going there for the fourth time in a row (I believe the employees know me by my first name by now) I decided to give Allan a call to take the pressure off of my shoulders and stay at his place.
Turns out Allan actually meant to offer me his place for free, as long as I'd like to stay there. Can you believe it? By now I got pretty much every student at Bond jealous because they have to pay 800$ a month for a shitty room on campus whereas I stay in my queen size bed, with my own bathroom, a giant boat in the back of the house, a pool up front as well as a huge kitchen and HDTV in the living room - for free. Well and for Allan... I barely even see him during the week since he's off to work all the time even though I would love to get to know him better. He won't even be at home during the entire month of October since he's traveling through china. Well enough flaunting around.
So obviously my search for a place to stay was on hold since then.
From now on I had plenty of time to get to know Surfers Paradise, the beaches along the Gold Coast Hwy as well as my uni campus.
Let me tell you - that campus is almost like a 5 star hotel (except for accommodation). The most eye-catching things are the giant lake, the arch building, the multimedia lab that offers plenty of computers to log on to six HDTV's with Playstation 3's attached to all of them as well as a room with a HD projector connected to a XBOX 360, PS3 or Nintendo Wii... whatever you feel like. Games as well as movies are for rent in the library.
There are two cafés on campus that have kind of a Starbucks flair to them. In addition to that, the Brasserie (The "Bra") offers Breakfast, Lunch as well as Dinner in an all-you-can-eat manner and the Lakeside Grill prepares fresh salads or noodle dishes for you. If you're done with your lectures you head over to the gym or the giant Olympic size pool. After the workout you might as well join us in the hot tub before we head over to the (on campus) tavern to grab a fresh jug of beer. The next two taverns are only 5 to 10 minute walk away from campus which is important if you wanna keep up with the official advice from the uni - study hard, party hard - maintain your work/life balance.
The stuff that goes on behind the scenes is just as impressive. The student services offered here aren’t even close to the crap I’m used to from Germany. You might as well get your own personal trainer at the gym. The lecturers have all plenty of experience to teach you and the classrooms are well suited.
And what did you think we were doing during orientation week. After all the official stuff was done we started "enjoying" australian beer. ...sometimes starting at 11 a.m.
I don't think my liver would have made another week like that. But it was hours and hours of fun and meeting lots and lots of very friendly people. Most of those I still hang out with every day. And if we're enjoying the evening a little too much, I might as well crash at their place.
The evenings are pretty busy here on campus and I am having a great time. A little too great since everyone started complaining that I am not writing enough. I'll try to do better in the future
The things that shocked me the most so far are the high prices they charge for everything you might be able to eat. Public transport is VERY irregular and, what sucks the most, the last bus off campus leaves at 10 pm. I also still didn’t get used to the giant bats that fly around here. Every evening when I walk home at least one of those things takes of about a meter away from me scaring the s**t out of me. It is definitively time for me to get a bike.
I didn’t take too much time to take pictures so far. But to get the idea, you’ll find a few first impressions in the gallery.
Thanks for reading.
After my two-day stopover in Kuala Lumpur I got onto my plane heading to a tiny Coolangatta Airport directly at the Gold Coast. On that plane I got to meet Allan. A friendly and more than generous Aussie who offered me to stay at his house if I wouldn't get lucky finding accommodation.
The next five days I stayed at the Surf'n'Sun Backpackers hostel from where I started my search for accommodation. It was around that time when I realized that Australia isn't really that big in offering broadband internet. You can get it at a couple of places - to horrendous prices - or, and that is if you live here, get a tariff with limited bandwidth.
I finally managed to find a place that had an open wifi hotspot to start my search for a room close to the beach as well as to the university. After going there for the fourth time in a row (I believe the employees know me by my first name by now) I decided to give Allan a call to take the pressure off of my shoulders and stay at his place.
Turns out Allan actually meant to offer me his place for free, as long as I'd like to stay there. Can you believe it? By now I got pretty much every student at Bond jealous because they have to pay 800$ a month for a shitty room on campus whereas I stay in my queen size bed, with my own bathroom, a giant boat in the back of the house, a pool up front as well as a huge kitchen and HDTV in the living room - for free. Well and for Allan... I barely even see him during the week since he's off to work all the time even though I would love to get to know him better. He won't even be at home during the entire month of October since he's traveling through china. Well enough flaunting around.
So obviously my search for a place to stay was on hold since then.
From now on I had plenty of time to get to know Surfers Paradise, the beaches along the Gold Coast Hwy as well as my uni campus.
Let me tell you - that campus is almost like a 5 star hotel (except for accommodation). The most eye-catching things are the giant lake, the arch building, the multimedia lab that offers plenty of computers to log on to six HDTV's with Playstation 3's attached to all of them as well as a room with a HD projector connected to a XBOX 360, PS3 or Nintendo Wii... whatever you feel like. Games as well as movies are for rent in the library.
There are two cafés on campus that have kind of a Starbucks flair to them. In addition to that, the Brasserie (The "Bra") offers Breakfast, Lunch as well as Dinner in an all-you-can-eat manner and the Lakeside Grill prepares fresh salads or noodle dishes for you. If you're done with your lectures you head over to the gym or the giant Olympic size pool. After the workout you might as well join us in the hot tub before we head over to the (on campus) tavern to grab a fresh jug of beer. The next two taverns are only 5 to 10 minute walk away from campus which is important if you wanna keep up with the official advice from the uni - study hard, party hard - maintain your work/life balance.
The stuff that goes on behind the scenes is just as impressive. The student services offered here aren’t even close to the crap I’m used to from Germany. You might as well get your own personal trainer at the gym. The lecturers have all plenty of experience to teach you and the classrooms are well suited.
And what did you think we were doing during orientation week. After all the official stuff was done we started "enjoying" australian beer. ...sometimes starting at 11 a.m.
I don't think my liver would have made another week like that. But it was hours and hours of fun and meeting lots and lots of very friendly people. Most of those I still hang out with every day. And if we're enjoying the evening a little too much, I might as well crash at their place.The evenings are pretty busy here on campus and I am having a great time. A little too great since everyone started complaining that I am not writing enough. I'll try to do better in the future
The things that shocked me the most so far are the high prices they charge for everything you might be able to eat. Public transport is VERY irregular and, what sucks the most, the last bus off campus leaves at 10 pm. I also still didn’t get used to the giant bats that fly around here. Every evening when I walk home at least one of those things takes of about a meter away from me scaring the s**t out of me. It is definitively time for me to get a bike.
I didn’t take too much time to take pictures so far. But to get the idea, you’ll find a few first impressions in the gallery.
Thanks for reading.
WIDGETIZE