Christmas & Starting my Vacation ...
Hey all,
What happened the last days …
24 December (our Christmas) Melbourne
Had a nice “Christmas Brunch” with Wally, Patton & Shannon (instead of the traditional Christmas Dinner ;)
Thought I need to do something I definitely couldn’t do at home at Christmas and went for an extended bike ride along the Yarra river.
Finished my Christmas with a good dinner in front of the TV & packing my stuff for my vacation in New Zealand.
25 December (their Christmas) Melbourne - Auckland
Had a flight to Auckland, New Zealand. One of the best flights I had so far, even tough it was heavily delayed due to a non-working baggage handling system on Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport. But – thanks to silver card – I was checked in quickly and got (I don’t know how) a seat in the “Pacific Premier Economy Class” which has a very extended leg space – who needs business class if economy offers that good leg room?
Arrived Auckland really late and then came in a random customs check …
26 –28 December Auckland
Went again up the Sky Tower to enjoy the excellent view over the city – spend the rainy day shopping in Auckland and booked a car to make my way in the next three weeks down to Wellington…
Wanted a tiny car (Toyota Echo) - was told they are all sold out and I will get a economy car (Toyota Corolla) – finally got a big car (Toyota Camry) – but it feels good to know that after not driving for five months I still can just sit in a car and go - even on the wrong side of the road ;)
I'll post some pictures as soon as I'm back in Melbourne (mid to end January)!
To be continued ...
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Dear all,
this is my last entry before christmas & I wish you all a
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
All the best.
B.
Christmas Tree in front of Melbourne's City Hall
At the Beach
Have been out last night. Went to the night market with Janet, Wally, Andy, Patton & Shannon. Night market is at Queen Victoria Market and it’s only on once a week, Wednesday night. They offer food from all over the world and also lot of small shops with everything you never knew exists and you never needed ;)
Today I went for a bike ride with Carol. We went down to St. Kilda – again. Met Julie and Roland, went for a swim and a cool juice in one of the bars with some other guys from MBS. Had a somewhat serious bike ride – though it was way too hot. The water was a more than welcome refreshment …
Will go for Christmas Dinner with Janet and her family and - Hurra - finally, made up my mind about my holidays and booked a ticket to New Zealand for Monday noon … will stay for about 3 weeks … keep you postet!
Melbourne is smoky …
Up until yesterday everything was fine … but since last night Melbourne is covered in smoke again. Depending on the wind, the smoke of the bush fires is all over the city. The skyline of Melbourne looks like its hiding behind a wall of fog – but it’s all smoke!
Even my forecastfox says “Melbourne: smoky, 27°C”
Went with Janet, Wally, and Andy to the pub on Monday night and today with Janet for lunch in one of the cafes in an alley in downtown Melbourne. We waited for ages to be served, finally ordered and then waited again … finally the waiter came and asked whether we wanna something else or just the bill. We both asked him whether he was kidding – we haven’t eaten yet and would be happy to receive what we ordered – came out he lost our order – well, had cheap drinks then (were free ;)
Wanted to go sailing tonight but it seems due to not so much wind and the smoke this might not be the best idea – will probably go out downtown instead…
Melbourne is cool …
So, finally, last weekend I got my results – everything went fine! Even Accounting which I was a bit worried about (you might remember everything between “badly failed” and “pretty good”) turned out to be on the upper end of the scale … Now I can really relax and enjoy my holidays. The last months I thought about Melbourne as “yet another big city” but since I have time to explore it I changed my mind … Melbourne is really cool! :) Melbourne is a city that takes time to find all the small hidden alleys, cafes, nice bars, to explore the beaches and more remote “country side”.
Went last week for the first time to St. Kilda (that’s one of Melbourne’s beaches). A fantastic area with lots of little shops, cafes, and restaurants. It’s well known for its cake shops and the pistachio meringue I had was fantastic. Of course I went there on Thursday evening and it was raining – the first time since I don’t know when… have been there on Sunday again – this time walking along the beach. When I came back I went to the pictures downtown – I saw “The Holiday” … I liked it though one of my colleagues said it depresses her to see other people falling in love so easily ;)
Also on Sunday I was invited at Robinette and Bob’s for an early Christmas Lunch. This is the event where they catch up with family in Melbourne whereas for Christmas they are with their kids and grandkids in Bendigo. It was a traditional Australian Christmas Lunch with Turkey and Christmas Pudding … I loved it! ;)
And – not to forget – I decided it would be a good idea to bring some traditional Austrian Christmas cookies. Yeah, I was busy on Saturday finding all ingredients and making my cookies. However, everyone loved them and has to do a bit extra sports now … *g*
St. Kilda
BBQ @ Albert Park on Sunday
I know I talk a lot about the weather here but it’s really weird.
As I posted earlier, Victoria was shivering through the coldest November days since 1953 this year. Nevertheless, last week it was the hottest December day since 1959! The weekend was – hard to believe – 40°C. And, the bush fire season started early this year and in the Northeast of Victoria thousands of hectares are on fire – the situation is currently very severe. Even in Melbourne you can see, feel, and smell the results of the fires even though they are hundreds of kilometres away. On the weekend the whole city was covered in smoke, elderly people, kids, and people with asthma were advised to stay inside and strenuous exercise should also not be done … anyway, it was so hot that every move was too much!
“Only the strongest will survive” – that’s what we (Fay, her flatmate, Kirk, Jong, and I) thought and went for a BBQ to Albert Park – Melbourne’s formula-1 race course. Actually, it is rather a park – even with a lake – but once a year formula-1 is having a race there.
We had a lovely BBQ even tough we thought the food is going off before Fay’s friends with the eski arrive. We spend a couple of hours there … still it was too hot to move … BUT in the afternoon – within just a few hours it cooled down to 20°C – perfect! :)
B-Day Soiree
On Saturday – my first day of holiday – I woke up in the morning … ok, ok … it was around lunch time *ggg* - first day since a couple of weeks or months that I didn’t (have to) go to uni, the first day off since a long time, and – I didn’t really know what to do!?!? And – it also feels a bit strange that I won’t see my colleagues/friends for the next 2 months… We had three birthdays within a week (of course exam week!) and decided to have a small party together after exams are finished. As we (Janet, Zeenat, and I) were - thanks to exams - a bit unorganized and sent the invitation out pretty late (Saturday afternoon) and it was the second party within a day we celebrated with a small group at the “Belgian Beer Garden”. It is a huge place on the way to St. Kilda beach, similar to Munich’s beer gardens, though way less organized – it takes ages to queue up and get a drink or food …
Nevertheless, we had a great time! :)
B-Day Girls
Zeenat - Birgit - Janet
“The-Day-Term-1-Ended” or “End-of-Term Party”
Friday – the great relief-day! Exams were over by noon for us and my class met at the Corkman (our standard pub) right after exams finished. A bit later I moved to “Shark Fin House” to Chinatown for an excellent lunch with some of the guys. Fay, Alvaro, Abishek, and I extend our lunch and to a dessert a “Koko Black” – chocolate indulgence at its finest. Went a bit shopping with Fay but then it was already time to get ready for the big “End-of-Term” party… The party was at the Clyde Hotel close to uni. Good thing it was an outside/inside location and it was a closed function for us only! Was a great party all together! Got a ride home from Chayan on Thanuja’s car … thanks and c’ya all soon or next year!
Birgit - Mathias
Dennis - Joe - Billy
1 … 2 … 3 … 4 … 5 … DONE!
Hey *,
What happened in the last week(s):
We had 4 syndicate assignments running parallel until November 23rd, classes finished December 1st, and exam week started Monday December 4th (or for me on Tuesday December 5th). Everyone was extremely under time pressure and seemed to be completely stressed out. The period of syndicate assignments was really tough – we had different groups to coordinate and all assignments were really important. Then we didn’t have any time off to prepare for the exams as classes finish & immediately the week after exams starts. Mainly my class had 1 exam a day for the whole week though as I swapped a subject, I started at Tuesday with two exams and then 1 each day for the rest of the week with the “killer” exam (accounting) at the end.
1 ... 2 ... Tuesday
2 exams - Managing People for High Performance and Marketing
I was pretty exhausted. Both of them are “writing” exams – at least we were allowed to type our essays. As usual I had troubles to write a lot but – never mind – faculty should love it as they have to read thousands of thousands of words …
... 3 ... Wednesday – my birthday
1 exam - Financial Management
Still consider Finance a birthday present even tough for my taste it could have had a bit more calculus in it and less questions where you have to write & explain. Went for one drink with Alejandro and Vincent (the hard guys who are going for a drink in the middle of exam week – THANKS). By the time Alvaro wanted to join us we were already back at uni to study a bit further. Nah, ended up talking about our group rather than studying for the next day …
... 4 ... Thursday
1 exam - Managerial Economics
Haven’t prepared a lot. John, our prof, already announced that this exam will not include calculus (what a pity) and I was sure I have a solid understanding of the economic theories so I decided to rely on that understanding and put my time into accounting. Econ was a lot to write but I believe it went well also.
... 5 ... Friday
1 exam - Accounting
This was the only closed book exam we had and it was supposed to be really difficult. However, we knew we will work on the financial statements of Kellogg’s. This exam is the only one which could be everything from “badly failed” to “pretty good”. Let’s see – results are to be announced next Monday!
... DONE!
Finally, I’m back to a “normal” life. Exams are over! This is a great relieve!
