Day Zero and D-Day

Day Zero (7th of July 2009)

Okay... where do I begin.... Day Zero was a momentous day for me, a new chapter in my life. So I've decided to blog about it, share my feelings, thoughts and all.

Alrighty, I'll start with the airport. Okay.... After the airport farewell with family and friends(will upload photos as soon as somebody sends them to me.), went through customs and on to the plane. So, twas pretty normal and stuff. No problems there. Breezed through and arrived in Singapore.

Now in Singapore, I met this German fellow. Name of Reichel. His son is studying in Brisbane too, but he doesn't know the name of the University that his son studies at apparently. XD Pretty laid back. Met him at around 7 o'clock it was? I don't really remember the precise time. Talked until about 8pm or something, swapping life stories and stuff. Apparently he's pretty widely travelled and he's been to a whole bunch of places including Taiwan. So he was talking to me about China's culural revolution thingie and how Chiang Kai-Shek(is that the right spelling?) fled China with treasures and stuff and set up a museum in Taiwan for them.

Overall a pretty nice guy, our Herr Reichel.

After Herr Reichel disappeared, think he went to take a walk or something and only came back when the plane decided to board... I met another fellow. Indian this time. His name is Suez(again is this the right spelling?) and he's going to study in Griffiths(?) University in a business undergraduate program. He was there with his family. Also a nice guy. At least I think he is. Kinda trendy looking, and pretty handsome(I guess... my tastes don't really run that way)

After we passed the check in place where we scanned the hand carried luggage, I met another Indian, named Ayush. So we were all going to Brisbane. Ayush was going to University of Queensland to study in Engineering. Also a swell guy...

(Are all Indians as handsome as these two?)

So we parted after that as our seats were pretty far apart from each other. I met Herr Reichel again, as he was sitting in the seat in front of mine. Lucky huh. XD
We didn't really talked much on the plane, cos it's pretty hard to talk to a guy who sits behind you I guess...

Instead... I turned to my neighbour, and guess who I found. XD
A Mr. Grant Warren, an Australian *surprise surprise* QUT Lecturer and International Services Manager with the Faculty of Health. Talked quite a bit on what to expect and stuff on the way there. Actual weather, campus life, etc. etc. etc. Also asked his opinion about the H1N1 Swine flu thing.

According to his informed opinion, (Faculty of Health... Colleagues in Medicine perhaps?) the Swine Flu is just another seasonal flu, albeit a bit more contagious and that most governments are overreacting when it comes to the whole "pandemic" issue.

So then after the conversation petered out, we went and did our own things.

Myself, I watched Watchmen(which I didn't get to see in M'sia) during the first 2 hours and just before landing I watched an episode of MythBusters(arguably my favourite series on Discovery)
Didn't sleep much. The place was pretty bright even with the lights dimmed down. All those people watching movies at the built-in screens.

So after we landed I find myself saying my goodbyes to Herr Reichel(He complained that the air stewardess forgot to serve him breakfast) and Mr. Grant, the latter mentioning that he the friend(well, close neighbour actually) of the head of the International Student Services.




D-Day aka Day 1 (8th July 2009)

Disembarked from the plane, got sniffed by an absolutely huge dog(drug check I s'pose), and went to get my baggage. Got delayed there for 20 minutes thereabouts cos the luggage was accidently sent to a storage warehouse(something like that... can't remember the exact reason) and went to scan my stuff and get out of the airport and into Brisbane proper.

Met the people doing the greeting. They were guys from a Bel Air Limo(something like that) company that was doing the driving for QUT and a whole bunch of other Unis.

Our driver that day was a Ms. Irma and I was carpooling with a Tiffany(Singapore, going to UQ can't remember what course), Sumi(Korea, going also to QUT to study Journalism) and another Korean who didn't introduce herself.

So, after I arrived at the campus and said goodbye to Tiffany and Irma, I checked in at CLV and went to my room. There I met 2 of my roommates.

The first one was Osama(I kid you not). He's from Saudi. Pretty sour chap, guess he's in a bad mood. Said hi and went straight to his room.

Second was Tim. Now that's what I call a roommate. Polite, decent fellow. Friendly too. Had a little chat about the state of the kitchen as well as the two missing roommates(both girls who are presumably on vacation somewhere)

So after that, I went and unpacked one of my bags(the Big one, obviously) and then went out do to some scouting and preliminary things.

Went first to Kelvin's Grove QUT campus and found out that I had to do some online enrolment thingie before I could get my student card. (messed up my plans for going to Garden's Point on my first day)

Then, I went to open a bank account at MECU, the local bank that was conveniently on Campus and met Vicki(the bank teller). She gave me some stuff to look over and forms to fill. So I told her I'll do those outside and come back later.

I went for lunch at Beadles Cafe, I guess it was at around 12-ish? paid 10AUD for a plate of sandwiches(2 large ones, ham, onion, lettuce, tomato and a cappuchino. I was sleepy XD) while partially filling up the bank forms.

When I was done eating, I went back to MECU and finished up with the application thingie.

Went down to the Urban Village after that, and did some shopping. Altogether I did 3 trips to and fro(and I've got the receipts to prove it) to get stuff I was forgetting(extremely tired at that point)

Came back from my third trip there and found out that my room was very very cold and that I needed a heater if I wanted to have a reasonable chance of surviving my first few weeks here and that Woolie's didn't have any more heaters left in stock.

Came back from my abortive 4th trip to Woolie's and met Tim and his GF, Jo(Joanne). Asked them about the online enrolment thingie, they said just pick a random subject initially and change it after I see the course coordinator and do the orientation.

Freshened up, toilet, shower, etc. and went for dinner. Shopped around for a bit, there were a good number of restaurants there. Decided on a Turkish place called "Kasiim's Kebabs" and had the Kebab Plate.

Came home, made an Internet phone call back to M'sia and did the online enrolment thing while planning day 2.

After that, I only knew the sweet embrace of pillow and blanket until the next morning....