Lady Oaks

HA this is more of a joke now then a blog but anyway. My dumbass forgot to take my camera with me the one day so many awesome things happen.

So in Caloundra there is this event called Horse Races. They close schools and offices just so people can go. Now I'm thinking to myself what could be so great about horse races. And people explain to me that it's just an excuse to get dolled up and drunk. I am now more interested in these Horse Races

So I find out about the Races maybe a couple days before today and I debate with myself whether or not I should go. (I have no money left and I need to save every penny so I can eat and drink goon) So the night before the races, yesterday, I go grocery shopping and I buy some goon :(. I go out and hang around Varsity and just have a good night getting drunk. I go back to my place and I pass out not expecting to do anything but assignments the next day, today. I wake up and the suns out and it's pretty quiet at Varsity. The first thing I think is that I've already wasted most of the day because I drank to much last night. So I get up brush my teeth and what not open my bathroom window just to feel how cold it is outside and surprisingly enough there's actually beautiful weather. I am now more bummed because I just wasted a really really good day on sleeping :(. So I look at my watch to see what time it is. OMG it's 8:00 in the morning. I am never awake let alone up this early on a Friday. So I chill on my bed check out Facebook and what not, debating on whether or not I should go back to sleep and wake up at a little more reasonable time. Now keep in mind I've still pretty much made up my mind about the Races. I didn't wanna go and spend money I didn't have.

9:30am hits and the music starts. Oh the good ol' light side music. At this point I've built up a pretty strong tolerance for it. I here people having fun and partying but I say to myself, "Self, don't even look outside it will only depress you even more." (On the account of I have no monies) So I put on my head phones and try not to think about how much fun I'm missing.

11:00am hits, still in my room just chillin on my bed. The music is still playing, but that's not unusual for this side of Varsity.

Finally 12:00pm hits and I finally leave my room. I know I'm pretty much a loser. I walk out to the living room and what do I see from my balcony window. Everyone from Varsity out on the volleyball court dressed up and drinking. I tell myself, "Self, you're going to the Races." I go back in my room and I put something fancy on, I head out side and go to hangout with everybody. So by this point there is amazingly beautiful weather, heaps of girls looking pretty damn good, and beers and wine everywhere. I'm feeling pumped.

So we head out to the front gate. People are complimenting me on how I look, I give them compliments back and everyone is just super fly. We're waiting for a cab and while we're outside some girls walk up to me and were talking and just loving life. Some where in the conversation we start talking about how we're getting there. One of the girls has a car, but of course she's too drunk to drive. I on the other hand am too poor to be drunk. It's a match made in heaven. The only problem is that I don't feel to good about driving on the other side of the road. I also just met this girl and I'm pretty sure she doesn't want me crashing her car because of that. So we're back to waiting for a cab.

Some time goes by and people start finding other sober soldiers to drive them to the Races. Now the time is around 12:30 or 1:00 and everyone is pretty drunk. Luckily my good man Travis has a car and my other good friend Sarah isn't going to the Races. So our bright idea is to get her to drive his car to the Races and drop us off. We all pile in his car and head off. It's me, Valentin, Manny, Travis, and Sarah.

About an half hour later and a u-turn we make it to Lady Oak's. There are heaps of cars and people all walking to the gates. Luckily, Australia is so precocious they do a breathalyzer test on every driver coming into the event. Good on ya M8. Sarah thinks that she might blow over because she was drinking the night before, I tell her not likely. So she does her best at the test and she passes wooooo. BUT (yes of course there is a very big but) Travis' car has an expired registration sticker on the front wind shield. The cop notices and asks about it.

20min later, we are stuck at the breathalyzer station and can't go into the Races. Travis is on the phone with his dad trying to sort the whole thing and we are just gazing at the horses and loving life, for the most part. After the cop gets done his whole macho shpeel he hands Travis a $250 AUD ticket and tells Sarah that she needs to go straight back to Varsity and no where else. He also hands her a ticket too but no fine. Thank God

Finally we are on our way to the gates. Back to that good feeling mood and so excited to go and have some fun. We get in there and every single guy is either in a button down shirt or a suit and all the women have on fancy dresses, heels, and the biggest sun hats I have ever seen. It was amazing, the best thing that I have done in a long while. The platforms were so big and there were people gambling and drinking and smoking and just having a good time. I felt like I was in movie. So we go in get some beers and start looking at the Races.

Little did I know this event is not for watching the horses. They came out maybe once every hour. So in total I saw about 4 or 5 races. This event is just a great excuse to get dressed up and go drinking. The best idea EVER. The sun is shining, everyone is smiling, and people are in just a good mood. By this time it's maybe 2:20 or later. We walk around and check the place out and I start seeing people I know from Varsity. It was like O week all over again but everyone was dressed up. So pretty much the whole day we just sit around looking super fly with not a care in the world and getting drunk just because. It was an amazing amount of fun. I love the Races.

So it's around 3:30 maybe and we here music, good music, and we see a crowd of people jumping up and down. So we go to the crowd and it's pretty much a concert. I had no idea that there would be live music, let alone a concert at the Races. The group that went on were The Potbelleez. They are pretty good and the music was fantastic. So now were partying and still having a good time and still dressed up. God I love getting dressed up.

They do a couple songs and then there's another race. Some more songs and another race, this goes on for maybe another hour. I'm am having the time of my life. So after the partying is done we head out and catch a ride home. The day is done and everyone is pretty tired. I chill around Varsity until 2:00am and then I go back to my place and write this blog. I am so glad that I got to experience this. I love my life and I love Australia. I never wanna leave.

So this weekend I went to Fraser Island and it was pretty amazing. I went with 4 other Germans and we had a blast. The tour guide was pretty awesome, manly because he is in the same field as me. We talked about how frustrating it is to be taught by terrible teachers and how hard that shit gets when you really get in depth.

Anyway, the whole trip pretty memorable, mostly because I recorded everything. Well almost everything. I had about 2 hours of footage to watch. But most of it was on trees. The food was great and I met heaps of new people. I'm actually hanging out with the Nick, the guide, this weekend...no homo. His bday is on the 10th and mine is of course the 12th. So we said HEY! why not just celebrate them together in Brissy (Bribane). I'm going there this weekend and staying Saturday till Sunday. This will be the second time I've stayed in a Hostel so wish me luck.

Tuesday Week 6

Trying my best to keep up with some sort of documentation but no luck. I'm still recording heaps but not everyday. My days just aren't that interesting and my cameras battery isn't that great. I am excited to say that I went to the Zoo last weekend and this weekend I'm going to Frasier Island. The zoo was amazing, I literally laid next to a Kangaroo it was magical. I got to hold a Koala and it pooped in my hand, that wasn't as magical but still exciting. Can't wait to go to Frasier though I hope the weather gets better.

As far as classes goes I turned in 2 assignments so far. Haven't gotten any grades back but I feel pretty good about them. My website looked awesome and I was very happy with the outcome. But on an even better note the best thing ever happened to me today though. So I thought my 3D assignment was due today but it's actually due Friday at 4pm. So instead of sleeping I pulled an all nighter to get it done :D. That's not even the good part though. I unfortunately didn't get it done but I did get almost all the texture finished and I started fixing up some cameras for the animation.
Ok this is the good part. When I showed Graeme (my tutor) what I had worked on so far the first words out his mouth were, "O that looks like an HD to me!" I was shocked :0. I honestly didn't think that I would get anywhere close to HD (pretty much an A+) I was literally just trying to keep up with the rest of the people in the class. They are so fucking good it makes me cry :'D. i wanted to celebrate right there in class but I didn't wanna look like an American lol. So I waited until I got back to my room and went crazy. I'm so pumped to know that even in another country I can kick ass. Not to brag or anything, but I put in a shit ton of work so I'm proud of myself.

it's things like this that make me wanna record everything so I can relive those moments over and over again. God I love Australia.

If you would like to see what I did you can check it out at my art blog sambassart.blogspot.com. I'll post up progress shots periodically so I have something to do.

Better Late Then Never i guess.

So I realize I haven't really updated this since I left. I didn't plan on having this be my main way of documenting my trip but shit happens. I won't go into to too much detail but I will say that I wish I was better informed about the internet situation here. I've never heard, or even imagined, that internet would be paid like a phone bill. The deal is you pay by the minute pretty much. Uploading and Downloading takes extra costs and not to mention there is no WiFi at my apartment. The uni isn't too much better either. It's either too slow to even get on google.com or it just doesn't work entirely.

Nevertheless I'm still having a great time and meeting heaps of new people. I don't regret any decision I made in choosing this place.

I wish the videos had worked out but it seems that that isn't possible now. I'm going to try and do something every week that just shows the life of a study abroad student and what I'm doing. I'll hopefully start that next week. I'll be editing and recording and then by the end of the week I'll put a little video together and post it. It shouldn't take too much internet up I hope. Other then that there's really nothing else to report. I will probably post on this now daily since it is my only way of truly documenting everything.

Here's a little snippet of what I've been doing with my time here. Kinda learned how to surf.

Day -01

Tomorrow is the last day I will be in these United States. I'm not to bummed about it since I will be on the beach.

I got to try out snowboarding for the first time. I was a natural of course, actually I had really great teachers. My awesome friends!! I got all banged up and sore but I'm not complaining. Check out the badass footage we got at my youtube channel, SamBassAustralia.

I played a nasty trick on my mom though. I told her I got in an accident and was sent to the hospital. I got my friend Andrew to call her and explain what happened. She freaked out and now I think she's pretty pissed at me. I feel kinda bad, but I explained to her that I'm not that stupid to go and put my self in impossible situations. I always make sure I'm comfortable and safe. Now I do like to take risks and have lots of fun so I try my best to find a happy medium. I trust myself completely and I hope my mom does to.

She raised me to the best of her ability and I think she did a pretty damn good job. I love you mom. Now I just gotta say all this to her face before I leave. Wish me luck and I'll check back in and let you know how it went.

Day -02

So I'm debating if I wanna keep this up everyday. Ever since I started my video blog I don't really have much to say in this blog. And most people don't read this, they'd rather just watch the videos, it's more entertaining. So I think I might Change this to a weekly thing. Once a week I'll put something up with pictures and stuff.

Other then that I'm still super excited to get everything ready to go. I'm officially ready to leave the States. If you do read this more then the videos then let me know and I'll do my best to keep this one going if not then I will unfortunately have to let this little creation go.

Day -03

I'm back home PACKING. It's coming along well I'm making some very grown up decisions, it's a little stressful. I don't know if I have to much to say since most of my day is in the video, but now I'm sort of freaking out because every time I go away for long periods of time I've noticed that I usually forget something or something goes wrong. I know I shouldn't think like that and I should keep a positive open mind about things but to be totally honest I am now officially nervous. I didn't think that this would happen this early but it did and now that I am packing its getting worse.

I do have Wednesday to look forward to which is great. I'm really excited to go snowboarding. It's the first time I've ever done it, which is a great way to start a trip like this. Always trying knew things. Well I gotta stay positive and keep packing. Wish me luck.

Day -04

It is seriously getting close to the big day. I'm not nervous or scared...yet, but I do feel like something is building up. I know I'm going to miss everyone here, and now that I'm spending so much time with them i know there will be plenty of good times that I will miss. BUT I will be having fun and they should be jealous.

The videos are going well. I'm getting more ideas and it's starting to come more natural. I should probably start carrying my camera with me everywhere. Recording the entire day, that makes a lot more sense then just talking about how fun my day was. So tomorrow it begins, I know I'll get plenty of looks for talking to a camera and walking around video taping my day. I don't care though, in the words of my good friend Chris I'll just fry them (inside joke).

The super bowl was today and the Green Bay Packers won. Beat out the Steelers and everyone is happy. Well I'll check back in tomorrow.

Day -05

Wow 5 days left until I'm in Australia. The suspense is killing me. Good times this weekend, as you can see this is a day late because of the over abundance of fun that I've had. Saw a kick ass movie, Tron Legacy 3D. The 3D wasn't worth it, but I will be buying this on DVD, learning the lines and such.

I'm still at my old apartment. I'm gunna stay here for Super Bowl Sunday. Making the most of my time with my favorite people, meeting new people too. Good people, great people actually.

Well I'm going back to hangout so I'll talk chit chat it up later.

Day -06

Fun stuff today o boy, so much fun. I had to get up SUPER early, 8:18am to be exact. I got a lovely couple bangs on my window from my father because he locked himself out. Then I got ready to go to the bank, yes the super fun bank. My mom and I went to get her account started and to add her name to mine so she can transfer me money when I'm poor, broke and in some ditch crying for her in Australia. God I love my mum.

I found out that my bank, TD Bank, started this awesome new policy of charging people for using atm's that aren't theirs. Well the whole reason why I switched to them was because of the fact that they didn't do that, and because I didn't have to get a credit card to buy stuff in Australia. Of course with any deal like that there's always a catch. So on March 9th I will get 2 bucks or more confiscated from my account every time I take money out from the atm. However there is always a loop whole and Nikki, the helpful lady that opened mine and my mothers accounts, helped me find it. If I go to a grocery store, or any store, buy something with my debit card and ask for cash back then it's just like going to an atm but not, it's free. So sneaky Nikki so sneaky.

This wasn't even the best part of my day. Right at this moment I'm typing, but just before this I started doing my taxes. Best time of my life!! I got everything filled out and I just needed the stupid website to its part and guess what....it didn't. So now I'm waiting for an email from IRS to help me with my dilemma.

This probably won't get done until the day before I leave or something like that. Always cutting it close with these kinds of things. And to make it even worse I have to fill out my FASFA but I can't do that until I finish my taxes. So other then this everything is going just swell, no complaints.


O yea I found a grey hair today, right in the front. I cut it out though. I think this stress is getting to me. Can't wait to be in another country.

Day -07

Another boring day of waiting. I'm going out with my friends tonight, that should be fun, what am I say it's always fun with my friends. I gotta make my last weekend in America a good one (man that feels weird typing). Posted another video here. I plan on packing after this weekend, hopefully I'll have something to talk about then.

Day -08

So today I started my video documentary of my study abroad trip. If you wanna check it out here, be my guest. I will hopefully be posting one everyday and keep everyone in the States up to date. Wish me luck.

Day -09

Just woke up and I think I'm going to start packing today.

Day -10

So this is a day late because nothing worth talking about happened.

Day -11

I am not happy at all today and it is 100% Towson University's fault. I'll start at the beginning, about a week ago I went up to school to get my rebate check. They sent me an email saying that it was ready to be picked up. I went there, asked for it, and the lady told me that it was in the mail. Since I am studying abroad, my adviser told us to fill out a form for our checks to get mailed to us so without question I did it. When I went to hand the form into the bursar office I was told that I didn't need to because my semester starts in February and checks are ready the week before school starts, the last week of January. So now I'm getting 2 different answers about what to do with my money. Of course I believed them and assumed they knew what they were talking about. BIG MISTAKE.

Now I'm patiently waiting for my checks to come in the mail and only one comes, I was expecting to get 2. Both of them are equally important though. So I call the Bursar office and explain to them my problem. The women on the phone, who's probably some student that shouldn't be handling my money in the first place, tells me that the check wasn't mailed because of "Human Error". Now I'm not perfect and I don't claim to do anything by the books, but when you are an establishment handling substantial sums of money you need to get your shit together. There is absolutely no room for "Human Error" especially when your failure could determine whether or not I have a place to stay in another country. So by this point I'm pissed. She tells me that they can mail it out right away. I don't know why this women thought that after the first fuck up it was a good idea to try it again. So I tell her not to send it in the mail and I will personally be there to pick it up today. She kinda got an attitude with me and I hung up the phone.

So I go up to school to get my check and when I hand the women my ID she looks me up, finds the paper, and gives it this weird puzzled look. I ask, "Is anything wrong?" I'm wondering if she knows something about the situation. She of course says no but comments to her co-worker next to her, that someone put a note on it and highlighted "Not mailed out". So now I'm really pissed. They knew they fucked up and they didn't feel the need to inform me. So I go to get my check and get the hell out of there.

I meet up with my friends and Kamaal buys me lunch, that made my day. We start talking and laughing and they say I should hangout up there before the snow hits so we can party if they don't have school off tomorrow. I say hell yes and I make my way home. All in all this day was a head ache but it's just a minor problem that is completely fixed now.

Advice: Don't believe that anyone will do what they say they'll do. Always harass them until they get it done because you are the only one that gets screwed in the end.

My rant is over. I feel better now :D

Day -12

Wow I'm up early. Well early for me. I actually woke up around 9AM. I know amazing but that's besides the point of this post. Last night I got a chance to see all my Towson friends and party with them. It felt great, everyone was telling me how much they were gunna miss me and how it won't be the same without me. I love my friends :D. I can honestly say that I will miss them but i will do my best to keep in touch.

So today I decided to get some "work" done. I'm trying to pass the time which is sort of going faster I guess. Well that's all I really have to say for now. More to come in the next week or so. If you are reading this and you want to see the work that I've done it's all here.

Revenge

So since Catherine took secret pictures of me I tried to take a secret picture of her but it didn't go to well. She's in Italy and I'm in Baltimore. Skype keeps us close.

Day -13

This is probably the most stressful thing I've ever done. Little things seem to be happening and making this whole trip harder then it really is. I just had to waste $240 on a visa to stay in the country for 11 more hours after my first visa expires. This is because I put the date of when my finals are over on the visa application and not the day that my plane leaves. I know STUPID mistake, but now I'm waiting for this second visa to get approved. It shouldn't take too long since everything is electronic but I don't know, something still feels a little iffy about all this. Well I don't wanna get to bummed out. All of my Towson friends are moving back in today so I'm gunna go see them later tonight. Check back soon.

Day -14

I'm trying to come up with a pretty good list of things to do before I leave, just something to keep me busy and entertain me for a couple of weeks. So far the only thing I put on it is "LIST" but I will soon have more.

I keep telling myself that I should be thankful for having nothing of importance to do, since I'll probably be overwhelmed with all of the stuff I'll get to do when I'm over there. I'm gunna go find something to eat and watch a movie to pass the time. Ttyl.

Day -15

We just got a snow storm here. Nothing special or new. I looked up temperatures for Brisbane and they're in the 80's. That makes this crappy weather that much bearable. I haven't really been productive lately I honestly don't know what to do to pass the time. I wish I started so much earlier then February. No use in complaining, I just gotta count the days and wait.

Day -16

I should of started this months ago but the time just slipped away. Now I have 17 days left until I'll be in Australia. I can hardly stand the wait. My best friend Catherine has already started her trip in Italy. She's been there for 3 days now. I haven't heard from her at all so I'm assuming she is having to much fun.

I'll be updating this thing daily if all goes well. No promises though, I don't want to miss out on anything over there. Well that's all for now.