IM IN AMSTERDAM

Hi Everyone!

I finally made it to Amsterdam. The plane trip was interesting-ish but mainly it was long. But hey! I'm on the other side of the world now! I've got lots to tell you guys about and photos and stuff to come. But I'll save that for later.

Just letting you know - I'M HERE!!!!!!!! :D:D:D:D yay!

Just a quick update with 13 days to go!

Wowwweee!!!! There is less than 2 weeeks until I'm off! I am kinda going off my nut trying to get everything that needs to get done done! Argh!

That's why I haven't written in here in a while. I did add a clock though! It shows what time it is in Sweden haha so you won't need to memorise time conversions.

So the last few weeks have been fairly action-packed. I've been working a lot, and any spare moment outside of it, beginning to find all the loose ends of the ropes I need to eventually begin to start to tie up. I really should be starting to tie all my loose ends now though! So am madly scrambling to find all them ropes! Dammit though, they keep on evading me!

In other news, my spanking new laptop is now here and boy, is it lovely! I am using it right now. I admit, after four years on a Macbook Pro, I am not used to using it and having never used Windows 7, I am pretty confused. I am getting there. But I have no doubt that making the transition from my crappy mac to a b-e-a-uuutiful PC will be well worth the hassle. Yes, that's right - I love PC.

My real estate issues are still yet to be sorted out but I am still intending to basically move out at the end of next week. My visa is half sorted and if you are wondering, no I have not received my acceptance letter in the mail yet! Lol. I give up with it. I've managed to get a digital copy anyway so whatever. OH and I have also booked my flight to Sweden. I will be over there from Amsterdam on the 6th January! I plan to stay in a hostel in Uppsala for a week in a 6 bed dorm mixed with people I don't know. It should be an interesting experience haha - I'm sure you will hear a lot about it.

That's all for now.
Cheers for reading haha and when I'm off I'm sure it will be much less whinging and more bragging - .... oh who am I kidding, I'm all about the whinging!

Currently listening to: Kill The Director by The Wombats

I'm going to Myriam's place... be back soon!

Well well, it looks like I'm not doing too badly this time round with updating my blog! Remember how I said a few posts back I am going to Belgium for New Years this year? Well, this is where we're going to be staying!

1860 - Myriam's Place in Gent, Belgium

Oh and this is what it looks like now:

Here's a tour of the place t0o while I'm at it:

Er, yeah, I'll be glad to stay here! Thanks Ange :D

I'm Down With Media Arts! Ye Bra!

Clothes Clothes Clothes!

Righto - So apparently Sweden is going to be cold! Apparently Amsterdam will also be cold especially over the Christmas season. I'm thinking that this may call for a little preparation and thought. Australia's winter clothes are probably not going to cut it.

I had planned to get all my winter clothes in Europe, but on the chance that I freeze before I make it to a shop, I think I should probably at least get SOMETHING warm to arrive in. Do you know what this means? Online Shopping! Something that I am quite quite inexperienced with but keen as beans to experience! As my dad is going to Japan soon, he offered to get me some clothes from this store called UNIQLO. This brings me to my first dilemma. Now, I am a winter lover! I love my scarves, and big thick jackets, beanies and layers!

But I do not understand these.

Down Jackets. Huh.

Is it just me who thinks they look unbelievably ugly? I'm super worried I'm going to buy one thinking they are the norm and turn up to Sweden wearing it to find I am the freak wearing a very ugly jacket (like some kind of classic chickflick movie). ARGH! nooooo!!!! Haha. But it's ok! I'm one step ahead of the people who will laugh at me! I've messaged a friend I have in Sweden to ask her whether or not people actually do wear these in Sweden. Yes, that's right! Market research! I'm a genius! So we will see.

In other news, I have been busy with the end of Uni meaning many assessments. One particularly interesting one is a Media Arts sculpture my boyfriend, Bill, is making which I have been helping with. We didn't end up being able to finish it due to time constraints but I think the video more than blows crap out of the water! Feel free to check it out :) N.B All the blur is totally intentional and designy!

Dead Hand (Systema Perimetr): Bill's MEDA Video Submission

(this is not the video, it is a screenshot...apparently Blogger only likes Youtube?)

Well, other than an ugly down jacket - I have read that I will need to buy some thermals. Ha. Who wants to see Annie in thermals? Yeah. Well - I'll be interested to try them!

Also Bra means Good in Swedish. Isn't that funny?

A High Five!

Yew!

Looks like things are "A GO!" with my visa application and even if it isn't sorted out by the time I'm leaving, I can just sort it out when I get to Sweden. Best news I have heard all week to be honest! Fingers crossed there are no more problems there.

So today marks 5 weeks until I'm boarding my plane and heading over to Amsterdam for Christmas with my sister. There is oh so much to do it's pretty ridi-funk-ulous but heck, things are starting to pick up finally and I couldn't be more relieved.

It looks like I may be going to a place called GENT in Belgium for New Years with Angela (my big sister) and a bunch of her friends. It's a 2.5 hour drive from Amsterdam where she lives and apparently Belgian food is AH-MAAZING. I do not know anything at all about Gent except that it is in Belgium. Oh - I know! I'll do a quick Google search!

So I dunno about you - but I think it looks pretty freaking spactacular. What a colourful city full of awesome architecture. I'm sure the city doesn't actually look this colourful, it's the amazing photography skills... but still - I'm pretty pumped. I'll try and get some amazing photos while I'm there too!

What are you guys planning on doing for New Years in Australia? You should make it match or better my New Years plans so I wish I was back home with all you guys :P

53 Days

53 days until I leave for Europe and I am still yet to receive my official Uppsala letter of acceptance so I can apply for my Visa!

LOL

That's ok - I've got more than enough on my plate to deal with while I wait. I have 3 Uni assessments due this Monday (1 not yet started), the possibility of being vacated from my apartment and needing to find somewhere to put all my stuff while I'm away, and the fact I'm in quite the debilitated state after a rather unfortunate case of either mild food poisoning or a stomach bug over the last few days to keep myself occupied.

I really should probably be writing my assignments rather than writing my blog. Yeah - *hangs head in shame*

Hej Da (goodbye in Swedish)

It's Going to be a White Christmas

Hey everyone!

Great news. My flights have been booked and it's looking official that I am indeedy going to Sweden. When am I flying, you ask? Well I'm leaving for Amsterdam just before Christmas now which is pretty awesome as everyone says I'll get to experience a real "White Christmas." Huh - I just thought it'd be interesting to have a look and see what the Urban Dictionary defined it as.... Tell you what. I'm going to take a strike and say that everyone is talking about Definition No. 2! Thank you very much, yes I am quite excited to have a Definition No. 2 White Christmas. And then, of course there is New Years Eve! All in all - it should be a very festive, exciting and adventure filled end of the year to kick off what is to be The Adventure of a Lifetime!

But for the moment, preparation and hardcore saving is what is up in my world. There's just so much to think about, it can drive a person mad! Mad I tells ya!!!! It's ok because I already am mad so it suits me fine haha. As you can see, this post doesn't really have much point - just a bit of a ramble. It's what I do best.

Seriously though, I have been heads down researching and reading everything I can and Sweden sounds like a pretty damn awesome place to live. Uppsala is apparently not a large town but mainly it's made up of students with the partying being mainly at the Student Nations (of which there are 13 which I have to pick one to join... they seem to be clubs) and at the student campus, Flogsta (which is where I will be living!). YEYAH! The Flogsta residents also apparently like to yell and scream out the window and on their balconies at 10pm every night for no reason at all except that it's fun. Sure, why not right?

I have also heard that most people who go on exchange to Sweden end up managing to travel to a lot of other countries too! Some counted 40. 40! I can't believe it. I don't know how one could possibly fit that many. Perhaps I read wrong. I don't even think there are 40 countries in Europe. There probably is - but I couldn't name 40. It must be an exaggeration... I guess we will see. Another thing that is apparently common is to take a cruise to Latvia called a Booze Cruise....  hmm I guess I'll find out why :P Another thing people do is to take a trip up to Kiruna (basically up the top of Sweden just under the Arctic Circle) and go Dog Sledding, Cross Country Skiing, live in an Ice Hotel and see the Northern Lights. I'd like to Snowboard please!

So yup - many things to look forward to. For the moment though, it's boring Australian Uni work and assignments, and working at the printery to save me some moola, and counting down the days until I'm off! Which I believe to be 78!!!!!! WOW.

Just to reiterate....

I'm not sure if I made it clear....

but I'm super stoked about making it into Uppsala University!!!!!!!!

*dances around the rooooom*

I'm going to UPPSALA

Dear Annie,
Congratulations, we are pleased to inform you that you will be nominated for exchange to Uppsala University.

FREAKIN'. AMAZING! YEW - I'M GOING TO UPPSALA!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Journey Begins.

Mindless Rant about my Nexus S

Things to Buy for Europe

• Buy a Laptop
• Get my first ever smartphone for Europe  CHEEEECK!
• Get a portable harddrive 1TB?
• Passport/Visa
• Plane Ticket

After many weeks of research, umms and ahhs, boring the pants off friends and family and even my lecturer at Uni - I have settled on my new best friend - The Google Nexus S.

I think I became slightly addicted to trolling the many forums there are about android phones, and I think I watched every single video available about this phone. I've never been a fan of touch phones but I figured now is a good time as any to get started on learning. I will always love pressing actual buttons - but hey - I wanna video chat with you fellows and having a big screen helps!

I won't bore anyone else about the specs about this phone - there are plenty of forums like I said. But how do I find the phone so far after a week? Yeah - I love it! It's my first one so I can't compare it to others but it runs fine, fast and looks good. It is light and I like the rounded edges compared to the Samsung Galaxy range.

Things to note are that Vodafone offers the phone only in Superclear LCD version rather than AMOLED (because they are really rare) which means the phone is actually slightly bigger. This makes it hard to find cases and screen protectors for it because some just don't fit. Everyone made it for the original AMOLED version before they last minute changed it for most countries to Superclear LCD - which I think seems better anyway. The screen is REALLY PRETTY.

I find it a little annoying how the on/lock button is directly opposite to the volume rocker because I usually accidently press the other when I'm using one of them. The new features that came with Gingerbread seem to be well thought out and the aesthetic of the menu screen is definitely swanky! With a sort of curved, conveyor belt effect. I've had minimal lag on the phone so far and Oh! When you lock the phone, or the screen times out - it has a cool effect similar to how a tv turns off.

The battery is been doing my head in a little. I read WAAAAY too much into batteries and how to extend them and about recalibrating batteries and I think I went a bit nuts gungho about it. My friend Helen will be able to vouche for that [what do you mean, you can't come over because your phone is charging????? unplug it and bring it over! ...but but I caaaaan't .... I'm recalibrating the battery!!!!]

Honestly, the first time I used it after the 8 hour charge - it worked amazing. I used it for 3 days before it died. Well just under 3 days. And then the next time I charged it, it only charged to 96%, and now it only charges to 92% - and says it is full. But according to half of the forum - this is supposed to happen and it "protects the battery" or some rubbish... others say the battery is full but the PHONE itself needs to be recalibrated to read that level as 100%..... some say you need to factory reset, some say take out the battery, some say drain it completely and charge 8 hours then bump charge and then bump charge again - and then others say bump charging is bad for your battery... a group even say don't ever let the phone die!!!!! In the end, I was like stuff this. I don't care - I am over it.

I'm following the general consensus of others in forums like me who say lithium batteries don't have memory and are made to be charged and discharged frequently so just charge it whenever you want and as often you want and who cares. It's a battery.

Alright - I think I've ranted long and hard about my new phone. Point is - it's pretty excellent. Later on - I'll give it a try trying to blog or post a picture from my Nexus S and see how it goes! Oooh - I should name my phone!

Sweden Plans Begin! I want to know what Uni I'm going to please!

Hey guys!

My blog is back on in a whole different and more amazing way! It's spanking new and oh so swanky! It's my usual ramble with a focus! It's been chosen after careful consideration of all the other blogging platforms as my vehicle to communicate to you good people about my big trip to Europe! Seriously - what is it with Tumblr and not letting people comment on blogs?

Well anyway, I'm not going until the beginning of next year but there is so much going on with the preparations - that I'd love to get started now. Plus, it'll get me in the habit of consistently blogging again.

So what's the deal? I'm actually going to Sweden on exchange next year to study at Uni! Why Sweden, you say? Well - it's all a little random but for some reason it seems to appeal to me. It could've been because I used to have a pen-pal from there back in the good ol' days who told me I should go and I said I would. It could be because France is just way to touristy (and apparently smells?). It could be because I like snow. It could even be because of Ikea.... I don't know. It appeals to me and words cannot describe how excited I am to be going!

Right now is a pretty nerve-racking time as I am still yet to hear what Uni I will be nominated for. All I want right now is to have my first preference. Apparently, absolutely everyone has applied for it (perhaps a slight exaggeration) so I have been advised that it may not be "guaranteed" and I could get my second, or even - oh please no - my 3rd!

Preference 1: Uppsala University

From what I hear, the city Uppsala is a student town. It is the fun Uni, located pretty close to the capital, Stockholm and it's always fun there because everyone there is a Uni student. Uppsala itself is apparently the oldest Nordic University and talking to people in Europe - seems to be rather popular. It's also ranked rather well, making it to the top 100 best Universities in the world and wow doesn't the great hall look pretty! It's closer to everything and closer to my sister who lives in Amsterdam. Apparently, that pen-pal I mentioned before - is going there too at the same time as me!

Preference 2: Umea University

Location wise: it's a little daunting. It's basically up, up, then up and right a bit. Yeah, there under the Arctic Circle! So it's going to be cold cold cold - a normal day there is -32 degrees! When it snows, it snows. A normal thing to do there is dog-sledding! Far out? And sometimes it is nighttime at 3pm! But I just researched a bit more, and apparently sometimes the sun shines almost 24 hours a day and the northern lights sounds like something I do have to see. It's super far away from the capital - in fact Umea is the biggest city in the North of Sweden. All I know is that if I'm going there, prepare to be very cold.

Preference 3: Karlstad University

Don't know too much about it - It's a bit to the left of Uppsala and seems like a good University too. My first impression of it is a bit more of a country town. I'll definitely be getting an authentic Swedish traditional experience here!

Well - that's all for now. My neck is killing me I've been sitting on the couch using my laptop all morning. I think I should probably get up and do something - It's a super nice day today and I'm being a lazy poo. Thanks for reading!

First blog down - YES!

EXTREME BOWLING - 9 mexican wave

i Hola !

Just thought I'd give this a quick update before I wander off to bed. 

We've invented this great new game which I think will take the world by storm! It's called EXTREME BOWLING! Why EXTREME? - do you say? Ah, well - there ain't no jumping out of airplanes brandishing an iron or anything - see, Extreme Ironing if you are lost.

Actually, It's just extreme because it is of extreme superiority to your normal regular bowling. Here's how it works:

You have two teams bowling against each other to win a prize - in our case, a packet of tim tams (which I forgot to buy anyway so the prize was an imaginary packet). Each round of bowling, anyone who bowls a strike, spare, or gutterballs/misses has to pick up a card. 

Woah yeah thats right! We made chance cards - not unlike the kind in say, Monopoly. They say things like: you must be blindfolded and spun around on your next bowl, bowl with both hands holding the ball between your legs, for the remainder of the game - the first team to complete the mexican wave forwards and backwards everytime a 9 is bowled wins 3 bonus points etc etc. They even range to you must swap teams with the lowest scoring member of the rival team for remainder of game and name 10 chocolate bars with caramel in 30 seconds for bonus points. WOO we got it!

And yew for making big fools of ourselves with our crazy mexican waves every 5 minutes or so! Damn, 9 is a popular number of pins to knock over....

Well - it sure jazzed up the game! And despite Blue team being the "Official" winners - I maintain the fact that Red team remain truly victorious....

They got to bowl a whole extra round more than us!!!! now, how is that fair?!?!

GOLDEN GAYTIME KRUSHER!!!!

OMG

I just went to KFC for dinner and they have this new thing called the KRUSH BAR ..i think that's what it's called and they make these awesome ...icey drink smoothie watcha-ma-callits called Krushers!

WOW.

If you love golden gaytimes...try the golden gaytime krusher...its like...they...took a golden gaytime(oh glorious glorious golden gaytime) and mushed it up in a blender and HOLY MOLY IT IS SOOOO GOOOOOOOD!!!!!!!

I don't get it. I haven't seen any ads for this at all...we go in and WAM~! new menu... and huidhuaohfyuegfyehauiheufgeoa new awesome thing and I resent the fact I was not told about this earlier! Shun the KFC MARKETING TEAM!!!!! cos all I can really find on it is some random Japanese clip which I swear...is not from KFC...

ha. yea. weird. ..well anyway czech it OOOWWWTT!!!!

I gotta go pick someone up from the airport now im laaate but I had to write this down now cause YAY FOR GOLDEN GAYTIME DRINK!!!!

Design is Kinky! Wooden Toy Yew!

Design is Kinky?!?!

HOLY MOLY! I'm so stoked - I just came home from work to find... not 1.. but 2 packages sitting on my desk!!!! Don't you love it when you get a package in the mail? It's spiggin awesome haha - yay for snail mail.

So what was in it - you ask? Well, this is going to sound a bit dorky - but I recently went to this really awesome Design conference called Semipermanent.

That's just a photo of the lecturn.

Anyway - it's this really awesome Design event with speakers, side events, workshops, competitions and an afterparty at the MTV (WHICH BTW WAS AWESOME). The bands playing were Grafton Primary and Yves Klein Blue.. Here's a rather artsy photo from the part-tay!

And here's a link to the "About Semipermanent" webpage.

My favourite speaker was this guy called Timba Smits who founded and designs the magazine called Wooden Toy. If you're anything as goo goo about design and pretty pictures and graphics and colours and stuff, then this is def something to check out! 

Timba showed us the process of what exactly goes into making one of the pages in his mag, and showed us all these examples of his work. SO INSPIRING!!! Every page is painstakingly and lovingly designed with hours upon hours of work and MY GAWD IT IS SOOO PRETTY!

These don't give it anywhere as much credit - but just so you got an idea...

Right, so as I was saying... before I got sidetracked. I got 2 packages in the mail. And I was really stoked. I knew one was the Wooden Toy magazine which I had ordered online the minute I got back from Semipermanent - there are only 5000 copies printed so it's a pretty big deal to get in early!

But what was the other one?.... 

Well, to cut it short... I now have this massive dilemma. They seem to have accidently sent me 2 copies of this limited edition BRILL-FRIKKIN-ILLIANT magazine!!!! There only 5000 copies available and I have 2! I feel so bad.... 

Should I send it back so they can sell it to someone else? Should I give it to someone who would appreciate the true beauty of such a precious magazine? It seems such a crime to have two just sitting here...

Yet at the same time, I WAAANT TO KEEP IT SOOO BAD!!!! I guess that's the hoarder in me talking as well as the fact that I LOVE LOVE LOVE pretty, colourful, well designed magazines and I would look after it soo well..... 

I would never open it more than 45 degrees so as not to wreck the binding...or crease the pages, or let it anywhere near water, or ... ARGH! Seriously - I don't know what to do... :(

Should I keep it???

RED TEAM WILL THROW A FISH THROUGH YOUR WINDOW

RED TEAM

Boy, this has been hands down the best Uni holidays ever.

Actually, I've only been at Uni for a year so that's not really saying anything. I'd say this has been the best holiday. (that's a full stop) ever! Which goes to show why this has been so ill updated until now.

A couple weeks ago, a couple friends and I did a Scavenger Hunt. This basically involves completing a bunch of tasks (200 of them) in a time frame of 12 hours (9am to 9pm) with the aim to score more points than the other team. 

This year, we had 3 teams of 4 running and it was truly an epic, epic day! Here's a quick low down of the highlights of our day for your enjoyment and ours. RED TEAM FOR THE WIN!

Highlight 1: Mcdonalds! The epitome of globalisation.. and thus a must for mischief making.

Task #1: See how many cups of water you can order from Maccas. A point extra for every cup you then drink.

...Completed! Each of our 4 members asked for 4 cups of water = 16 and they were drunk, with much toilet breaks.

Task #2: Eat a Bacon McFlurry

...Completed! As you can see..not as bad as we thought and we had the whole Maccas staff watching us eat this..including the manager plus a bunch of random girls who heard me order.

Task #3: Break down in the Maccas drivethrough. Bonus points for every minute you stay there.

...Completed! No photos unfortunately.... but we didn't get more than about 4 minutes. Still.. SCORE!

Highlight 2: Get a radio DJ to say a secret message on air!

Done and done! It was so cool. The whole convo with the radio DJ of i98FM was played on air... including the secret message "Red Team will throw a fish through your window!"

Highlight 3: Post a paper plate to Savanna

...done and done! She got it in the mail a couple days later... I've censored the photo so she don't kill me...

Highlight 4: Cool photos

Task: Myspace pose in public bathroom!

Ok..maybe not a HIGHLIGHT per se... but it's a cute photo! =]

Task: Take the best "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" photo

Highlight 5: The EPIC car battle

After spotting rival "Pink team's car", an illegal u turn followed by a bit of a car chase followed. We pulled up next to them and completed Task: Throw a fish through the open window of a rival team's car.

Except they smartly didn't have their window down... so it just flopped and bounced over their car and onto the steeet.

What then followed in the quieter streets of my house is what I can only call a Food Fight between 2 cars as we threw whipped cream pies at their car and they threw what I think was some kinda bready cake. Yes. They threw BREAD at the BREADVAN. Pink team then fled lest they suffer our wrath! 

Epic beyond measure?! You betcha! Did we get it on video? NO! DAMMIT. 

There was so many more highlights like you have no idea.  But these are the only ones I can really tell using photos. Most of the tasks were captured on video. Video or photo, we have some pretty great memories of things that we did...

Jess was the lucky team member to get a radical haircut (from me lol) A fake arm cast constructed out of paper and glue was signed by many randoms, and worn uncomfortably for the whole hot day by Elira, a 3-legged race was had through the local shopping centre, I was toilet paper mummified with the roll of toilet paper we needed to collect from a public toilet, a genuine attempt to call the Prime Minister... failed, and I tripped while holding a cake, landing on said cake. We also know now never to attempt to finish a tin of SPAM!

Ahhh.... and oh who won, you ask?!?!

RED TEAM CONQUERS AGAIN!!!!!! YEEEEW!!!! And white team owes our team dessert...