Firstly, we had a pre-departure briefing conducted by IDP's gary. The attendance in the morning was quite bad, so gary resorted to presenting in a less formal way. He's actually quite humorous. So he started his presentation with plenty of graphics and that really enticed us to go. Gary used to study in monash, so i guess his experience is more or less relevant to me. I was paying extra attention to those pics featuring melbourne, looking out for any attractions to visit. Tasmania is relatively near Melbourne, so i think i'll head there during one of my breaks. What's more? There's SNOWY MOUNTAINS in victoria! this means that i may get a chance to touch snow!! (i've never touched any) Ok... chill... gary continued to introduce various school facilities and stuffs like that. I think what really interests most of us is the driving part. Apparently, we had to obtain an Aussie licence in addition to our international licence. This means we have to take a driving test there! but we do not need a qualified instructor. we just need someone who has an aussie licence to guide us. As for the vehicle, we can get a decent 2nd-hand car at thousands. This is relatively cheap, as compared to singapore's car prices. We can pool our money together and get a car to drive around. what's more? we can have roadtrips to neighbouring cities and pass by areas like, the ocean drive!
Ok...we can't bring BEANIES into aus...my poor dapigu cannot be brought in because of BEANS in its butt... we can't bring many things. it seems like we have to even declare drugs and medication we bring in. what about panadol? Anyway, we'll have plenty of trouble bringing things we want to bring in for our own convenience. Also, it'll be quite cold in melbourne during winter. I guess i need to bring some winter clothes there and maybe shop for some over in aust. I found this phrase funny..."A woman is like melbourne's weather. There are 4 seasons in a day. It can be sunny, windy, rainy then freezing." And yea, we can buy wine and beer at super duper low prices =p
Next, we had a drug talk by CNB. So it's like, we were informed of the prevalence of various drugs in the diff countries. It's like...during parties? we could get our drink spiked when we go for a dance. So the advice was to buy a new drink when we come back to avoid being spiked and not share drinks. Then i thought, what a waste of money! The plan is, to smuggle a water bottle in without being noticed. We could drink something after coming back from a dance without having to buy a new drink and without risking being drugged.
Lunch was good! PiZZA! i loved the chicken wings... After lunch, the lame group of ppl (containing ppl from a certain school =p) gathered and starting playing lame games. you know..that dididididididi-diu! and dididididi-didi games. I think we were more like, entertaining people than entertaining ourselves. However, ppl were not exactly enthusiastic in those games...
Next was a talk by a psychologist. She simply told us how we could cope overseas. We may face discrimination there even though generally, most aussies dun discriminate. She supposedly had a coke can thrown at her by a group of teens and wasn't served at a restaurant. Well, i think when we are first there, we've to be open-minded and think from different perspectives. That'll make it easier for us to cope with such situations. It'll be good to provide a listening ear to someone who's down.
Lastly, we had a mini briefing with our in-charge from the different clusters before gathering with an aussie grad to discuss her life in aust. She studied in uni of Queensland, brisbane. She had quite an interesting experience. She had more aussie friends than asian frens probably because she's the only asian OTherapist in her course. Her college life seems exciting, yet at the same time, it sounds scary. I wouldn't like neighbours to blast their music in the middle of the night. I also wouldn't like people sneaking up to my room by climbing up poles. There's a drinking culture there in her college. We could make friends through such "drink activities". Well, she said that they would respect us if we don't drink that much alcohol. I think that sounds comforting.
Next up, we had our rehearsals for the ceremony. The actors haven't really met up to discuss and rehearse. So, that was our first rehearsal. The props group had their stuffs ready for the actors. There were much conflicts regarding how the actors should act. Some irritating issues occurred during the rehearsal. There was something called, "all talk but no action" occurring. A few of us were quite pissed off. Perhaps more initiative can be taken. However, self-consciousness must be present before initiative can be taken.
After rehearsal, i pangseh-ed jaey n fel (sorrie!) and i went dinner at outram with peiyueng and qingshan. We were practically bitching throughout dinner as well as sharing all the uni stuffs we know. During dinner, we drank sugarcane juice. when we finished the cup, we realised, we just finished half a litre of liquid. It's madness.
Tiring... but i'm really quite turned off today at the last part...
