Things are pretty slow at the moment with tutorials and labs not running for the week and also lectures just consisting of a 10 min overviews of the subject outline. So we have just been hanging out around uni chasing up things and meeting people, yesterday we randomly went into this lady’s office to ask her for directions only to stay there for an hour to try some local cakes & sweets. Pretty much got nothing done for the day but it was a blast, meet up with Owen an American guy that has been living and studying at Swinburne sarawak for 2 years now, the dude loves his drinks ( like somebody else I know :) and you can tell for the majority of his time up here his been partying it up. So what do we do , ended up going drinking with the guy and his mate last night and didn’t get back home this morning until 2ish. Good times Owen got his own ute so its mad just having somebody driving us around in the city and not having to worry about getting home. He was telling us about the nightclub scene in kuching , where all the swinny students hang out , places were and were not to go, apparently some places get pretty violent gangsters roaming around looking for trouble so just telling us to be careful. I’m not really planning to go nightclubbing a lot only for the occasional social visits during the weekend. Had my first lecture yesterday for final year project, seems like its going to be time consuming but enjoyable , there is only 6 students in the class so only one group & where going to be dealing with a local company in Kuching. I found all the students shy and conservative and I was the only student pumping questions at the lecture and trying to get some chit chat happening but yeah should be good. Also I’m decided to get a lappy, just isn’t enough computers around and I’m really missing my music collection so getting a few local mates to help me get a good price in town.

posted by Luca @ 2:31 pm   4 comments

Laid back Sunday just roaming around town checking out the market, waterfront and Sarawak plaza. Visited one of the many Chinese temples around Kuching and then managed to find the main bus station to catch a ride home The public transport system over here is pretty much not existent, with the buses in really bad condition makes for an interesting journey. Some buses consist of private vans which apparently aren’t insured so if they crush your not covered, the bus travels through the out skirts of the city before it gets to our stop so it’s interesting going through different areas around town and watching people around the time they get back from work doing their thing, hoping next time to stop in these little areas and having a look around. First day back at uni and the place has been pretty chaotic like Dan’s first lecture has been cancelled for a week become the lecture decided to take annual leave for another week, Sam first lecture consisted of learning how to use the TI-83 to add entries into the list for second year engineering maths then finished an hour early. Nothing much going on for me this morning spent the morning running around just to sort out small administrative things. Man us guys really stick out around here, like we all didn’t bring nothing but shorts and thongs and apparently your not suppose to wear them (we were told it was allowed but not in certain around) but we came up with the argument that it was our culture and all we had so I think will get away with it

posted by Luca @ 2:07 pm   0 comments

Heavy two days on Friday we had orientation day and today I went on the city tour around kuching. Amazing how much of a fuss was made with us the Australian students, we had to speak about ourselves to the other international students, we totally ran a muck and using a term we call team power plays just backing each other up while joking and speaking to all kinds of different people with no hesitation. We helped out with the team bonding sessions and activities throughout the day and really contributed an aussie touch to everything right throughout the day. Today we visited all the touristy arounds in and around the city, went to a crocodile farm, Sarawak museum and Malaysia-China Friendship Park (http://www.etawau.com/HTML/Kuching/FriendshipPark.htm) . We all got dropped off into the city and had a chance to try some of the Chinese-Malaysian local cuisines in the Chinese triangle (equivalent to china town) which is situated on the eastern side of the city.
Also on top of this I’ve been busy organising my subjects for this semester, looks like I’ll be overloading one subject to get myself better flexibility for next semester so its going be a challenging semester but I’m sure I’ll be able to have it under control. Last night we also had our first little drinking session, Dan had his dorm room all decked with computer, gaming consoles and movies so we all migrated into his room, had bon jovi pumping and jumping between the bedroom and the common room talking to people all night ( good times ), downside though was the 8:30 departure of the bus for the tour so we all skip breakfast and felt pretty lethargic for most of the day. Word got around what we were doing last night, most people found it bazaar how we were drinking and playing games all night, mostly because we shouldn’t really be doing it but we managed to convince Napi our warden ( cool bloke) that we would be responsible and keep it on the down low :) Which is definitely the case ;P

posted by Luca @ 9:50 pm   0 comments

Today it dawned on me what the year was going to be like and during the next couple of days my holiday’s days will be over and begin what I really came here to do. Today we had to enroll and I spend most of the day in the computer lab nutting my subjects for this year with the intentions of finishing off here ( so far so good ). All last year I was conscious of my plans and consequences but now being now here has brought another level of reality into play and at the beginning felt a little over whelming. Nothing was finalised today good I’ve got a good idea what will happen and trying to think ahead by going through different scenarios and planning for them if they arise. Even though this year will be intensive I’m confident and ready to get into it but at the same time don’t want to neglect what’s happening around me and not experience the whole overseas studying thing ( me thinks but what’s that really, I guess you can’t really definite it). Also got my new room mate in the hostel, going to be strange waking up in the morning with another person like a meter away, I guess it’s an experience and will see how it goes with it all. I’ve got two weeks before we move into the new hostel and then I could probably arrange to move out if I really don’t like it. Jealous as of the other Australian guys having there own rooms and doing whatever the hell they(we) want, play music , video games or just drinking and chatting, but my intention at the beginning was during the weekdays just stay late in the main uni building and then on the weekends travel & muck around so only use my room to sleep.
Sounds good in theory but I guess I’ll see ..
All I can say though, great bunch of aussie guys here , and the atmosphere with everyone here and the hostel full is truly amazing !

posted by Luca @ 1:55 am   0 comments

Things are starting to ramp up, last night I met a group of people from Iran, India and Bangladesh who had just arrived yesterday. Awesome bunch of guys, we were just getting to know each other mostly and talked a little about where everybody came from, I found it really interesting. There were also some people that came back from home for the semester break and gave us the run down about the place and uni. Funny as how they were bitching about the accommodation but yeah it’s a kinda dodge joint & pretty run down but I’m over it and would probably prefer it then the new 5 story hostel even though the bathrooms are pretty horrific. Good to see the hostel filling up and also seeing a new face around the place, makes things really interesting bumping into different people that are interested having a chat. This morning I manage to bump into two other Australian students that just arrived, at the moment where in the computer lab while Daniel is recounting his 3 week trip over in Thailand before coming to over here, sounds fantastic and definitely inspired me to make a big effort to get over there. Tomorrow is registration day but shouldn’t be much to it, also a big relief is that I managed to ring the bank and find out why I couldn’t access any money, apparently after getting the pin number wrong the first time it automatically locks itself out for 24 hours so I shouldn’t be any problems now :)

posted by Luca @ 5:33 pm   0 comments

Funniest thing happened to me on Sunday night while trying to get something to eat for dinner at my local non-English speaking Malaysian restaurant. I was undecided while choosing my drink to come with my dish, first the waitress asked if I wanted mineral water I said yes but quickly retracted and said wait one moment while I browse the beverages list. I kept changing my mind twice then ordered my main dish and quickly trying scraping in before she left a thank you in Malay (seemed like she acknowledged it). Five minutes later she came back with three drinks and two meals, realising straight away what happened I just started laughing. I ended up buying a Malaysia to English dictionary, just trying to become familiar with conversational words that is useful from time to time and locals appreciate the effort. Most people around campus know who I am now so they just let me do what I want; yesterday I ended up meeting sanbib who comes from Napal, while walking out of the main uni building he just approached me asking what I had planned for the day and if I was interesting going to the city. I’m like yeah sure called a cab and spend a few hours roaming Kuching, most shops are closed because its still the Chinese new year holidays which lasts till tomorrow but it was interesting talking to him. Culturally there are big differences and lifestyle but for entertainment it’s pretty much exactly the same as Australia, he follows cricket & soccer and was interested about sports played at home ( trying to explain AFL). Also learnt more about his home country ( Kathmandu is the capital), differences between boarding countries china and India and what he plans to do while in Sarawak for the year. I’ve become good friends with the warden of the hostel, his actually a native of the area called ibans. He has obviously grown up around the city but I met his in-laws which are also natives and they are really strange people, unable to understand English which is expected but they seem to shy away from foreigners from just looking at their body language. He did promise that he would take me to his parent’s longhouse which is where they live on the river in a boat like house made from raw materials for a few days (which apparently is a must do for tourist). I’m happy to announce I’ve manage to do my first stupid thing while over here, went to an ATM yesterday that had the keypad reversed so I ended entering my pin number wrong three times, I tried going to an ATM with a normal keypad but I’m just totally confused and I’m not 100% sure if I remember my pin correctly.. Arrggh !

posted by Luca @ 3:15 pm   0 comments

Things have been quiet here since Saturday because for the Chinese new year, last night while sleeping I could hear all night fireworks going off from people all across town and while I looked outside through my window all I could see was flashes of light and a serious amount of haze because of all the firework fumes. It would have been nice to of joined the festivities but for the first night is only people gathering at their homes ( I don’t really know anyone yet :). It goes for 15 days the celebrations so I’m sure I’ll be doing something during the next couple of days. Anwyays lab just about to close !

posted by Luca @ 9:55 pm   4 comments

Woke up this morning feeling better, pretty warm weather during the night but not enough for me to look and figure out how to turn on the aircon. For the first time I when to the communal shower and toilet block. I still don’t understand how to use the toilets here, there is like a toilet build into the floor and a flexible pipe connected to a tap. I guess you can figure out logically what should happen but I haven’t been game to try the combo yet. Also had a shower this morning, first thing is I walked in got undressed, looking around to admire and understand how it was designed using simple materials. The piping looks to use flexible pipes used for garden irrigation and no drainage pipe for the water to escape so I ended up flooding everything. Also only one garden tap to turn the water on, so I had to hype myself up to prepare for the cold water. Decided to walk to the city and visit some attractions today, until you get closer to the city there aren’t any walking paths so I was sharing off the side of the road with motorcyclists, surprisingly good drivers and avoided running me over and fitting through tight gaps between me and the cars. Went to a museum and learn about the history of the place, first ruled by the saltan of Brunei and when got his son to go down to Sarawak to stop the Muslim warlords and local tribes so he ended up finding an Englishman James Brook so three generations of the brooks ended up ruling the place. Then during World War 2 Japan invaded the place then defeated by the English which then eventually handed it to the federation of Malaysia. Learnt about local foods and economic ambitions then wondered around a little. Highlights of the day were first getting ask to pay to use a public toilet and people giving me wrong directions, get some smartarses ( sorry for the French) sometimes but while they were explaining it just didn’t make sense so I just ended up going my own way. Lastly an observation of my, I’m currently living on the second level which was previous the living area for all the females, with the relocation later this month to the new on campus hostel building the females have been shifted off campus. So this is temporary and I should be moving out soon but I have noticed long hair everywhere , like toilets, bedroom , showers you name it and you’ll see long hair.

Anyways time to find food,,

posted by Luca @ 8:33 pm   0 comments

Well, finally made in to Kuching, after telling people I was leaving a day earlier and getting my parents to take me to the airport an hour early I blame it to nervousness and excitement. The flight went fine only that I found it hard to sleep, even though I had one window side row all to myself I still couldn’t manage to find a comfortable position while trying to lie across the three seats. The flight took roughly 7 hours to Kuala Lumpur and then 3 hour stop there and then from to Kuching another 2 hours. Amazing flight over the South China Sea while going from the main peninsular, all these little islands surround by clear coral waters scatted around the place. One minor problem was my lift from the people at uni didn’t end up showing up so for two hours I hanged around the airport trying to get a cabby to drive me to the uni but they weren’t familiar of the place ( had a chat with few of the locals ) . So I ended up ringing the university and somebody then decided to come a pick me up. The two people that picked me up were really apologetic for the confusion, they showed my around, introduced me to staff and student whom all were really nice. I ended up hanging around with the student all day, taking me to restaurants and introducing to a whole bunch of friends. I did notice people around here aren’t really use to foreigners, especially the areas I was hanging around in ( were the tourist don’t go), in there eye’s they just see me as a western, which brings both good and bad points :) While my new mate was shopping I was wondering around outside I had people in boats screaming something to me,, didn’t seem pleasant and then these guys hanging outside a food shop saying hello and wanting to talk. Interesting … anyways its 6:30 in the evening and after reflecting back on the day , to tell you the truth ,, today was definitely an eye opener and a little unexpected and scary ( obviously normal but still). Also I’m the first international student to arrive so the hostel is empty and sometimes too much free time starts stirring things inside so I might go and annoy somebody in the student lounge heh …. Crazy times!@!

posted by Luca @ 8:55 pm   0 comments