I can jam!!!

Last night the Avocado house hosted Kristin's going away party. She worked for Roadtrip Nation, which you'll notice that I talk about alot, but as you know it's kinda the reason why I'm here. Anyway Maya (the director of our series) is in a band, The Colourist (www.myspace.com/thecolourist) and her band mates came to the party too.

Now I guess you might call him the leader-guy, Adam, hears that I play violin and with some strange power makes me play for him. Usually there'd be a few minutes of awkward shoulder-shrugging and toe-kicking. Honestly, I wasn't great. I don't remember any of my A.Mus pieces, but straight away he had me playing some of their songs and experimenting with sound and bowing. Now I've never "jammed" on the violin before, but this will go down as a musical highlight in my love affair with it. Su-Yin by name and by nature! (It means a little music note.)

Wow right? There should be some iphone videos floating around. I'll have to get my hands on one. The violin will sound terrible in it, but how coooooool! I'm so glad I decided to come early to hang with the Roadtrip crew in Costa Mesa before Texas. They feel like a second family. A home away from Chansville. Love love love

Soaring and Reflections

Year of the Tiger - Hear me roar!

New year's resolution: Bigger, louder, bolder

Happy Birthday Mother Wolf!!

Wednesday, 30 December 2009 – Caitlin’s birthday

Well Caitlin Bates in honour of your day of birth and your backstage role in my life story, I thought I could give you credit in some way for my wonderful adventure with Roadtrip Nation, since you won’t take any. But it's unequivocally true! You do deserve some thanks and credit, because even though it was a small push, that’s exactly what I needed. I don’t think you can do difficult things without support from loved ones and friends. Well maybe it is possible, but it does require a good deal of gumption that is hard to find when one is just starting out. So thank you fellow wolf cub, my childhood friend! (Obviously my parents and best friends have been really supportive too, but let's not turn this into an Oscar's speech.)

What does this post have anything to do with exchange? Definitely Roadtrip Nation was a catalyst for my exchange at Austin. I guess it’s also about challenging yourself and also overcoming your fears. And being in tune with yourself by blocking out the 'noise' and listening to people who want to help you on your way. Plus, I admire you, Caitlin. You have such fearless determination and have followed your joy. I keep being reminded now is the perfect opportunity to take big leaps and bounds.

It's a scary and sometimes daunting concept. More often than not, you hit the ground running.

The lead-up

The week before I flew away was spent tying up my life in Brisbane, making sure I was ready for my new life in Austin. Visits to the bank and the local Centrelink office (the Australian government welfare system) contrasted with visits to the beach at Burleigh Heads and shopping for last-minute gifts and Aussie nic-nacs. People go crazy for Tim Tams and koalas. I can kind of understand why.

In my usual last-minute style, my closest friends came over for my last dinner at home for a long while. On the menu was my favourite dish of spaghetti along with their favourite, mango pudding, which isn’t really a pudding, or a jelly, or a mousse, but a delicious combo of everything. Apparently, you haven’t lived until you’ve tried it. Thanks GJ!

So with a rushed goodbye from my parents outside 'departures', I was catapulted on my way. Well it’s a credit to my self-control that I didn’t cry litres of tears that I was certainly capable of, but it was a darn hard job keeping myself composed while I waited to check-in. Earlier that morning I almost broke down completely saying farewell to my dog, Jamie, who with his sad little gaze understood.

After 24hours worth of travelling, terrible attempts at sleep and some successful ones at making transit buddies, I arrived at LAX. Along with thousands of other holiday travellers in the wake of the terror scare, let's say that it was a serious task making it out those glass doors.

In case of boring you, I'll stop here in California where I'm spending a week or so before heading to Austin officially for orientation. Let's hope I can ward off a cold that's been haunting me since the flight.

Good night dear friends xoxo

Sydney: Explorers, and Visas and Christmas Cake

Part One: Explorers

I arrived in Sydney on Monday, 14 Dec to reunite with my roadtrip buddy and good-times friend, Mariana. Now she'd brought along her boyfriend, whom she works with in California, Willy, and we all hit it off instantly. The three musketeers! The next day I was told that we'd be going on an adventure to find a ship wreck and along the way we picked up Mariana's uni friend, Mel. So the four of us went on our merry way. There are some awesome pics from our morning of fun. (I'll post them once they send me them)

I don't want to give too much away from our special day, so I'll sum up by telling you about our next day of exploring, this time at Royal National Park. We sought a waterfall, but instead found a magical lagoon and cove....

Part Two: Visas and Christmas Cake

Well great news! My student visa and business/tourist visa were both approved on Thursday.
NB: I was advised it'd be a good idea to get the B1/B2 visa in case I wanted to travel after my semester of study. And the consulate guy totally upsold me. If you pay $US30, you can have your B1/B2 extended for five years, which I completely agreed to. It was the most fun I'd had at a visa interview and I've been to a couple. I worked the room like a smooth potato pie. Met a couple of other kids going to Texas. And concluded my visit by being offered a piece of Christmas cake when I went to collect my bags from security. Now that's an interview for the books!

P.S. We went to see Avatar the night before my interview at midnight, not really advisable seeing as I got to bed at 3:30am, but really worth it. You have to see it in 3D!

Big day of big news

Here's the good news first. A couple of weeks ago, I kicked up the exchange effort and sent through my first application for an internship, which I need to complete before I can graduate from journalism. Five days later, I was faced with an email interview with Haley, a producer at KXAN News.

Of course I was pretty nervous, but also happy that I didn't have to get dolled-up to sit in front of my laptop. The general knowledge questionnaire was tricky seeing as I didn't know the Mayor of Austin, or any Texan members of the U.S. Senate. Luckily the quiz wasn't a linchpin.

So this morning I was greeted by an email from Haley, and to my surprise they wanted me, in all my curious, Aussie ways. Hooray! Me? An intern at a U.S. news organisation!!! This will be in-ter-esting!

OK the bad news (although not so bad in reality) is that when I finally got round to find out the bank I joined last year on the roadtrip, I discovered to my dismay that it was indeed Washington Mutual: the largest bank failure in U.S. history!!!!! And it happened only a month after I joined. I have absolutely no idea what I should be doing about that, but I guess I'll have to wait till I get there. It's on the list: find out what happened to roadtrip money.

OH!!!! And some other exciting news. I met Curtis Stone on Wednesday!!!!!! Who is Curtis Stone? Well he's a bit of a celebrity Australian chef and quite popular with Ms Winfrey. That's me wearing one of my work uniforms (on my lunch break of course).