1st lecture and meeting more people.

I started off for the 1st lecture at UTS Haymarket campus yesterday (July 28th, 2009) and it was peak time (before 9 a.m) for the trains. I had less than 5 dollars and also went to the ATM to withdraw money. It was 8.50 a.m by this time & then the announcement started that the trains are running 20-25 mins late which meant that I would be late in the very 1st lecture by 30-45 minutes.

Wow What a start!

But then good things followed later on. I met this lady beside whom I sat & she looks fabulous, is friendly and is a lecturer of Accounts for 10 years. See thats what you call "good luck". We did have a little chit chat and I hope to stay in touch with this lady more often during my course here at UTS. The professor Mr. Phillip Spence seems a very strict professor but then it was still ok. The next lecture was interesting. 

This professor of the second lecture has been teaching at UTS for 31 years and I am surprised nobody told him that he SHOUTS a lot. I mean without the microphone he is real loud and I am somewhat sure that if he gets a microphone, half of the students would go deaf. His talks were boring and the names he mentioned were unheard of for the entire class. :)

That did not please him and he was definitely not happy about such lack of knowledge of post graduate students. (But then how can he expect us all to know about U.S and U.K and their legislature and Constitution unless we do not belong to those countries), I mean most of the people in the class were international students. Then came the fun part because he did tell us right in the 1st lecture that we need to form a group and select a topic for group presentation right after our 1st lecture. hahhaaha Funny because out of those 29 students just 3 people knew each other and everyone else was a stranger for other people. But still people who know me would have guessed that I  did form a group of 5 (which was required) very easily and in fact I made a group of 8. So finally its a group of 5 with me and 4 gals and yeah this was not intentional. It just happened. 

Looking forward to more of such exciting days ahead and getting busier as the classes go on.

As always watch this space for more updates including pics and stuff because I really need this space to be interesting enough so that most people come back, :)

H@rdeep.

End of orientation and a hectic week.

I am finally done with the orientation of the course which lasted for 5 days from 20th-24th of July here at the UTS building 4. The seminars were hectic and fun because I met a whole lot of people and observed a whole lot of things. Clicked a lot of pics, made some new friends and now looking forward to classes from Tuesday

The new facebook account has some new friends from UTS. Sydney is a multi cultural city in true sense. So far I have met people from The Netherlands, US, UK, Russia, Japan, Taiwan, Germany, Mexico, France, Iran, and of course not to forget India and China. LOL Indians & Chinese are everywhere you go, in every city of the world. And call it funny or weird but there are a whole lot of people in here who you would think are Chinese but are from some different country or are maybe Iranian from Australia and more. Its complicated and truly multi cultural. Thats great.

Talking about the University which is HUGE and has many campuses it also has 2 bars in the University campus. YES THEY ARE ACTUALLY IN THE CAMPUS. :)

And I suppose having a beer inside the campus is allowed too. But anyways since I do not drink and do not intend to, its no use for me. Made some really good friends on here and things have been good so far. the pics are up at both my facebook accounts and I am sure its just the beginning. I am also about 2 meet some couchsurfers today at a bar and since I do not drink I will be leaving soon from there too. Also I have set up Google Voice+Gizmo5 on the Android HTC magic and it feels magic that i can talk to US for free from the cell phone on WLAN and 3G. YAY.

Looking forward to a job now so that I can buy more stuff (gadgets of course).
I m used to walking now and even though it might feel lonely at times, I haven't missed India or home in general yet much.

More updates, pics and a whole lot of stuff to follow so keep checking this space.

Excited, Happy and hopeful to good times ahead,
H@rdeep.

Australia So far.

Its been 6 days today that I landed in Sydney. I landed here on 8th July, 2009, an hour late than the scheduled time of 6.55 p.m. because the flight took off late from the stopover (Singapore). The whole experience so far has been amazing to say the least.

The train ride to Harris Park (thats the suburb where most Indians in Australia Stay) from airport started with this conversation with a converted Sikh who had a business of immigration advise and all. As is very common with students coming to Australia, I was asked and the other guy assumed that I was there for either the course of "hairdressing" or "cooking". LOL yup thats the cheapest courses in Australia and people come here to do that just because they can work full time and earn loads of money and get the PR (Permanent Residency) later on.

This elderly guy did gave me some survival tips in Australia & later on that day I did feel the change in temperature from almost 40-45*C heat in Ahmedabad to 10*C cold in Sydney. The next day I got up at 1.30 p.m and I could understand it is jet lag. That day (Thursday, 9th July) I stayed at home and the next day I went to University on Friday. Opened a bank account, deposited money and met a friend "Sourabh" at Darling Harbor near Imax theater. I must say I walked a lot and I should get used to this whole habit of walking as soon as possible to get to terms with my new life. I so wanted to click pictures of the places that day but I thought this is very near to the University and so I will come here a lot and click pics later on.

This was until Friday. Saturday again I was at home and so we went to the mall to get a new cell phone which I could not buy because several docs are needed from the bank which haven't arrived yet, but I got the taste of something I never expected here. People not following rules in the parking lot and thus we being stuck in there for an hour and half. (WOW & I thought that stuff happened only in India). :)

We finally reached home and I could not do much stuff except make some calls to schedule meeting people for accommodation and apply for TFN (Australia's tax File number). On Sunday morning I was supposed to met "Vicky" who I met in the afternoon sometime and saw that I quite like that place where he stays with 3 other people. I am supposed to move in there by the end of this month or early next month. I am going to the University for my enrollment at 9 a.m today and its 2.10 a.m Sydney local time so ya 1st day of University where I will be choosing subjects and all and deciding the number of days I will be attending University. Also looking forward to meet "Parshv" and his girlfriend "Aditi" and then later on at 4.30 p.m again meeting Amelie for the 1st time at Imax.

Hope to have a great and busy day today and click pics too. Also I am gonna be awake applying online for jobs right now so keeping fingers crossed for that. More "REGULAR" updates to follow soon.

Keep checking this space for pics and more.

H@rdeep.

So it happens again. Not a Big deal.

Maybe most of you guys would say I am giving excuses for my failures. But its not about that here. I am just gonna write about what has happened and is true.

I have an amazing family. My Mom & 2 brothers. They have been always with me till date and have done so much that words can fail to describe how thankful I am to them. But when I look back, I know I have been treated as step son and step brother. Why did they do to me at every stage of my life? maybe just because I never complained. And complaining is a far off thing, I didn't even think of it earlier.

I went to the college in the bus for 2 years wasting hours waiting for the bus and then wasting hours while travelling through them. I was never given money for my expenses and was forced to earn it myself while I was still studying and then I could not clear my exams because I could not concentrate on studies well. After years of doing the same thing, I realized THAT is not what I want to do. I LOST INTEREST in it and still did it just because I had given so much time of my life after that stuff.

Today I am going to Australia for further studies because I always wanted to go to US but could not get selected in the "Good Colleges" and just because I DO NOT EARN MONEY & have no savings, I will be made to use an assembled laptop instead of a branded one.

Nothing of this sort happened to my younger brother. THEY SAY I NEVER CONCENTRATED ON STUDIES, THEY SAY I WAS NEVER SERIOUS. So how the hell did I get 71% in 1st year of college. THEY SAY I AM A TOTAL FAILURE AND A STUPID. Just because I don't earn money. I know my family has always been for me, financially only. There is something else I needed that is even more important.

"Emotional Support".

What difference will the assembled PC make? Well if at all it breaks down sometime, I have no warranty and no one to go to. I have no money yet to make sure its fixed. If it does not function properly in some area or stops working well after certain days, I will have no recourse but to use the faulty piece. EVERY PASSING DAY I am made to realize MONEY IS GOD. IF YOU HAVE MONEY, YOU CAN DO EVERYTHING.

It does not matter how you earn it. Kill people, do smuggling but EARN THE DAMN MONEY.

Ya right. MONEY.

H@rdeep.