Farewell Australia...

On September 8^th, 2010 I landed at Coolangatta international airport on the Gold Coast in what was then rainy Queensland. Without any sense of direction or what to do next, I caught a bus to Surfers Paradise to a backpackers hotel and this was the start of my second Australia adventure.

Over the last 2 ½ years I’ve met countless new friends, gained new enemies, travelled to New Zealand, New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Japan and received a masters degree in criminology for a private university. The experiences were rich and fulfilling and even though there were great times, there were also horrible ones as well. Not to say that these experiences have not made me a stronger person, but over the last few years I’ve grown and adapted to call Australia my home far better than the previous time I came as a study abroad student in 2007.

While I did my best to try and stay for an extended period resulted in me switching to a working holiday visa after graduation and allowing me to stay for another year and sadly, at the this time there was no other options for me to stay other then spend more money on education or find a wife. Neither of which I wanted to pursue especially since finances were not viably there and some women just weren’t on the same page as me.

However, I leave for Sydney in New South Wales and then back to the US bringing with me the knowledge I’ve gained and the cultural awareness that this country has given to me as an outsider especially looking back at my home country, the US. While the memories will forever be there, the travel bug hast still definitely got its bite on me and I look forward to coming back here sometime in the next 5 years whether for work or holiday. There are still plenty of countries I would like to visit on this side of the hemisphere and plenty of opportunities to force me out of my comfort zone and into the abyss known as foreign territory.

Australia has been great and if any friends are looking to come down for whatever reason, all I can say is do it. You won’t regret it nor want to leave.

Until then,

Cheers and 再见

-H

Visas, Kiwis and Germans

Sadly, my student visa expired on March 15th and I therefore had to either swap over to another visa or leave Australia and head back to the United States. Sadly though, I don't feel there is anything worthwhile for me back in the US (yet...) and have opted to stick around Australia and continue working while networking and scouring the world wide web for career choices and such.

The governmental system in Australia is absolutely ridiculous to say the least regarding visas for foreigners although I am told the American system is even worse. Because I have decided to apply for the PhD program at Bond University, I am waiting to hear back from the faculty to determine if I have been accepted or not. But because my visa for my masters degree is expired and EVEN THOUGH I may need to get on another student visa, I still had to leave the country and come back on a work visa. It is such a pain that I have to pay for my flight out of the country on top of a $270 visa only to have it for a week or two and having to leave the country again and get on another student visa (which is approximately $500 and thensome for flights).

So courtesy of my German friend Kim and her hospitable mother, I was able to head to New Zealand for a very short break and apply for an Australian work visa. So be sure to check out my New Zealand blog!

The work and holiday visa allows me to stay in Australia for up to a year and can be renewable once more at the end for another year. The purpose of the visa is to allow those in Australia to fund their traveling through work in Australia. I cannot study for longer than 4 months and I cannot work for the same employer for longer than 6 months. Unfortunately though, ABNs do not qualify for a work and holiday visa and must be applied for through a business visa. So any security work I do pick up, I have to be on the books with them and not issuing them an invoice every week. So far, so good!

Cheers and 再见！

-H

Melbourne Video

MMXI

Well 2010 begins to wind down and that's another year (and decade!) in the books. This year would have been a bust if it hasn't been for Australia. I've met amazing people so far and glad I went for it when I still had the chance. The year has been crazy with unsuccessful FBI interviews, AT&T, Stubblefields and who could forget Andrew and my trip to Canada. It started "Two Guys One iPhone" (TGOI) and while it sounded like a great idea, that was our only adventure. Which means Andrew needs to hurry up and get down to Australia so we can continue that series.... And lastly, the start of my Chinese teachings have also been a good response to the year. Come the end of 2011, I hope to be able to fluently carry a conversation in Chinese and then begin to re-learn the German that I lost years ago as well.

But all in all, it was a good year with good people and good memories. I'm glad to say 2011 is going to be even better with trips to Asia, New Zealand and finishing my masters degree at Bond University in December. From there, who knows wherever life will take me or the wind blows or the sun shines I guess. My tentative goals for 2011:

-Skydive
-Bungee jump
-Asia
-Tasmania
-New Zealand
-Drop down to 220lbs or lower (at 244 right now, started at 260 in Sept.)
-Graduate Bond University with a masters in criminology
-Watch the Seahawks, Mariners, Sounders and Cougs all go to championship games (ha)
-Just enjoy life overall

I sit here now drugged up on Benadryl since the weather and humidity have increased significantly. I think the fact of watching over two dogs is also contributing to it. But they keep me company so I can't complain! So wherever you are, or whatever you are doing, I hope you all have an amazing end of 2010 and ring in 2011 the right way: alive and juiced up on Jim Beam! Miss you all and here's to MMXI!

Cheers and 再见！

-H

101 ways to scare an Australian

Hey everyone! G'day!

Been awhile since I posted a blog or even a vlog for that matter. But then again, not much has been going on with me. Just going to class, looking for a job and trying my best to get my American pride represented over here! If anyone hears of a job opening let me know!

Halfway through the semester into week 8 right now and time is flying BY QUICK. Just 4 more weeks, done with semester 1 and ready to roll out the 2011 in Australia! I think some mates of mine are thinking of heading down to Sydney to ring in the New Year at the Harbour. So might tag along and do that with them. It'll be pretty amazing.

All is well, but most importantly had a great Friday! Got my second care package in the mail, first being from the lovely dad. Every year, Playboy does a "Girls of the Pac-10" issue. Pac-10 being the conference of universities on the west coast and WSU (my alma mater) being one of those schools. So there you go, a little American lesson for those Aussies reading this. Anyways, one of the bartenders that I used to work with at stubblefields was featured in the issue, so by all means I had to get my hands on a signed copy! Needless to say, my good friend Tricia was able to send me a copy as well as some other goodies (mostly Halloween and Thanksgiving themed since Australians aren't too keen to celebrating and American holiday!).

One of the goodies Tricia sent me was a can of pumpkin. Not any typical American knows what a can of pumpkin is used for, but to Australia, not so much... Therefore, Australian customs had a go at my package to find out what this "can pumpkin" was!

Enjoy! Miss you all!

Cheers.

-H

Vegemite part 2

So I took a lot of flack for my last Vegemite posting. The reason why I "hate it so much" is because I spread it too thick, did not use butter and drank water afterward instead of "complimenting" it with milk. Yea I know, like it matters. BUT IT DOES! So therefore, I took it upon myself to re-do it with the necessary ingredients.

It wasn't as bad as before as the butter def. helps with the taste of it. And of course not spreading it on as thick. Will I be enjoying vegemite toast with my breakfast every morning? CERTAINLY NOT.

Cheers!

-H

你好！

(Title says: Hello!)

Not a whole lot going on. Sort of like a plane taking off. Much excitement with takeoff and landing, but at cruising altitude it's calm and relaxed.

For our graduate criminology class, we have decided to research and write a journal to hopefully get it published in one of the criminal justice quarterly journals here in Australia. It may not seem like much to some of you out there, but to have your research published is a big deal for us. So what we are aiming for is research into the trafficking of exotic animals. We decided on this topic because 1. Nadia has partial work done for it and 2. exotic animals are the 2nd biggest trade item in the world behind drugs (#1) and ahead of weapons (#3). Yet, because it is not viewed as a big issue, the fines and penalties is usually a slap on the wrist. So I am very excited about it. Only 13 weeks to get it done!

Also stopped by STA Travel to pick up some brochures. What I am hoping to do is come December break (3 weeks), travel around Australia. With winter break in July (6 weeks I believe) I want to head north to Asia (Russia, Japan, China and Thailand). And then come my final summer break (December), I want to head to Tasmania (south) and New Zealand. So big plans ahead, let's see if we can fulfill em! So if any of you have friends or tips for those places, def. lend them to me as they will provide valuable and hopefully save me money along the way.

Lastly, got certified for my Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) certificate. With this, I can now handle alcohol whether it be bartending or running a bottleshop and just selling it to people. I want to do something along the lines of security, but it looks like a 2 day course at $500 has to be taken in order to do something like that. Sooooo, I'm going to skip that (unless the company wants to pay for me!).

Also sent out postcards today, so expect those from me! If you don't get one, you're either not loved, didn't give me your address or the amount of time to slap a stamp and write "miss you, wish. You were here!" isn't worth my time.

Miss you all and I know you're having the time of your life over there in that fall weather. Hey feel free to come visit :-D


Cheers!

-H