Varsity on Main

I know its been a while, but been busy with moving and whatnot. So here we go!

Finished with exams on Monday with Media and Crime being my last one, which was great as I had a few hours to prep my body in time for End of Semester Bash. It was pretty much one giant party to celebrate being done with classes for the semester (even though some students still had exams the next day). Australia is religious to the point that come midnight on Good Friday, the sale of alcohol is prohibited (weird, I know). So the bash was held on Wednesday. Luckily for me I went and I had a blast. The theme being, "You wore that?", we all looked like backup dancers for Justin Bieber, haha.

The next day was a bit rough being hungover but Thomas and I moved out of Varsity Shores and into our new place at Varsity on Main (VOM) with Julia. The place has never had tenants and was extremely nice for the price we pay, which is far cheaper than Varsity Shores (VS). Because 2nd semester is winter, not many study abroad students will be venturing over, so it will be a bit quiet. Overall, VOM is extremely nice and has that upper class feel to it. The first couple of days we cooked together before Thomas and his brother, Alex drove off to Cairns for the holiday period. Just Julia and I to fend for ourselves which in turn, she has a boyfriend so just me to fend for myself.

We have a 6 month lease on the place until October in which case we can either move out and agree to a month to month lease. It's a bit early to tell what we will do but will cross that bridge as the time draws near. I've decided to withhold the address as I've forgotten about the stalkers and psychos (ex girlfriends, you know how they are) that are out there, so if you want to get a hold of me, just Facebook, text or shoot me an email and I'll give you my address. In the meantime, looking for a job!

Cheers and 再见！

－H

Semester 111

First week of classes are done and over and I'm starting to fall behind on the blog with the second week almost done and over. The schedule for this semester I thought would roughly be the same as last semester, but with me taking on the Post Graduate Students Association (PGSA) as President and subsequently Bond University Students Association (BUSA), I've added a bit more to my plate. Not to worry though, everything is under control.

This semester I am taking Chinese 2, Media and Crime and Social Research in Criminology. Chinese is a bit more the same but more or less expanding on grammar and tone. Our professor's style of teaching is spoken first and then worry about the written later on. Which makes sense. As a child you learned to speak first well before you were taught to write. So I feel this will be another successful semester of it. I've also done some thinking in regards to pursuing a Chinese degree, but that's for another day...

Media and Crime is also an interesting class. The idea behind the class to watch the way media reports on crimes and news and events associated with those crimes. We first looked into Dennis Ferguson, and while many Australians may feel the man will forever be guilty, the idea that the media has continually hunted this man down all throughout his life is what we focused on. As part of our final project we are looking at a media outlet of any type of researching the variable effects it has on society. I think for our presentation we are looking at the relative differences between what is shown in the popular American show Criminal Minds and how it differentiates to that of reality.

Lastly, I am enrolled in Social Research. More or less your typical mean, median and mode class in which you go out, conduct a survey and then scholastically (I use that loosely) write about the results. We start next week and I am still debating what my research will be based upon but I'm looking at three topics: The correlation between those who speak 2+ languages and their grades, the concept of the CSI effect on society or integrating social networking into cheating on significant others and how far can one go before being condemned as 'cheating'. So interesting topics and I have a week to decide.

Other then that, school is well under way! Almost into week 3 already... Sad day today as it was Australia Day (Australia's 4th of July) AND A PUBLIC HOLIDAY yet we still had class. How messed up is that? Not to mention many services on campus were not even operating. Yet students have to still go to class? Come on now....

Cheers and 再见！

-H