Exhibition, The Last Laugh

Curtin have a grad show for design students. This was my stand.

I got people to taste Møllers Tran; Fish oil.

Kjetil couldn’t resist.

Where’s Wally

Cheers Jon

It’s summer!!

Hi.

I’ve been really busy with school since I started. But now It’s summer vacation. And there will be more post coming up!

What have happened recently:???

We saw this little creature on campus.

I moved to the beach and this is my first breakfast at the new house, bread with brown cheese and blueberry jam. Awsome!

The new house

The view

Yeah, I got a flat tire, in the middle of the freeway.

Luckily I had a spare one. (Markus with his masculine pose)

But I had no car jack, so Sarah had to come to the rescue. (Having a hard time crossing 4 lanes on the freeway)

“I get by with a little help from my friends” And btw I bought a car; Mitsubishi Lance 96.

Be prepared for more, now that I have time to blog.

Cheers Jon!

… and then school started!

Hi.

It’s been a while since I last wrote on my blog. But I have been super busy. When class started I had problems with my schedule, and what units to take, and get the classes not to clash, but I finally got what I wanted. And now my schedule looks like this:

Event though I don’t have many classes, I have tons of work. Now I have four assigments on top of each other (Not what we are used to in Norway with just one assigment at the time). So tomorrow I’m going to have two presentations.

But yeah, in all this work I got to do some fun I went surfing, and found that it was really hard. But I’m not giving up.

I also made komla the other day. Where I invited a bunch of people. I got help from Marianne, Marius and Cecilie. Whitought them I could not have made it. (Thank You).

And in the weekend we went on a road trip, north to the Pinnacle Desert. The trip started with Marius and Cecilie got their car overheated. But after some water it went well. We got to a gasoline station called Gull where we rented sandboards. Then we drove off to a small mini dessert where they had sand dunes we could sandboard down on. This was really fun. And we also drove off road in the dunes with Rune’s car. We got stuck on a top and tried to dig ourselves. But then a man came for the rescue. It turned out that he could speak norwegian, because he was married to a norwegian lady. His nickname became Mike LandRover. After that we drove on to the Pinnacles where we watched them in the sunset and also played “politi og tyv”.

This is all for now, but next week we have tuition free week, so hopefully there will be more posts.

Start-up week

Hi.

It’s been really busy lately so that’s why I haven’t written any posts for a while. And I have deciced that I won’t be writing day by day, and going to cut down on the writing, but adding more photos

So at start up week I meet more people, more norwegians as well. On thuesday I when’t to this seminar called “Creating Connections”. There was a mini show by a aborigional dance group with two guys dancing and one guy playing the digeridoo! (Amazing how they can play that thing) Then the seminar started, and it was held by a guy called Scott. He asked if someone wanted to introduce themselves and I got up in front of the audience and said, “Hi, my name is Jon, I’m from Norway and I study grapic design”. Yeah bold me. After the seminar I had written in my notes that life is like riding a bicycle. Then I went to join the gym on campus. (Got to be healty and strong for surfing). Later me and Siren when to Salsa at a bar called Mustang Bar. (I really sucked, but it was fun to watch all the others).

On Wednesday we went to Fremantle for a pubcrawl. We started at the Little Creatures, where I ate kangaroo.

We went to different small brewerys to taste different types of beer. In one bar, they had cilli beer.

On Friday it was a Start-up Party on the Tavern (a pub on campus). Here I met more norwegians, swedish, germans, americans, danish, chinese. But no australians. (Where are they?) But anyways. I also met Scott who had the seminar earlier in the week. He thaught me to count in cantonese, and I thaught him to count in norwegian. (But we both forgot it the next day).

On Saturday morning we went on this bus trip. Our first stop was on a chocolate factory:

Then the next stop was a wine yard to taste wine:

(On the bus, there was a quiz about the winery; how many wines did we taste and what artist had visited the winery. I said 7 and Micheal Buble and won a bottle of wine )

Then we where off to a zoo with kangaroo, koala bears and wombats:

The last stop before we went home was at a aquarium in Swan Valley. I hadn’t bought a ticket for the aquarium so I went with the other norwegians to find something to eat. After we had eaten I bought me a wetsuit So now the only thing that remains is a surf board!

Everybody who went on the bus trip.

School has started now, so it will be limited on how often I can use my time to update the blog. But I will update as often as I can See you!

Prep Week

Hi guys!

It’s been a while since I wrote here. But it’s been a busy week with the Prep Week, (Orientation week for international studentes). On Monday I met the juornalist girls with Markus and they had met another norwegian girl (Danielle) and I also met the other norwegians who is studying Graphic Design (Agneta, Irene and Ole). We went to the enrloment briefring and later we went to the city centre to grab a drink by the bell tower on a place called the Lucky Shag.

On Tuesday I woke up to get the beakfast thing that was arranged on campus. And then I got my self enroled. Later that day it was something called “This is Australia”. It was a seminar about a few things good to know about Australia. (And it was quite funny) I got a chocolate because I said I was from Norway and we got to taste vegimite, not recomendable. It tasted like motor oil. After the seminar we gatherd a group to try “Slakk Line” which Kjetil had brought. Many people (Sara from Sweden, Huan from Colombia, Ane, Kjetil, Markus, Marius, Rune, Lise, Siren).

On Wednesday there was this bus trip around in Perth. First we went to Kings Park and then to Fremantle where we tried fish and chips. Very good And we went to a brewery called Little Creatures to try the beer there.

On Thursday I had my medical check up that I needed for diving. And I didn’t calculate the time well, so I actually got late for the appointment. I got there very stressed out and filled some forms and was called in first to check my hearing. So then inside the booth halfway through the check up (when I was really trying to consentrate on the sounds and press the button) my phone rang and I tried to hear the sounds, press the button and turn off my mobile at the same time. (Stress) And when the was taking my pulse, they got worried because I had a very high pulse then. The doctor said it had nothing to do with my diving, but for my own safety I should check my pulse by my self the next morning if it was still high. (It was not). Then I meet up with Danielle and talked with her all day till we went to the cinema at night to watch Inception.

On Friday I got up to go to school. There was a information seminar about different things. Later we decided to play volleyball in the backyard at 1A Cadden Str. (Where Markus, Stig, Rune lives). But after a few hits I kicked the ball over to the neighbours yard. Me and Lise went over to get it back, but no one was home. So then we decided to have a BBQ. We got to the store and bought food and coal to the BBQ. And when we got back we had problems with lighting the grill because we had no “tenn veske” and we didn’t know the english word for it. But Lee understood what we where talking about and went to the store to buy the KAROSINE!. Ghislene came by before she went to a birthday party. Then Sara (the swedish girl) came over and joined us. We where a bounch of people around the table; Lise, Espen, Sara, Rune, Markus, Kjetil, Lee, Abby, Stig, Siren, Sara and me. It gets dark early and cold, so we sat around the warm grill while Espen and Markus played the guitar. Danielle stopped by also later on. And we had a round of Ligretto. Ghislene came back after the party and was so kind to drive me home, even it’s not a long way, but it was cold and I had my shorts on. On the way home we saw a shooting star. A big one with a long tale.

On Saturday we got up early to take the bus to the beach (Scarbrough). Me, Siren, Espen, Kjetil, Lise, Stig and a chinese girl we got to know on Friday, Lucy. When we got there we played a little bit of volleyball and had a quick dip in the sea. It was colder that day. Then suddently we saw a big fin. It was a whale. It was very close the the beach and some boats went over to see what is was. We had lunch later on and some of us went back home.

The beach!

Hey hey (I need a dollar, a dollar is what i need)

Just a quick post here. Yesterday I had a walk around the block to get to know the place. Markus came with me and we walked to school, to see how long it was (not long). Then we went by the house Markus is living (Cadden Street). Stig was in and we then played a game called Ligretto (card game). Then the other norwegians came by the door, and we congratulated Espen (it was his birthday). And they asking if we wanted to come along with them to the beach. How can you say no to that. I ran home to grab my camera and they picked me up and off we went in Rune’s car to Scarbrough. At the beach we did some shopping, because we where making taco later. Then we got down to the beach and met Karoline, a norwegian girl who was a friend of Rune. On the beach we had some white wine and shrimps.

The birthday boy!

Later we got back and made some taco and got around the table to celebrate Espen.

Today I had a walk around the block with Ghislene and I thought her some norwegian songs. She was really good and is getting better. When we got to Ghislene’s place, Rune was just outside picking Siren up, and when they saw us, they asked if we wanted to come to the beach with them. And again, how can you say no to that. I didn’t have anything on me besides the camera. So after we had driven a while, Siren asked if I was going into the sea. I said I didn’t have a bathing shorts with me, but I could go with the shorts I had on. So when we got to the beach, me, Rune and Siren ran into the sea. It was so good to finally go into the sea here in Australia.

So that is all for now

Redback and salsa!

Hi!

Yesterday was a exiting day. I woke up, had me some breakfast and went down to the other norwegians’ house. Stig was just having his breakfast and Rune was on the phone. We where in the backyard and I grabbed a chair to sit in the sun. Then suddently Rune (He calls himself Andrew/Andy) shouted; “oh, is that a spider, is that the Redback?” And I was like “What”. The spider was just under my chair and I jumped out and stepped away. If you have not heard about the Redback you can just click here. Apparently it’s the most dangerous spider here in Western Australia.

Later me and Markus took the bus into the city and did some shopping and had some food until we got tired and got back hope for a power nap. (Big on those power naps). Later I got a text message from Markus that they where going in a BBQ in another house. There we met many peoples from Mauritius. We sat down and talked and had some food and drinks. Ghislene, the girl who guided us around earlier this week, are staying at the house we where at. I tried to learn her a norwegian song, and she actually did very well (I learned her; Jeg gikk en tur på stien). When we decided to go out, we ran for the last bus, but we where too late. So we called up a guy, Akbar who is currently staying at Markus’ house, if he could drive us to the city. We told him that he could drive Andy’s car (btw, Andy bought a Land Rover that day). When we all got in the car (one too many), Akbar told us that he had never driven a car with a manual stick shift. So on the way to the city, Andy teached him. We went to a place called The Deen, where there was different rooms with different types of music. We ended up at a place they had live Salsa music. Lise tried to teach me some simple Salsa moves, but I didn’t do well I think. A guy saw us and he first danced with Lise, and I was just amazed (I’m going to take Salsa lessons). After a while, Lise and Espen went out, and there was me, Siren, Andy and Markus remaining. The guy then danced with Siren, spinned her around on the floor. And he tought me the simple steps, and tried to get me to spin Siren, but I just messed it up. I’ll train more on that. Yeah, free Salsa lessons is not bad. Today Ghislene took me and Markus to Curtin and showed us around and took us to a big mall, where thay had many outlet shops.

Well that’s all for today. See yah!

Getting around

Hi.

I’ve been busy these days. On Monday, me and Markus went house hunting and realized that many had been taken, and there where few left (the nice ones). So we just decided on two rooms in two different houses. It’s close to the university, about 15 min. walk. Later that day, I got a mail from some girls (also going to Curtin University to study jounarlism) and asked if I wanted to meet them and grab a drink. We decided on where and when, but when I was going, Markus was so tired that he stayed in bed. I met with the girls; Trine, Susanna, Cathrine and Kathrine at the hotel where thay stayed. We found a place to grab a beer and got to know eachother. After a while we went to another place, where there was music and a dancing floor. We had alot of fun before it got late and I think we where all tired. The next day me and Markus had breakfast at the hotel before we checked ourselves out and met with the landlady (the owner of the houses). There where some norwegins that had just moved in to the house Markus where moving into. It was a group of engineers that we got to know. We had a tour on a BIG mall, and a guide, Ghislene who drove us there and showed us around. Later after I got me a power nap, I whent to the house where Markus had moved in. All the norwegian engineers (Stig, Rune, Lise, Espen and Siren) where there and we chatted and got to know eachother. Later I got a call from one of the norwegian journalism girls, who was woundering if I wanted to go out. I agreed and asked if the engineers wanted to come, but they wanted to stay home and chill, because they had plans to go out the next day. So I went and met with the girls. I met them at a place called Hip-e Club. It was not great music, but we danced anyway. Well today me and Markus took the bus into the city to shop some things that we needed. I’m surprised how friendly and helpful people are here. If we ask for directions or anything thay are glad to help.

So this is all for now, I got to go, and there will be more to come.

Sunday = chilli’n out!

Hey guys.

Yesterday I woke up by the sound of the hotel phone, and I thought what now. But it was Markus who had found my hotel and wanted to check in to the new hotel (which we are staying on now, the Perth Ambassador). I met him in the reception, got back up to my room, cleared it out and took my luggage with me to fint the other hotel. We found it almost right away, but they didn’t have rooms available until 10.30 and the clock was about 8 ish when we got there. Then I had the oportunity to show Markus around (well, show him Hay Street). But as lucky as we where, the shops had not opened yet. So then we searhed for some place to have us some breakfast. When we was on our look out for a breakfast place I just relised that I didn’t chech out from the hotel which I stayed on and I still had the hotel key in my pocket. So then we went back to the hotel I stayed on and had our breakfast there. After a while we had bought chargers for our phones and Markus bought some socks (because the airline had lost his luggage and he still haven’t got it). We checked in to our new hotel and watched some TV and had a power nap. Our next plan was to go to the entertainment resort Burswood, where Lise is working, and she offered to show us around. But when I was ready to take a taxi, Markus was so tired that he decided to stay at the hotel. Lise showed me around at the Burswood and we said hi to Vicky (who is also working there). After me and Lise had some food at a food court with different Asian cousines. Then we drove downt to the city and up to Kings Park where there was a panoramic view over the city. (The picture is bad)

Later that day, Markus got in touch with some other Norwegian guys which we met in the city and took a couple of beers. It was suddently night and we got hungry, so we ordered a pizza to our hotel room and watched FIFA world cup until we fell asleep. Next morning (today) we had some breakfast here at the hotel and had a coule of power naps and a few more, before we got hungry again. We found an indian cousine where they had really good food. So here I am again, sitting in my bed, writing.

There’ll be more to come, so long

Stress with a capital “S”

Hi there!

Today (9/7.10) I didn’t have much to do since it was raining and had no further plans. But yeasterday I was on a field trip with my sister Lise and her wife Vicky and their friend Vicky (yes there was two Vickys). We had lunch in the bush and got lucky with the weather, because the cast was rain and thunder, but the sky was clear until we were heading home.

On our way home we stopped at a “Cash and Carry” which is not like it’s home. This one is BIG, and Lise had a card that allowed her to shop there. (It’s supposed to be only for business shopping). Before they let me off at the hotel, we drove down to the coast line just to get a glimse of the sea. When I got back to the hotel, I was tired and took one of those power naps and woke up later about 8 pm. Well today I just wanted to have a walk, and got on my rain coat and into the rain. When I got back the the hotel a couple of hours later, my pants and my shoes were wet through. Later this evening I watched some TV and got a message from Markus (a norwegian student who I’ve been mailing) telling me that he had arrived and the YMCA where he was staying was awful. (Which later today I’ve booked three nights from tomorrow). Then my phone shut down because it was out of battery. I looked through my bag where I had all my chargers and wires. But there was no cell phone charger! Then I tried to call with my hotel phone but I didn’t work, so I went down to the reception explaining that it did not work. And after a coulpe of lift rides we established (we as in I and the receptionist girl) that it did not work so I could borrow the phone in the reception to call Markus. I talked to him about changing hotels and he agreed to book at the Perth Ambassador. I got to my room, made the reservation online and got the confirmation on mail. But if that was not enough, it stated that I had to print it as proof of my payment (“MUST print”, they actually wrote must with capital letters). I thought, well I don’t have a pocked printer. But as smart as I am, I went down to the reception AGAIN and asked if I could print out something (a reservation for another hotel, haha). But she was nice and printed it for me.

See yall later for more…