Final Weeks of Uni

After studying the day before, Sunday brought about the first day of my penultimate month in Australia, however the studying continued. With a deadline for my Intellectual Property Law take home exam looming on Wednesday, the clock was ticking to get it completed. Monday and Tuesday were spent finishing, editing and making the final changes to my answer before it was handed in. I was pleased with the final version and I'm fairly confident that I covered all the issues and handled them appropriately. We shall see how it goes when the results come out!

After the IP take home exam was handed in, it was straight back to work on the essay which was due for my Advanced Evidence class. The deadline was the following Friday, so there was plenty of time to complete it. Needless to say however, having just handed in another essay, motivation was lacking and I didn't get off to a racing start. I afforded myself a night off from working and was looking forward to a trip to the cinema with Jessica, which was supposed to be an enjoyable experience, of course. In reality, almost the entire duration of 'The Fault in Our Stars' was a depressing torrent of despair and tragedy. It was an alright film, but I wouldn't rush to see it again. I am pleased to say that I am still all-there emotionally and did not shed a tear, though the same could not be said for most other people in the cinema. 

On our way home, Jessica and I stopped off at the ice cream shop near Central and then returned to Iglu. The girls in the flat had been enjoying dinner together and were still chatting over some wine when we returned, so we joined them for a while and got to know our new flatmate a little better. After Pamela moved out this week, a new French girl called Anoucha arrived. She seems lovely so far though I haven't spoken to her much having been so busy with uni. On Saturday, Jessica and I visited the Chinese Gardens near Darling Harbour, which we hadn't been to before. The gardens were quite nice and we spent some time wandering around and spying on the wedding which was taking place whilst we were there. We spotted a handful of people at the wedding who were engrossed in their phones and also slagged some people off who were looking shabby - out of ear-shot of course! 

Here is a photo of the Chinese Gardens, with some apartments in the background. It was strange for such nice gardens to be found right in the middle of the city. It felt very much out of place.

There were a great number of huge fish in the pond and streams around the gardens.

We left the gardens and took a walk around Pyrmont, admiring the stunning flats and yachts which are found down there.

The main reason for heading down to Pyrmont however, was to visit the fish markets. There are a handful of huge fishmongers all along the same section of the harbour and it seems to be the place to go for fresh seafood in Sydney. They have all of the regular, familiar kinds of fish you might expect to find in the supermarket, as well as a great selection of weird and wonderful fillets and shellfish which I had never seen before. The live crabs and lobsters were a particular highlight!

After browsing for a while, mainly in awe of the sheer volume of fish on offer, we bought ourselves some tuna steaks and walked back to my flat through Wentworth Park. We stopped by Woolies and got some salad and a bottle of wine to have with dinner. I cooked the tuna steaks and whilst they were pink and rare, as I feel they're best, Jessica didn't think that was right so they went back in the pan. I was justified later in the week however, when Marco Pierre White cooked tuna steaks on TV during Australian Masterchef and they looked exactly like mine had. Needless to say, I was very pleased with that! Haha!

It was back to work on Sunday, though I afforded myself a long lie before settling in to continue writing my essay.  At night, I played FIFA for a few hours and then it was time for bed, in preparation for repeating the process of essay writing again the following day. Brutal. Luckily, I had something to distract me during my endless hours of typing, as Kasabian's new album had been released. I listened to it from beginning to end probably four or five times on that first day and I was absolutely loving it! It's gone straight in as one of my favourite Kasabian albums - it really is that good. They're going to smash Glastonbury.

I stayed up late on Monday night to watch the start of the 2014 E3 Conference. For those who don't know, it's essentially where all the big gaming companies, such as Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, come together each year to show off their new games and technologies. It's a bit geeky, but it's really great if you're into that kind of thing. I watched Microsoft's presentation, which started around 2am and then got off to sleep for a while before EA's conference. The big attraction there being a trailer for the new FIFA game, of course. After another few hours of sleep, it was finally time for Sony's conference around 11am. They showed off some brilliant new stuff, including a virtual reality headset and my desire to finally get myself a Playstation 4 was further reinforced. After that excitement, it was back to essay writing and studying for the rest of the day.

The routine of studying continued on Wednesday, though I did take some time off to find a Father's Day present for Dad, as well as making a card on Moonpig. Kerry and I chatted on FaceTime and decided on a couple of things to get him and I trawled through some old photos to make the card. We got him tickets to the Scottish Car Show in July, some beer glasses and the Wolf of Wall Street DVD. Everything was sorted out with a few days to spare and it has to be said, my ability to remember birthday cards, Christmas cards and various presents whilst I've been in Australia has been exemplary. Even if I do say so myself. Thursday was the final full day of work on the Evidence essay and it was almost ready to be handed in. An early night was in order on Thursday, since the FIFA World Cup in Brazil began early the next morning. Even with an essay deadline looming the next day, I got up bright and early to see Brazil beat Croatia 3-1 to open the tournament.

I finished off the final parts of my essay on Friday morning, after catching up on some sleep, since the deadline was at 4pm that day. Relief was the overwhelming feeling when I handed my final essay in, though I arrived back down to earth with a bump almost immediately upon remembering that I still had my one and only exam to sit. Back at home, Kerry passed her driving theory test, which was great and Mum and Dad were heading off to Pitlochry for their silver wedding anniversary. Kerry and I decided to get them a gift for the occasion and we settled on a print of Eulogy to a Dead Admiral by Jack Vettriano and hoped that they would like it.

There was also some pleasant news received on Friday, as Jessica was surprised with a stay in the Four Seasons Hotel at Sydney Harbour the following night. I was lucky enough to be invited along and hastily accepted! I had another early night on Friday and got back up early to watch Netherlands versus Spain game at the World Cup. The early alarm call was well worth it as the Netherlands demolished the reigning world champions by five goals to one, putting a massive dent in their chances of retaining the trophy. Personally, I was most pleased to see Louis van Gaal conducting a tactical masterclass and Robin van Persie capped his wonderful performance with two goals. Things are looking good for United next season, if that performance is anything to go by. After the game, I went back to bed and had a long lie. On Saturday morning, I got showered and had breakfast, then headed into the city to get myself a bag which I had been looking at for a while.

In the afternoon, Jessica and I headed down to the Four Seasons Hotel and checked in. The room was fantastic and had an unbelievable view of the Opera House and harbour.

The definition of a room with a view.

 As nice as the view was and as much as we were enjoying it, we did have dinner plans, so had to drag ourselves away from the window and out of the room. We had decided to go to Mr Wong's Chinese restaurant and headed there for around 7pm, having been informed that they did not take reservations. We arrived to find a small queue at the door but learned that there would be a one hour wait for a table. Feeling hungry, we decided that we wouldn't be hanging around and headed off to find another place. Whilst we were outside the restaurant, a chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce Phantom pulled up and four people climbed out, strolled inside the restaurant and were taken straight to a table. As always, it's not what you know, but who you know.

We walked up George Street and decided to try the Felix restaurant in the lane near Ivy. Gladly, they had a table available and we were pleased by the prospect of dinner finally! As Jessica was flicking through the wine menu, a waiter approached and asked if we needed some help. Feeling overwhelmed by choice, we gratefully accepted some advice. He told us that there were over 800 wines on the list and proceeded to detail the intricate flavours and tastes in several of them. Neither of us pretend to be wine connoisseurs, so plucked for a somewhat random choice, though it turned out to be very nice. The food was also great and it was definitely one of the best meals I've enjoyed in Sydney. I had a cheese soufflé with a rocket salad, followed by a rainbow trout fillet, which was exceptionally good. We headed back to the hotel and chilled out by the window for a while with a glass of wine.

Jessica took some artistic photos, capturing myself seemingly deep in thought.

I set an alarm for 8am on Sunday morning and we watched England against Italy before getting up. Whilst England played quite well, they didn't do enough and didn't take their chances, finishing up on the end of a 2-1 defeat. Not a good start to their tournament. We got up, got ready and gathered our things, ready to check out before heading for breakfast.

I snapped another quick picture in the morning, before leaving the hotel.

We weren't sure where to go for breakfast, so had a look online for somewhere we maybe hadn't been before. At this late stage of our time in Sydney, a real effort is being made to experience as many different things and places as possible, which means attempting to not eat in the same places more than once or twice. We chose a cafe in the Rocks and managed to arrive just as it started to rain, which was perfect. The place was rather strange and the tables were arranged in a corridor of prison cells. I can honestly say that I've never had breakfast in an old prison before. Very odd. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing, as the serious studying was due to start again the next day.

Monday's are never much fun, but when Monday means studying in preparation for an exam, it's even more dreadful. My exam was the following Saturday, so there was plenty of time to go, though there was also a lot of work to get through in that time. Back home, it was Father's Day and Dad was pleased with his presents, whilst both Mum and Dad liked the painting we had got them for their anniversary. At night, the finale of the latest season of Game of Thrones was on TV, which I enjoyed with a KFC downstairs. The episode was brilliant, as expected and there were a few twists and turns along the way too. I'm looking forward to the next season already!

Most of the remainder of the week was spent studying and taking notes for my exam. This was to be my first exam on a Saturday and I hoped it would be my last. As if exams couldn't get any worse, surely arranging them on a weekend should be against the rules.

Friday was my last full day of studying before my Private International Law exam, so I got up quite early and got to work. I had planned a study break for the afternoon; Jessica and I headed to Government House where we were going on a tour. We had visited the house and gardens a few weeks previous, though hadn't gone inside since we had been too late for the last tour of the day. We caught the free bus from Railway Square down to Circular Quay and made our way towards the Botanic Gardens, making it just in time for the last tour. The house was amazing inside, although we weren't allowed to take photographs unfortunately, except inside the ballroom. We didn't learn a lot of new information, though we did find out that until recently the house had not actually been occupied by the Governor of New South Wales. Only two weeks previously though, that had been changed and the current Governor was due to move back in and use the property as a permanent residency. I suspect tours will be stopped again quite soon, so it was pretty cool to have managed to squeeze one in before they do!

I snapped a sneaky picture from the ballroom back towards the drawing room, which was decked out in very traditional decor, but also had a very loud 80s-style carpet. It was a baffling combination.

This is one end of the ballroom, where each new Governor is sworn into their position.

After our tour, we walked back to the city and I headed home in order to continue studying, with my exam the next day. I finally had all of my notes completed and felt prepared for the exam. At the same time, I was trying to choose classes for next year, make sure I was ready for going away to Melbourne after my exam and also ready for Kerry arriving the following week. It was a rather stressful evening!

On Saturday morning, I had a long lie after a reasonably late night of studying, before getting out of bed and having some breakfast. I spent the morning doing some final studying for my exam, as well as packing my bag and organising all of my things to go to Melbourne later that night. I hadn't received an email offering me online check-in for my flight, which worried me. Panicking a little, I found a booking confirmation number from my bank statement and used it to access my flight information on the Tiger website and it became clear why I hadn't received any emails. I had typed my email address in wrong when I had booked the flight, though the problem was solved!

My exam went quite well and I was extremely pleased to be finished the semester. My final exam in Sydney was completed, as well as my time at Sydney University. The next time I sat in a class, wrote an essay or took an exam, I would be back in Glasgow. I walked home from campus, barely able to stop smiling at the prospect of studying being finished and flying off to Melbourne on holiday! I got home, checked that I had remembered all of my things in my bag and headed off to catch the train to the airport.

Melbourne here I come!

Some nice walks, Scottish food and Vivid Sydney!

After my weekend in Brisbane, it was back to uni on Monday morning. This stage in semester is always tough as you approach the end, seemingly just rolling from one deadline to the next and generally always having something which needs done. It's not much fun. The week passed by without event really, though I did receive the result from my Private International Law exam; I got 73% which I was fairly pleased with. Most of my time in between classes was spent reading and researching for my Criminology essay which was due the following week and had - at the beginning of the week - not yet been started.

On Friday, Jessica and I visited Parliament House near the Botanic Gardens in the city. It is the building where the Parliament of New South Wales is found; the state government being entirely separate from the national-level government which is found in Canberra. In truth, the building itself was a little underwhelming and whilst it is 'open' to the public, many of the interesting parts were closed. In fact, if it weren't for a large gallery of photographs which were being displayed as part of a competition, there wouldn't have been much to see at all. There was an extremely cool water-feature in the centre of the main lobby though.

The aforementioned water-feature and some of the photographs which were on display.

The Legislative Council Chamber, inside the Parliament building.

The Vice Regal Chair, in the Legislative Council Chamber. This is where the representative of the Australian monarch, Queen Elizabeth, sits. The position is currently held by Professor Marie Bashir and she lives in Government House - which we visited next.

We walked through the Botanic Gardens on our way towards the Opera House, which sits just in front of Government House.

This is the huge glass, pyramid greenhouse which sits in the Botanic Gardens. Unfortunately, it was also closed on the day.

Government House is located within the Botanic Gardens and feels totally secluded from the city itself. It's clearly an old building, but also has some modern touches and the garden has a swimming pool. They conduct tours of the building on Friday each week and I'm planning to go back and see inside before I go home, since it looks amazing through the windows!

This is essentially the view from the gardens of Government House. Not a bad place to live, by any means. The Opera House is just behind the trees to the right of this picture. 

Afterwards, we headed to the Cafe on the Rocks and had cake and coffee. The lemon meringue pie was majestic again. Feeling suitably stuffed, we caught the bus back to Railway Square and headed home to book our flights to Melbourne and Tasmania. The plan is to fly from Sydney to Melbourne after my exam on the 21st June, then a few days later we'll fly over to Tasmania from Melbourne. After another few days in Tasmania, we'll catch a final flight back to Sydney, before Kerry arrives in Sydney the next morning. After sorting all of that out, we headed out for dinner in Chinatown. I had honey chicken, which was excellent, but Jessica managed to top that with prawns in black bean sauce, which was even better. We moved on to the Hotel CBD for a drink after dinner before Jessica caught the train home.

The next day, we planned to walk to Manly Head. Jessica arrived in the morning and we headed to Woolworths to get some food and grab a coffee for breakfast. Fed and watered, we took the ferry from Circular Quay over to Manly. It was a stunning day and we began our walk from near Manly beach, which was as nearly busy as I have ever seen it, even though it is now technically winter.

Yeah, winter...

Not long after we started the walk, we spotted this little penguin perched on a rock. Very cool!

At first, the path was dusty and rocky, as it wound through bush and scrub. There wasn't much to see and it was so hot and sticky. Every once in a while, there was a little break, affording pretty brilliant views from the cliff tops. We also came across some old army bunkers and gun turrets, which were quite cool.

Horizon as far as the eye can see.

In truth, the walking was getting a bit tiresome without much to see and I was starting to wonder what the fuss was all about in regard to walking to Manly Head. However, we eventually reached the other side of the peninsula and suddenly the whole walk had been more than worth it. I really feel that the pictures won't do the views justice, but I'll do my best.

We stopped and had lunch here, before snapping some more photos. Apparently, it has been noted that I do the same pose every time I have my photo taken in a nice place, but I don't care.

In contrast, here is Jessica acting like Carol Vorderman on Countdown!

We continued our walk around the cliffs before circling back and heading towards Manly again. Feeling suitably exhausted, we went and had ice cream and chilled at the beach for a while before catching the ferry back to the city. Jessica caught the train back home and I headed back to Iglu, eagerly anticipating the FA Cup Final and La Liga conclusions later that night.

Since it was International Whisky Day, Jack insisted that he and I head out for a drink. I agreed to one, so that I could get some sleep before the football started. We went to Freda's and enjoyed a really nice 11 year old Oban single malt. After Jack took his obligatory Instagram photo, we walked back to Iglu and I got off to bed for a power nap. The football was kicking off around 2am and I seriously considered rolling back over and returning to my sleep when my alarm went off to get me up. It's always much easier to get up when it's United who are playing; I was far less motivated by the prospect of getting up to watch Arsenal potentially win a trophy. However, the potential that they might lose was too good to miss, so I dragged myself out of bed.

Here is Jack in high spirits shortly before kick off. Needless to say, he was less enthusiastic when Hull City took an early two-goal lead. Oh, how we laughed!

Unfortunately, Arsenal got back into the game and eventually took the match to extra time, when Aaron Ramsey scored a winner. Over in Spain, Atletico Madrid managed a draw at the Nou Camp against Barcelona to win their first title since 1996 and disrupt the Real Madrid-Barcelona duopoly for the first time since 2004. An incredible achievement. After the football finished, I was faced with the prospect of staying up for another two hours to watch the German Cup Final between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund or getting to bed to get some sleep. The next morning, when I discovered that the German game had finished 0-0 at full-time, I was pleased with my decision to go to bed. Sunday was spent doing uni work - the joys.

On Monday I had a bit of a headache, so I decided to stay at home and do some work on my Criminology essay rather than going in to class. There isn't an awful lot of incentive to go to class at this point in semester, especially when I have essays instead of exams in a couple of them. In other news, Man Utd finally had a new manager after Louis van Gaal was finally announced officially, although it was coupled with the bittersweet news that Ryan Giggs would be retiring from playing to become the assistant manager. I don't think his achievements will ever be beaten in the modern game. The ultimate professional and the ultimate legend of our club. I'm very glad he'll still be around though. I took another step towards the conclusion of my university life on Wednesday, as I finalised my dissertation subject. After much consideration, I decided to enquire about the possibility of building a question focused on contract law, specifically looking at footballers contracts, movement of labour and transfer markets. I was informed that it was a much more original idea than my original criminal law proposal and that it would be far easier to make this new topic stand out from the crowd. That's that decided then. After uni on Thursday, I spent a while (admittedly with the help of Jessica, which was very much appreciated!) cleaning my flat, ready for our inspection the next day. I have to say, I keep the place clean and tidy anyway, but the inspections are meticulous, so everything needs to be spotless.

Jessica and I had plans to tick another few things from our respective to-do lists on Friday. We caught the train and bus out to Bondi beach where we went for breakfast, before beginning the walk from Bondi to Coogee. I'd done the walk before, in the opposite direction, but was looking forward to doing it again, hopeful that it might be less busy than the previous occasion. It was another brilliant day and I snapped some great photos.

Breakfast by the beach.

Bondi beach in the morning.

Surfers making the most of fairly calm conditions in a bay just around the corner from Tamarama beach.

Here's me not far from the part of the walk which goes by a cemetery on the cliffs. Very strange.

When we got to Coogee, I jumped into the rock pool baths for a swim, which I had planned on doing for a while. It was rather chilly, so I didn't stay in for long, although it is winter. Try doing that in Scotland in winter.

After some time was spent relaxing on the beach at Coogee, we caught the first of two buses out towards Maroubra, where we were going to visit the Scottish butcher. After some solid navigating, we reached our destination and struggled not to go over the top on food from back home. Eventually, we settled on a steak pie, some black pudding and tattie scones. Superb! We caught the bus back to Central, eagerly anticipating dinner! We stuck the steak pie in the oven and made mash potatoes, carrots and gravy to go with it - all topped off with a couple of cans of Irn Bru! Amazing!

Needless to say, dinner was immense. Breakfast the next morning was pretty good too, as we enjoyed black pudding, scrambled eggs and tattie scones.

Saturday was spent in the library, writing my Criminology essay, ready to be handed in on Tuesday. After a good day of work, I headed home and had dinner, followed by some FIFA with Jack in the evening. I got an early night because I was getting back up early to watch the Champions League Final. Typically, given that I was hoping to get back to bed at a decent time so I could get on with my essay again on Sunday, the match went to extra time, after a late Sergio Ramos header levelled the scores. Eventually, Real Madrid banged in three goals in the additional time to win their tenth European Cup. I was pleased for Ronaldo and happy that Diego Simeone didn't get his hands on the trophy given his history with David Beckham and Manchester United. It was back to the grind on Sunday, after a long lie; more essay writing.

I was back to classes on Monday morning, although since some of them had now finished, I only had one each day. That meant I had IP and then it was off to the library again to complete my essay before the next morning. Gladly, it was all but finished by the early evening, leaving me just needing to read over my work for typos and spelling errors. I submitted it online the next morning and also received my grade for the presentation which I had made a few weeks previously in Criminology class; I got 8 out of 10, so I was pleased with that. In the afternoon, I had my penultimate Evidence class, after which I played football in Victoria Park, followed by some FIFA back home at night.

On Tuesday night, Jack and I were going to play FIFA but found one of the controllers was sticking. We took the brave decision to unscrew the back of it, open up the insides and attempt to fix the sticking button.

Incredibly, we managed to fix it somewhat, without it being as good as new and put all the pieces back together and it still works. If I were to apply for some sort of engineering job, I'd be putting that achievement down on my CV!

On Wednesday night, Jessica and I decided to finally go and see the Vivid Sydney festival lights. The festival has a huge array of lights, lasers and interactive zones throughout the city centre for a number of weeks each year. This building was illuminated to look like a large tree, with birds and animals living in it.

This is the Museum of Contemporary Art, near the harbour and it was lit up with an amazing set of projections, set in time to music. I thought the people with the cubed heads were quite Daft Punk-inspired!

Finally, the highlight of the festival for everyone - the Opera House!

Unfortunately, my photos of the Opera House aren't particularly good. After seeing the lights, we went for a drink at Opera Bar, though it was pretty cold, so we didn't stay long.

I woke up on Thursday morning to the news that Malcolm Glazer, the former owner and general parasite of Manchester United has passed away. The less said about Glazer and his legacy the better, I think. After getting up and having some breakfast, I began writing this post, since I didn't have any classes. There was supposed to be one more Evidence class in the afternoon, but I went to play football instead, which meant that classes had now finished in Sydney. The next time I'll sit in a lecture or tutorial will be back in Glasgow! The football started around 2pm in Wentworth Park and it was to be a full 11-a-side game against the Korean Society from uni. I started the game with a goal inside the first minute and doubled our lead with a second goal shortly before half time. We finished the half leading two-nil through my two goals and we were playing well. Some changes were made at half time and the second half descended into a bit of a shambles, with the score finishing something like 6-5 or 6-6. I'm really not sure since I lost count, amidst overriding fury at the incompetence of our defensive efforts.

I headed home after the game and went straight in the shower. Whilst you don't get muddy from making tackles here, you do get covered in a sort of dusty dirt instead. You end up looking like a coal miner, which is pretty horrible. Jessica had been in uni and headed over to my place afterwards; I cooked fish and chips and made apple crumble too, which was again finished within 24 hours! It must be good! We had a lazy day yesterday, spending most of the day doing nothing, except watching Deja Vu which is a brilliant film! Jessica headed home in the afternoon and I played FIFA with Jack for a while. Later on, there was a party on in Iglu and we played beer pong, which I won, for the first time ever!

Today has been spent in the library. Not how I would spend my ideal Saturday, admittedly, but needs must since I have a take home exam that needs to be completed by Wednesday. That'll be taking up the majority of my weekend.

Until next time,
Jamie

Luna Park and Long Bay Prison Visit

Once again, it has been longer than I anticipated or intended since my last blog post and I'm really, seriously hoping that they will start to come more regularly again soon.

Anyway, I left off from Thursday, 27th March after my Apple interview and the following day I heard back that the interview had been successful. I was to return for a second interview on Wednesday, 2nd April at the Apple store in the shopping centre at Broadway. Since it is the closest Apple store to my flat, less than ten minutes walk away, I was particularly pleased and hoped that I was on my way to securing a job there. After a chilled morning, I played football on Friday afternoon before returning home, making dinner and spending the remainder of the evening playing FIFA. Beating Jack never gets boring, especially when he flips out and goes on a rampage - excellent entertainment.

On Saturday, I had another quiet morning after a long lie, with no plans until later in the day. Jessica and I had planned to go for dinner before heading across the Harbour Bridge to finally visit the Luna Park fairground. It was the last weekend of off-peak prices, so we took advantage of a buy one get one free offer on tickets and caught the train over the bridge around 6pm, after dinner at Coco Cubano at Central. Whilst it is safe to say that we were certainly amongst the older visitors, Luna Park was really excellent fun and it was a lot better than I had imagined. The tower drop in particular was the cause of a few swear words as we plummeted towards the concrete at a blistering pace.

The entrance to Luna Park, which does look somewhat creepy in this photo!

It happened to be the night of Earth Hour when we were at Luna Park, which meant that the majority of the lights were turned off for an hour. We had the good fortune of being on the ferris wheel when the lights on the Harbour Bridge were turned back on, which was amazing!

The standard fairground candy floss was a personal highlight.

We headed home via the brilliant ice cream shop at the back of Central, where the shop assistants insist on having you try several flavours before committing to choosing one. Can't complain. Later on, I watched the United game which we won in some style, beating Aston Villa by four goals to one, including Juan Mata's first for the club. I was shattered by the end of the game and was glad to finally get off to sleep. On Sunday it was Mother's Day and Mum was very pleased to have received a lovely bunch of flowers, a card and a book which she wanted, from Kerry and myself. Meanwhile, I had to crack on with a presentation paper which was due for my Criminology class on Tuesday, so the majority of my day was spent writing it.

It was back to class on Monday morning, starting with Intellectual Property in the morning and then Private International Law in the afternoon. After class, I headed straight home to continue working on my Criminology essay, which had already taken up more time than I intended, even though it was only 1200 words long. It's funny how it is sometimes more difficult to write short essays rather than longer ones, since you need to be so much more concise in the points which you make. I did manage to get it finished however and on Tuesday morning it was handed in during class; the day dragged by as I was so excited for the football later that night. It was the first leg of the Champions League quarter finals and United were entertaining Bayern Munich - widely considered the best team in the world at the moment - at Old Trafford. After dinner, I got an early night and before I knew it, my alarm was going off, I was up and wide awake and ready for kick off. We actually managed to take the lead early in the second half, before Bayern equalised and the game ended in a 1-1 draw, which was a reasonable result, I thought.

The next morning, I had my IP class in the morning before heading home to get changed for my second Apple interview in the afternoon. After a quick lunch and a short walk back to Broadway, I found myself in a small group interview; there were four of us and the person responsible for all of the staff in the Broadway store. It went quite well I felt and we were informed that we would be hearing back sometime soon. Afterwards, I caught up with Jessica and we headed out for some food before going to see the new 'Need for Speed' film starring Aaron Paul from Breaking Bad. It was essentially just a Fast and the Furious film under a different name but it was entertaining and there were some really great cars in it, which is the main thing! Thursday meant another day of classes, though it also meant the start of the weekend for me, which was very welcome. I began my weekend with some chores which needed to be completed: I emailed a couple of my lecturers regarding my research essay proposals, checked the arrangements for the Private International Law exam the following week and secured my transport to and from Long Bay prison for our visit. Later in the afternoon, I played football in Victoria Park - there was a familiar feeling of home since the game endured a handful of rain showers, beneath grey skies.

I also heard on Friday that I had been invited to another Apple interview. I considered that as a cause for some celebration, considering the third stage of this process to surely mean I was close to securing a job, so I was easily convinced into joining a group from Iglu who were heading out into the city for the night. We began with a few drinks in our building, before heading to Freda's for a beer, followed by the Palace Hotel and finally ending up in Star Bar. We caught a taxi home around 2am, which was rather interesting as the the driver stuck U2 on the radio and cranked up the volume. We caught a hilarious video of us all singing along to 'Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' in which the taxi driver took lead vocals. That footage shall remain private, though Jack is very keen for it to go on Instagram! We stopped by McDonalds and headed home.

The typical result of a night out: heaps of selfies.

Group photo in Freda's. They only have one beer on tap, which just happens to be the most fantastic ale, though I have no idea what it's called or where it's from.

Alex and Jack enjoying a Guinness in the Palace Hotel.

Needless to say, I was suffering somewhat when I woke up on Saturday morning. It seemed that the McDonalds before bed had done little to scare off the hangover and most of the early part of the day was spent in bed, only surfacing for some food before scurrying back to the comfort of my duvet. Eventually, I dragged myself out of bed and headed into uni in order to scan in the hand signed documents which were required for my Apple background check, including Right to Work forms and Australian Police Check documents. It all seemed a bit serious and over the top for a simple part-time retail job, but I didn't complain and made sure everything was completed exactly as required. Jessica was in the library completing some essays which she had for her own classes, so we headed back to mines together and ordered a couple of pizzas from Dominos. Later on, I tried my best to stay awake for the United game away to Newcastle, though I kept drifting off to sleep and only caught two of the four goals which we scored. The next morning it was rainy, grey and miserable, so Jessica and I went bowling; I'm not overly enthused by bowling at the best of times, but losing to Jessica really did compound my views. It's unlikely I'll be back in a hurry, though she seems to have found a new favourite hobby. Unimpressed.

The scene of my humiliation at the bowling alley.

After bowling, we went to Hurricane's grill for dinner, where I had a half rack of ribs - yes, that's only a half rack! It completely made up for the disaster which was bowling and I was completely stuffed, unable to finish the mountain of meat and chips which were piled on my plate.

On Monday, it was back to uni for the final week of classes before mid-semester break. After class, I rushed home and got some studying done for my Private International Law exam, so that I could watch the first episode of the new season of Game of Thrones later that night. As expected, the new season started with a brilliant episode and it totally whetted my appetite for the next one; this is the first time I've been up to speed with Game of Thrones, so I'm really struggling with the anticipation of waiting on a new episode each week! It was a similar routine on Tuesday, after a day of classes I returned home to study for the night in preparation for the exam on Wednesday. On Wednesday morning before class, I had my next interview in the Apple store at Broadway, which went very well and I was informed that I would definitely be endorsed for the next stage. I was seriously beginning to question just how long the process was considering that I was only seeking a part-time position in a retail store. Regardless, I was happy that it had went well once again and I would be hearing back soon once more. Afterwards, I returned to uni for my IP class before having lunch and then heading off for my PIL exam. The exam itself went quite well, I think; the question was favourable and reasonably straightforward, so we shall see how it goes.

Once again, I got an early night after dinner since I was getting up particularly early for the return leg of the Champions League quarter final in Munich. After a tense first half ended with the scores even at 0-0 still, our prospects of going through took a huge boost when Patrice Evra banged in a career goal to give United an away goal, as well as the lead on the night and on aggregate. My joy was short-lived though, when Bayern equalised almost immediately and then scored a second goal not long after. When they scored a third goal with around 20 minutes remaining, the match and the tie was all but finished and the game died out without further incident. We were out and our season was effectively over in April. What a difference one year can make.

I caught another hour of sleep and then it was time to surface again, since I needed to be in uni early to catch a lift to the prison visit. It is a compulsory part of the Criminology course which I am studying this semester that each student attends one of the local prison visits; on Thursday morning a group of around 7 of us were going to visit Long Bay prison, in the Eastern Suburbs. The prison is a large complex, containing several different individual prisons, ranging from minimum security to maximum security, as well as a women's prison, a witness protection centre which also houses high profile convicts and a high security hospital for mental patients. After having our identification checked and signing in, we were escorted by a prison warden to a classroom, where she detailed the procedures and itinerary of our visit. I felt that she was somewhat sensational in the things which she told us and whilst I was aware of the potential for danger in such a place, I wasn't convinced that her dramatising of the place was helpful or particualrly accurate. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed any phones or cameras inside the prison, so I don't have any photographs to show off, but I'll do my best to describe the experience.

We began by walking around a block of the prison which is minimal security and houses a voluntary rehabilitation program for sex offenders. I found it rather uncomfortable to walk around and was slightly concerned to hear the process which these offenders go through: essentially they volunteer themselves into this program, without which they cannot be released. At the end of the process, their case is returned to the court, where it is reviewed and the subject of their release is decided - if they are considered not to be ready for release, then they are returned to the prison for a period of up to five years. This cycle can be repeated indefinitely. I understand that where sexual offences are concerned, there is a highly emotive thirst for strong justice, but where do we draw the line and say that you've done the time for the crime? It's a really difficult issue and clearly raises a plethora of different arguments and conflicting ideas. Afterwards, we were shown around the industries section of the prison, where minimal security convicts work on various manufacturing process, as well as an in-house bakery which bakes all of the bread, pastries, cakes and any other food which is consumed by the prisoners. We were also given the opportunity to sample some chocolate cookies which were magic! The prisoners earn only a few dollars for their work, which includes 5am starts and 6-day weeks and allows them to learn new skills and potentially even a trade - certainly one of the more positive aspects of the prison, I thought.

The latter half of our visit was spent in the maximum security section of the prison, which was much more like the conventional sense of a prison which I had gathered from films and TV shows. There was a large yard where the prisoners were sat around on park benches, whilst some lifted weights on the gym equipment. Our presence outside the yard caused quite a stir, completely different to the rather relaxed environment we had experienced earlier in the day, in the minimal security section. We were shown where prisoners are now able to conduct video calls for court, rather than having the added cost and risk of physically transporting them in vans or trucks. That brought an end to our prison visit, with much to think about and consider and plenty of issues to discuss and debate when we return to class after the mid-semester break.

On Friday, I had a long lie in the morning and a chilled day, spending the night playing FIFA with the lads. At home, Mum and Dad were off to Oban for the weekend in the motorhome, whilst Kerry was up in Aviemore with Blair. Some people were heading out for the night but I stayed in and had a quiet night for the first weekend in a while. The next morning I had another long lie before catching up with Jessica in the afternoon; we were going out for dinner that night with some of her family, which had been arranged by her auntie. In the evening, we caught a taxi to the Norfolk Hotel to meet up with everyone, before crossing the street to Porteno, the restaurant in Surry Hills. We enjoyed a banquet-style meal, where we tried a range of tapas style starters and main dishes, as well as some excellent wine. The whole meal was really great, everyone was stuffed and there was considerable food left over, which some people took home! Jessica opened some of her presents and received some beautiful gifts and cards.

Sunday was spent relaxing, before watching the Liverpool v Man City game at night, which Liverpool won to take them a step closer to the title. I seriously hope they don't win it; I couldn't handle Steven Gerrard lifting the trophy. Monday was the first day of the mid-semester break, which meant a long lie in the morning before having breakfast and getting shower, then I played football in the afternoon. It rained again and we were cut short by fading light since it's now approaching winter here once again. Once I returned home, I got showered, had dinner and watched the second episode of the new season of Game of Thrones and spent the rest of the night playing FIFA.

Today, I had my final Apple interview, where I was informed that they would be happy to offer me a position and that they were really pleased with my interviews and CV, except I just wasn't going to be in Australia long enough for it to be worthwhile. I understood that, though questioned why they had invited me along to multiple interviews when my visa expiry date was on the CV which I submitted some months ago. I met Jessica for lunch before heading home and I'm now sitting wrapped up in my bed duvet writing the remainder of this blog post, listening to Dexters - well worth checking them out, if you appreciate guitar music along the lines of Arctic Monkeys or the Strokes. It's raining here again today and it's currently a chilly 17 degrees celsius; you could say it's baltic. I have no idea how I shall cope upon returning to Scotland.

I'm going to cook dinner now and see what the plans are for the rest of the evening. My next post will be soon I hope!

Until next time,
Jamie

The dreaded exam period!

My last post was just after I had come home from Cairns and Tuesday 5th November was my first full day back in Sydney, which meant the start of studying. Unfortunately my birthday present from Mum, Dad and Kerry still hadn't arrived, much to mum's displeasure - "Bloody Australian postal service!" pretty much sums up the tone of her texts on the matter! Haha! As is often the case on the first day of studying, I didn't really get much work done at all and spent the morning catching up on Match of the Day from the weekend. I was pleased to see that United had won again, beating Fulham 3-1 away from home, which was a good result. A trip to the supermarket was also in order since there was no food in the flat after being away in Cairns over the weekend. There was some good news from home on Tuesday evening as Kerry found out she had got herself an interview in Bank, the clothes shop in Falkirk - but the biggest, most shocking news of the night was that the Republic of Ireland had appointed Martin O'Neill as the new manager, with Roy Keane as his assistant. It sounds like a crazy combination but it remains to be seen whether it will work out or not - time shall tell.

I planned on getting an early night since I was still shattered from the weekend and United were playing early on Wednesday morning, however at midnight it was Khurram's birthday. The girls had done a great job of decorating the flat again and also made him a cake, so we knocked his door at midnight and said happy birthday. In a totally unexpected surprise they had also got me a card and a present, which turned out to be a wine glass! I was totally shocked and delighted with my gift; the story behind it is that on the odd occasion we have some wine in the flat, each of the girls have their own wine glass whilst I only have regular glass tumblers. It was much appreciated and I'm sure it'll be well used! I headed off to bed after some cake and a glass of wine, feeling very, very tired. I got up around 5.30am and watched us draw 0-0 away to Real Sociedad, in a match which was completely boring. Uncharacteristically, Chicharito missed a complete sitter, van Persie missed a penalty and Fellaini got sent off, just to compound the misery. Back to bed.

After catching up on some sleep with a well needed long lie, I got up and started getting on with some studying. In the evening, five of us from the flat went to an Indian and Pakistani restaurant called Lal Qila to celebrate Khurram's birthday. We enjoyed some tandoori chicken, fish and beef, as well as a lamb biryani dish, with some prahta and naan bread - the food was fantastic and we ended up taking quite a lot home with us in takeaway boxes. We were all truly stuffed.

At home on Wednesday it was Gran's funeral and I was told it was a lovely service and there had been quite a lot of people there too. I waited up until the funeral was finished and spoke to my mum briefly before falling asleep. On Thursday morning I had another long lie, still feeling the effects of the weekend and the early morning football, before I got up and started some more studying. Studying really does get tedious very quickly. You somewhat forget how bad it is, but quickly remember after a few days of staring at books again.

Finally, on Friday morning when I got up my birthday present had arrived! I texted my mum at home and she got Dad and Kerry together and I opened it on FaceTime, which was just like being at home really - bit strange! I had been sent two totally awesome gifts, as well as a couple of birthday cards - firstly the new Man Utd away shirt, complete with 'Januzaj 44' on the back and secondly a Pretty Green iPhone cover. Superb! I also received birthday cards from Auntie Jean, Uncle Brian and Abigail; Cors, Ade, Cameron and Rebecca and Gillian, Colin, Rachel and Emily, which were all very much appreciated. Thank you again, if any of you happen to be reading this! I spent all day studying on Friday once more, but with one eye firmly looking forward to playing football that afternoon and wearing my new shirt! Some things never get old! As it turned out I played terribly, constantly gave the ball away and felt totally knackered - I hate those days.

The plan for Saturday was to get up early and get some more studying done in the morning before heading out to Coogee to meet up with Alex and have a barbecue in the afternoon. I studied up until around 2pm before I met Jordan and headed to Woolworths to buy some meat for the barbecue. We also picked up another box of 24 cookies for $4, which we had been taking advantage of in the flat. I think we have finished 3 boxes - oops! We caught up with the other Alex at Railway Square to catch the bus out to Coogee. I totally hate that bus journey, it takes over half an hour and covers hardly any distance but takes so long because of the traffic; unfortunately Coogee is one of those odd places around here where there are no train links, so bus is the only option. Pretty annoying. We arrived at Coogee and walked to Alex's flat, where there was a huge group of people who it turned out were all there to celebrate the birthday of one of Alex's flatmates. After going to the liquor store to pick up some cider, we chilled on the beach for a bit until the clouds came over and it got a bit cold and windy so we decided to go and cook. We did try to light the coal barbecue in the garden at Alex's place, but it wasn't working so we returned to the beach. Just between the road and the beach at Coogee there is a great big grass area where there are hot barbecue grills which people can use to cook and there are always lots of people chilling out on the grass at weekends, playing football or rugby, enjoying the sunshine with a cold beer and a burger. It's very chilled and very Australian. In a very strange coincidence, it turned out that one of Alex's flatmates is actually a girl who's on exchange in Sydney from Glasgow Uni as well, which made for a really surreal conversation once we both realised! Haha!

Jordan and I cooking at the beach.

Since there was a birthday to be celebrated, the group was heading out to Kings Cross that night and asked Jordan and I to join them - Alex had headed back earlier to Skype his family at home. We caught the bus home, got showered and changed and returned to catch the train to Kings Cross. Unfortunately, track work meant the trains were off for the weekend and we had to catch another bus, which took a long, indirect route around the city centre before ending up where we needed to be. We caught up with everyone else inside the Kings Cross Hotel, just opposite the famous Coca Cola billboard and had an absolutely brilliant night. The hotel has a five different floors, each playing a different kind of music, which makes it great for finding something which suits what you want to listen to but also terrible for trying to find people. Around 3am, we left, got a kebab and caught the bus back to the city centre - it certainly won't be our last night out in Kings Cross - it was great!

I woke up bright and early on Sunday morning and got straight back to studying. Or at least that was the plan, since Uncle Brian had emailed me a copy of Sir Alex Ferguson's book a few days earlier and I finished it all in two sittings. It was a fascinating read and I really enjoyed it. There was an absolutely fantastic quote from it which I thought was truly brilliant, so much so that I'm going to print it off and stick it up on my wall.

"Some people, when they have a holiday, just want to go to Saltcoats, twenty-five miles along the coast from Glasgow. Some people don't even want to do that. They're happy to stay at home or watch the birds and the ducks float by in the park. And some want to go to the moon. It's about people's ambitions."

Superb.

I got an early night on Sunday, in anticipation for the football kicking off at 3.10am. We were playing Arsenal at Old Trafford, in arguably Moyes' biggest game of his United career thus far and we really needed a win. We played brilliantly and van Persie grabbed the winner in the first half to give us a 1-0 victory and three vital points; he also celebrated his goal against his former team like a proper supporter would have done, which was great to see! Ooohhh Robin Van Persie! After the game I got back to sleep again, although I was struggling a little due to being so buzzing about the result!

On Monday morning, I got up, ate breakfast, had a shower and got dressed before tackling some more studying. I have hardly been out the flat this week, other than to go to the supermarket or play football - it's rather tragic. My only other indulgence has been watching Still Game on YouTube from the start again and I'm really looking forward to seeing it at the Hydro when I'm back home. Tuesday brought more studying, although briefly interrupted to get some good news on the employment front finally! Jeanswest phoned me to say that my references had all checked out as expected and that they would be posting my contract to me which they said shouldn't take too long to arrive. They also told me to expect a phone call from the manager of the Broadway store - where I would be based - to let me know when I would need to go and have my induction. I'm looking forward to having some extra pocket money again!

Can you guess what I did on Wednesday? No prizes - more studying. I can't actually remember anything else which happened on Wednesday which was interesting - there was no midweek football because of the internationals which always annoys me. I've no time for international breaks whatsoever. On Thursday I did more studying, whilst back at home Mum and Dad headed down south to go and pick up with new motorhome. On the journey down I received a text asking which five things I missed most from home - they must have been pretty bored travelling down the motorway. I hadn't really thought about it before but decided that I only really had three, although it's technically four I guess: family and friends, my car and the dog. Everything else which I miss is only temporary, for example some foods, or being able to watch the football on a normal TV rather than an internet stream, or my Playstation sometimes.

On Friday there was more studying to be done, before I went and played football in the afternoon, which was a welcome break and relief. It was a bit rainy again, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from enjoying a run out. I played much better and grabbed a couple of goals which was considerably better than last week, thankfully! When I got home I enjoyed some videos from home giving me a virtual 'tour' inside the new motorhome, complete with commentary which was hilarious. It looks lovely though and I'm looking forward to seeing it when I'm home. Apparently my dad is having some serious issues getting the built-in sat-nav system to work which is causing him some serious frustration, as the virtual voice repeatedly tells him to, "At the next roundabout, take the first exit." Maybe I'll end up needing to try and fix it for him when I come home, if he can't get to the bottom of it before then! Haha!

The following two days were potentially the most boring weekend I have ever experienced as I spent the entire time studying, with my first exam looming on Monday. Since my second exam was on the Wednesday and another on the Friday, there was really no respite but I knew that it was only a little over a week until it was all finished. There was also no football, which was just awful - studying and an international football weekend - you couldn't make it up. There was some interesting news from home though, since Kerry had been offered the job in Bank, but had also been asked to go for an interview in New Look. It turned out that she was offered the job in New Look after her interview and she's decided to go for it instead of Bank. I chatted to her on FaceTime for a while on Sunday and handily got her to check out that my Playstation and Bose speakers were still in working order and not being left to gather dust in my room. Priorities, right? I did go out to the supermarket on Sunday, since I was running short of food once more and cooked up a pretty decent dinner - spaghetti with grilled chicken and a spicy tomato sauce. Weekend from hell completed.

The day of my first exam in Australia was another miserable one outside, as the cloud cover and relentless rain continued. I'm hoping that all this rain in the past week will mean we barely see any precipitation again all summer - that would be ideal. I got up quite early and had some breakfast after a quick catch up on some news and football results, before getting a shower and starting off some final revision. It's always good when you find one or two little pieces of information, or relevant case law, in those final few hours of cramming; I made some last additions and scribbles to my notes and felt prepared. I don't really get nervous for exams at all, except the first one in any given set; for example, for my first Higher exam in school - which was English, I'm sure - I felt totally sick and didn't eat any breakfast, but for the other four there were no nerves at all. Very strange. Well, today was no exception, as the morning dragged in and I found myself pacing the room a couple of times whilst listening to my iPod. I think it must just be the anticipation building up to that first exam which makes me go a bit mental. At some point, I received an email to say that there was a package waiting for me downstairs at reception, which turned out to be my Jeanswest contract, though I barely had time to read it at the time. In the early afternoon I had some soup and toast for lunch then packed my notes, pens and some water into my bad and set off for campus. In a moment of genius, I wrapped my notes up in a carrier bag before putting them inside my rucksack to ensure they didn't get wet whilst walking to uni in the rain - clever me, right?

My exam went quite well, although the invigilators were a bit mental and definitely caused some confusion in the room since they barely seemed to know what was going on. First of all, they told us not to write our names on the exam papers, only our student ID numbers, for the sake of anonymous marking - which seemed a bit mad, but there you go. Then they told us that we should still sign the attendance part, before deciding that we probably shouldn't sign it because if we had, "one of those signatures you can read" then it would interfere with the anonymous marking. The invigilator offered anyone who had signed it the opportunity to swap their booklet for a blank one in order to maintain their anonomity - gladly, nobody did otherwise I might have actually laughed out loud. How pedantic and disorganised can you get?

I'm just writing this post now before I go to have dinner and then it will be straight back to studying for my other two exams this week. I have my Anti-Discrimination exam on Wednesday and then finally Intellectual Property on Friday. That will be me finished with my studies until March, which is truly fantastic! Oh, it's just started raining again. Unfortunately, there were very few photos to be shared from the past week or so, but there should be some in the next post!

Until next time,
Jamie