A few weeks of classes and Randwick Races!

My last post left off from Monday 10th March, which was the beginning of the second week of this second semester at uni. After my Intellectual Property class in the morning, I headed off to get some lunch and enjoy the sunshine for a while, before returning to class for Private International Law in the afternoon. Throughout the day, I had gradually felt a headache coming on and my attempts to drink plenty of water and eat some decent food at lunch hadn't helped prevent it; towards the end of my second class of the day, I had completely stopped concentrating or taking any notes. I trudged home, took some pain killers and slept for a few hours. After I awoke again, I got up and had some dinner and drank a few more bottles of water and the headache had died down somewhat. I spent the rest of the evening catching up on Top Gear on iPlayer and then got off to sleep.

On Tuesday back at home, Mum's car was seemingly headed for the scrapheap after breaking down on the way to Edinburgh. After some research, it turns out that the particular model had been subject to a customer recall due to engine issues - the exact same issue which had now caused her car to cut out on the motorway. At the moment, Toyota are trying to avoid responsibility for fixing the fault, however we shall see how things go. Meanwhile, I was off to Criminology in the morning, followed by another interesting Evidence class in the afternoon, where we watched a film called 'Shadow of Doubt' about a woman who was convicted of the murder of her husband. Whilst his body had never been found, no weapon ever discovered and numerous other inconsistencies in the evidence which was submitted, her conviction was upheld and she is currently in prison. It was really very interesting and thought provoking - was there a miscarriage of justice? I guess we'll probably never really know.

I had another day of classes on Wednesday, starting with Intellectual Property. It tends to always be a reasonably interesting class, but we spent some time looking at a case involving Creation Records and the album cover for the third Oasis album called 'Be Here Now'. Of course, that drew my full attention and I was a little bit taken aback when the lecturer described the band as, "really quite big when this album came out." Really quite big? Biggest band in the world! I avoided the temptation to say anything. Thursday meant classes again, bringing about the start of my weekend since I have no classes on a Friday. In other news, I received an unwelcome text from home, as Kerry told Mum that if I were buying her headphones for her birthday, then she wanted them to be Beats by Dre, they should be white and that she wanted to try them out before deciding on a pair. Personally, I don't like birthday presents which people choose for themselves, or even know about beforehand, though in this case there was a bigger issue, since I had already bought her headphones - and they weren't Beats. Oh dear. Luckily enough, I had been quite particular in researching and trying out some different sets for myself and had settled on an awesome pair of Bose over-ear headphones, which I knew would be better than any pair of Beats. Fingers crossed she buys into that reasoning!

With a free day on Friday, I had a long lie before getting up and having some breakfast and a shower. After a chilled day, not doing very much at all, I went to play football in Victoria Park at 3pm with the guys in the Soccer Society. After Jessica had finished class, I met her in the park before we headed home, made dinner and lazed around for much of the night. Some of the people from Iglu were planning on heading out, but since we were going to the horse races at Randwick the next mooring, we decided not to join them. Jessica headed home and within an hour, I had been convinced to go out. We had a few drinks and then went out to the Palace Hotel, where we enjoyed a Guinness, before moving on to Star Bar. I didn't have too much to drink and I was home by around 3am, however I was suffering on Saturday morning. I got up and headed over to McDonalds to get a milkshake and I was feeling alright; Jessica arrived shortly after and we got dressed up ready for the races. We met everyone in the common area in Iglu and got ready to leave.

A quick group photo before we left. Alex was running late, so unfortunately he's not in this one.

We walked to Railway Square and caught the bus which goes by the racecourse on its way to Coogee. After initially feeling quite alright, although quite tired, my hangover hit me like a brick wall on the bus. The journey was a struggle to say the least. After we arrived at Royal Randwick Racecourse, we bought our tickets and headed towards the main grandstand.

The back of the grandstand at the racecourse - quite comfortably the most impressive course I have ever been to or seen. It's the definition of luxury and prestige.

The 'Theatre of the Horse' where the horses were walked around before each race.

Since most people were hungry, we headed inside the stand and found ourselves some food. We also went and bought race books and some pens, safe in the knowledge that Chloe's dad - a bit of a punter himself - would be on the phone in an effort to give us some solid tips for the days races. Shortly before the start of the first race, I placed $5 on the favourite to win, on the recommendation of those more in-the-know than myself. Typically, it came in close to last in a six-horse field. Not the start we had hoped for by any means. After the race, we headed outside and met Alex who had caught a later bus. We met up with the group again, placed our bets for the second race and headed back to the track to cheer on our horses.

Our track-side view, just as the horses were making their way out on the course for a race.

Once again, the second race was unsuccessful as my horse failed to make any real challenge against the leaders. This patter of under-achievement and lost bets continued for the entire day and we all eventually decided to call it quits and head home early. Rather tired, we caught the bus back to Central and then walked home through the tunnel, which felt like miles. After arriving home, I collapsed onto my bed, completely shattered. It turned out that our timing had been rather good, since the clouds soon rolled over and the skies opened with pounding rain. With the rain on for the day, the rest of the evening was spent eating Thai food, whilst Jessica and I started watching 'Gavin & Stacey'.  I also enjoyed a FaceTime call from Jason, Fraser and Joanne back home, who had been out to City that night.

On Sunday morning, we picked up watching 'Gavin & Stacey again before Jessica headed home and I watched some of the Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne. As it was the first race of the new season and Hamilton had shown some fantastic pace in pre-season testing, I was hopeful of a good opener for him; however I was soon disappointed as he retired in the early stages of the race. After dinner, I chilled out for some time before it was finally time for kick off in the United v Liverpool game around midnight. Unfortunately, our season just continues to get worse and worse, as our bitter rivals battered us 3-0 at home. It was an awful performance and we never looked like winning the game; I got off to sleep after the game, in a crap mood.

Monday morning meant I was back to class, still feeling pretty bad about the football the previous night. Classes dragged by a bit and I was glad to get home and chill out for a while. I played some FIFA with Jack, on the Playstation downstairs and watched the latest Top Gear episode before having dinner and heading to bed. On Tuesday, I had another day of classes, after which I played football in Victoria Park again. Again, we played FIFA afterwards before I headed to bed. At home, Tuesday meant the return of Champions League football - Chelsea and Real Madrid were the latest teams to book their place in the quarter finals. After class on Wednesday, I headed home and made dinner before getting an early night in eager anticipation of the football the next morning. I was up early, around 6.30am, ready in time for kick off. United needed a 3-0 win to overturn the deficit from the first leg against Olympiakos and progress to the next round. After a penalty and a free kick late in the half, we went in at the break leading 2-0, before Robin van Persie scored his third goal - completing his hat-trick - early in the second period. The remainder of the game was particularly nerve-wracking, but the team managed to see out the result and we were through! Thursday at uni was rather more enjoyable after that great start to the day!

I don't usually post any other pictures in this blog, other than ones which I take myself, but I feel that this one is well deserved. It could be the highlight of our season, so it's warranted. Ooohhh Robin van Persie!

On Friday, I had a chilled morning before getting some uni work done in the afternoon. Later on I headed off to Victoria Park for football and met Jessica afterwards. We walked home via Woolworths to get something for dinner, then I chatted to Kerry at home on FaceTime since it was her birthday. Gladly, she was happy with her headphones and was buzzing on her first driving lesson later that night! The other interesting news of the day was that I got an email inviting me along to an Apple Retail interview; I replied to the invite and was allocated a time slot at 3pm the next Thursday. After having applied some time ago, it was great to finally be asked along to the next stage and I'm really hopeful that I'll bag myself another job! After dinner, we headed out to meet Alex and his girlfriend for a drink; we headed to the Palace Hotel where Alex managed to twice order the wrong drink for his girlfriend. Very smooth! Haha!

On Saturday, Jessica and I headed to Bondi for a day spent trying to get a tan before winter returns. Once we had spent a few hours spent on the beach, we headed to Bucket List for the routine steak sandwich and chips, after which we returned to the beach for a while longer. Soon after, the clouds rolled over and it looked like it was about to rain, so we gathered up our things and caught the bus back to Central. I ate dinner and then it was time for an early night, since I was back up at 4.30am to watch United away to West Ham in the late Saturday kick off. Luckily, it was well worth the alarm call, since Wayne Rooney scored one of the best goals of the season - actually, one of the best goals of the decade - as he smashed in a full volley from near the halfway line. Immense talent and supreme execution. What a goal.

Sunday was spent relaxing before getting the bulk of the work done for the presentation in my Criminology class for Tuesday. I was looking at the American sociologist Robert Merton and his theory of strain and it's relation to deviance and crime, as well as how his general theory has been developed and built upon by Robert Agnew. As I'm sure you can tell, it was riveting stuff. Later that night, it was time to FaceTime home again since it was now Dad's birthday. We got him the London Grammar album, a book about the 1998 yacht disaster in the Sydney to Hobart race, some chocolate and finally got him a sim-card for his iPad. I got off to bed at a reasonable time, since I needed to get up at a decent time the next day to finish my presentation for Criminology. We had a reading week in IP, so I only had my Private International class in the afternoon; however, the weather intervened and I decided not to go to class since the rain was bouncing off the pavements. Instead, I got some more of my work done for class the following day. My presentation went quite well on Tuesday, but as ever, I was glad to have it over and done with; for the next again Tuesday, I now have a 1200 word essay due, on the same subject as my presentation, so that'll be the focus of my attention over the coming days.

On Tuesday night after uni, I played football in Victoria Park again, before the run cut things short. After Jessica had finished classes, she came to mines and we made fajitas, which were excellent, it has to be said. The next morning, I was up bright and early to watch the Manchester derby - what a shambles that turned out to be. We conceded the first goal inside the first minute and that was followed by two others in a comfortable 3-0 victory for City, which was never threatened by United. Another awful performance to add to a season of woes. My class that afternoon dragged in and I was glad to be home and spent the evening playing FIFA with Jack once again. Today, I got up and headed in for my Criminology class before returning home and getting ready for my Apple Retail interview. I was due to be at the interview location, on King Street, near the Apple store itself, by around 3pm and waited to be collected by an Apple representative. The interview was a group format, which isn't my preference, but it went quite well I think and I managed to make a few points and contribute to the discussions which were had. Fingers crossed that I'll hear some positive news back soon! This evening was again spent relaxing in front of the television playing FIFA. It's a hard life. It's almost 2am now and I am shattered - bed time I think!

Until next time,
Jamie

End of the Summer Holidays!

My last post was concluded on Wednesday, 19th February, which meant I was working the next day. With another long shift completed, the plan for Thursday evening was to head out to Ivy with some people from Iglu and potentially meet up with some of the girls who are also studying in Australia from Glasgow, who were visiting Sydney for the weekend. After some pre-drinks in the common area downstairs, we headed out and caught the bus down George Street towards Ivy. As is always the case at Ivy on a Thursday night - since it is free entry, rather than $40 at the weekend - the place was heaving with people and we queued for around 20 minutes before we got inside. Even though it seemed even busier than normal, it was by far the best night I have had there so far and we got home around 3am, after a routine pit-stop at McDonalds.

Ghazi, Jack and I looking sharp.

A fantastic group shot!

Looking over the dance floor from upstairs.

I had work on the Friday, which wasn't much fun, unsurprisingly. Afterwards, after some time spent chilling out and playing FIFA, Alex - yet another Alex; neither Alex from back home, nor Alex from the USA who has now gone home, but Alex from Southampton - talked us into going to Bar Broadway for a beer. Though it was to be only one single beer, given that we had all been out the night before and were all very tired still. Of course, we ended up staying out until 3am, visiting several of the pubs along George Street and rather pleasingly found a bar which serves pints of Guinness on tap and it's a dollar cheaper than in the Three Wise Monkeys. Winning. We came back, Jack fell asleep on the couch, Alex sat on the pavement having a cigarette and then everyone went to bed. It was a rather strange night.

Saturday was a quiet day, spent playing FIFA and eating food mainly. Whilst some people were going out again that night, I got to bed at a reasonable time since I was getting up at 4.30am to watch the football and also in anticipation of going skydiving the next day. The football turned out to be quite good, though it was far from a vintage performance, at the moment we're happy to just escape with three points. United beat Crystal Palace 2-0 at Selhurst Park, the highlight of which was a stunning goal by Rooney to mark the signing of his new £300,000 per week contract. Truly crazy money. After another few hours sleep, it was time to get up and get ready to go and meet Alex - the one from back home, that is. We met at Central and took the short walk over to the Skydive Sydney centre where we were to meet the bus, which would transport us to the skydiving location. After filling out various forms and disclaimers - including a rather worrying, "Have you ever dislocated a shoulder?" question which meant I had to tick the "Yes" box - we were on the bus and on our way.

The journey itself took around an hour or so, but it passed fairly quickly as Alex and I caught up on the past few weeks events, having not seen each other for some time. After arriving at the skydive location, we waited to check-in and be weighed, before being told to go and relax and wait for our names to be called. I went off and had a bacon roll and we watched some other jumpers appear through the clouds, as they parachuted down to the landing zone.

A few solo jumpers coming in to land.

Packing up the parachutes, which makes putting a tent in a bag seem like child play.

Soon, our names were called and it was time to go and get ready for our jump. We met our instructors, who we would be strapped to as we jumped and they helped us climb into our jumpsuits and strapped us into our harnesses. At this point, I was still very relaxed about the whole thing and I wasn't really nervous at all, which I was pleasantly surprised about. I didn't have any apprehensions about doing the jump and I'm not scared of heights, but I had still expected some nerves before doing it.

Alex and I all kitted up and ready to board the plane.

Inside the tiny aircraft, where we sat on the floor. Needless to say, it was rather cosy.

Sitting at the opening of the plane door, getting ready to step out and begin our race to the ground.

As soon as we started falling, the adrenaline rush was immediate and huge. It was unlike anything I have ever experienced. Just an incredible feeling and so unnatural, I think it's simply impossible to prepare your mind for what it will be like.

I hadn't really considered that we would be jumping from a height above the line of the clouds - around 14,000 feet, to be exact - but it just added to the experience even more for myself. The rush of cold as we plummeted through the clouds themselves was like opening the door to an all-encompassing fridge-freezer; something you can't really put into words.

It was also rather strange having to consciously close your mouth and breathe in through your nose as you fall through the air. Of course, it is almost impossible to breathe through your mouth, but you also find yourself shouting, overwhelmed with the feeling of true free fall.

After around one minute of free falling, the parachute is deployed, your chest, arms and legs tighten up as the harness halts the velocity of the fall and everything becomes relatively calm once again.

After catching my breath and equalising the pressure in my ears - just the same as scuba-diving, or when landing in an aeroplane - I removed my goggles and took in the amazing views from beneath the canopy of the parachute. I was also given the chance to control the parachute, which was incredibly responsive and simple, just like flying a particularly large kite.

Alex and I not long after we had both touched down. I look like a ghost, blood completely drained from my face and my legs and hands were genuinely shaky.

The experience was amazing and I'm sure I would enjoy it even more if I were to do it again, but it was just completely mental first time around. After getting changed once more, I bought myself some crisps and a can of Coke - it was well needed! Haha! We received our certificates and I collected my USB wristband which contained the photos taken with the GoPro during my jump and soon after, we were on the bus heading back to the city. What a day!

I was back to work on Monday, eager to make the most of my last week before returning to uni, since I knew that my timetable may not allow for me to work during semester. Unfortunately, the organisation surrounding enrolment for next semester and allocation of timetables and classes hadn't been completed yet, meaning a mere seven days before classes began, I had no idea which classes I was supposed to be taking. On the same day, Jessica was also home from her trip around Asia, so we caught up for dinner after I finished work. Whilst back home, Kerry had received an offer from Dundee University after a successful interview - plenty of hard work between now and May to hopefully get the results she needs!

I worked on both Tuesday and Wednesday, whilst the only other interesting events were the Oasis announcement and United returning to Champions League action. Both turned out to be rather disappointing, which is a shame, since each could have been really great. First of all, United went away to Greece to play Olympiakos, in a game which we were expected to dominate, only to find ourselves on the end of a comfortable 2-0 defeat. It was a shambles and I'm really hoping that we've hit rock bottom now. Surely things can't get any worse. The Oasis announcement had been teased a few days before, regarding some kind of news to be released at 9am on the 26th February. Of course, everyone got hyped up hoping for news of a reunion, but in reality it was simply a remastering and re-release of the first three albums. It's good news, but hardly what we wanted to hear. On Thursday, I went into uni so that I could attend an add-drop session and finally sort my timetable for next semester. Apparently I had been enrolled in four random classes, which all clashed, so I couldn't even access my timetable; I then discovered that some of the classes which I wanted to be in had waiting lists and I may not be able to get into them. What a shambles. Unfortunately, Alex, Jessica and a handful of other people I spoke to were all in the same position regarding their own enrolment.  

After making no process with either the International Office or the Law School, Jessica and I headed to Coco Cubano for lunch, which was mainly spent ranting back and forth to each other about how bad the entire enrolment process had been. Later that night, I headed to training with the Glebe Gorillas football team, along with my mate Rob, who I met through the Soccer Society at uni. After a warm-up, we went straight into a game and I thought I played pretty well, so we'll see what happens with that.

It was back to work on Friday, before the Disney Party at Iglu at night; the plan was everyone getting dressed up and having a few drinks before later heading to Scubar. At first, I had doubts about whether I was going to go along, having completely forgotten about getting a costume, but then I decided to improvise with my Chicago Bulls costume which I had purchased at Halloween. After an intense game of beer-pong and a few shots, it was time to head out; I was delighted to see that a few of the guys had decided to get changed into normal clothes and I followed suit.

The only photo which I have from the night at Scubar.

The night ended in the usual way - walk home via McDonalds and crash into bed. The next morning I awoke feeling a little delicate, but managed to enjoy a long lie with no plans until later in the day. Around lunchtime, Jessica came over since we were going to see the Mardi Gras parade that night. The Mardi Gras parade is essentially a celebration of all the gay, lesbian and various other communities in Sydney and the surrounding suburbs, however it has gradually expanded to include a number of other issues as well. It is one of the largest Mardi Gras festivals in the world and over half a million people turn out to see it each year. After having some Thai food in the afternoon and watching a couple of episodes of Breaking Bad, we left my flat and walked across the city towards Oxford Street to find a spot for the parade. We arrived around 6pm, expecting the event itself to be starting around 6.30pm but since there were only a handful of people gathered, we assumed it was a while off yet and went to get a drink. Hardly surprisingly, all of the pubs nearby were packed so we ended up standing with our drinks until it was time for the parade to start. We headed back to the street where the parade was taking place and found ourselves a good spot.

First of all, a large group of motorcycle riders - excellently dubbed the 'Dykes on Bikes' - rode the parade route, revving their engines and honking their horns. As you can see it was an extremely colourful, flamboyant affair with the flags and banners everywhere. I also witnessed some of the craziest outfits I had ever seen!

There were literally thousands and thousands of people participating in the parade itself and most of the major organisations and companies in the city had a float. The picture below is the group of Navy officers who marched the route, followed by the Army and then the Air Force.

Just one example of one of the other issues which was being campaigned for during the parade; this is a giant marijuana cigarette which says, "Let It Grow" in support of the medical use of the drug.

The float for New South Wales police force was followed by a Porsche patrol car - very nice!

A couple of local schools had also entered floats, which I thought was great to see.

This was the group of Sydney University AFL players who also took part. Most of my photos are quite blurry, since it was so difficult to snap a proper picture since people kept moving around and waving their flags, so it's the best I could manage!

We stood for around an hour of the parade itself before giving in to sore legs and heading home. I have no idea how much longer it was supposed to last, but it was far, far larger than I could have ever imagined. I feel like the crowd would have been double the size if it weren't for the fact that practically everyone in the city was already taking part in the parade anyway!

Since Sunday would be the final day of summer holidays before going back to uni on Monday, Jessica and I decided to go to Bill Granger's restaurant for breakfast before finally visiting the Maritime Museum. After waiting in a bit of a queue for around 25 minutes - it was the Sunday morning after Mardi Gras, so the place was really busy - we finally sat down and enjoyed an excellent breakfast to start the day. Afterwards, we walked across to Darling Harbour and got our tickets for the museum; the woman advised that we go outside and look around the battleship and submarine since rain was on the way. We took her advice and were glad to be back indoors some time later when the heavens opened over the city.

This photo was inside the engine room of the submarine - a truly tiny space for the crew to live and work in whilst the submarine was beneath the surface. I don't suffer from claustrophobia, but I think it would take a particular kind of mental strength to work in such conditions. Even in the short time I was inside the vessel, I didn't find it very comfortable.

The Maritime Museum itself covers all aspects of the history which Australia has with the sea, from the arrival of the First Fleet of British convicts, to the impact of both World Wars and right through to the history and development of surfing. This picture shows the vest and gold medals won by Australia at the London 2012 Olympic Games for sailing.

This picture and quote was in the section about the orphaned children who were shipped off to places like Canada and Australia across a number of decades. The context of the quote itself is obviously a very serious issue, which caused a lot of distress and trauma for thousands of young people, but I did also see a lighter side to it, since in some ways it can also apply to our experience studying abroad.

Monday morning brought around the return to classes at uni. My semester started off with another Intellectual Property class - this time looking at the areas of Copyright and Design, rather than Trademark and Patents which I did last semester. The class started at 11am, which was a nice reasonable starting time; it was fairly enjoyable and the class was taken by the same lecturer as the IP class last semester. After an hour break for lunch, I had my second class of the day which was Private International Law; another new class for me, but one which both Alex and Jessica took last semester. After work, I headed home and had dinner before watching Top Gear; it was the episode where Aaron Paul from Breaking Bad was the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car and Richard Hammond test drove the new Porsche 918 Spyder, which does 0-60 in 2.6 seconds and will set you back a sweet £650,000! Meanwhile, back home, it was Cameron's 18th birthday on the 3rd March, for which I had picked out a vinyl LP player and a couple of records. He's now a proper hipster.

On Tuesday I had another day of classes, starting with Criminology at 11am once again. Again I was happy with my choice, since the first class was interesting and seemed to be a little bit different to anything I had studied previously. After another hour break for lunch, I had my final new class of the semester which was Advanced Evidence. Once again, it was an engaging and enjoyable class and it was great to finally have a finalised, completed timetable. My week is only Monday to Thursday and I only have class from 11am-1pm and 2pm-4pm on each of those four days, with a Friday completely free. Can't complain. Unfortunately on Thursday, I received a text from my manager at work to say that the one day of availability I had in my timetable wouldn't be enough for them to keep me on, adding that they would need at least two or three days of availability.

No longer needing to get up early for work on Friday morning, I enjoyed a long lie before I started writing this blog post - it's only taken me another three days to get around to finishing it! In the afternoon, Jack and I headed off to Victoria Park to play football for an hour or so, until Jessica finished class and we headed back to Iglu. That night was finally time for the Nine Inch Nails and Queens of the Stone Age gig which I have been looking forward to for quite literally months. Jessica and I headed off to the Sydney Entertainment Centre - or the Qantas Credit Union Arena, as it is now to be known - stopping off at a pub for a beer on the way. I hadn't previously realised that this was actually a joint headline tour, rather than NIN supporting QOTSA and the decision on who played first was made on the night by the flip of a coin. I was really hoping that NIN would be up first, so that QOTSA would close the evening, however luck worked against us and I found myself at the bar when I heard Josh Homme smashing out the opening notes to 'You Think That I Ain't Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire' - here we go!

The arena beginning to fill up before the start of the gig.

Queens of the Stone Age being brilliant.

Of course, regardless of the fact that they opened the evening, their set was immense and it was amazing to finally get to see them live. My personal highlights were 'Go With the Flow', 'Sick Sick Sick' and 'Feel Good Hit of Summer' - though Jessica was somewhat disappointed by the absence of '3s & 7s' which they had played the previous night. Personally, I don't like that song very much, so I was delighted to hear it replaced by 'Avon' from their very first album. "This one's an oldie," introduced Josh, to the delight of...well, mainly me. Just as we experienced at Paramore and You Me At Six, I really felt that the band - and Nine Inch Nails too, for that matter - deserved a better crowd. Not in terms of size, but just energy and interaction. Maybe we actually do have the best crowds in the world in Scotland; my time in Australia is starting to convince me that it's true.

On Saturday, Jessica and I headed into the city to do some shopping, though soon gave up and headed home, both struggling for motivation and feeling a bit under the weather, on a melting hot day. Later that night, we were meeting up with Mel, Hersh and several other international students to go to the Sydney FC v Western Sydney Wanderers A-League derby match, at the Allianz Stadium near Moore Park. We met at Central Station and caught the bus out to the ground; since we had purchased the tickets only a few days before, we hadn't managed to buy seats all together. Jessica, Mel and myself had managed to get three tickets together though, so we found our way to the ticket office to collect them, before making our way through the turnstiles to find our seats. Whilst not the biggest stadium in the world, holding around 40,000, it was great to see the two ends opposite the goals bouncing with supporters of the two rivals.

The two teams warming up.

Line-up before kick off, including the 'Our Sydney' banner and mosaic which was displayed by Sydney FC. Whilst their support was good, it has to be said that the Wanderers far out-sang them, even as the away team. It was all very choreographed and 'Americanised' compared to football back home though; Wanderers even had a song to the tune of a famous dance track by Scooter. It was like pantomime rather than football support, at times.

The only time that I took any photos during the game and Wanderers scored around two seconds later. The ball was won by the Wanderers player - wearing red and white - in the centre of the box and the flick-on was volleyed in by Shinji Ono - who is the Wanderers player furthest to the right, inside the penalty area. That was the first goal of the game, around ten minutes into the second half.

Soon afterwards, Wanderers were awarded a penalty, which was missed in dramatic fashion - I have the kick and immediate aftermath on video. The game seemed to be going in Wanderers favour, when Sydney equalised through a great headed goal from a wide free kick. Later, with only around 15 minutes remaining, a poor free kick from the Wanderers goalkeeper wasn't controlled by his defender, allowing the Sydney striker to nip in and slide home into an empty net. That made it 2-1 to Sydney and suddenly the game was turned around. In the closing minute of regular time, Sydney were awarded a penalty of their own, which was cooly tucked away to make it 3-1 and seal the result in their favour. A bit of an upset and a fantastic second half to enjoy. Whilst it had been a fun night, it has to be said that the quality of the A-League is really rather poor. I'll stick to Old Trafford, thanks. After catching the bus home, I stayed up late watching United away to West Brom, which was rather enjoyable as we won 3-0. One of our best performances of late and maybe, just maybe a kick-start towards over-turning the deficit against Olympiakos in Manchester in a weeks time.

Today started with a long lie - it's allowed on a Sunday - before a chilled morning which included another episode or two of Game of Thrones. I'm up to episode four of the third season now; well on my way to being finished in time for the new season starting on TV soon! In the afternoon, I played football down at Wentworth Park before heading home, having dinner and finally getting this blog post finished. I'm off to sleep now, back to uni tomorrow.

Until next time,
Jamie

Sydney Harbour Bridge climb and a new job!

My last post left off from Friday, 31st January - another month gone, scarily enough - which began with a trip to the cinema. Myself and a few other residents here at Iglu had planned on meeting up to go and see the new Leonardo di Caprio and Martin Scorsese film, 'The Wolf of Wall Street'. Shortly before leaving for the Hoyts cinema, at the Broadway Shopping Centre, I got a follow-up phone call from the guy who had passed my CV on to his sales team, inviting me for an interview on the coming Tuesday. Rather pleased to have landed an interview, with the potential for a new job, though still wary about the legitimacy of the whole thing, I headed off to see the film. Since 'Shutter Island' - the last production from the Scorsese/di Caprio partnership - is one of my favourite films, I had very high expectations of 'The Wolf of Wall Street'. I'm very glad to report that it did not disappoint. Granted, it was one of the longest and wildest films I have ever seen, but it was awesome. I'll be clear - it is fully deserving of it's 18-rated certificate. After the film, I headed off to play football for the first time in a few weeks; I had been desperate on a game, though the effects of a week or so of excessive and indulgent eating and drinking whilst Mum and Auntie Jean were visiting were undeniable. Afterwards, I began watching Game of Thrones, on the advice of several people; 5 or 6 hours after starting the first episode, I dragged myself off to bed.

Saturday morning was spent chilling out before watching some more Game of Thrones for most of the afternoon. I'm not hooked on it yet, though it is very good, but I still think it will struggle to top Breaking Bad for me, personally. After making dinner, I got an early night since I was getting back up at 3am to watch the football, though once again I might as well not have bothered. United spent the entire game, in horrible windy conditions, lumping the ball forward and swinging in crosses against Stoke, who are one of the tallest and most physical sides in the whole league. We literally played to the strengths of the opposition and were beaten 2-1 in a worrying comfortable fashion. The misery was compounded by the fact that Charlie Adam scored the two goals; the very same Charlie Adam who couldn't get a game for the club formerly known as Rangers. Useless. (I know some people won't appreciate that Rangers joke, but it's funny winding folk up.)

Sunday was another quiet day, as I headed out to the supermarket around lunchtime to do get some well-needed groceries before returning to watch another handful of episodes of Game of Thrones in the afternoon. Later on, I caught up with home on FaceTime and was delighted to hear that there was a new series of Top Gear starting that night. Surely it's the best programme the BBC have ever produced, except maybe Match of the Day and even it has questionable guests and dodgy, incredibly simple analysis. Alan Shearer, I'm looking at you. Again, it was an early night, since the plan for Monday morning was to head down to Ivy for brunch and beers whilst watching the Super Bowl.

After a bright and early start, a group of us left Iglu and caught the free shuttle bus down George Street, jumping off just before Ivy. We had decided to book a table, in expectation of it being busy and it turned out to be a good decision, as practically all of the tables with a good view of the big screen had been taken. We ordered some American hot dogs and Budweisers and enjoyed an incredibly one-sided match, as the Seattle Seahawks beat the Denver Broncos 43-8, a result which was never in doubt, seemingly.

Whilst the game was very one-sided and therefore not a great spectacle for us neutrals, it's fair to say that the highlight in the eyes of most of the girls in attendance was the half time show performed by Bruno Mars, who was great it has to be said. Whilst there was also a guest appearance from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, they only played one song and it later transpired that they hadn't been playing their instruments live, which was a bit disappointing. We headed home after the game and I played football in the afternoon, before returning home and watching Top Gear at night.

Tuesday meant it was time for my interview at the mystery internet company, though after some strategic Google searching, I discovered that the company was called Netregistry and they sold domain names, website hosting, web design and web security packages. It gave me a bit of peace of mind having some knowledge about the company itself before the interview, so I didn't get caught like a rabbit in the headlights were I to be asked a tricky question. I had a long lie in the morning, before getting up and having breakfast. It was unfortunately raining rather heavily, which was untimely since I needed to head to the university library in order to print off a copy of my CV and references, just in case. With no real alternative, I stuck on shorts, flip-flops and a jacket and headed off to campus, plastic folder at the ready.

In the pouring rain, outside the library on campus, there was some kind of filming going on, though I didn't stick around to find out what was happening since it was so miserable outside.

Eventually, it turned out to be a good decision though, since the guy who interviewed me had misplaced the CV which he had been given. The interview itself went well and I was told that I had a job - doing outbound tele sales to existing customers - as long as there was enough space and budget for me. A phone call would be coming my way within a week if there was a job available; I left happy with how things had went but not totally sure whether I would need to continue my job hunt yet. When I arrived back at the flat, Claire was over visiting, after arriving back in Sydney. We chilled out in the afternoon, before having dinner and I then finished season one of Game of Thrones. Safe to say, I'm pretty much hooked now.

Wednesday morning started off with me lying in bed, scrolling through Twitter, when I saw a retweet by Kevin Bridges which mentioned tickets for his show in Sydney. Springing to life, I jumped out of bed, fired up my laptop and got on Ticketek to see what was happening. It turned out that he is coming here to play the Sydney Comedy Festival in April, so tickets were purchased and I'll be going to see Kevin Bridges for the first time, right here in Sydney! Looking forward to it already! Later in the afternoon, I received a phone call to offer me the sales position at Netregistry, which I was delighted to accept! Then, a few hours after that, I submitted my dissertation question proposal form - which seems like a huge step in my time at university. Freshers week in first year seems like no time ago at all. After watching some stupid videos on YouTube, I got off to sleep with an early start ahead of me the next morning. Whilst nothing remarkable happened, Wednesday had been a good day!

On Thursday, Emma and I had booked up to climb the Harbour Bridge before she flew home the next day, whilst Jessica planned to also do the climb, but not until her birthday in April. Jessica and Emma had arrived back in Sydney from their trip the day previously, having left around two weeks ago. We met at Railway Square, where Emma and I caught the bus to Circular Quay, before walking along the Rocks to the Bridge Climb centre. We had a safety briefing and everyone participating was given a breathalyser test, which just required you to speak, "One, two, three, four, five" into the machine. I could barely keep back the laughter as a Scouse bloke went first, with the thickest accent I have heard other than maybe Jamie Carragher. It was spectacular. Soon, our guide - who's name I can't remember, but he was a bit strange - had us all kitted up, ready to start our climb and we set off. Even though it was fairly cloudy, the views all the way up were spectacular and it was great to get such an amazing perspective on the city I had been calling home for the past six months. We stopped at various spots where we had photographs taken; nobody is allowed to take any loose items, including phones and cameras up on to the bridge, for obvious reasons, so you have to rely on the photography provided.

Emma and I with the Sydney Opera House in the background.

Myself with the CBD in the background. One of the more amazing bits of information we learned on the climb, was that at the time of the construction of the bridge, the general post office building was the tallest structure in the city. The building itself can be seen in the photo below, though it's quite difficult to spot. The tall glass tower just to the left of me is the Credit Suisse tower, then around half way down on the left hand side of that building there is a clock tower - that is the old post office building. The Sydney Harbour Bridge really was a piece of engineering brilliance when it was built.

Myself and the Opera House.

Along the way, our guide gave us commentary in the headphones which were provided, which started off really great, as we heard tales about the plans to build the bridge and the history the harbour itself. However, after a while, it seemed that every fact he was telling us centred on either someone being killed or severely injured whilst constructing the bridge. Very cheery!

Our group photo at the top of the bridge.

Here is me at the summit of the bridge, looking remarkably like a clown in the daft suit. It made my mind up forever against getting a onesie.

After the climb, we bought some souvenir photographs and collected our certificates, before heading back to Railway Square to meet Jessica and we headed for some lunch. Afterwards, I left the girls and went home as they headed off to Victoria Park for the afternoon. There was another Iglu event planned for that night, where the plan was to meet up and head to a karaoke bar in the city. I had my doubts about karaoke, but after a few beers and some peer pressure, I eventually took my turn and smashed a beautiful version of 'Wonderwall' by Oasis! Haha! There was also a great team effort at singing '500 Miles' by the Proclaimers - apparently my authentic accent really set it off nicely!

On Friday morning, Emma was flying back to Scotland, which meant she and Jessica had to say their emotional goodbyes at the airport, around 4am, quite literally the middle of the night. Several tissues and a few extra hours sleep later, Jessica and I headed out for some breakfast. We headed to the 24-hour French cafe, which I had never been to before, even after walking past it numerous times; I'm pleased to report that the croissants were magic and I'm sure I'll be back. After breakfast, we took the short walk along George Street to the Event cinema to see 'The Wolf of Wall Street' - second time in a week for me and it was equally as excellent. Later in the afternoon, I headed off to play football with the guys at St. Paul's College. I arrived home to a text from my mum informing me that Vidic wasn't renewing his contract at United, so he would be leaving at the end of the season. His leadership and experience will be sorely missed I think, not to mention his sheer quality; he and Ferdinand were comfortably the best centre backs in the world for around two years from 2008. Awesome defender when in his prime. At night, I watched 'The Conjouring' which was incredibly scary, so it was followed by 'Shutter Island' before I headed to sleep.

On Saturday, Jessica and I headed to the pool at Prince Alfred Park - my tan was seriously needing worked on again. Jessica claimed that she swam a few lengths, however I tried to suggest that walking around the shallow end didn't exactly count - she disagreed. After stopping by Woolworths for some shopping, we headed back to my flat and I cooked up an excellent stir fry. Chef skills. At home, Mum and Dad were off to Edinburgh with the new motorhome for a week or so, whilst Kerry was away in Paris on a school trip.  On Sunday morning, a group of us from Iglu went to Pancakes on the Rocks for breakfast, which was absolutely fantastic but the portion was once again too large to finish.

After breakfast, we took a walk around the markets at the Rocks and Ghazi took an excellent group selfie.

Once we had walked off our breakfast, we caught the bus back to Railway Square, popped home for some water and suncream before leaving again to Victoria Park, for the Mardis Gras Fair. As expected, it was a crazy collection of people, wearing some mad outfits, including the shortest shorts I have ever witnessed.

Another strong team photo!

After dinner, I got off for an early night since I was getting back up around 4am to watch United against Fulham at Old Trafford. It was another crap game, as Darren Bent headed in a stoppage time equaliser to square it up at 2-2, which is how the game finished. In some ways though, I'm actually glad we're not enjoying too much of a vintage season, since I'm missing out on going to Old Trafford.

I awoke bright and early on Monday morning for my first day of work - to say I wasn't used to 7.30am starts was an understatement. I headed to the office, just off Broadway, with some time to spare and took a seat in reception. Shortly after, another girl arrived who was starting her first day at the same time as myself. The morning was mostly spent doing some training and learning more about the specifics of the job we would be doing; it turned out that we would mainly be selling website security packages to customers who already paid for website hosting with the company. The process seemed straightforward and after morning break, we were paired up with existing employees to listen in to their calls and get a feel for the way to sell most effectively. I was paired up with a guy called Charlie and after listening to a couple of his calls, he got me to take over and do one myself - which resulted in my first sale, from my very first phone call. I also made a sale on my second call and I immediately realised that I was very much looking forward to making some commission through selling once again. After I finsihed work, Jessica and I went out for dinner to the Italian place in Darling Harbour.

I worked again on Tuesday - whilst Jessica left for her trip around Asia. My job at Netregistry is Monday to Friday and 9 till 5 at the moment, which is great for making some pocket money whilst I'm not at uni, but it's a bit of a shock to the system After work on Wednesday, some of the guys at Iglu were watching Game of Thrones with a few beers, so we turned that into a drinking game. The night ended around 2am after a game of Twister and heaps of Jay-Z. Needless to say, work on Thursday wasn't a lot of fun, though I soldiered on and made a few sales regardless. In the early hours of Thursday morning, United managed a respectable 0-0 draw away to Arsenal - most seasons that would be a satisfactory result, though it really didn't do us much good in our current situation. I worked my final day of the week on Friday, before heading off to play football in the evening, which I had been looking forward to all week. The weekend was a fairly quiet one, though I did start watching the new season of House of Cards on Netflix, which kicked off with a truly shocking first episode - I won't spoil it, but ouch! On Sunday afternoon, a group of us from Iglu went to Max Brenner's Chocolate Cafe, where I had Belgian waffles with a chocolate and banana milkshake - it was sensational. Afterwards, we had a few drinks and ended up playing a few rounds of Kings, or Ring of Fire, or Kings Cup as people seem to call it here. It was another late night and Monday morning came around far too quickly once again. The only other news from the weekend was that Alex and I have booked up to go skydiving next Sunday - cannot wait!

It is now Wednesday again and I've been working on Monday, Tuesday and today as well. Also, rather unfortunately, since it rained for much of the weekend, the oval on campus was closed on Monday, which meant we couldn't play football on it. Tonight, after dinner, we've played some FIFA and table tennis, whilst having a reminisce over some mid 2000s British guitar music: Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand, early Kasabian - top stuff!

That's me pretty much all caught up now, I apologise that it has been rushed and once again I shall endeavour to update the blog more frequently in future. The next post will include our sky-dive, so that should be something to look forward to! Either that, or this will be the last blog post you read from me...! Haha!

Until next time,
Jamie