Entry #2

Hello all!

Alright, this entry isn't going to be nearly as interactive as my other one (i haven't gotten a chance to put any more picture up online - sorry!) but i just thought i would ensure everyone knows i'm still alive and kickin'! :-) it's also probably going to be a bit more frazzeled becauase it's 1:18am and i'm SLEEPY!

I cannot... as in CAN. NOT. believe i have been here for almost a month. totally crazy to me. I feel like i'm still getting my feet on the ground! ah!

So, what's going on in my life (you may ask)... weelllll, school, for one. Whoever said that Australian courses are not that difficult was a LIER. they are definitely intense, and i'm working to stay afloat. I have felt fairly proud of myself - switching back into thinking/school/brain not being mush mode has not been easy. I lost a month of my summer! I am in Australia though... so i cannot complain.

But yeah, my life goes as follows:

Monday: Film & Video Drama -> 2:00pm-5pm
-- This course has been... alright. As was expected it's very very narrative (obviously). It's all about how to be a director, how to work with actors, what directors need to worry about, etc. My notes for this class look something like this:
"Pre-pre-production: Script ->writing a script - several drafts
-must know why you're making the film - what it's about (What's the story &/or what's the THING) - the THING -> must be something you are really passionate about........"

I'm not sure why i just typed that out... but yeah. It's kind of intense because some of the kids in my class are clearly looking to become directors so they ask questions like "Where are good places to find my actors?" I just have to keep reminding myself that i'm not signing my future away to a land of directors by taking this class. That may not make sense, but it's seriously something i have to remind myself of after almost every class. I'm hoping that, even though i doubt i want to be a director - especially a director of mainstream feature films - I will at least get something out of this course that will help me more knowledgeable in different aspects/areas of film. Am i speaking in English anymore? i don't know. i sure hope you're at least kind of understanding what i'm trying to say.


continuing on....

Tuesday: Gender Culture & Power -> 10:00am (the hardest class to get up for)
I'm enjoying this class so far. Thus far we have concentrated primarily on understand where gender comes from and deconstructing the terms feminine and masculine. It's interesting to take a nonSLC gender course... actually it's interesting to take a gender (as opposed to queer theory) course. I feel like i'm really able to apply the knowledge i have gained at SLC in this area and apply it to both course discussion and assignments. The people in my class are also very open to discussion and I feel like they really listen to each other, which is very important this type of course. All in all, although i miss SLC's course structure, i'm enjoying it so far.


I have both Wed and Thurs off --> It's nice to have a little break in the middle of the week to catch up on work. It's also kind of strange, because while at SLC you are NEVER EVER done with work aka never completely caught up on work (because there is also more reading that can be done - either for class or conference), at UTS it actually is kind of possible to be done with homework for a night. like... i can finish my work for class on tuesday by sunday night... i haven't experienced that since high school. its kind of nice.

On wed night i typically go out with my friend Amanda and our friend Sara (who is Australian - yay for Aussie friends!) to a couple local pubs. Playing pool has definitely become one of my hobbies... and yet i am not improving. i'm not sure why. ohhh well. :-)


Friday: Narrative Writing --> 1:00pm
This may be my favorite class.... and i've been trying to figure out why. I think it's because it challenges me the most. There is a lot of reading and weekly writing samples due. I've only written one so far, but i had a lot of fun writing. i hope that sticks. Aside from a book called "The Art of Fiction" we have to read 3 novels for the course -- 1) An Accidental Terrorist 2) The Quiet American 3) The Member of the Wedding.

Although i read The Member of the Wedding for one of my courses last semester at SLC i'm hoping to reread it. I have also read all but the last 90 something pages of An Accidental Terrorist. I started out hating it. It was slow, and I felt like the author was just introducing characters in almost a list kind of way.. aka... This is Bob - he has brown hair. He likes to play baseball. His eyes are blue and had hates pizza. Know what I mean?... but yeah, it has improved a bit. It's also set in Australia (and i assume written by an Australian author), which is kind cool. I really hope to take some kind of Australian literature/history/something-or-another course while i'm here. I don't know if I would necessarily recommend the book to you guys, but i'll keep you updated.


This weekend i'm going on a "Farm Stay" with my Butler (Institute for Study Abroad), so that should be really interesting. I'm kind of looking forward to getting out of the comfort bubble i have formed around me in my area of Sydney. Hopefully i will take some pictures that i can show you.

oh! one last piece of news:

today it hailed! I heard the sound and thought it was just rain, but when i left my room in order to go pick up a packet from one of my teacher patches of ice were all over the ground. I was like... snow? huh? but no, it was definitely ice. it was kind of funny because everyone on the street was looking at it all confusedly. Guess it doesn't happen very often.



ok. bed time for me. I hope that you can make some sense out of this entry. I'll write a more -thought out- entry one of these days, hopefully with more pictures.

until then, love you all. Hope everyone is doing well. :-)


love
Alex


ps: You may have already seen these pictures... but a mini mini mini tour of my place:

my kitchen (no stove! - have to go to the roof to use a stove):


Ok. first of all.. what is happening in this photo is... I moved the table to the end of our hallway, right in front of Poppy's (left) and Pauline's (right - though all you can see in the first photo is a piece of paper in her hands) door. They were trapped. This was taken on the third night i was here. I think i had eatin' icecream or something... whatever was the cause, it was midnight i was feeling goofie or exhausted and delirious or something. if you ever want to live with me, you must be reading to experience such situations. ask caitlin! ask Jel! ask Lea and ask Liz! it happens!

Anyway you can basically piece the picture of the kitchen and this picture together. Note the little white recycling bin. The red-maroon wall on the right is the start to the "common room" which then leads out onto a little belcony that looks out onto a massive courtyard thing (that has a fountain in it that lulls me to sleep each night).



maybe you can see the layout of that end of the hallway better in this picture:


so yeah.. poppy's room is at the end of the hallway, pauline's room is on the right side, the bathroom is on the left, and then the room with the shower is a little ways down the hallway (towards me/the camera). I was taking the pictures right outside my room, so that gives you a general idea of how big the place is. it's very very nice. i like it a lot.

Like i said i'll post pictures later... but just incase you (coughcoughcoughMOMcoughcoughcoughcough) were wondering, that's a general idea of what it looks like. :-)

bye for real!