Maria M's Blog

Bash's Camden Concerto

Bash delights once final time with a spontaneous performance at Camden market.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9L4RDekHMY

x

it runs in myOE family...

                                                                     (Magneto)

Elisa- From NZ, very observant, attentive to detail, listens carefully to everyone and is so friendly and fun! She’s Stylish, creative, and exudes an aura of very cool. She has a Dutch heritage, comes from a family of dairy farmers and is going to work as an accountant for KPMG (yay!). Plays for a girl’s soccer team and also is training to run a marathon race. Go Elisa! She also managed to smuggle in a few kilos of kiwis into the UK. We ate them every morning at breakfast. Thanks Elisa!

                                      (elisa and her notepad)

Tayah- from NZ, one the loveliest sweetest and classically beautiful girl you’ll ever meet!  Who despite being one of the less loud characters of the group, she has a strong character, and stands up for what is right, and knows how to entertain, party and have fun! She's so friendly, down to earth, and caring. Tayah’s studying agriculture, and she rides horses!

(Tayah is loving it)

Jamie- from NZ, when we met at the airport the first time she was still a bit hung-over from the night before, wearing her sunnies indoors and sleep deprived.  Once we got to London, Jamie came out of her shell. She’s so lovely, friendly, always looking her best and truly classy girl who loves to shop! And yes, she does the tongue loop too! Yay! Studying accounting, but would really love to be a wedding planner someday. Jamie also taught me that thongs are called Jandals!

(Jandals)

Esther- from Brisvegas, and has been to Vegas! (Some wild stories ;)! Esther and Jamie immediately hit it off; it was like they had known each other for years. Esther is one of the most fun, and easy going girls, she’s up for trying new things, and doesn’t mind going on an adventure. She’s open and accepting of others and knows how to have fun and dress nice and look good!(Jamie and Esther) always sharing their hair tools with the girls J Esther will be an accountant at price waterhouse coopers, but would also love to plan weddings someday!

Jenny- from NZ. Jenny’s one of the most intelligent, interesting, beautiful, and down to earth people I’ve had the privilege to meet. She’s into theatre, makes costumes, writes, and has sung in a choir (sing really well!); she’s into international food cooking, road trips, Geology and many more! You can have any kind of convo with her! So friendly, and level headed, and works good with maps, she adopted the name ‘mum’ for being the mum of the group, such a strong (wise beyond her years) figure we love, caring and making sure everything is ok. Enjoys simple and natural things, and always up for new adventures and discoveries!

Nic- from QLD is genuinely a nice guy, definitely not your typical Ocker Aussie bloke!! Clever, attentive, funny and talks and listens to everyone! So friendly and easy to get along with, good with cameras, editing and filming and directing, T.T and Nic always tried to capture the best times and make the most of every opportunity to have fun and have a beer! Nic has good taste in music and knows how to have fun and try new things!

( a clip art that reminds me of Nic)

Bash- one of the most entertaining, interesting and baffling people I’ve ever met! He’s very clever, very competitive, very ambitious, and an overachiever. He’s had some amazing experiences, shares his stories from Albania, starts in depth philosophical conversations. He's stylish, loud, likes to lead, and always like to crack jokes at the most opportune times. Certainly the group wouldn’t be the same without him, or for that matter nowhere or no one would ever be the same.  Artistic and creative, not your typical IT crowd. Thanks for sharing the pashmina!

(goats- Pashminas)

 (Albanian crest)

Alam- from Melbourne, he was the first myOE'r I met at the airport with Ben, we got along from the word go. At the age of only 21 this guy has achieved so much. Trully amazing, so Smart, always has a story to tell, loves to shoot pictures, always like to live on the edge, ..lives dangerously, like 00, friendly to everyone, funny,  caring and sharing and always there for you when you need a hug! Notorious for his gift shop conquests, and diet coke benders, he always made us smile and always made great company, and had a knack for making friends everywhere, especially charming hostel receptionists ;).

(007)

xox e

It was a warm bright day in June, the year was 2009.

After an epic journey we finally made it to London. I’ve spent the last 24hrs getting to know the rest of the team and they are the best mix of people you could randomly put together, so diverse and interesting, we get along so well. Bash, Jenny, Alam, Jamie, Esther, Nic, Hayley, Tayah, Elisa, T.T and Francis. I’ve quickly adopted them as my OE family and I’m getting more and more attached to them by the second, each in their own way..I adore them J Although I am lacking sleep and my brain isn’t working properly...I’ll try  and go back to the start...

In the beginning...

I can say the flight was good, I sat next to Nic and Alam the whole way. On the first half of the flight I was bonding with Nic over our common interest certain bands, similar genres of music, and in photographers/Film directors like Anton Corbijn, and Spike Jonze. I decided to re-watch 30 Rock, probably the only TV show I manage to watch back home, and then followed that with arrested development, which I rather enjoyed!  

On the second half of the flight, Alam and I watched a Russel Peters live show on his laptop, laughed my ass off,  and when the battery went flat we played battleships against each other..I think the score was a tie...can’t quite remember...distracted by landing J..and amused by poor Nic who was had been  feeling cold and a little unwell due to eating dodgy curry pre’departure, he decided to wear the Etihad plane socks on his hands, like mittens and fell fast asleep. I regret I didn’t get a picture! l J  So we managed to get out of the plane, I remember feeling so happy seeing the  summer sun rising in the distance, I couldn’t  wait to get outside and breathe fresh, non recirculated air! We managed to get past Heathrow “Se’urity” control very fast, thanks to our first player of the day Hayley! Yay! Cleverly spotted the group check in line which was empty. The band Sneaky sound system were lined up right behind us, we felt like stars, getting ushered in ahead of the rest. 

After we successfully retrieved our luggage, it was straight to duty free to purchase some spirits for the cocktail party ahead, we were ambitious. J  

Armed with liquor and luggage, we made our way to the tube platforms, and for the first time excitedly complied with the automated announcement and ‘mind the gap’ ...after that, the constant reminders just got annoying..

                                          (according to maria Goggles, soft pillows of white mallow)   =    

Eventually, made it to Hammersmith and with the warm sun beating down on us we rolled our way across the quiet streets of town (Sunday morning)  until we reached our destination, 6 Lena gardens! To my tired weary, eyes, it looked like a huge white soft marshmallow palace! All we needed was chocolate milk and a bed... but nooooo, we aren’t sissies! 

As soon as we got inside we all flocked to the outdoor area were we were introduced to our ‘Basil’, Francis the myOE guest house manager aka Francois. I remember my first impression was, he’s a nice, easy, friendly relaxed person although he seemed a little nervous at the first sight of the 10 of us..but that was before we settled in and made ourselves clean and presentable, oh and remember he must have been wearing some sort of coloured slogan T-shirt that distracted me..maybe it was blue.        

                                       (Francis Doesn't weild a broom)                                      

We were allocated our rooms, and were told to get settled in and come downstairs in about an hour for lunch and to commence our official meet and greet, aka confess our sins and be christened with catchy nicknames. My room was number 5. I was pleasantly surprised, I wasn’t expecting to have my own room, let alone a big double bed, and mini fridge, and TV, and DVD player, and space, so many drawers and a cupboard to put my stuff! I was in heaven! Gotta love IKEA ;)

                                        (loving room 5)  

Finally, we were all refreshed and clean and rearing to go, I donned my tangerine for the first time.(The colour always reminds me of a clockwork orange...I felt like heading to Korova milk bar with a bowler hat and a fake eyelash!)  

 We gathered the group, T.T and Francis and headed to Tesco’s around the corner (literally), and stocked up on the essentials that would be needed for the 5 days at the house.

I remember jenny and I were trying to figure out how much, and of which type of breakfast cereal we should get for 10 people we just met, (we managed to do well) we were also getting confused at the currency conversion, and decided to triple everything and minus a little, just to be on the safe side. Most fruit and veg at the supermarket is imported, so that’s why it’s probably dearer than back home, but otherwise, grocery wise, the variety is overwhelming, never had I seen so many different things, I had to stop and observe the different flavours of yoghurt and was amused by refrigerated soup in a carton, looked strange to me. So after our mammoth shop, we got home and got onto food! I remember standing in the kitchen watching T.T preparing the food for us, it was the first time I got to observe him up close, he reminded my of a lion, long golden mane, makes you just want to reach out and pat his curly locks...but of course I had to restrain myself,..at least until day two. T.T what a cool guy! I also noticed he LOVES fresh Mozzarella cheese, and delighted us with some tasty treats, garnished with fresh basil.mmm                                                                

Out in the garden, Tristan was telling us about Brenton, the man that pretty much made this all a reality for us. I couldn’t wait to meet him myself  sounded like a blast (and upon meeting him 2 days later I discovered what a truly great person he is...more to come later)So we managed to stuff our bellies, drink a few beers, have a cocktail or two, get comfortable and introduce ourselves. Each and every one of us was unique, and It made for an interesting arvo to get to know everyone. Some nicknames that I can remember...were  007, or 00 bro for Alam, Bashmo bro Bazza- Bash, Tristan, T man, T.T, ...my memory escapes me for the rest...remember we were running on autopilot at this stage.. At some stage, Jenny, Alam and I went on a tour around Hammersmith. It’s such a pretty town, with quaint streets and a nice neighbourhood. There a few great parks we walked through and some beautiful gardens. It was nice to see so many people out on a Sunday afternoon with their kids, relaxing outdoors. It’s  a nice environment indeed.

  Hammersmith station and town centre is a short walk from the guesthouse, there is abundance of stuff within walking distance. We walked past a movie theatre, tickets are cheap in comparison to here. I noticed there were a lot of Polish restaurants and shops along the shopping strip, and a nice variety of ethnic food restaurants.

After our long roundabout detour through town, we made it back to the guesthouse for dinner time.Half the clan decided to head to a nearby eatery, I was too lazy and tired to move, and decided to catch an early night..(yes I’m boring), I went to my room, I fell fast asleep plugged in to my iPod....by 2am..I was awake, Mr. Body Clock strikes again J

xox

A e

“I’ll have a Kilo of potatos... and b*****s to the change!”

Ma(D)chester!..the scene

At the appropriately named Hatters Hostel (reminds me of MAD-hatters- alice in Wonderland!) lying across the floor...(note: the room has high corrugated iron ceilings and is really spacious, clean, although the building is old, and the lift is so old and shoddy the  staff need to accompany you for safety reasons, it is clean, and charming with spacious bathrooms and showers, I really enjoyed my stay at Hatters), perhaps the room I’m in now was even used by Morrissey himself! I knew I wouldn’t be able to contain my secret excitement much longer of arriving in MaDchester, (it had been brewing ever since I saw ‘Manchester’ mapped on our itinerary). Upon arriving It was a mixture of exhaustion anticipation and excitement that had me in a state of ecstatic insanity... I’m sure the others were beginning to believe I was mad, well of course I was mad, bitten by the maDchester bug!

(the Bug)

(Me)

What a bizarre experience it was to arrive in the city that has inspired the music scene of generations of British music, from post punk, new wave, Brit Rock and most famously, Brit pop.  (just to name a few: Joy division(New-order), Morrissey, The smiths, The stone Roses, Happy Mondays, The Chameleons, Puressence, Doves, Inspiral carpets,  James and many more..).

 I’m glad we ignored what others had told us about the town, Dave from Liverpool said “Don’t go to Manchester, there’s nothing there!”...could have been a spot of town rivalry methinks. The drive up was an awesome bonding experience, I feel like once we got off that van we all felt a mutual trust, respect, closeness and appreciation for one another, simple moments like these with such an amazing group of people are what made this trip a more rewarding life experience than I could have ever imagined,  at this stage due to a G.enerally P.retty S.tupid malfunction our other half were hamming it up in Moffat opp-shopping and trespassing on random castle property..hehe gotta love T.T!)... ... Anyway, as, Jenny, Bash, Esther, Jamie, Alam, Francis and I  entered the hostel, I spotted the joy division and Smiths tour flyers...saw the stone roses and James posters on the walls.. and new I was in music mad heaven!

(Foyer)

The cool girl at the check-in counter gave me the low-down on the “music” history of the building, (I think she could tell, by the wondrous look in my eye and mere excitement at the fact each floor was named after a band or musician I adored! (We girls were on “Ian Brown”- level 3-  Stone Roses!!)

(I climbed each level to take pics of the band photos and history posted on the walls)

 (There is no such thing as Normal)

Unfortunately we arrived late (5-6pm) so by that stage, all the day tours were over and most stores were closing down around town. We didn’t get a chance to check out the Joy division, or Smiths tour, (the Manchester music tour is hosted by a band member/dj of Brit band Inspiral Carpets!) However, I was determined to do the tour, even if it meant taking it myself! So that is exactly what I did. Instead of going straight to bed for a nap (needed after the long night of midnight trekking up Salisbury Crags in Edinburgh, and sliding down like mountain goats in the mud and slugs.. one of the most fun days I’ve had..thanks Jenny Alam and Francis). Despite nobody having a clue where I was taking them, or why, I gathered the troops (Esther, Bash and Jenny), took out my ‘Smiths’ map, and set my brain on general Manchester music knowledge mode and we set off towards the gay Village aka ‘ (C)Anal (S)Treet’ (unfortunately the sign had recently been fixed after the letters were removed!)

Along the way, we got a bit peckish so Jen and I nipped into Sainsbury’s for some really tasty fruit salad, 2 for the price of one! (map duties were later passed on to Bashmo who I will rename for the purposes of this blog the Salford sensation!)

General impressions of Manchester town and greater Manchester, It’s an interesting mix of Industrial and new up and coming city buildings/apartments. I can almost picture Ian, Hooky, Bernard, Moz and Marr walking the tired and miserable streets back in the days. Judging from the kind of music that this town inspired, it wasn’t a place of joy, ambition, or wealth, and it was generally a place of no escape from the banality of working class life. A canal runs through the town, it’s actually quite pretty, something different compared to other towns.

 That’s what I like about the UK, every place has its similarities but each has one distinct characteristic, whether it be monuments, the colour of buildings, a river, the people, the accents, not one place is ever the same. Most buildings in Manchester are red brick, there are lots of bridges/overpasses, and tunnel arches, and yes, a well alive gay community.

After passing Canal street and the gay bars which were only beginning to buzz, we proceeded to Whitworth Street where we found ‘The Ritz’ the venue where the Smiths played their first gig. Walking further down we stopped at the Hacienda, aka Factory 51 which, before being turned into an apartment complex, it was a music venue "the hacienda" Nightclub, ("Hacienda" was decided on for the club because the cedilla makes the "çi" resemble "51," the club's catalogue number), It became most famous during the "Madchester" years of the late 1980s and early 1990s, during the 1990s it was widely regarded as being the world's most famous nightclub. Later became infamous in the acid, house and trance years  for the drugs that were taken, bought and sold there, shootings and the mini riots that would result. RIP, the Hac.

From there, we trekked all the way to Salford in search of the famous ‘Salford lad’s club’, I must take this moment to thank, once again Jenny Esther and bash for bearing with me, they were so sweet, persistent and determined to make my  dream come true and ensure I didn’t leave Manchester unfulfilled. (I adore you guys). With the help of some locals at the servo, and our Salford sensation Bash we found it. The Salford lads club building, was used for the inside cover The Smiths album, The Queen Is Dead (and a smiths music video) and It  had come third in a nationwide hunt to find the most iconic buildings in the United Kingdom.

The club is on the corner of St Ignatius Way and the famous Coronation Street in Salford and is a place of pilgrimage for many Smiths fans! (if you think I’m crazy fan... watch this!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_BWlvlxmCY

http://www.salfordladsclub.org.uk/

We took photos and posed like Moz and the Smiths outside the building while a bunch of strange kids on BMX bikes were giggling at the sight of us, then we met some of the loveliest locals, they’re accent was amazing!

Carol at the general store across the street was so sweet, she runs this  really tiny old style milk bar, where all the locals were doing their evening necessities run. Everything was so charming, and cheap. She offered to call her personal cab driver to pick us up and take us back to Manchester..much to our appreciation and delight of not having to walk all the way back to Manchester town. In the meantime, the local BMX gang stalked the outside of the shop, while the lady with her pink animal print flannelette PJ’s ordered some potato’s. Everyone was so cheerful and laid back, I love small towns! So we bought some candy toffee apple gums and cherry cola (all for 75p!), just as the boys outside started to pelt bash with pellets from their toy guns, Shane/Shaun our taxi van driver came to the rescue and shooed them off.

Shaun/Shane (I will alternate between the two as I can't exactly remember) was a born and Bred Manchesterian guitarist/taxi driver. We immediately bonded over our love of similar music and discussed Morrissey and Marr, (I get the impression Moz isn’t well liked by his home townies, we won’t do gigs there, they think he’s pretending to be a vegetarian, and they reckon he’s a ‘sausage.....will not complete the exact terms as may be offensive’). Shane  taught us a few local slang words, and gave me some pointers on where to start with my guitar practice (apparently kings of Leon leads are really easy...) he also recommended I get into Kasabian however every ‘Tw**’ listens to them now, and they aren’t so great. Shane’s favourite stone roses song was Waterfall and fave Jesus and mary chain is- ‘Stoned dethroned’, which is something he told us he was going to do coupled with some beers as soon as he would get home.

It was a great local tour through Manchester, with a colourful character, I declined his offer of the local ‘acid’ and appreciated the information he gave us about the bad and good backstreets and where to get the ‘green’. After dropping us off safely at hatters, and waving goodbye, we went in and waited for T.T and the others to arrive for dinner..we were starving.

To pass time, I sat in the common room making conversation with 3 very laid back French Canadian students, who did not welcome my discussion on Northern Exposure and Brendan Fraser with much enthusiasm,  although they were very friendly, as was the Polish boy I met in the foyer, Christofer, who had just arrived in Manchester for the first time.  Despite language barriers we managed to have a nice chat, he had newly wed his teenage sweetheart of 7 years! Congrats Christofer!

The rest of the team arrived, and graced and wowed us with their new stylish races hats sourced from the opp shops in Moffat. We found the nearest open eatery, a nice Italian pizza joint, drank some red wine, sample swapped our foods (a common practice we adopted on the tour, fun way to try a little bit of everything) and relaxed after what truly was a bizarre, mad’ chester experience! I loved it! As we left, I took the flame red gerbera from the flower vase at our table and sauntered all the way home with an undeviating smile, truly happy on the inside J

Bed time.

M in London!

Hellooooo!

Ok, I know it has been five days since I've posted. I can officially say that this is my first blog from London! Wow it has been such a crazy awesome three days I don't know where to begin! I plan on getting back and filling in all the nitty gritty details later, but for now, enjoy the annotated version.

Day #1

After a long flight of exhaustion, bonding and too much aeroplane food, we finally made it to heathrow airport. First player of the day went to Hayley! yay! who managed to spot out the 'group check in' and saved up a very very long queue at customs! we got all outr luggage and made our way via heathrow express to Paddington station, and from there to Goldhawk rd. The sun was beating out on us, but we managed to drag all our luggage across a block or two to the My oe guest house!

What a great place! It kind of feels like a big brother house, it's so much fun, especially with such a great bunch of people. After settling in, we went for a big shp at Tesco's, stocked up on the essentials and came home for a feast and a meet and greet. We managed to get our nicknames, have a few beers and cocktails and loosen up.

Day #2

Wow! this was an amazing day! we started off with a 4hr  fat tyre bike tour around London, starting from kensington gardens, through to Hyde park, buckingham palace, Trafalgar square, westminster abbey and saw a bit of big ben! It was an amazingly warm day, nicer and sunny, perfect for a bike ride around town. for lunch we went to an English pub and had a meal. it was the first time I had even been, or eaten at one. it was great! the food was good and cheap. Afterwards we visited the Princess Diana memoriaL and dipped our feet into the fountain to cool off. after the tour, we then proceeded to go for a few beers on a riverboat on the Thames.it was an awesome view of Big Ben, westminster abbey, and the London eye. We met the Uk myeo team, trully a great fun bunch of guys and finally met Brenton! We then went to the London eye and had an awesome photo opportunity of catching the whole city as the sun was getting ready to go down. Ill have to upload some phjotos to show you, because the view is beyond words!

it was a long day, but we got home, had a barbie and chilled out in true myoe fashion! sleeeeppppp until tomorrow!

Catch you soon...jack the ripper tour tonight! yay! mwuahahahaha

while you are away...

Welcome to my inaugural travel blog! If you are reading this, the laws of nature have serendipitously guided you here. Stay tuned for many more of these intriguing forays into the life of a soon to be uni grad on a trip of a lifetime!

First of all, this isn’t your typical travel blog, I’m not your typical protagonist, prepare yourself to come along for an unconventional ride. I invite readers from everywhere, more importantly students like me  who are getting ready to graduate soon, perhaps my overseas  experiences will help provide some isight into what it’s like and what can be achieved while travelling in a foreign country, having fun and preparing for a career. Hopefully it will inspire others to apply for a myoe next year, who knows it could be you!