15 Sep '07: Silverchair & Powderfinger Concert!!!

So last night I went to the Silverchair and Poderfinger concert and it was sooooo good!!! Silverchair is pretty well known in the US, but powderfinger I had never heard of until last night...both bof these Australian bands were awesome!

I picked up Kim, Hannah and Nicola from the train station at about 5, and we had about an hour to get ready until Laurs was gonna drive us to the concert since its way downtown. It started at 6, so we got there at quarter past and collected our tickets from the box office and headed in. It was held at the Bendigo Showgrounds which was quite small compared to the size of places concerts at home would of been held. But this is a sold out concert and every hotel is completely booked in bendigo because of it. Anyways we headed in and looked around a while to see what was around. Our first stop was the Tshirt and merchandise tent. Hannah and Nicola decided to purchasing tshirts- I decided against it because I didnt want to spend $40 for a tshirt that I wold probably never wear again. Since the band hadnt started yet, we decided to go to the bar and get a beer before they came on. As expensive as it was, we stopped at one and didnt get anymore. Plus, you were not allowed any alcohol in the actually concert...they had a seperate tent for the bar and you were not allowed to leave with alcohol into the concert. Alot different that something as Merriweather. Also, here in the concert there was only standing and no seats or anythinng which I also thought was different.

After we finished our VB's we headed into the concert. Silverchair came on first and they were amazing. They sang some old ones, some new ones and some famous ones. It was good. They were on for about an hour and while they were on, one of the singers proposed to his girlfriend Natalie on stage.. It was the cutest thing ever!!! Lucky girl she is. Another thing the guitarist played the guiatar with his tongue, and did it pretty well. It was pretty kool. During Silverchair we lost Nicola somewhere so during the break between bands Kim and I headed to the toliets and eventually found her at the burger stand so we decided to get some burgers as well...which actually werent that great afterall but I guess it kept us from being hungry.



We headed back in, Hannah still in where we were but we didnt end up finding her again so we all decided to meet at the "meeting place" which was the burger stand at the end. Powderfinger came on at about 8:45 and they were on for about an hour. Their songs were actually pretty awesome, i really enjoyed their music. I really got into them. They told us that because they didnt have anything cool to do like propose on stage, they were going to swim naked in the fountain in the centre of town which is not running because of the water restictions... haha. Who knows if they actually did. Anyways they were kool. At the end both bands came on and played together! It was freaking Sweet!!!!







After the concert we were going to this one love after party which ended up being pretty awesome. They had all kinds of Dj's, free drinks and cheap spirits. It was a good night. Trying to get there was a mess. After the concert we called for a taxi but it ended up that there was no taxi's for teh concert and we had to jump on this bus that was going to drop us off into town. Well, it ended up that this bus only stopped at the train station and went back and forth from the concert to the train station so we all had to get off there. Luckily, we met some guys who were on the bus with us that was confused as well as to why they werent going into town. We walked with them and found our way to the pubs. After our 20 minute walk to Black Swan, we showed our tickets and got in.

The night was awesome, to much to explain in detail... but we didnt leave until 5, and then we stopped at Zoo Cafe for some Poatato gems... the best drunk food made to man, it was awesome. Then of course we had to wait in the taxi line that always takes forever.. so we didnt get home until 6 am. But- man it was a good time, we met so many people and I do believe the girls had a good time as well...It was definatly a night to remember. So many memories and good times.. take a look at the photos!!!







Next: FIJI ON THURSDAY!

Oh and I wanted to add this tid bit: I got an internship for next semester. I will be working for a publishing company in Waynesville! :) I'm VERY excited.

12 September '07: Still having a Blast!

HELLO HELLO!! Sorry it's been so long since my last post! Things are moving right along, smooth and fun. I really cant believe its already the middle of semtember, that means I only have 2 more months here. The time is really flying on by its crazy. Mom- I got another card from you last week! Thanks, i love it and so do all my friends. All 4 are taped to my closet door :).

Lets last week I met some new friends who are actually quite nice. We played singstar and it was absolutely fun, we spendt 4 hours doing that haha. For those of you who dont know.. its like guiarhero on playstation except instead of playing the guitar you sing. Its like a competetion. Its awesome!! Not sure if they have it in the US or not, im not big on video games to start with but its fun.

This past weekend I went to Melbourne again. Nicola and Kim headed over to Sydney for the weekend so I went and kept Hannah company. We didnt do much because everyone seemed to be gone for the weekend but we still had a very good time. I cought the 4:25 train and then caught to tram and met Hannah at Coles Market which was just a few stops from La trobe. We had an easy, quiet night friday night because everyone seemed to be tired. We ended up playing poker, I finally learned how to play. it took forever.. and I was 3rd winner which was cool considering it was the 1st time I have ever played. Lets see... then we went on down to Steffens room and watched Mr and Mrs Smith. It was a good one.. and always is when I watch it haha. then saturday we went to Maccas for lunch and just made it a lazy kind of day. Didnt do much really until it was time to decide what we were going to do tonight. Since no one was around it was quiet so it was just a few of us who just drank and had some fun. It turned out to be a good, very random night.



On sunday Hannah and Steffen didnt wake up until 4 pm so we didnt really do much today either.. haha. We played beer pong on sunday night and I ended up meeting some kid from Alaska which I thought was really kool. Its really interesting to learn and understand things from different places. I kept asking Steffen after Germany and dofferences just to get a grasp on how it would be if i ever went there. Its just intriguing to me I guess. Anyways I ended up taking the 10:15 am train out of Melbourne to Bendigo and slept the whole two hours- i was soo exhausted and made it to class by 2.

Tuesday night (last night) we all went out for Ashlynn's 20th birthday and Lauren's 23rd birthday! It was heaps of fun!! I took wayyy too many pictures and gained wayyy too many memories it was soo fun. It was good to see everyone out and have a good time. We went to the Broughie first which is just a small little pre drinking bar basically. Its nice there to just socialize and have a good time. Then we ended up at Scubar and just danced (yes, I danced... ) and sang and had a good night. Laurs and I grabbed a taxi back at about 2:30 am... and it was probably the best bit of the night. She told the taxi driver that I was from America and that we had been friends since preschool... and that he wasnt being nice enough. HAHA.. it was soo funny and on top of all that she was convinved he was African with Islamic language so she told me she had to translate for me. It was soo funny- it would be easier to explain this in person but trust me it was HILARIOUS!! It was such a great night.






I have soo much to look forward to in these next few weeks. I'm going to some local australian band play on thursday and then Hannah and Nicola are coming and we are going to the SILVERCHAIR concert on saturday nigth and then out with the rest afterwards. Then Thursday morning I leave for FIJI!!!!! YAY!!! SOOOOO EXCITEDD!! Then teh weekend after that is SYDNEY!! YAY!!

Hope all is well, sorry this was a vague post! I'll post again soon. Love you all and miss you tons

Mandi

1 September '07: Figuring out the bus!

This weekend was a quiet but good one. Its one I think I needed. Lets see.. Friday i went to class, and keep in mind this is class that I thought I was falling behind in. Come to find out I was ahead of everyone and my project graphically was all completed. I changed a few things with the help and suggestions of my teacher. I was glad to be on top and ahead of things here. I decided to plan out my weekend to try to get my 3d projects donne. Since everyone had gone home for father's day there wasnt many people around so I was left with no choice but to try and figure out the bus system- although i hear its not a great one.

Saturday morning I woke up and was out the door by 11 only to find out that the next bus to Bendigo doesnt come until 12:50. So, I went back inside and dilly dallied until I could catch the bus. The bus only comes once every hour to bendigo from Spring Gully.. which is where I am. From here I found out that I had to get off the bus at Mitchell street and get on another bus that would take me to Eaglehawk Rd which is where Spotlight is. Spotlight is a craft store that i planned on getting the materials for my project at. At this point I wasnt sure how I was going to get back, but thought id just worry about that when it came time to. Of course me, being my, I missed the stop for spotlight so when we got to a red light I asked the bus driver to let me off here, because I missed my stop. I had to walk aways, but finally made it up the hill into a store called Spotlight. When I walked in, I just kinda walked around trying to find where things were and get ideas of what I needed to make the creature logo that I created in photoshop 3D. I took a picture of the printed piece just so i didnt forget anything to make him. I got some paint, some cardboard letters, some black string, moveable eyes, and a medium sized strofoam ball, some paint brushes, some luggage tags and some tacky glue. After getting all I needed, and spending too much money at a craft store and for an assignment I started thinking how unfair it is that we have to provide all our own materials for projects such as these. Art is such an expensive course!

After getting all I needed from spotlight, I made it down to the bus stop about 20 minutes before the bus came. I paid my $1.80 for the bus and hoped off at Mitchel street. From here, I had to walk home because the last bus came at 1:30 to go back to Spring Gully. It was alright, I found my way to Big W and got some pasta and water for tonight's meal and headed back past the train station and cemetary to get to the halls.

Once I got back to the halls, I realized my light was burnt out. I was going to have to wait until Monday to put in a maintence request for them to come change it out. But for now, I was going to have to work quick if I wanted to get my project done before it got dark and I wouldnt be able to see anything because the sun would no longer give light to my room. So, I painted the ball and made the eyes and let it dry until the morning when I'd be able to see better. For the rest of the night, I got some rest and watched some Family guy until I made it to sleep for the night.

Sunday, today, I woke up at about 8 am and called Ryan. He is up at Cullowhee this weekend because he had a job interview in Waynesville on Friday. HE GOT THE JOB!! So happy and proud for him. He starts in 2 weeks and will be making $30,000 a year. Now finally he's got a real job and he's so much happier. I think he's ready to make the change in his life. Hes moving to Waynesville next week staying with one of his brothers until he finds a place of his own...

Anyways, after I got off the phone with him I decided to do some more work on my project. HAH.. I stuck the eyes on and added the letters. Now, all thats left is the staple the mouth on. Not a hard project once I got the materials. Now I just have to find a ride to the hardware store- there is no bus that takes you out that way unfortunately! I have to get a piece of timber (wood) to paint my sign that I made in Illustrator onto. I'm going to find someone to take me this week and i'll be completely up to date with everything done.. and I can go along with my plans and go to Melbourne on friday to see the girls. and boys :) hhaa..

Well I'm going to make some dinna and get some work done.. but I love you all and miss you tons!