They are losing jobs because of money issues. bullshit. we just had a meeting and because the vca is now the vcam (combining with music) they actually have plenty of money. the uni melb is trying to find a way to justify cutting teachers. somehow only the vca teachers are going. how is that justified? this is a fantastic school and the vca wants it to become something completely different than what it is. They don’t agree with the way art is taught at this school and if people don’t convert they are cutting jobs.
Archive for July, 2009
Save the VCA:.
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009Footy:.
Monday, July 27th, 2009Okay, so I am taking a break from drawing on my 16 mm film. I think it’s going to be a long project but we will see. I have had an exciting weekend and now it’s back to school. Friday I had a photo-shoot somewhere out in the Australian wine country. It was fantastic (see images below). I took the train out to Lilydale and met up with a couple models. They were all super friendly. I am actually going to celebrate one of the model’s birthdays on Friday. Either way, it was a great shoot, wonderful light and great scenery. Then Saturday I went to a Footy game with Pemi and it was AWESOME! Sarah’s dad has a season pass so Sarah asked her dad if we can get 2 tickets (the people here are so damn nice) and he said yes. So we got to go see a Footy game 3rd ROW!!! (THANK YOU AGAIN TO SARAH) It is actually a really fun game to get into. I am not sure of how exactly the rules work but it was fun either way. It was Geelong vs Hawthorn. I live in Hawthorn and since they are the underdog and said to lose I thought I’d support them. Surprisingly after 20 minutes they were in the lead after Geelong starting out strong. By the beginning of the 4th quarter they were 20 points ahead. Then Geelong started to catch up. Not sure how the quarters worked because sometimes it was till 30min other times till 32. I am assuming added stoppage time. Either way 4th quarter should have ended at 30min. Went over by 2 min and Geelong caught the ball after a kick (you can’t get tackled after catching the ball from a kick if it comes from a team member). So Geelong gets a free kick right by the goal. They make the goal and it’s 99-98 for Geelong. It was bullshit and sad. And the girl in front of me was screaming and dancing like a maniac because of happiness that her team won. She probably had 10 beers in the 2 hrs we were there and REALLY drunk. Her mom and friend were for Hawthorn and highly embarrassed LOL. It was a good time.
Then Saturday night Pemi and I went out to this place called the Hawthorn. Not really the greatest place for a Saturday night (really teeny) but I am sure they might be cool on other days (mainly the beer-garden). They are also hiring. One of the models from Friday said they were so maybe I need to check it out. Tomorrow. Well after a beer Pemi and I bought ice cream and watched Memento at my place till 2 am only to realize that trams stop running that late. Pemi decided to walk home and I felt bad. Then Sunday I went and met up with a Dancer from school. Since I am planning to work on that Dance series for the term I decided to start that process of finding models who dance. Wednesday I got the studio booked so I can test out lighting and whatnot. I need to see if they got tripods to rent because otherwise I gotta buy one. (FYI the toaster oven i bought for 18 dollars is fantastic)
Okay, well I need to go back to doing homework. Next I am working on my thesis-proposal-like-presentation that’s due in 3 weeks. Scared shitless but it will work out I hope. And tomorrow the class at the Uni Melbourne starts.
Keep smiling
(sorry for the shitty color quality)
school and things
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009My teacher has his contract so we had class 
yay! Just want to say, one day of class with Andrew and I have learned more about Photoshop than in a whole term from wei… yea.
other than that, I AM GOING TO A FOOTIE GAME ON SATURDAY (and yes that had to be in caps!) I am excited. I get to be touristy. And the best of it, a friend from school hocked me up. Her name is Sarah and she is fantastic. Super friendly and helpful. So yea, Pemi and I get to go. Sarah’s dad has season tickets and gets free tickets I guess. Maybe we will have someone explain the game while we watch then!
Oh also, I am going to be in the student show in 2 weeks. It’s just the second year photo students. There are only like 12 of 14 of us haha. Small show but it will be great.
Keep smiling everyone
♥ Sandra
docklands:.
Saturday, July 18th, 2009edit: here are the photos from the docklands, frankston and st. kilda beach from when i first came. I LOVE it here. I can’t even say how great Australia is
gonna go with pemi to check it out. will update later or tomorrow
School
Monday, July 13th, 2009Okay, so my internet was having issues after I got it but hopefully it’s fine now. The city here is really lively and busy. It’s definitely busier than Portland. But, none the less, still really fun and exciting. They call Melbourne the city that can have four season in one day. Today I experienced that. It was windy, sunny, cold, rainy and there are supposed to be thunderstorms tonight! I guess that saying is true
Otherwise, I started school today. I think it’s going to be really great. It works differently here for sure. I have a class called Studio Studies in which I work on whatever I want to work on. There are three meetings with the faculty where I present what I have been doing and my inspirations and what I plan to work on. It’s less assignment and more putting out what I really want to work on. I am hoping I get to photograph dancers. They have a dance department here and I would love to do a series of portraits. Many people also experiment with film, even though their major is photography. You are encouraged to work in many mediums. On Wednesdays I got class all day. This is a technical class in which you learn color theory and how to work on the computer, etc. Thursdays I got the class where I will present my work. In these two class you don’t get a grade, as they are part of the Studio Studies course.
The other class I am taking, and I am SOOO excited about, is my drawing elective. I was prepared to do charcoal drawings, etc. BUT we actually get to make animations. It’s not just a drawing class but it’s called Drawing on film. We each got to choose black or clear film and have to work on it. I got clear film and a minute of it. Thats about 1500 little images I got to draw. And just to give you an idea, this is 16mm film, so REALLY tiny images. We will see what happens. Sue, the teacher, suggested that we can use nailpolish, water, etc. We also walked to ACMI which I think stands for Australian center for moving images. We were going to watch an animation there but it doesn’t get shown till Friday. I need to find an art supply store though my classmates say there aren’t any close by that are similar to Utrecht or Art Media. We will see what happens. I need to buy a little lamp also.
Other than that, I finally got a monthly pass for the tram so I don’t need to worry about that anymore either and a friend who was here the last 9 months gave me some tips on where to go shopping so I will maybe explore on the weekend. As for now, it’s dinner time. Keep smiling everyone. And I will blog again soon
Apartment:.
Sunday, July 12th, 2009My apartment (video – sorry for some reason it’s not the full one…)
And here some promised photos from the Aquarium Enjoy and keep smiling
PS: If you click the image twice there is a large version
Aquarium:.
Friday, July 10th, 2009Made it back from the Aquarium. It was great! Photos tomorrow.
Oh and when I walked back I walked down southbank which is the part of town right by the water (like Portland’s waterfront) and underneath this bridge there was a man playing the recorder. It was beautiful. I could hear him all the way back across the river close to Flinder’s street station. I spent some time on the bridge listening to him before I kept walking. Then as soon as that sound faded out, a new one came in. This man at the station was playing multiple instruments. This town is so lively
Anyway, photos tomorrow! Good night. Keep smiling
Moved In:.
Thursday, July 9th, 2009Okay, sorry for the rather late update. I have had no internet except in the common room downstairs in the apartment building. And, it is freezing there so I don’t stay there long. The ethernet socket in my room was broken so I was unable to blog from my room or do anything. But, I had someone come and fix it this morning. Moving in was okay. I had to get 2 large, heavy luggage through the city. I was originally just going to go on tram, but due to the rain and coldness I changed my mind and just paid for a cab. There was an issue with the door also, it wouldn’t stay closed. So I had to carry all my camera equipment and laptop back and forth so the cab just seemed to make more sense.
The apartment is actually really nice. It’s pretty small but still ok. I got a small bathroom, kitchen, and then one room. It’s more a studio not a room because the door to my “room” is just a glass sliding door. I don’t know the use for it but ok. The tenant who was here before me was not the cleanest person either so I spent my first day cleaning the apartment. But, now it’s nice I am about 25 minutes by foot from the nearest (cheap) grocery stores. It’s not a bad walk, though I could use the tram; then it’s only 5 minutes. I seem to walk everywhere though. Yesterday I walked to Burke Rd which is about 2.5 km away. There is a bakery there called Baker’s Delight. This bakery is a chain and just about everywhere. I bought some bread and it’s good. They don’t have any German Bakeries from what I saw and the bread is more toast than anything. But it was good either way.
I find myself walking on the wrong side of the sidewalk a lot. And also standing on the wrong side for the tram stop. It’s still weird to have cars drive past you the wrong way and to sit in the tram that drives on the left. SO strange. I always think the tram is about to hit someone when it makes a turn.
On Tuesday I got to meet one of the people working in Student Services at the VCA. She showed me the campus, at least the part that was open and where my class will be. I am still confused how the school system here works. I think you go to the Studio Class Mon-Fri from 9:30AM till 4:00PM and you just leave for your other classes in between. The school has a great campus though. It’s definitely bigger than PNCA and it has a Café. Everyone gets their own little studio space also I think. I am hoping that I will be able to do a series on dancers. I have always wanted to photograph dancers and this school has a dance program so maybe this will be possible. That would be so excited! I am hoping I can make this happen The Governor’s house is across the street in a park. So, the Police Horses are actually in a stable on the campus because they can only be so far away from the house. I hope they stay in there as Horses scare the crap out of me.
Speaking of police, the police’s symbol is a blue and white checkerboard. I don’t know who came up with that but it amuses my for some reason.
I haven’t met many people and so I am excited for school to start on Monday. I should say hello to my neighbors but I find that somehow strange to knock on someone’s door. Maybe I am just being weird. Oh well.
I don’t know what I am going to do today. Maybe go to the city. Explore south bank or something. I am still jet lagged so I get tired easily. I need to get over that. Anyway, for now I will be done writing.
I am SO excited to be here and explore this place
Keep smiling everyone!
I am HERE:.
Saturday, July 4th, 2009
I have made it. I got here safely on Friday in the morning. Customs were pretty easy to get through and the driver who picked me up was friendly. We spent about another hour at the airport waiting on another person who needed a ride, but he wasn’t on the plane. On the way to the hostel the driver shared a little about the city with me. I didn’t understand much though. I am still having a lot of trouble with the accents but I am hoping this will work itself out soon.
Yesterday (saturday) was my first full day in Melbourne. I got up around 6:45AM due to Jet lag. Not too bad. I had some breakfast in the hostel and took the train east to Carnegie. From there I got slightly lost trying to find the bus stop but a nice man at a Safeway Gas Station helped me out. I went to the Chadstone Shopping Center where I bought a few groceries, a new charger for my laptop, and a plug for the outlet so I can charge my phone and camera. The way back was slightly easier, though I missed the train station bus stop. Not a problem as I just took the next one. I bought some lettuce and tomatoes on my walk to the train station. They got wonderful produce shops. And they got Aldi here which is a store we have in Germany also and it’s FANTASTIC! Cheaper food The price of food is really high here. Anywho, after the shopping I went back to the hostel to drop off everything. Then I made a plan on how to get around. I took the train east again to Glenferrie Railway and walked about a block to find the office where I need to pick up my key for the housing tomorrow. From there I walked to the apartment and then took a tram to the city. From the city I walked across the Yarra River to the Victorian College of Art and it is a fairly big campus.
Much bigger than PNCA.Then I took the tram back towards the Uni Melbourne. I got off at a stop on Victoria street and walked to another tram stop and waited. I waited quite some time until I realized the tram I wanted to catch does not run on Saturdays! Dumb move lol. So I walked a couple more blocks and caught the tram that runs east towards Church street. Got off one stop to early but walked the rest of the way and found an IKEA!!! Success I had lunch here as I had not eaten anything but Breakfast. From there I took a tram south towards South Yarra where the hostel is located and ended up right on Turrok street. From here its a 3 minute walk to the hostel. If I mapped out how much I walked it’s probably a good 5-7 kilometers. If not more.
Today I am going to find the beach. I also want to see if I can get a map of the city. I also got a sim card now that works so the number is +61 423 616 437. I also want to try fries from this place called “best fries you’ll ever try” At least I think this is what it’s called.