1. A roof over at least most of the house - good for rain
2. A garage - these are handy for cars. Cato does not own a car but I hope she will invest in one soon.
3. Doors - For safety
4. Windows - In case we lose our keys to the doors
5. A fridge - if I know Cato she is going to want a place to put food

Some of my fondest memories are going on family trips to Lake Kariba. Often we would spend a weekend, fishing and game spotting, and simply getting away from the city. Sometimes we would even spend entire weeks up there aboard big house boats and travel far across the lake for many days. I remember it as always being very relaxing to be so close to nature and be able to observe the animals completely at ease. The poem below was one we found in my dad's desk and that is now pinned to the cork board in my room.

The Power of the Zambezi, by J. Edward Woodward

Through the continent of Africa
The mighty Zambezi flows
Over waterfall, through deep ravine
And where dense forest grows.

But such might and power
And so much frantic haste
Through so many generations
Has mostly gone to waste.

So the heads of two great nations,
Engaged with such accord
To Dam this surging monster
And the first skip of concrete poured

Then fifty thousand Batonka people
Had to move from their homes
And the treasure of the wildlife
No more this Vale could roam

As skip by skip the Dam wall rose
Inch by inch did the water.
Animals and Human kind
Would find their lives would alter

But Nyaminyami the River god
Was not pleased by this obstruction
And twice in rage almost brought
Mens efforts to destruction

But in spite of many hardships,
The Dam was at last complete
And now folks from around the world
Come to admire, this engineering feat

So now a mighty lake appears
Where once there was 'a stream'
Filled with many kinds of fish
from Tigerfish to Bream

But this is not the climax
Of this colossal river fight.
For several million people now,
Are getting power and light.

So be at peace Nyaminyami
You have not lost your power
For now millions pay you homage
Each day and every hour

Any many climb the twisting road
Up to the lookout steeple.
To look across that massive lake and see
Matchstick boats and matchstick people.

And so great Lake Kariba
They built a church near you
Not only in memory of the dead
But to inspire the living too.

When I was four years old I pretty much had the world sussed out. I knew where wind came from, I knew that girls were icky and I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. I was going to be a police officer, or a fireman, or an astronaut or some combination thereof. Now, at twenty-two, I've discovered that most of what I held to be true was not as cut and dry as I had thought.

Sadly, time waits for no man and before I knew it I was only a semester away from graduation. The point is driven home whenever I talk to people and they ask about University. Usually the conversation goes something like this;

“So you’re still at University?”
“Yeah, well I’ve only got one semester to go.”
“Oh great! Then what?”

Then it all falls to pieces. The person stands there with their smile gradually becoming frozen and fixed while I stutter and mumble, increasingly desperate to say something that will satisfy them. Lately I've taken to making up complex lies that will get them off my back but if pressed I will confess to the truth, that I don't know what comes next.

But if I've learnt anything so far it's that not knowing what comes next isn't the end of the world. Getting the piece of paper doesn't immediately guarantee you a job in your dream area but it's a start. Sometimes a start is enough, a vague direction instead of an explicit set of instructions. Now if only I could convince the people who keep asking me what I want to do with my life...

Pre departure - Still
Now that you have all the paperwork sorted out its time to start giving some thought to what you need to take with you. Again this won’t be an exhaustive list but feel free to leave a comment or send me an email about any suggestions you have.

Pre Departure

(Click poster for larger version) You can find more information on the Perth Youth Advisory Council website.

Recently we’ve been hit by a heat-wave that has made living basically impossible. Normally I’m alright with heat, I mean I don’t like it but I can live with it. Sure without air-conditioning the flats in the village basically become cheap saunas and being inside for too long might bring on permanent brain damage but it’s just heat right? Well unfortunately my flatmates and I were destined to find out just how deadly a heat-wave can be.

Thursday night seemed just like any other night that week. Sure it seemed like the day hadn’t cooled down when evening came but at least at night you aren’t subjected to the piercing intensity of the Australian sun. I had elected to sit out on the balcony and do some reading before turning in for the night so I was feeling quite happy with the world as I drifted off to the land of nod where my dreams rose up to meet me like an old familiar blanket. At about 4 a.m my dreams began to twist into nightmares with resounding cracks and booms that drove me right back to the edge of wakefulness, no mean feat because I have a knack for sleeping through loud noises.
I lay in bed with my eyes barely open and was still nearly blinded by an intense flash of white light that seemed to sear its way across my eyeballs. This was it, I decided, the aliens had finally come and it was time for the real adventure to begin. Of course once I was fully awake I realised my mistake because Aliens would never announce their arrival in such a showy fashion. Rather it was a thunder and lightning storm with better special effects than most Hollywood films. I love watching lightning and thunder so despite the early hour I stared out my window for about half an hour until the storm seemed to die down and the rain began to fall in fat splatters. Naively I thought this would signal the end of the heat-wave so I climbed back into bed and drifted back to sleep.

My first sign that something had gone wrong should have been that my alarm clock didn’t go off in the morning which made me late for class which meant I didn’t have time to check my email in the morning. This series of unfortunate events meant I didn’t fully comprehend the significance of the thunderstorm until much later in the day when I was already worn out from Uni. So when I finally did get home and was sitting down with a cup of tea to check my emails and my bank balance I was confronted with the horrible truth. My internet was gone.

Truth be told this actually isn’t that uncommon in the Murdoch Village. The internet provider they have is slightly less reliable than simply plugging your Ethernet cable into a sand pit and hoping that it will magically give you broadband. So when my browser returned with the error message I’ve come to associate with Star-tech I wasn’t that fussed and simply returned to my book hoping to get some reading done before I could veg out in front of Today Tonight, my bad news show of choice. This was sadly to be part two of the bad news, the TV reception was out. I am pretty good at getting bad news these days after having extensive training throughout my life but this was still enough to make me curl up into a ball and whimper a little bit.

I was still on the floor in the lounge when my flatmate, Ariel, came through and asked me if my internet was working. This was to be a recurring theme throughout the weekend. Thankfully I worked for most of the weekend so I was at least out of the flat even if I did debase myself by using the customer wi-fi to check if I had new mail. My flat on the other hand rapidly began to resemble something out of Lord of the Flies as we are all confirmed internet addicts who really miss their regular hit of bandwidth.

Finally, when it seemed like we were all about to give up on civilisation and begin the inevitable devolution to Cro-Magnons, the lights on our routers began to flicker to life and our email accounts began to show renewed life. Slowly we put out the fires we’d started, unchained the residents we’d planned to sacrifice and life returned back to normal. However I don’t think I’ll ever look at a lightning storm again without recalling how it nearly destroyed the lives of four innocent people whose only crime was relying on technology for everything.

Let me be honest here, I am not even slightly artistic. I don’t say this to be modest or to make my banner look more impressive but rather to communicate the sinking feeling I got when I read what the assignment would be.

Anyway the first order of business was to come up with something that would be inspirational but not hackneyed or condescending. This involved a long session of lying on my bed staring at the ceiling, my mind completely blank of all inspiration. I really didn’t think I could do this assignment and that self-doubt was the biggest obstacle I faced. Lucky for me that I have really great friends who were prepared to help out any way they could. They endured a few pointless brainstorming sessions with me before I finally settled on something I felt was helpful to understanding University and the people who attend it. But before I could give the idea a place on campus it still needed a physical shape.

Last week was the final study break before the end of semester and, predictably, I didn’t get much studying done. Rather the time was spent sourcing arts and crafts material in preparation for a marathon session of banner building. My original vision for the banner was a simple affair that was made from paper and illustrated with simple felt pens. It was only when I was in the Craft store that the possibilities and options I had really became apparent and my vision for the banner began to take on a life of its own. Without giving too much away big sheets of cardboard and tubes of finger-paint were purchased and the construction began.

So with the banner taken care of the next issue was where I would hang it. Bush Court was not allowed under the competition rules so I had to really think about my other favourite spots on campus. I could’ve picked the Tav where I’ve shared more than a few drinks with friends, the peace garden where some pretty brave ducks swim or one of the many places where I’ve passed the time between classes. In the end I picked the Peace Pavilion because it was there, during my orientation week last year, that there was a free sausage sizzle for all the humanities and social science students. I met a lot of new people that day and the realisation of how big University actually was began to sink in but it wasn’t that scary because I was surrounded by people in the same situation as me and if they weren’t panicking then I didn’t need to. This all relates back to my banner but we’ll get to that. So after making sure that the University wouldn’t mind me hanging up a big banner the location was settled. We set B-day to be Monday the 5th of October, yesterday in other words, all the preparations were completed and we hung the banner up in the flat to prevent any damage occurring over-night. That was when I first realised how much bigger the banner was in comparison to the one I had in my mind.

I think at this point a bit of explanation about the banner is in order. I do owe my long-suffering art teacher from primary school a great deal of thanks for the finished product. She would always walk around the classroom and ask the students what they were up to, I never understood why she would approach me at all as it was a chore for the both of us but to her credit she persisted in trying to educate me. The most memorable time was when she walked up to the easel where I was industriously working and asked me what I was up to. I don’t quite remember what the painting was meant to be and I doubt I knew at the time either so I launched into a very creative explanation of what it was trying to be that she listened very carefully to. Then she took out a pen and wrote on my paper “K.I.S” which stood for Keep It Simple. In the army of course it has an extra “S” for “Stupid” which I think she would have dearly liked to have put in but her professionalism did not allow her to. It’s one of the few lessons from primary school that I really took to heart and I believe my banner benefited from it.

My banner simply reads “Believe in” and has two blank sheets of cardboard underneath for people to give their own opinions on what they believe in or what their passion is. The idea was that instead of just telling you guys what inspires or motivates me and hoping it would work for you, rather get everyone who wanted to contribute to tell you what motivates them. University is scary and a lot of people worry that they won’t have anything in common with the people there so I also wanted to show just how normal and down-to-earth the students actually are. It was also a great excuse to sit out in the sun for a few hours.

Anyway B-Day came and brought with the first day of spring, I don’t want to say the two are related but it’s too convenient to be ignored. Our first attempt to hang the banner did not go as planned as we had not counted on the wind that tried very hard to tear our banner down from the poles. More hole-punching and twine threading later and the banner was firmly tethered and B-Day had officially begun. It was great fun. I got to meet such a huge cross-section of the people who studied at Murdoch and each of them had something to contribute to the banner. We got some pretty interesting answers and not all of them serious but that was kind of the point. It was the student banner and therefore it needed to cover both sides of the student psyche, serious and fun. However no matter what people were writing they were all smiling and I would like to believe they all enjoyed the experience. As for what I believe motivates and inspires me, I think it would be all my friends. They are very special people who helped me out with the project and I don’t think it would have come off without their help and encouragement.

For most International Students the Village is a fairly intimidating place. When I was first making my preparations for departure I had no idea what would await me when I arrived. I had visions of cramped dormitories and guys who didn’t understand personal space in the shower, mainly due to what I had seen in college movies so I think it’s perfectly reasonable to be a little bit apprehensive. In this post I’m going to hopefully set some things straight about what life is like in the Village. It’s entirely possible that some of this stuff might change next year but at least this way you’ll some sort of idea.

First things first: Arrival.

So you’ve taken the taxi/bus/been dropped off by a family member and now you’re standing in a car-park that looks scarily similar to every other car park around. In front of you is a cluster of squat brick buildings that look virtually identical except for the numbers stuck to some of them. To your right, depending on the car park you’ve chosen to arrive in, are three tall white buildings. That’s the new village but we’ll get to that later. For now what you need to do is follow the signs to the Admin building. If you’ve arrived after 11 p.m don’t panic, during check-in periods someone is always on call to help you get sorted out.

Basically during check-in the 3 big things you need to do are; 1) Sign a key contract, 2) Pick up a welcome pack and 3) Pick up a room inventory list.

1) This is basically a contract that makes you responsible for your key. If you lose it you get charged for a new one and the cost of replacing your lock. Try not to lose your key.

2) This one varies every semester. There is always a letter from the Village Director, a map of the Village, a list of the events that will be run over orientation and sometimes a USB key with the Village handbook on it. This stuff doesn’t really seem that vital but it can be useful to have an idea of what there is for you to do when you’re in an unfamiliar place.

3) I reckon this to be the most important item you can get. Essentially when you first move into your room there might be an awful lot of broken stuff. Filling out this form means you won’t get charged for any damage that was already there before you moved in.

When you’ve done all that you’ll have reached the stage known as; Orientation.

I consider this part to be the most important thing you can do in your first few weeks. You should try and get to know your flat-mates, find out what they like and don’t like, compare movie tastes, argue about music or sports and get legless together make every effort to meet as many people as you can. This isn’t the time to worry about your degree, whether or not you’ll do well, whether you need to take a folder or a laptop into lectures and if you should be a financial guild member or not (do it!).

I realise this might be the last thing parents want to read when they come to this blog but honestly these first weeks before University starts are crucial to how you’ll live. People who get on with their flat-mates are less likely to argue or fight with them over trivial issues and they tend to always have someone to watch TV with or share dinner. Your flat-mates are your family while you live in the Student Village. These are the people who will look after you when you’re sick, loan you some cash when that bank transfer has been delayed and be there for you when you get stressed about exams and assignments. Of course they will hopefully be able to rely on you for the same kind of treatment when things go wrong for them.

Finally after the exciting and hopefully fun orientation the boring University stuff starts. But as this post is primarily about the Village I think there are possibly a few misconceptions about what is and isn’t provided upon arrival.

For starters the brochures, at time of writing, advertise that every apartment has a phone. This is not the case as every phone was removed at the beginning of 2009. This is a little bit irritating but not a massive problem if you have Skype or a decent cell phone but it’s still something to be considered by International Students.

Secondly the internet is not free!! If you want to use internet in your room you’ve pretty much got to choose one of the ‘plans’ from the ISP the Village uses; Startech. The cheapest plan is $5 for an hour and the most expensive is $60 for a month. Honestly the internet isn’t so bad, there have been a lot of problems but I’ve had much the same experience with that of the University Internet. Again it’s not a deal breaker but some students are often a little put out by the fact they need to pay for, what some consider is, a basic need.

Finally upon arrival some students decide to purchase the linen pack. I might get into trouble for this, though I doubt it, but I’d advise against that. It’s probably cheaper to simply purchase the stuff individually from K-Mart which is about a 15 minute walk down the road; this goes for the cutlery pack too.

Overall I’d say the Village can be a great place to live. There are some fun events that you can attend, and some less fun ones that you can probably avoid, great people to meet, an easygoing environment to make friends and meet people from other countries, a pretty useful support network from the RA’s (my completely unbiased opinion as an RA there) and access to some handy facilities. If I hadn’t lived in the Village I probably wouldn’t have made as many great friends as I have nor had nearly as many of the exciting experiences. Some day, when I’m not liable to get sued, I’ll tell you guys about the naked Swede incident. But for now I think I will end this post here.

This past Sunday was Murdoch’s “Open Your Mind” Day. Essentially it was a very fancy version of the typical open day that many of you may recall from past schools. A big difference was the sheer amount of attractions on offer: tea-cup rides, a petting zoo and (my favourite) a candyfloss vendor.

Fortunately for my maturity, I couldn’t linger for too long at the tea-cup ride as I actually had a job to do. Another R.A, Callum, and I were going to be giving the tour of the village to any interested parents and prospective students. We figured it would be an easy case of showing maybe 5 or 10 people around the place and answering any questions they would have. We really underestimated the interest in the tour. By one o’clock the time had come to lead the group down to the Village, I did a quick headcount and estimated there were maybe 20 people. What I didn’t realise was that the big crowd of people standing behind the 20 I’d counted were also part of the tour.

Completely oblivious to the huge group that was following me I was amiably chatting to the people at the front of the line about Uni life and how badly Australia had been thrashed by England at the Ashes. I did notice a few strange looks by some friends of mine from the village, looking back I must have appeared as some modern interpretation of the pied piper, but again I didn’t make the necessary connections. Callum had already realised how big the crowd was as he had been responsible for the stragglers (the result of a lost coin toss on my part) but it was a bit late to warn me by then.

The first inkling that something had gone horribly wrong began to creep in when I climbed up some steps and turned to address my audience. I’m not terrible at public speaking, I’ve given presentations at Uni and for the village where I’ve had to address as many as 20 people, but the sight of 40 or 50 people waiting in breathless anticipation (or so I’d like to believe) for what I was about to say was un-nerving to say the least. Regardless I drew on all the Lessons University had taught me, preparing to launch into a hilarious account of living in the Student Village, peppering the account with useful information to help the prospective make an informed decision. Instead I pointed shakily at one of the security call buttons and explained in a stuttery voice what purpose they served. It didn’t improve from there.

Luckily I was able to procure a megaphone by the second stop on the tour so everyone could hear me trying to explain what the deal with the administration building and study centre was. Callum eased the pressure by effortlessly leading the rest of the tour and generally doing everything I’d wanted to do, only better. I, of course, take full credit for all of it as I’ve always considered myself to be his teacher and therefore any good that comes from anything he does I can shamelessly take credit for. He may not agree but that’s just the usual backchat you expect from your pupils. But in all honesty I think the tour did go smoothly overall and I hope there will be a few people who found it useful enough to make a decision on.

The rest of Open Your Mind looked just as successful. Murdoch really brought its strengths to the game in the Unit co-ordinators and lecturers who always seem so passionate about the subjects they teach. There were even a few live music acts scattered around campus, providing a nice atmosphere that reminded me a lot of the market days on Thursdays.

Anyways my final impressions were that, as nice as Open Your Mind was, it isn’t necessary to attend it. I don’t feel International Students are particularly hard done by if they don’t get to speak to the lecturers and unit co-ordinators before they choose Murdoch as the majority of the stuff being explained didn’t differ one iota from anything available online. As nice as the candyfloss was I would’ve felt gypped if I’d flown all the way from Zimbabwe to experience it before choosing Murdoch.