I know the year ended a couple of days ago but I need more time than that for reflection. So here are my belated feelings about 2009.

2009 was the year of the horrific bush fires in Victoria and the news was full of heart-breaking stories of families torn apart by this disaster. But rather than let the disaster define them I saw a side of Australia I’d never seen before as the people opened their hearts and gave so generously that I think a surplus of money was raised. We had a fund raiser at the Village and as one of the top donors I got to shave my boss completely bald, he was a good sport about all of it even the leg waxing he had to endure.

This was also the year when I got to meet some truly great people; Josh, Kat, Matt, Brittany, Andi, Adam, Callum, Cato, Cheri, Shradha, Simon, Sam, Rebecca, Sarah, Emily, Mana, Michael, Kara, Carole, Kitin, Helvin, Clarence, John, Dannia, Avi and many more. I also deepened existing relationships and although some people aren’t in my life as much anymore I still think that it was a good year for me in terms of getting to spend time with some pretty exceptional people.

Sadly this was the year that Dome cafe and I parted ways. It was an amiable split as my health wasn’t great and I was finding it a great strain to keep two jobs as well as study. Dome is a great cafe and the people there made it feel more like a family than a simple job so I did feel a lot of regret over leaving them. I feel pretty special because I can walk into Dome and get such a warm welcome and I think it really reflects well on the great people there.

2009 also saw the inauguration of Barack Obama which is, politics aside, a pretty historical occasion. I remember being up at like 2 or 3 in the morning with Avi to watch his speech and feeling so inspired by his words. Thumbs up Mr. President.

We also lost some pretty special people this year which is always sad especially when they have touched so many lives in so many ways. Michael Jackson, however you feel about him, was a spectacular entertainer. Edward Woodward was the original, and best, Wicker Man. Those two really stuck out for me, Michael Jackson because I followed his career and the much publicised trial and Edward Woodward because I really liked him as an actor.

This was also a pretty exceptional year for cinema as we had the film adaptation of Alan Moore’s excellent “Watchmen”, the re-boot of “Star Trek”, the boy-meets-girl-but-not-love story of “(500) days of Summer”, the tongue in cheek ‘historical’ film “Inglorious Basterds”, the touching story of “Up” which had me in tears and James Cameron’s simply all around excellent “Avatar”. I know there were also a lot of bad films released in 2009 but I’m trying to focus on the positives here.

In musical terms I got introduced to a heap of new bands in 2009, Davy Knowles & Backdoor Slam, Kate Miller-Heidke, Mumford & Sons, The Temper Trap, The Wagons, Art Vs. Science and many more. I love to listen to music as a form of relaxation and even meditation sometimes and learning about bands I haven’t heard before simply broadens my options.

Finally 2009 saw the blogging competition which really challenged me to write in different ways and pushed me to try untested ideas. Before this I’d never uploaded a video to youtube or really saw the value of twitter but now I’ve been show how interconnected all the social networking sites and programs really are. I didn’t win the competition which was a bit disappointing but I will wholeheartedly acknowledge that Jessica, http://unstable-stability.blogspot.com/, deserved the honour because she really showed what she was capable of. Thumbs up!

Overall I think 2009 was a mixed year, I had to deal with a lot of issues that affected my life and there were a lot of moments where I felt completely overwhelmed by circumstances that felt out of my control. There was also a profound sense of loss as some very special people in my life moved away or returned to their home countries and I certainly miss them a lot. However I think if 2009 taught me anything it’s that I am capable of a lot more than I realise and I really hope that in 2010 I will get a chance to prove it.

Happy New Year everybody, thank you for the kind words, the support and the emails. I hope each and every one of you has a great year.

Murdoch has set up a sort of quiz that determines which of the four dominant thinking styles you use is. I took this quiz and was rather surprised when it told me I was creative.

You see I’ve never really considered myself to be overly creative, while it is true I love to write I always thought creativity had more to do with painting beautiful pictures or composing a melody. This got me thinking about the true nature of creativity and what it meant to me, so without any further delays I present my thoughts on creativity.

As I’m writing this post I’m surrounded by the cardboard boxes I’ve been using to pack up my room. When I say surrounded I mean I’ve constructed a crude box fort at my door to repel any would be invaders of my realm. It sounds a bit stupid, and perhaps it is, but this is exactly what being creative means to me. It’s about taking a look at something mundane and choosing to instead see something spectacular.

With that in mind and with chalk in hand I headed up to campus with some friends and we drew a pretty cool chalk mural. Despite all the stress from packing and the left-over tension from exams I really had fun with the chalk and I think our end result speaks for itself. I wanted to show you how I see the world, a place that’s exciting and full of inspiration, even in the most unlikely places. Perhaps it’s a side-effect of having an over-active imagination but I honestly believe that my creativity comes from all around me and I need look no further than my window to be inspired.

Of course there is a down-side to all of this as I often catch myself day-dreaming in lectures and doodling all over my lecture notes. Last year during one of my foundation unit lectures I completely blanked out the lecture and instead spent the time sketching a penguin riding a motor-bike. By the end of the lecture I was none the wiser on the topic that was being talked about but I had come up with an entire back story for this penguin. He was a loner who hated the snow and ice and always wanted to escape, finally his chance came in the form of a lone hells-angel whom the penguin mugged and stole the motorbike from. It seems whimsical and pointless but I never let that stop me because if I did ideas like this blog would never exist.

Creativity also means facing every obstacle with a new approach; you don’t want to solve the problem like the hundreds of people before you have. This can lead to some fun and inventive solutions that a lot of people perhaps wouldn’t consider. It can also lead to a great deal of frustration if your solution doesn’t solve the problem or small details de-rail your efforts. I cannot count the number of times I’ve had a great idea or plan that has not come to fruition because of a small detail, or numerous small details, that I’ve overlooked. The trick is to not be discouraged by these set-backs and instead apply what you’ve learned each time to your next grand scheme and sooner or later you’ll exceed even your own expectations.

Travel Essentials
Originally uploaded by JonoGurney

When I came to Murdoch there were a few essential items that I brought with me that I am now gathering together in preparation for my holiday.

Notebooks

I usually travel by myself so in a bid to keep myself sane I tend to write an awful lot. This free-form writing can take many forms and I don’t show people the result out of shame for how bad it is. This year I’ve bought two notebooks and they will serve two unique purposes. The black notebook will be used to record my vacation in the event I contract amnesia, the red notebook will be used for my free-form writing and I don’t plan on showing it to anyone.

Passport

Everyone always says “Jono don’t forget your passport” but honestly how much do I really need a passport? I’m sure if I asked nicely customs and immigration would have no problem letting me into another country. I think I will take it anyway but that’s just because I think it’s a nice travel accessory.

Earphones & Headphones

I actually do need 3 pairs, extravagant though that sounds. The earphones are obviously for travel as they are convenient and I take two pairs in case the first pair has an accident. The headphones are a little sentimental to me as they’ve accompanied me on my major journeys and I find it really relaxing to listen to music on them while I write. They are Stagg headphones according to what’s written on the side of them.

iPod Touch

I came to Australia with a 30 GB iPod which I’d bought in the UK the year before. It was a faithful companion on most of my trips and it kept me entertained in a variety of situations, which is why I was sad when it eventually gave up the ghost a few months ago. The iPod that has replaced it has quickly found a place in my heart because of its least touted but most important feature, the ability to read books on it. If I didn’t have that ability the photo above would have a veritable library of books I would be taking with me to read on the trip.

iPod Cable

This is essential so that I can charge the iPod. Duh.

Batteries

The stack of batteries is for my camera (not pictured for obvious reasons) so that I won’t run out of juice at a vital moment. I’m hardly a photographer but I know the frustration of missing an important moment because my batteries died.

Spare SD Card

This is a small, 32mb, card for my camera. I generally use a 2GB in the camera which can hold about 400 photos or 20 minutes of film at highest resolution. I like to keep a spare around in case I run out of room when photographing something important but to tell the truth 32mb is not nearly enough and I will probably be buying a card with more space sometime this week

Mobile Phone

I think the most crucial piece of equipment is the one that allows me to stay in communication with people who can come and rescue me if needs be. Sim cards are pretty cheap the world over so I don’t foresee many problems with picking getting one for the duration of my trip.

Pens

These are as important to me as the iPod. The parker pen I have had since I arrived in Australia as I bought two to take notes and stupidly left one in the Lecture room. Since then I have kept its brother safe. The second pen was actually a gift to me on my twenty first Birthday a few weeks ago from my Uncle and Aunt who live in Australia. I usually remain pretty loyal to the parker pen but this new pen has earned its place in the photo.

So that is pretty much what I will be taking with me to the UK and Zimbabwe. I’ll probably take some clothes and stuff as well but really these are the only important items.

A dark pall hangs over Murdoch these days, students look harried and dash furtively from the library to the cafe and back again clutching precious mugs of coffee. Meals go uneaten, dishes go undone and blogs don’t get updated. Yes, exam season is underway and with it comes all the stress and anxiety that comes from your entire future being decided in two hours of frantic writing.

It may surprise many of you to find out that I am actually very productive during the exam periods. I tidy my room, play noughts & crosses and even find the time to update the blog. This is merely a very productive form of procrastination as I avoid the stacks of textbooks and lecture notes that I know I really should be reading. Revision is a dirty word that must not be uttered in case the crushing despair descends once more.

This is also the part of semester where everything gets confused, you want to feel happy for the upcoming holiday and the chance to see old friends again but on the other hand it’s a bit sad to say goodbye to the people you’ve lived with, especially those you’re unlikely to see again. There’s also that stress I mentioned earlier over whether you have passed the year or if you will get a letter from the University politely asking you never to return. All in all it’s a pretty busy part of semester so I feel completely vindicated spending my time dealing with these issues instead of revising.

Students who don’t live in Perth and that don’t plan on spending the long summer in WA are scrambling around trying to find storage units and trying to pack 50 kgs of stuff into boxes built for maybe half of that. If you’re staying over the summer expect a lot of anxious friends to show up in the coming days with an over-flowing box and an apologetic look on their faces. Gradually your own room will begin to fill up with so much other people’s stuff you will be forced to close the curtains and pretend you aren’t in. Not that I’ve ever done that.

Anyway this summer I will be heading to the UK to see friends and family for the first time in over two years before heading home for a Christmas in Zimbabwe. This will involve a lot of long flights and longer layovers in South Africa but I’m confident it will all work out alright and when things go horribly wrong I’ll be sure to put it up here for everyone to enjoy.

Now I think I’ve spent enough time writing this and it is time to do some actual studying, or I might read a book. Expect to see my assignment entry this upcoming Sunday, I don’t want to give away too much but there is going to be a LOT of chalk in it.

If the video is anything to go by what I am most passionate about is not getting hurt which is certainly true, however I believe the real question to me when I started thinking about this assignment was “What is passion?”

Passion is a loaded word that covers both good and evil. We see people who are passionate about causes they support and we see people commit crimes of passion. Therefore passion, to me, represents a powerful driving force. Whether we use it to build or destroy is entirely our own individual responsibility. I also strongly believe that passion is mutable, it can shift and change over time but it will always be that powerful flame within us that drives us to excel at our chosen tasks.

So after answering those questions, at least to my own satisfaction, I needed to seriously ponder what career my passion would drive me to pursue.

I’ve lived in a lot of different places, studied a lot of different things and wanted to do a lot of different jobs. I studied Law, Psychology and English Language when I was at Varndean and I was really passionate about each of those subjects so when it came to University I tried to pick a degree that would allow me, in its own way, to pursue those options. I wanted to be a lawyer, a psychologist and a writer all at the same time so it was clear to me that I’d need more time before making a serious decision on my future career.

Fast forward two and a half years and here I am, still trying to decide what I want to do with my life with only one year of university left. Thankfully a lot has happened in those two years to help shape my life and give me some direction to follow. The simple answer now is that I want to be a writer.

Writing to me represents the art of language, whether in songs, poetry or even stories. I certainly find that I am better at expressing myself in written language and I find writing sincere prose to be easier than public speaking. I also have a very active imagination and writing allows me to tap into it and express it in ways that mere spoken word could never do justice. I also really believe that writing is the most honest and open way of communication I know. It isn’t easy to put your most personal thoughts into words and share them with others but the fact you do gives weight to anything you say.

Whether it’s writing my own books or for a small newspaper is not the concern for me, the point is to be doing something that I really love and managing to turn it into a career that I can make a living out of. I have no illusions about the difficulty of this and I am willing to take on extra classes, do post-graduate studies and work as an un-paid intern all for the chance to make this happen. It’ll be a long and difficult journey but that’s usually the case when you set out to achieve something worthwhile.

This kind of undertaking also isn’t possible without friends and family. They are the ones who you trust to be ruthless with the red pen as they look through your work and highlight what works and what doesn’t work. Sometimes their criticism can hurt and learning to take it on board is hard but if you’re too afraid to show your work to the people close to you then it will be even tougher to show to the whole world.

Of course success isn’t guaranteed either, the publishing market can be fickle and so is inspiration. Thus we see the darker side of passion, you want desperately to be a writer but you aren’t published or you cannot seem to find the words to express yourself. This is a risk that cannot be idly discarded but you cannot let it paralyse you either. I know the likelihood of being a successful author is slim but I will still give it my best shot.

Also, just because I am always honest with you guys, I do my own stunts and they hurt.

Only a week and a bit late here is my full write-up for the One Movement festival that brought summer to Perth for a weekend before disappearing back to wherever it came from.

I honestly had no idea what to expect from OM, I’d only really heard of a couple of the bands that were billed to perform and even then there was only one that I was really keen to see but the sun was bright and the only alternative was to sit inside a dark room and do my assignments so I slapped on some sunscreen, slipped on the thongs and joined my friends on the bus to the train station.

Joining me on this adventure were three very good friends and seasoned music fans: Callum, the world renowned hand model, is a die-hard festival goer and was well versed with the various pit-falls we would face, Sam, our easygoing giant, was an expert at using his height to spot gaps in the crowds which we could use to navigate closer to the stage and finally Simon had an excellent idea of which bands were good to see and which bands we could safely miss. To be honest there was a lot more of the former than of the latter but I’m getting ahead of the story.

One Movement was being held on the banks of the Swan River so we had a beautiful view of the Perth Eye and the Bell Tower and the hundreds of billboards from the sponsors of the festival. This also meant that getting there was as easy as taking a train to Perth from Murdoch and hopping off at the Esplanade station before taking a short walk to the entrance and getting ourselves all wrist-banded in preparation for a wild weekend of music.

Our first stop after getting in was the drinks tent which was already doing good business despite the gates having only opened an hour before we arrived. A round of beers before making our way to the big stage seemed liked the just the plan. I always hate standing in line for drinks, no matter where I am, because I look so young. OM was no exception as I got asked for ID twice while standing in line and then had to produce it again when I was buying beer tickets. I’m sure I’ll be laughing about when I’m thirty and I look twenty but I’ll probably still be getting asked for ID then as well so we will see.

As I mentioned earlier the festival brought the summer that had been absent from Perth for so long and by early afternoon we were all quite eager to get into the shade and away from the burning Daystar. Luckily the festival organisers showed great foresight and there was a nice big tent where about half the festival crowd was hiding while the other half slowly burnt to a crisp. It was a great tent actually as they had set up a stage inside and we got to witness our first act while we enjoyed our beers.

The festival was divided into 4 stages with different acts from different genres taking place simultaneously which meant there was always somebody setting up or some band playing their hearts out. There was also a myriad of stalls and other activities that you could do to keep you occupied while the bands you were waiting to see got set up. One such activity was the silent disco which basically involved putting on a pair of wireless headphones and dancing like a loon to music only you could hear. I’m not going to say that I do this a lot but the practice I’ve had definitely helped an awful lot.

Murdoch University also had a stall up where they were giving out free stuff, I was a bit let down when I found out they were not handing out degrees but the free shirts were nice too so I will make do. I’ll be honest that it was around this stage that the festival fever took us and we spent most of the day dancing to bands, asking bands to marry us and just generally having a great time wandering around the place. A few key moments from Saturday stood out, number one was Davy Knowles and Backdoor Slam performing, they were spectacular. The second spectacular moment was grabbing food to eat after we realised it had been rather a long day without any sustenance other than beer. Festival food was expensive but oh so good, spring rolls have never tasted so springy than when you eat them freshly made. The third moment was The Wagons front-man mouthing off at the Perth skyline and what he believed it represented. After that we spent some wind-down time in the Village playing Tekken in preparation for a wild night at the after-party.

This may not be fair to say but One Movement did not have that many big names bands performing. But this, in my humble opinion, was probably for the best because it meant that there weren’t massive egos that needed to be stroked for every performance. All the bands that I saw seemed gratified with the response they got from the good people of Perth and from what was being said it sounds like a lot of them will be coming back which is means only good things for Perth’s future.

After we were done with the festival on Saturday we decided to really up the ante for the after-party. V energy drinks were handing out these interesting little concoctions called “Pocket Rockets” which are for all intents and purposes a normal V drink on a much smaller scale. The girl handing them warned me about drinking two in a day so I decided to be a responsible rock-star and follow the warning labels. Pocket Rockets don’t taste nice and I probably wouldn’t buy one if they were for sale and I think I understand now why they warn you about drinking more than one.

Anyway after we all stopped shaking from the energy hit we piled into Simon’s car “Lucy” and headed for the Georgia in Perth to see Davy Knowles and Backdoor Slam again. It was another spectacular performance and we ended the night with a 4 a.m run to McDonalds before all collapsing out of exhaustion. On a scale of one to ten I would rate that day as being somewhere in the 100 zone.

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end. For me this meant I had to spend most of Sunday working on important assignments and making sure I didn’t miss any deadlines. Thankfully I got enough done to head into Perth in time to see the end of the festival with three amazing performances; Art vs. Science, Kate Miller-Heidke and Hilltop Hoods.

I was already a fan of Kate Miller-Heidke and seeing her perform live was quite spectacular and it’s always nice to find that the bands you like aren’t simply over-produced to sound good on their albums. Hilltop Hoods were really good fun, I hadn’t really heard much of their stuff before but that didn’t stop me from breaking out all the dance moves from the silent disco all over again. I did get punched in the head by a friendly fellow who was likewise dancing like no-one was watching but I do not begrudge him the few head taps or the light concussion that followed.

So overall it was a really great weekend. I got to hear a lot of bands that I would have otherwise not have known about, spend some time in the sun and just generally have a great time with friends which really in my mind is what a good music festival is all about. There will be a small selection of photos up on Flickr with more going up next month when my limit is reset.

As part of assignment 3 for the Murdoch Blogging Competition we were asked to think of 10 things that Murdoch meant to us. I grabbed my camera and renowned hand model Callum Smith and headed up to campus to give you guys an idea of the things I like to see when I am on campus.

1. There are islands of peace on a busy campus

This should speak for itself really. Campus can get a little bit claustrophobic at times with so many people around so it's nice to have the option to retreat and find a bit of peace and quiet. This photo was taken at the Murdoch Peace Garden, there's a small open gazebo with a waterfall behind it's here I occasionally go when I'm feeling overwhelmed by assignments and the press of the crowd.

2. There is an honest-to-God Bank on Campus (I think)

I may be the only person who thinks this is cool but if you decide you desperately need to apply for a bank account and you happen to be on campus then you need go no further than the Refectory. I don't personally bank with Bankwest but I still get a lot of use out of the ATM they have installed just outside their branch, many is the time I would have starved were it not there.

3. Beers between lectures!

Perhaps one of the best/worst things about going to University is discovering that there is a bar on campus and that it is open during the time you are on campus. It can be a huge temptation to drop by in the gap between lectures and tutorials to have a few beers with some friends. I will neither confirm nor deny that I have ever done this but I definitely think it's a great part of Murdoch.

4. You can access the library 24 hours a day! (Sort of)

Again this is a bit of a double-edged sword. If you have any studying that needs to be done then you can access the library with your student card at any time. This has occasionally led to me being there till 4 a.m so I do advise only using the library in moderation because it can be habit forming.

5. Steamed BBQ chicken buns!

You may notice that the photo doesn't actually have any steamed BBQ chicken buns but I promise that is just an optical illusion and I didn't eat them. The steamed buns are perhaps my favourite food from the Refectory and for the price I could probably live off them for a semester. I won't for obvious reasons but it's nice to know that the option is there.

6. There is a lot of weird/cool art on campus

Case in point the photo above. I can't honestly say that I know what the sculpture is about/of but I still think that it is pretty cool. There is also a statue further down from Bush Court that regularly gets new clothes from willing donors. Most recently it was dressed in really colourful garments as part of Pride Week.

7. You can book a ticket home on campus!

Murdoch has a travel agent on campus and they are all really nice and helpful. I was able to book my entire flight home these coming holidays and pay for it on campus without any major dramas. They are also used to dealing with students who don't have much money so they try and find you a decent fare without making your flight a ridiculous series of stop-over's.

8. Students without Borders and Social Justice Centre

Feeling like you want to make a difference in the world? Look no further than the Social Justice Centre. They offer a really wide range of volunteer opportunities and ensure that you'll have a great experience. They are also there to help out any students who experience any sort of discrimination which still happens these days.

9. Wide variety of native flora and fauna

On my second night at Murdoch I got to meet a Southern Brown Bandicoot, also known as a Quenda, as it hopped around outside my flat. Murdoch is surrounded by lots of common Australian plants and gum trees so as an international student it is pretty cool getting to see some of the weird and wonderful plants around.

10.Chance of encountering Pirates!

There is a pirate flag hanging up at Murdoch University Village. Statistics show that you are 90% more likely to run into a pirate at Murdoch than at any other University in Western Australia and not the kind of pirates who use the internet to violate copyright law but the genuine article.

So that is my top ten list for why I like Murdoch. This kind of task is very subjective so there's a good chance that a lot of you won't agree with me on the particulars but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.

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.

A whimsical creature, it comes not when summoned but is known to creep up on the unsuspecting. Nobody is completely immune to its soft siren call although some can resist for days on end often with chemical help. It’s also one of the most valuable resources a student has and must be hoarded whenever possible.

When I was in my first year, all those months ago, I got very stressed out about University. I would spend all day in class, go back to the village and eat dinner and then go back up to the library. At about 3 a.m I would walk back from the library, exhausted and not any more confident in myself, only to get up early the next day and repeat the cycle. It was inevitable that the sleep deprivation would catch up with me and on the night before one of my exams it did. I had been studying too hard and getting very little memorised when I just collapsed, luckily I was in my room studying on my bed. The next day I slept through the alarm I had set, waking up feeling very groggy at 9 instead of 7. My exam was at 9:30. Even today I get a little frightened at how I nearly decided to go back to sleep, luckily I glanced at my watch and my brain did a little scream propelling me out of bed and into the shower. I did pretty well in that exam but that’s not really the point, from that day forward I vowed to never let myself get so sleep deprived.

It’s a vow I’ve broken many times, sometimes because of exams, sometimes because of assignments and sometimes because I just didn’t want to go to sleep when I could be hanging out with my friends instead. I think the last one is perhaps one that a lot of people can relate too. I didn’t exactly have a curfew when I lived with my uncle but they had work in the morning so there would come a time when I would be alone in the living room while everyone else was asleep upstairs. When I started at Murdoch I could wander into the living room at 3 a.m and find my flat-mates watching the television or simply talking for hours about nothing. It was amazing for the first few weeks but after I started dozing off in lectures I kind of realised I would have to start being a bit smarter about when I went to bed.

At first I got around the sleep I was losing from late-night studying by simply drinking a lot of coffee. This seemed to work for a week or two but I still did have trouble focusing when I’d pull all nighters on my assignments, until I discovered No Doz. I’m not going to list the numerous problems I had with No Doz, nor do I think it necessary to tell the story about the time it made me shake so much in a lecture that my notes were illegible. I think if you learn anything from this blog let it be that No Doz is not a good idea. Ever.

I guess the point is that sleep is very important to your average student. I would like to believe that I can build up a ‘bank’ of sleep over the holidays and on the weekends but really that’s more of a temporary measure. Sometimes you will just lie in bed and stress out over exams and assignments that you know are going to be there when you wake up but sooner or later you learn to just push it all aside and relax. A lot of people I know find that the early hours of the morning are their most productive; perhaps the removal of other distractions helps their concentration. Personally I find it helps with mine but you might find it just makes you tired.

So at the end of the day you’ve got to decide when you go to bed. Maybe you’ll want to stay up to read that final chapter in your textbook, or have one more beer with a friend but at the end of the day I hope you guys don’t neglect your pillows as I did in my first year. Also I hope you learn the lesson about No Doz without having to find out first hand.

We’ve all had days when the alarm goes off and we wake up feeling like death warmed up. The causes of this can be manifest. Sometimes we’ve simply had too much to drink, sometimes it was that extra couple of hours you decided were worth sacrificing to get that assignment done and sometimes it is simply because our fragile student immune systems have been over-powered by some virulent virus that seeks our destruction.

Admittedly it is far more likely that we’ve simply come down with a simple case of the snuffles or a little bit of food poisoning but when you have an 8:30 lecture everything feels worse. A bit of a headache suddenly feels like a herd of elephants in your skull, a slightly sore throat feels like sandpaper and your bed feels even more comfortable than it has ever felt before. There is a lot of debate over the best move to make at this point. Some recommend going to the doctor and others suggest shrugging it off and heading to class. I’m a strong advocate of lying on the couch, sipping Lemsip and watching Dr. Phil till I feel better. If whatever I’ve got hasn’t gone away by the next day then it’s time to head up to campus to make an appointment to see a doctor.

International students should breathe a sigh of relief here as OSHC makes it free to see a doctor on campus. They also partially cover the cost of some of the medicine you might get prescribed so keep the receipts and take them to the International office on Monday, Wednesday or Friday to be compensated. OSHC does not cover an ambulance unless there’s a serious emergency so unless you want to fork out $500 for a trip to the hospital you’d be well advised to take out separate ambulance cover when you arrive because you never know when you’ll use it.

As far as hospitals go Murdoch has one right next door, St John of God. However, it is a private hospital which means OSHC does not cover getting treatment there. In an emergency I’d recommend heading into Fremantle as the hospital there IS covered by OSHC, at least partially, so at least you won’t be stuck with a big bill after treatment. I do not recommend hanging out in the emergency room without a friend or two as some of the people that wander in can be rather scary especially at 3 a.m. on Halloween.

For sexual health and counselling services you can go to the Health & Counselling centre. Generally speaking the nurse is always on hand to help out people without needing an appointment. The nurse is very nice and won’t laugh at you when you have a minor freak out during a blood test, not that I’ve ever done that. I haven’t had any one to one time with the counsellors but they ran a workshop on shyness last semester and I found them to be very pleasant. There are also regular STD screenings that students can get if they feel they need it as well as free condoms available to help practice safe sex. All in all it’s a very useful service on campus.

I think students have pretty decent health services on campus apart from some problems with OSHC. If you can afford it then perhaps checking out some private alternatives wouldn’t be a bad idea but not essential. That’s probably enough rambling on this topic but I might blog a bit more about student health later in the semester, especially with the village being a breeding ground for flu, but more on that later.

I think if you’re reading this then there is a good chance that you were directed here from the blogging competition website, this post isn’t directed at you. Rather this is directed at people who may have simply stumbled across this blog through Google or even Bing.

Firstly I believe some explanation is in order. This blog is one of many that are competing to win the title of Murdoch Blogger 2010. Aside from the obvious prestige of winning such a title there is also the opportunity of an internship at Sunset Events and being paid for a year to blog about student life. I will not lie to you dear reader, I would very much like to win this competition. If the sound of this competition has caught your attention then I suggest checking out the official website: http://bloggers.murdoch.edu.au/bloggers/

From there I think having a good look at all the other bloggers competing would be a very good idea. Maybe you will decide to vote for one of them, maybe you’ll decide to vote for me. Either way I think it’s a unique idea and deserves checking out.

Regardless of whether I win or lose I will probably keep writing the stuff that I enjoy writing. I hope you decide to stick around.

I’m sitting behind my mahogany desk, one of the few left in the world, staring out across New York City. My executive office is located in one of the beautiful skyscrapers and though I am a little bit scared of heights the view is no less breathtaking. On my wall, placed so visitors can easily see, hangs my framed degree. It is a simple piece of paper that reads:

Jonathan Gurney, Bachelor of Arts in Security, Terrorism and Counterterrorism Studies.

I look up and smile at it before turning back to the blog entry I’m composing and...Freeze. None of this is real. Let the desk vanish, taking with it the fancy office and skyscraper view. My real desk is actually located in an open-plan environment; I have my own computer and company phone line (extension 8859), a rather nice desk lamp and a whole 1 metre of extra space before the next guy’s desk starts. My computer is currently showing a really boring screensaver of the company logo. I tried changing it a week ago but the IT department insisted that I keep it the same.

Pinned to the wall of my cubicle is a picture of a rather dirty looking dog chewing on a forlorn teddy bear. This is my dog Dickens, I have to pick him up from the kennels when I’m done here as I can’t really leave him to his own devices around the house. Underneath the picture is a post-it which simply has the word ‘milk’ on it in a very untidy scrawl. I gave Dickens the last of my lactose free milk this morning because I was sure I had another carton under the sink. I didn’t. No milk means no coffee which means a much slower day. I could grab a mug from the employee lounge but I will be leaving early today anyway, Tuesday’s always end early because the upper management has late lunch meetings with the competitors. It’s a civilised way to do business and as we all get the rest of the day off I sincerely hope it continues.

Let’s talk about my job. Am I a best-selling writer or an international super spy? The cubicle environment should really have given the answer away. I actually work in an advertising firm doing research on the impact some of our previous campaigns have had. Thus I have joined so many other graduates in the great tradition of doing something completely un-related to your degree but I’ve still found a lot of the skills that I picked up during University to be very useful, particularly the research practice I used to have to do. I’m also not very senior in the company, I have at least 3 bosses and each of them seems to want something different which is another thing University prepared me for as I used to have to take 3 different units at once. I guess the people in charge have taken notice of this also as they are hoping to give me extra training and give me more responsibility, there was even some talk about giving me the chance to help develop an actual advertising campaign. If nothing else the extra money would help take a bit of the pinch out of mortgage payments.

My salary is decent enough at the moment to have allowed me to take out a reasonable mortgage on a small house. It is by no means my dream home but it’s comfortable and it has a small garden for Dickens to run around in. Also it’s quite handy for a small park that is only about ten or fifteen minutes walk away. On days like today, when I get out of work early, I generally walk Dickens down to the park for a good long game of fetch. It tires him out nicely so by the time I am getting ready to go out with some friends he is fast asleep in his basket. I think we will be going to dinner and then karaoke tonight. Hopefully I won’t be expected to sing, although I guess most of my friends were there for my hugely drunken performance of ‘Build me up Buttercup’ when I was still at University so it’s not like I can really embarrass myself more than that.

As for writing, well I haven’t let that fall entirely to the wayside. I contribute the occasional article and opinion piece to a local newspaper. It doesn’t pay at all but I like it, although one of my recent opinion pieces drew the ire of a local resident who proceeded to send me some very angry letters but they have since apologised. I think one of my greatest achievements was brought about through the newspaper. There was a plan to demolish the local park where I walk Dickens and I was asked to do an article on it. I think it would have been very easy for me to simply write a scathing denouncement of the construction company, but really for them it was simply good business so I didn’t. Instead I tried to come at the issue from a different perspective, simply reminiscing about the good times I had enjoyed at the park and how I would miss it. I could not have predicted the vocal response that this article would get as it seems a great many of the elderly residents in this area also have very fond memories of the park and were horrified to find out it was going to be built upon. The sight of a hundred old folks picketing a construction company is something that I will never forget. The article was so well received in fact that, according to the editor, the newspaper was contacted by a much bigger publication asking for the details on the writer. I haven’t been contacted yet but it was still quite exciting.

So that’s really a snapshot of my life as it is right now. It may not seem like I’ve accomplished everything I wanted to when I was in University but now I am in a position where I actually know how to accomplish those goals. If I could give myself some advice I wouldn’t waste my time by telling him to work harder, he never listens to anyone that says that so why would he listen to me? Instead I’d tell him that his degree isn’t magical and most of the harder work comes after University, but if he completes University he’ll be a lot better prepared to face it. Now if you’ll excuse me I can see my boss getting up from his desk with his jacket, this is usually the signal that the rest of us can go home. I mustn’t forget milk.

Jonathan

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.

Last night I was sitting in front of my computer, researching the hundreds of sources (well at least ten) than I need to be able to write my assignments. This isn’t that unusual, generally speaking I do use the computer to do most, if not all, my assignments. What was unusual was the open punnet of strawberries that I had absent-mindedly been grazing from.

I don’t wish for you to think that a magical punnet of strawberries had appeared and I was shocked by it, rather I was surprised to find that I was eating healthy food while doing an assignment. On average I have perhaps 10 assignments per semester. They vary from group project work to online quizzes to the essay that I am currently working on. For the most part I find the assignments to be easy or at least easy if I have been keeping up with the readings and attending lectures. This all changes when the assignment in question is an essay. I don’t know what it is, some people call it laziness and others call it procrastination but I genuinely find it difficult to work on these sorts of assignments unless it’s in one great block. I have friends who do a bit of work in week 1, a bit in week 2 and finish it in week 3. I feel very jealous of their pain-staking preparation but no matter how hard I try to emulate their good study practices inevitably I find my concentration slipping away until I end up on Wikipedia doing random searches and reading articles on super-volcanoes.

I don’t wish for you to think that I never get my assignments done or that the essays even require that much preparation. Generally speaking I have only had 2 extensions and I always make the greatest of efforts to meet my deadlines. I also say with no small amount of pride that I have never failed an assignment. But that does little to mitigate my great feeling of shame that I do not seem capable of planning anything in advance. Murdoch actually offers seminars and workshops on dealing with procrastination and managing your time but I’ve never found the time to attend any of them and I hesitate to skip lectures to make the time. Anyways that’s not really the purpose of this blog post; rather I would like to take this time to explain why I found the strawberries so shocking.

I try to eat a balanced diet. I cannot say with any truth that I have ever really succeeded at this as, no matter how much I tell my body that broccoli or spinach is good for it, I still buy my fair share of snack foods. Usually this is because of my unusual appetite while I’m writing assignments. I tend to enter a sort of fugue state where I ignore everything including the passage of time, anything my flatmates say to me and my need to eat. Of course this rather upsets my stomach that then begins to whine and bitch about the lack of sustenance, so I fetch a packet of chips or some chocolate or some such trash to placate it. However as the night grows long the fugue state grows worse. I begin to eat things that can hardly be described as food until eventually I am chewing my pen into nothingness. Eventually I will leave this state and stare in amazement at the devastation that has been visited upon my desk, empty chip packets, chocolate wrappers, pyramids of empty cans and a very forlorn pen that looks like rats got to it. Sadly I never really have time to properly lambast myself as the assignment is then due.

After submitting it however I vow to never eat junk food again. From then on it will only be dry crackers, healthy fruit, and a 5km run every morning. This vow will have been completely forgotten by the time I’m next visiting the supermarket and I see the great specials on chocolate (3 for 2).

I guess what I’m trying to say is that practicing good nutrition is hard if you tend to favour the crucible method of essay writing so for part of the semester you may be susceptible to a mild case of scurvy (this actually isn’t a joke I know a student who has suffered from this after he attempted to survive solely on mi goreng) but every now and then your brain will make the right choices for you and you’ll look down and find strawberries.

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.