Concerts & Clubbing

Wednesday 23 September, 2009

* Eddie’s Attic – an excellent evening spent listening to Ten out of Tenn, and restoring my faith in the South (in terms of music). Anirban had stumbled upon this live-music venue after researching the beginnings of John Mayer, so we decided to try this quaint little music room out – and what a pleasant surprise! Ten out of Tenn is a 10-person music collaboration of local American artists, mainly from Tennessee but also Chicago, playing indie-rock (reminded me of Broken Social Scene). During their performance, each artist would take the lead in singing & playing the guitar, whilst the others supported them, and this rotation went on for the entire night. My favourite performances were by Kyle Andrews, Mikky Ekko, and Joy Williams though the others were also really good! It was hard to decide which album to buy at the end of the night, but Jana, Anirban and I ended up getting 4 (Andrew Belle, Mikky Ekko, Joy Williams as well as the group album).

From the outside...

Ten out of Tenn (the entire band)

Mikky Ekko, Joy Williams and Jedd Hughes (guitarist for Keith Urban)

Jedd Hughes

For their encore, the band got off the stage and sung 'Don't worry, be happy' in the crowd. It was so sweet!

Me and Jana quite excited at the end

Clockwise from top left: Joy Williams, Mikky Ekko, Ten out of Tenn Volume 3, Andrew Belle

* Opera – after the initial success of Eddie’s Attic, I was excited to go out afterwards, and had heard that Opera (supposedly the ‘best’ club in Atlanta) was open for 18+. It’s incredibly difficult for me to go out in America because of their outdated and unnecessary rule of 21+ entry. So this was a rare opportunity and we rustled up enough people to grab a cab. Donning our nice clothes, we were ready to have a good evening…..but what a LETDOWN! Nobody was there by the time we got to Opera (round 1:00), except for a few shady short ugly guys. They were like moths which we had to try to swat away. I am disappointed that the only way in which Americans know how to dance (at least those in the South, I stand corrected about the rest of the country but hopefully I’ll get to see if NY is different) is to grind. I guess the slow r&b beats encourages this style, but all you see in the club is couples (guys/girls, sometimes girls/girls) dry humping. Get a room!!! In this respect I miss European or Australian clubs where you can have fun and dance with guys without worrying about your clothes flying off.

Also, needless to say, the international students were by far the best dressed. Next time I’m going in shorts!

Our house director actually thought we were going to see the opera, as opposed to the club. Ahh, I love the Europeans!

In da club...Angie, Jana and myself - IB girls!

 

Thursday 24 September, 2009

* Sean Kingston – Headline act for Homecoming Week. To be honest, I hadn’t really heard of any of his songs except for “Me Love”, so went frat hopping instead and only caught the last 20 minutes of his act. By the time I went to Sean Kingston, I being the asian lightweight, was sufficiently happy to listen to him croon ‘beautiful girls’. Not the most amazing concert I’ve been to but it was still enjoyable!

Sean Kingston

* After party at Moya – another 18+ club night, but surprisingly it was good! For one thing, there were more people, and although there was still excessive grinding, they played a variation of music (rnb given, but also pop and dance) that I had a great time dancing monkey style (ala flailing my arms around) with friends. Also, my new dress code for clubs: shorts, sneakers and tank! Assists with crazy dancing and also means I don’t have to worry about my dress being ruined!

An even crazier cab ride - 11 people this time. Now I know how it feels to be a sardine

Moya

View from the stairwell at the end of the night. Most people had already left

When we got back to the IB house, we chilled in the lounge and sobered up by listening to U2. They’re coming to Atlanta and I shall be seeing them in 2 weeks! And Muse is their supporting act!!! All for $35! (although we’ll only prob see them as little dots).

Si Wei and Marco

Will be hiding in my bat cave to study intensely this weekend. Have a 30% international finance exam next week – need to get my act together! It feels like it’s been a 3 month holiday thus far!

Jimmy Carter

Every year, Jimmy Carter (Former president of USA and Nobel Prize Winner 2002) comes to Emory University for a Q&A session with students. This year, the event was held in the Woodruff PE Center, but unfortunately due to a wind storm the entire bottom level of the gym was flooded (okay I exaggerate – it was puddly). For some reason all the buildings in Emory don’t seem to be waterproof because the basement and kitchen in the IB house was also dripping – kind of reminds me of PLC’s Centre for Performing Arts, where on the outside it looks quite impressive, but when it really matters (i.e. wet weather), there is no protection from the elements!

The event started off with an introduction from Dooley, the unofficial Emory mascot (the official one is the Eagle).

Then Carter came on. His first question was light-hearted: i.e. what do you think of Kanye’s interruption? He also answered a few questions about Israel-Egypt-Palestine (for which he won the Nobel Prize), health care reform in the US (needed), what he thought of Obama (22 out of 22 members of his family voted for Obama), whether racism still existed (yes) and other questions about his family. A few lucky exchange kids actually got to meet him and take a proper photo with him because they were clever enough to wait for him outside the conference room in which he was having dinner. But with my trusty zoom, I managed to get this blurry shot…

President Jim Carter

This past week I’ve been playing intense table tennis with Rehan and my butt cheeks have never ached so much (who woulda thunk!) Also went in a crazy cab ride where we squished 10 people into a 7 person cab. Played ‘flip cups’ and ‘beer pong’, and other cliche American games at a random’s bday party, then party hopping for the rest of the night.

A few other exciting news:

* will be heading to NYC in 2 wks

* booked flights to Mexico City for thanksgiving! swine flu? bah! Emory has the highest concentration of swine flu cases in the States. We have the Centre for Diseases right next to our uni…plus who can resist the call of sombreros, nachos, tequila, pyramids and volcanos! so far, around 6 of us are going.

* am now leaving for a music gig! pictures coming soon

smells fishy

Saturday September 12, 2009

A day at Georgia Aquarium, supposedly the largest in the world.

Here I got to indulge in my ultimate nerdy fantasy – laughing at ugly fish, with their ogly glassy eyes and pouty lips, and taking photos of them. A la the following photos. Enjoy.

View from the top

I wish my legs were as long as those on this hugeass crab (it was bigger than a lobster)

Beluga whale

hhhhhhahhhhaaaaaa

Starfish don't nearly amuse me as much. For one thing, where are their eyes?

Electric Feel

I don't know what this is, but it has whiskers so I'm calling it a catfish

CUTEST chinese otters. Those frisky little things

Touching the mini manta rays. They feel like rubbery slimy gloves

New desktop background?

Looks like..

Gotcha!

shrooms

shark attack

whale shark

oh to be young again

Group shot - Si Wei, Milan, Michal, myself, Daniel, Kev (Anirban missing)

And last but not least, my favourite….

she has a fringe! Reminds me of hair spray. Or Dory from Finding Nemo.

We also watched the 4D movie but it didn’t live up to my expectations after the great movie we saw in Coca-Cola World. I was fully expecting rocking chairs and sea spray and wind, but instead it turned out to be some cartoon animation with lots of wholesome family tunes. Yeehhaa.

That night was spent watching 21. Great movie. Las vegas please! But not 21 😦

September 11

A day of food and friends 🙂

After waking up at my usual lazy 10am, I discovered there was a free event for International students! Exxxxxxcellent. Although I wouldn’t usually like to be categorized as an ‘international’ student, here I gladly embraced such a name…FREE FOOD!

Daniel, Marco and Kev

Jana, Rehan and myself

We listened to the president of Emory talk about how the uni’s coping with the recession, mainly by reducing its funding of student programs. Great, just when I’m here! but I honestly can’t really tell because the uni exudes so much wealth. The library, which is open 24 hours (that in itself is amazing!) has so many Mac computers and double-screened computers at every booth. No need for laptops.

Afterwards, we headed over to the quad where there was a display in remembrance of September 11. I can’t believe it’s been 8 years.

One flag for each victim - around 4000

That afternoon, Jana and I started marinading the chicken for asian food night!

A very competant chef who can open bottle lids and turn on the stove for me. What would I do without her!

mmmmmmmmm chicken tonight.

The food was devoured within half an hour. I didn’t kill anybody, and it was resoundingly agreed that it was better than DUC food. haha. We later found out that we can get $25 funding every week for communal events such as this! So next week we’re gonna have another cooking night. Italian again! Then dutch pancakes yyyyyayyyyyyy.

Si Wei's cheese on mushrooms grill

That night we played many rounds of drinking games and mafia. Mafia was once again the favourite/highlight. This time there were enough people to have 3 mafia, a sheriff and a doctor so the game became very complex as we tried to read each other’s faces (incorrectly) and discern who was the mafia. I was a terrible mafia, but a pretty good citizen i.e. couldn’t play strategically to deceive people, but I was pretty good at interrogating and catching the mafia when I was the police. We were addicted! We all stumbed into bed at around 4 in the morning…

Savannah – Labor Day Weekend

Saturday 6 – Sunday 7 September, 2009

First roadtrip of the semester! For some reason or other, I ended up being the person organising the logistics of the raodtrip for 18 people! With my buddy Milan doing all the research via the internet (I still suck at using technology), I became the organiser, spokesperson and debt collector of the group – and what an interesting experience! We decided to rent 4 cars from Hertz because it was the only car company that operated on Labor Day Weekend, and also because we mistakenly thought that it would only cost $30 per person.  Boy were we wrong. It ended up being $78 per person + petrol.

We left early on Saturday morning, in 2 maxi taxis (I now have one of the taxi driver’s numbers on speed dial cause he gives excellent rates), got to Hertz, signed up all the drivers, and we were all speeding down the highways to Savannah by 11.

Anders, our awesome reliable driver + Valerie the GPS + Milan

First stop was Tybee Island beach…

Jana and Angie

 …where lots of jumping photos ensued…

Enrico, myself, Milan - note this was photo # 4482741 and we finally got it right!

This is another brilliant one! myself, Danny and Milan

Dinner that night was at an excellent Japanese restaurant called ‘Tantra’. I had sushimi, duck rolls and sushi.

Whilst waiting for our food, I witnessed my first punch up in the States. An ex-Iraqi-serviceman was beating up another man in a restaurant after he was insulted…great dinner time entertainment?

the girls' room

It sucks being under 21 as I couldn’t go clubbing at night, but us young’n’s made a night of it anyway eating oreos with milk. mmmmmmm.

Sunday was spent exploring the city. Labelled the ‘most beautiful city in America’ by the Paris newspaper Le Monde, Savannah was certainly a must-see for someone based in Georgia, with many gorgeous parks and charming houses preserved from the pre-Civil war period, horses and carriages mingling with cars, and markets and boutique shops selling candy, arts and crafts, and various other knickknacks.

This is so quintessentially American!

This is how the streets of Savannah get cleaned...

Tiny stilettos!

Confederate south - American flags displayed outside EVERY house

Overall, a very nice roadtrip with lots of food and sun. But in terms of sight seeing, I still prefer Europe 😉

Orientation week + exploring downtown Atlanta

* Hypnosis show: a performer came to Emory (supposedly he’s the best in America) and he asked 30 students to volunteer to come up on stage. He randomly chose those 30 students from the audience and herded them on stage. The hypnosis basically works through a combination of extremely fast-paced talking, music and ringing of bells. I was really sceptical at first and thought everyone was acting, especially since the hypnotist said that he would remove people off stage if it wasn’t as effective on them. But it was amazing how every single person fall asleep at the same time and was dropping dead like flies and shivering, whimpering, squirming in their seats. It was almost too good to be true. But later we noticed that at the end of the show, 1/3 of the people had been replaced with O-week volunteers, who we believed were deliberately exaggerating to give as much entertainment value as possible. The funniest bits was when the hypnotist managed to make one guy believe that his dick was growing like pinocchio’s nose, and then got another student to hit the imaginary dick. He screamed so loudly and started whimpering for his dick not to shrink. He also made numerous girls dance like they were Shakira and beyonce, and a guy think he was Britney, another guy yell “stop pissing in my pool!” every time he pressed a bell.

* Baseball match between Atlanta braves and San diego Padres: the most boring game that ever existed! One guy tried very hard to explain all the rules to me but it was difficult sustaining interest especially when there were so many strikes and outs and whatnots. The American equivalent of cricket. But it was a good opportunity to see typical American entertainment – cheer leaders, loud music, commercials, hot dogs. And also see the Atlanta sky line.

* Frat party: Think American pie. Well that’s what one exchange student said (I still haven’t seen that movie!). Very crowded, sweaty, lots of horny freshers and not too much to drink except diluted beer and punch. Towards the end of the night it was okay when we could request songs. I’m finding it increasingly difficult to enjoy America with their strict enforcement of the legal age (21). Can’t drink, can’t even ENTER clubs or bars with people – been rejected numerous times from places around Emory – I need a fake ID! And there are hardly any Asians over 21 in Emory – arhefaggheidaj;ldkjf L

* Coca-cola museum: This factory has put me off drinking coke. So many disgusting sugary fizzy drinks, the worst being Beverly. Those sneakpot tourguides told us all that it was their favourite drink. We then tried mixing the worst drinks together , but funnily enough it actually tasted quite nice! Kinda like when 2 unattractive parents give birth to an amazingly good looking kid. Other highlights included the 4D movie experience where we got sprayed with water, air, poked in the back by a knob in our seat and rocked back and forth. Also the cutest polar bear that kept patting me on the head.

 

A brief introduction to Emory

First impressions of Emory were very positive – with beautifully lush expansive open spaces, clean stately buildings and very efficiently organised, friendly staff and students.

I’m staying in the International Business House (formerly the frat house for Sigma Nu) with 22 other exchange students. The house is located on Eagle Row, which is peppered with other sororities and fraternities. At the moment though, the street is completely dead as Emory has put a ban on having any parties until after fall break. The house itself has a very large common area and dining area (great for finding someone to talk to when bored) and is excellenly located within the university – 1 minute from the gym (the fact that it’s so close means that I’ve been going quite often), 2 minutes from the dining hall, and 7 minutes from Goizueta Business School (apparently it’s 3 minutes if you run – handy to remember if one sleeps in ;)).

Eagle Row

10 Eagle Row - the International Business House

My room is located in the basement. The first day when I moved into my room, I was completely devastated. It’s the only room in the basement whilst the other 3 girls are located on the first floor and the top floor is for the guys (15 guys haha). There are no windows in my room so it’s quite difficult for me to tell what time of the day it is, and it also means I can’t study in there (not that there has been much studying done in the first place). However, it turns out that the room is a blessing in disguise – my roommate Jana, from the Czech Republic, is lovely (did I mention she is also incredibly tidy and clean which is such a change from backpacking with 3 guys) and the lack of windows is awesome when one is trying to get to sleep at 6 am. For the past 2 weeks I have managed to get my minimum 7 hours of sleep regardless of when I fall asleep as there is no sunrise to wake me up! Also, we have our own private bathroom whilst the 15 guys have to share 2 showers….:)

My room - climbing up and down that ladder in the dark takes skillz

Lounge - Danny, Kev, Angie

In the course of this blog I’ll probably be mentioning some names:

Girls: Jana (Czech Republic), Angie (real name Hunji but she decided to rename herself at the airport! – from Korea), Marie (Germany), Miao (Singapore)

Guys: Kev (fellow Sydneian), Daniel (Germany), Milan (Italy/Serbia), Rehan (Sweden), Nick (Netherlands), Si Wei (Singapore), Anirban (Singapore), Danny (Korea), Alejandro (Costa Rica/Spain), Enrico (Italy), Marco (Italy), Anders (Denmark), Jose (Spain), Thomas (Germany), Pietro (Italy), Sebastian (Germany), William (Italy), Marie (France), Mikhal (Czech Republic)

And finally the business school – Merewhether simply pales in comparison! I don’t want to go back to study at Sydney Uni (although the Law building gives Goizueta a run for its money) Each lecture has a maximum of 66 students and arranged on a gradual incline in horse-shoe formation. Compare this to a typical Sydney Uni lecture room which has no air conditioning, 300 students, hard wooden seats and a terrible mumbling lecturer…

Goizueta Business School - pronounced "Goy-sweater"

and again!

 Inside, it’s even more impressive – the ground floor is filled with working lounges, with each seat equipped with its own powerpoint and internet cable. There’s wifi all round campus but noone takes their laptop to class since professors are paranoid that people would get distracted (and rightly so!)

 Look what I also saw at the Business School….

Another ying! First in Sydney, now in Emory. Everywhere there are doubles!

Dining at Dobbs – the food is not that great. It’s buffet style with different areas dedicated to different cuisines. I’m starting to get sick of the food here but at least it means you’ll be full. Typical foods include hamburgers, pizza, pasta, stirfry, Southern food like roast chicken, Mexican (usually tacos) and a salad bar.

Kev, Rehan, Jana, Daniel

Next post: Baseball, Shopping, Frat Party, Miscellaneous

Goodbye Europe

Saturday 22nd August, 2009

After spending 7 weeks backpacking Europe, it was finally time to leave for the US of A! I spent an inordinate amount of time waiting at airports for connecting flights from London Heathrow –> New York JFK –> Atlanta. In hindsight it was silly of me to book 3 return flights, as the return journey back to Sydney from Atlanta will be hell (Atlanta –> New York –> London –> Sydney) but on the bright side, it might give me an opportunity to visit Europe a second time in the space of a year, but this time for winter!

Goodbye Heathrow

 On the plane from London to New York,  I watched as many bad teenflicks as humanly possible in a 7 hour flight – 1) Bride Wars; 2) Confessions of a Shopaholic (which got me extremely excited about New York!); 3) Coraline (this was okay); 4) 17 again (haha…). I also met a lovely couple from Nigeria who were telling me about their experiences of living in London, and that it was their first time to travel around the States. Luckily, because I bumped into them, my time spent checking in and out went by in a flash. My first impression of America (from my hours spent people watching at their airport: assertive and proud. Assertive in the sense that every man and woman, from the toilet cleaner, to the person selling me Maccas, to the airhostesses were direct, open and communicated well). Tried a quarter pounder from Maccas at the airport but wasn’t as cheap as I thought fast food would be!

Waiting in New York JFK - first taste of American Maccas, and a taste of the New York accent!a glimpse of New York...from the airport - but will be returning soon!

Airport train

Flying out of New York at sunrise

There was a slight debacle involving Delta Airlines, which has a ridiculously inconvenient policy of selling more tickets than full capacity (in the belief that some passengers will not turn up). I checked into my New York – Atlanta flight around 2 hours before departure, only to find that I had no seat! The airline was completely disorganised and inefficient, resulting in many annoyed passengers – but it was okay in the end. Just.

Kev and I were picked up from their airport by Valerie, our exchange coordinator and we shortly settled into Emory – see next post!