Project Life

As you may know, I’ve been doing Project Life this year, taking a picture (mostly) and recording what I do/how I’m feeling/what’s going on everyday for a whole year. One of my friends recently suggested that I turn it into a blog, so maybe I’ll upload some of the daily pictures occassionally. I don’t want PL to feel like a chore, so I’m not committing to uploading everything, but maybe I’ll put some up as I go. So here are some May photos.

May 2, breakfast at Farmer’s Daughter

May 4, loving Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries

May 6, enjoying the “country lifestyle” at the Colletor village pumpkin festival

May 11, Sydney by night

May 13, brunch at Berkelouw Books

La Porta Magica and the Lion King

Well, with only one week to go before I get on the plane (eeeeee!), I’ve spent the day planning and making bookings for the UK leg of the trip.

I got the Rome city guide that I ordered on Book Depository this morning, and am have already filled it with a tonne of “Visit” post-its! One place that really tickled my fancy is La Porta Magica (or, the Magic Door). The story (according to the Lonely Planet guide) goes that the occult-loving owner of the village sponsored the work of an alchemist seeking the philosopher’s stone, but that one day the alchemist vanished, leaving behind only his papers. The village owner couldn’t find anyone who understood the alchemist’s notes, and so inscribed them onto a wall, in the hope that, one day, someone would unlock the code. Apart from being an excellent story, being able to see the wall, still standing, is pretty amazing! It looks quite impressive:

 

Today I also booked my train ticket from London to Leeds, and, after much deliberation, have booked in to see the Lion King musical on my last night in London! It was a tough decision – especially with the Phantom of the Opera, Chicago and the Mousetrap all sounding amazing – but Amanda, a friend from Perth, convinced me that the Lion King was the way to go (mostly because the elaborate staging might not be possible in Aus). I almost went to see it in Tokyo but ran out of time, so I’m really looking forward to it! I’m loving the UK system of pre-booking your program as well, so everything is organised when you get to the theatre (it was like that booking tickets to the Royal Ballet too).

I did a practice pack today as well, and am way under the weight limit (success!). This is getting really exciting!

7 days to go!

A Note on Journals

Finding the right journal to chronicle my travels in really important for me. Luckily I stumbled across the perfect travel companions in Sydney a few years back. It was love at first sight when I discovered the Korean-made O-Check Design Graphics journals, notebooks and assorted paper bits and pieces at Pentimento in Newtown.  Since then, I’ve collected quite a few. My favourites are the ones where each page is different – filled with photos and pockets and stamps, so that no matter your mood you can still feel comfortable putting your thoughts on paper. This is the one that I look to Japan last year.

I don’t have pictures of the one I’m taking on this trip, but instead of photos on the pages, this one is full of off-kilter sketches of travellers and maps. I can’t wait to fill it up with my European adventures!

I also love the old-style map (circa 1914) on their website (http://www.o-check.net/index.html) to show where their products are sold

10 days to go.

終わり

The last three days have seen me finish up all the main responsibilities and parts of my life in Adelaide: my student life, my Society life, and my work life.

On Tuesday I handed up my Honours thesis (after a mild panic at the binders when a diagram was printed over some text, but they were so helpful and it was fixed quickly, thankfully!). Honours, especially my thesis, has been such a huge part of my life for the last year, so it was a really good feeling to hand over those hardbound copies for assessment and finish up my career as an Adelaide Uni student. Hard to believe that it’s been 5 years already!

Yesterday was the UN Society’s AGM, where I stepped down as founding Vice President (Conferences). After 3 years organising Model UN events and delegations, and this last year as part of the incredible Society, it was a little sad to say good bye to it all. Phil, the President, summed up everything that we had achieved since October 2010, and I was amazed by how much the team had accomplished in the Society’s very first year. The new executive are a fantastic team and I look forward to hearing about their achievements in 2011.

Finally, today I did my last shift at the Student Centre. I’ve been working there since 2008 as a Student Ambassador and have loved both the people and the work itself. I have never experienced such a supportive working environment before, and I am so glad to have had the chance to be part of their amazing team.

So this has been a pretty big week, and I am looking forward to finishing it off tomorrow firstly with the rest of the Asian Studies Honours Power Team at the Unibar, then later for farewell drinks with my friends, the people who have made everything I’ve done this year worthwhile.

11 days to go.

Let’s Escape

25 days to go.

Bon voyage

I am off to Europe in just over a month now, and wanted a place online where I can share my experiences with my family and friends, hence “Adventures in Winterland”. I’m counting down the days until I hop on a plane and explore Hong Kong, England, France, Switzerland, Austria and Italy. This will be my first trip to Europe, and it is my graduation present to myself after 5 long years of uni.

One of the things that I am most looking forward to about this trip is spending time with my amazing friends who live in Europe, most of whom I studied with in Tokyo in 2009. I can’t wait to have yum cha with Kawin in HK; sit down for a pint with Will, Luke, Joe and Fred in the UK; devour pastries with Amandine in France; sip cocktails with Chris in Switzerland; explore the sights of Vienna with Anna-Maria and Eva; and muck around in the snow with Patrick in Italy.

39 days to go.