Melbourne yo!

So last week I decided to head over to Melbs for a week, admittedly with my parents, for primarily a med interview at Monash (but really for the holiday =D) 

We flew out earllllllly, and trekked it all the way to the University Campus. Started to really like the campus, it's actually nice how its far away from central Melbourne, so that there would really be a university culture there. 

Melbourne is so nice. It's so arty, so friendly. It confounded me how there was constantly SO many people in the city! It's like the britomart intersection x 10 constantly ah. Did some touristy things while I was there - The NGV (National Gallery of Victoria - a name which I found conflicting... how can it be a "National" Gallery when Victoria is a state? weird) as well as much outlet shopping :) 

Full priced clothes is so expensive in Australia! Outlet shopping is the way to go. 

Even though people earn a lot more than in New Zealand, the cost of living is a lot higher! Can't survive on anything less than $10AUD per meal, unless you want to film Supersize Me 2 or something. 

Federation Square & St. Paul's Cathedral

NGV

Luna Park

State Library

On the trip, I met up with Lizzie from school and we went to Luna Park! The best thing about these amusement parks is the sheer unsafe vibe the rides give off, and also the lack of safety restrictions they must have had when they were building them. I swear if i wriggled enough I could have fallen out of the rides.

I also visited the Shrine of Remembrance, which is such an epic shrine for Australia! It was built in the year after the first world war, but now serves as place to remember all conflicts Aussie was involved in. It didn't hit me until I visited this, but the soldiers of the wars were my age. I can remember going to the Auckland museum all those years ago, when the stories told of seventeen year olds enlisting, but now it has dawned on me that I AM that age. Can you imagine what life would have been like if we were born in another time? Crazy.

Towards the end of the week, I spent an embarrassing amount of time in the State Library of Victoria, which is such an amazing building. If the library in Auckland looked like that, I'd really want to study :P It's just so... antique? It's mind boggling how people sat there so many years ago, studying different things and just in such a different world to the one we're living in today.

I kind of really like Melbourne :) Not as much as Europe, admittedly, but it's pretty great. 

Summer.

random picture that I took at Massey Library

Wow, freedom for the next 3 months? Weird.

No, what's stranger is that we now have no obligation to do anything. I can just decide to go traveling and never come back, or to give up everything and find a good bridge to live under. Obviously I won't - but the freedom to do so is there.

December the 1st was our Graduation Dinner. The last time we'd be as a year group (although only 116 out of 540 year 13's came to the dinner) It was strange, to say the least. It doesn't feel like we're never going to be together anymore. I guess it won't feel like it until we actually are too far apart, too separated by time and space. Amelia and I delivered the Valedictorian speech together. Felt so underprepared and nervous - we finished writing it that afternoon, and practiced it twice - that I didn't eat any dessert. Immediately regretted this after the speech!

There were two quotes that we used that I really like.

From Albert Einstein: "Everyone is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it's stupid.


From a Keynote Speaker at the Rotary Science & Tech Forum: "If your dreams don't scary you, then they aren't big enough."

So, into the future we venture.
But before that, interview at Monash D:

Exams?

So it's NCEA exams. Actually, it's been that way for a while. I've had 6 of them, 3 more to go. Of those 6, 4 have been my subjects, which leaves only calculus that really "counts." Did I feel stressed for these exams? Yeaaaaah. No. I've been waiting, waiting for that *moment* to kick in, but it never did.

On Saturday, I'll be a free man. No more stress until MARCH next year. Jokes, I have to prepare for my interview at Monash and deliberate whether or not I'll apply to NYUAD. Isn't it crazy how your mindset can change so drastically over a short period of time, as a result of some seemingly coincidental and perhaps not so overtly influential incidences?

Last week, after my bio exam, I went to Jason Mraz's concert. To say that it was amazing would be a cruel understatement. Not only did he play for two and a half hours of favourites, and unreleased music, he delivered uplifting messages to the audience, leaving us feeling... Happy.

He said:

"I don't have expectations. Because when expectations fail to follow through, you fail.
Instead, I have possibilities.. Because when these don't come to be... Then you are just left with... other possibilities."


After the concert, Samantha and I managed to stick around for when he came out from the stage door to meet fans and sign stuff and take photos. He did this for a legit 40 minutes, happily meeting every fan, receiving generic comments of appreciation with an amazing humility, and having cameras flashing in his face every second. All of this, even though I bet he was ridiculously tired and jetlagged.

So that was my November. Nothing exciting, nothing profound. But still all good :)


Danny.

An end. A new beginning.

It's here. The moment at which we leave the safety of obligation and regulation, and cross the threshold into the unpredictable, the unchartered, the unknown.

The last few days of school flew by in the blink of an eye. Was it really only 3 days ago that we were still actually doing work in class? The last few hours of school are forever held in my mind, in comforting detail. It is not until you think about what no longer is, that you wish it were still there. Albeit mundane and still ordinary, I wish I had appreciated it more. 

If I met my third form self, I would be in disbelief. I really travelled, I really succeeded, I really did everything that I did? Did I really do all that? 

Now, all these moments are just memories. They lie in the past, only living inside of our heads. Slowly, these too will fade, becoming obscured by new memories, new experiences. 

We've finished at Rangitoto College.

In third form, my form class filmed ourselves in our English class. This is a tradition that our teacher still carries on now. We just sat there, talked about ourselves, what we liked, what we aspired to be. 

At the start of this week, our last week, the same class met up again, to watch this video. 20/27 of us had made it to the end. So much has changed since then. How innocent and impressionable we were. We had so much to learn, so much to experience. We were our undeveloped selves. Still the younglings of the school, we were yet to form our opinions, set our goals, choose our inspirations. 

Ryan came on. I still remember that day in 5th form so clearly. The shock, the disbelief. Although I didn't have the privilege of being very close to him, I remember fragments of our encounters. When I bused home with Debbie from the city, and he pulled me aside and asked me if she were my girlfriend. When he brought fancy bluetooth headphones to school. His characteristic bandanna, his easygoing attitude. May he rest in peace.

The video rolled on, and gasps and awws echoed through E13, as our 13 year old selves popped up on stage. I mentioned my love of cheese and my desire to make money. I don't think I knew what I wanted to be back then. 

We've all gone on to be different people, going different paths, but this history pulls us together.  We'll still remember the days of Social Studies, peer support and rebellious gangsters.

So now we carry on. Time doesn't stop. It's almost cruel how paths cross and diverge so quickly. But our five years at Rangitoto remains a part of us as we venture into the world. 

End of an era. 

Rangitoto College. 

Class of 2011.

Times passing.

In the weekend just been, was the 19th Future Problem Solving National Finals.
It's been a quietly influential part of my time at High School. The annual missing of period 6 and 7, helping set up the camp, sitting our booklets with mountains of food, practicing the Dramatic presentations... Sitting anxiously for the results.

I can still remember the day I went to the meeting in S4, all that time ago. Stumbling in by myself a few minutes late, not realising that it was a team thing. Vaguely knew the people who would come to be my team, and hardly knowing what we were in for.

That year, miraculously, we made it to nationals. Thought we were awesome. Awkward. Didn't even place. We were guttered to say the least. Dramatic Presentation was a horror.

2007

nawww

Fast forward to 2008, we made it to nationals again! In the senior division, because the rest of my team are oldies. This time, we managed to place 2nd! Maybe you can see a recurrent theme in the photos - every time we went, (apart from when we evaluated) we went to the same secret garden near the mall. :)

In May/June the next year, we went to America! Did an epic tour of LA, Chicago, Michigan, Niagara Falls, New York. Pretty much an amazing experience. 

The Bean, Chicago

MSU

Didn't qualify for FPS Nationals in 2009, but Sarah, Jaz & I went as evaluators :D different experience, but it was still good coz the other team went to compete :)

Quickly came 2010 -  our year. We were the pros now. Managed to place first in the booklet, and SECOND IN THE DP. and we even enjoyed it! How far we have come since 2007...

So that's my journey with my team (highly condensed)
This year there was a new journey, this time with a new bunch of people, where I had the role of co-coach. It's almost like some bad soap opera in which all the main characters die off, and new characters replace them (but good in this case)
It was so different this year. I kept thinking back to our old days, when we explored the camp for the first time, when we thought we would win, but didn't. This people were going through it for the FIRST TIME. Everything was so familiar, the food was exactly the same.

I got acknowledged for my service to FPS over the last 5 years at prizegiving, and a lady who I didn't recognize (a coach) came up to me and said that she remembered me, when I was *this high* It's ridiculous. Crazy. I cannot believe that this chapter only has one A5 left.

Next year will be one of new beginnings. Hopefully I'll get to join something which will stay with me for my University studies, like how FPS did for high school.

My Day Out.

Performed at this Postgraduate Research Expo thing for Alex at UoA, along with some AYO'ers. The rehearsal was at 10am, and the concert at 5:30pm. This meant that I had an entire day to fill in the city.

I decided to go check out the revamped Auckland Art Gallery! How many years has this building been under wraps?! So long so that it seems like it's jumped out of nowhere. It looks almost too good to be in New Zealand. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos, but it was pretty great! I found it interesting how there were so many different types of works all jumbled together... They seemed to sort it by who donated it? That's how it looked to me, anyway. There was a massive range of art movements there. Saw one Dali work, and reminded me of Berlin :/ wish there were more! Bumped into Julia there and had a good old chat. 

The Art Gallery is definitely worth checking out, and it's FREE! How cool is that :)

Next up on my agenda, I headed down the Queen's Wharf. To be honest the cloud was a little bit of a disappointment... Way too touristy, and not really New Zealand-esque. Zoomed through this, and walked (very far) to Wynyard Quarter. This was a bit nicer, and had a great view of the harbour bridge! It's nice to see Auckland dressed up a little bit :)

View of Harbour bridge

View from Wynyard Quarter (I think)

Feeling hungry, I went back at got $5 kebabs at Kebabs on Queen, as recommended by Helen :) They were pretty good! :)

Bumped into Vanessa & Frances walking down Queen Street, and together we went and checked out Real Groovy. Can't believe I haven't been there before, it's pretty awesome :) Although everything is really expensive, they do have some quirky things there :P

So yeah, that was my exciting day by myself :) pretty awesome, I must say. I enjoy these days quite a bit tehe.

In other news, my sweater from One Nine Eight arrived! Wore it on tour last weekend. Loving it :)

Legacy.

Every year, during spring, we have the most intense flowers in our front garden. Freischas, they're called. They bloom early in spring, and are indicative of the new season. You'd be surprised when you saw them, and even more surprised that we don't plant them every year. They just pop up, by themselves.

Legacy. Such a coveted thing. We wish for people to remember us once we cease to walk the corridors we walk, do the things that make people notice us. We all fear being forgotten and ignored. In less that a month, we'll finish our high school life. What do you leave behind? Will you leave a legacy, or will you simply vanish, like the freischas, which in a few weeks, will decompose, and disappear into the soil.

Exhausted.

Ignored my blog for ages. Or at least it seems like ages. But when I checked, I actually updated it six days ago. it does NOT seem like six days ago that I posted that. Funny, because my exams were over by then!

Exams finishing did not mean freedom, however. I had to finish two research internals that I had missed while I was away, in the space of one week. That's basically what I did with my weekend. I handed both of them in today, and when I got home I was so exhausted I slept for 3 hours. Woke up even more exhausted. Come to think of it, it's the first time I actually felt unstressed since February this year. As soon as MAX finished, I was off travelling, back for UMAT, went away again, came back for exams. Boom. End of September. 

Although I'm getting my results tomorrow, and I have a Japanese conversation internal on thurs. it's okay. argh. It's okay though :)

Every few hours I suddenly realize, yet again, how little time there is until the end of school. 18 more school days. That's crazy. I'm so excited to finally get out into the real world, although I'm perfectly aware that I'll come to miss high school eventually. I still don't feel like it's all coming to an end. Spent five years at this place. Come to know the ins and outs of it all, how it works. Familiar faces at every turn, the shortest (or longest when necessary) ways to each class. Now that we're almost there, I feel a twinge of sadness leaving, too. But the excitement outweighs all else. Meeting new people, going to new places... I wish I would know where I was going next year already! 

It's the time of year when everything is coming to a close. Had the last Shore Youth Council meeting ever today. Started organizing the leaver's assembly - the last time we'll be together as a year level. Finished the coursework for 4/5 of my subjects. The cold is receding, and warm sun is replacing it. We power through the year with our eyes glued to our feet. One foot after another, one foot after another. We conquer so much, but we don't realize this until we reach a stop sign, look up, and see how far we've travelled. 

leaving you with a pretty sweet song - Atlas Hands by Benjamin Francis Leftwich

Dan

Arts4CHCH and stuff.

Sunday was the big day! Got up bright and early and headed over to the hall to help set up.

Must say, the place looked pretty awesome. We went and got bubble tea for lunch, and I rechalked the ground, since it rained the night before. As soon as I return to the hall, it starts raining agin! Ugh.

The event went pretty well for limited exposure. There were enough people so that the atmosphere didn't seem awkward! The Red Bull girls came through; free stuff is always good. So exhausted by the end of it all. A great event - hope we can carry it on next year! I honestly think that it has so much potential. A great idea, with people willing to help. :) YAY.

Went home and faux napped for a couple hours, and then headed out to GPK for Julie's 20th birthday dinner! It was amazing. Although only half the FPS crew was here.. and it was ALMOST going to be a full reunion D: NOOBS! Salivating at the thought of the Oven Roasted Chicken. Nom. Afterwards, we all went to Bubble Tea where we had Red Velvet cake made by debra! :P second bubble tea in one day! Intense. It was unbelievable catching up with these guys again... it's been too long. Two years since they graduated? what?!

So it was a lovely weekend. A great escape. I didn't do any schoolwork at all - Now have I have 2 internals due monday.... But that's okay! 

First day of Freedom.

Exciting! Had the most amazing day I've had in a while.
I have forbidden myself from doing any form of work this weekend - going to take a break from it while I can afford to!
The day started when I went to Kmart to buy CHALK. just $4 for a big tub of it! Got a Maccas Mocha (which wasn't half bad) and headed over to the Albany Domain Hall, where the Arts4CHCH event is taking place.

It took us a good 20 mins to get into the actual place, because the key we were provided with wasn't cut properly... Luckily we found a spare. In that time I drew a practice Arts 4 Chch sign on the pavement outside, and realized how much each sign used up..  D: oh well.
Finally, we got into the venue, and man it has got such a great vibe! Love the space, and the teddy bear that lives there. There was already a mural put up, that was made by primary school kids. Loved it.

We got sponsored stuff from Four Letter, Huffer & Creative Ambience. All the stuff is so cool and legit! Can't wait to spend all my money on raffles... :D
Soon after we got in, the artwork started arriving, and man they're all so good. Can't believe how talented people can be - I remember taking 4th form art. I was hopeless, to say the least.

Cecilia & I headed out to chalk up some pavements near the area. Took so long, but it looked pretty good I thought! Got all my fingers grazed up though from when I missed... D: We made it all the way to the mall, where we went to get some supplies! Got some epic paper clips, bluetack, vivids, and bought them from Merryn, who I haven't seen for a year! Then headed over to the Warehouse where we got the cheapest sheet possible for the banner.

Then, a result of my ingenious idea, we went to ask if we could draw outside cotton on. Good advertisement for us, good publicity/attention for them! Luckily they saw it how we saw it, and we got to do it! Looked pretty great I reckon.. :D

FOOD and more chalk was up next - Oh MAN the mall was packed. Took like 5 minutes to find a table at the food court! D: nom nom vanilla coke & sushi.

Stopped by the new maccas on the way back to ask them, but apparently we weren't legit enough by telling them unblinkingly about what we were trying to do, and we didn't have any proof that we're actually running this amazing event and not just randomly advertising a false amazing event 2 minutes walk from that maccas. yeah cos someone would do that. in the end we couldn't get advertising there... geez.

At 2, I left to go to Eliza's 21st party! It was in Takapuna, and it was so cute! It's been ages since I've seen her! and i think i was like the only person below the age of 20 there.. But that's ok, because maybe half of the people there were in med school?! Had great conversations and made a lot of new friends! Such awesome people. Happy birthday Eliza! Such an oldie you are.

After this, I headed to get a haircut by this dude called Ricky, and picked up Wei-Kai on the way. I think it's pretty good! it's a little bit different but I like it :)

So that was my exciting as day.

Tomorrow. It's the event. So much excite! Can't wait

Here's the link to the photos we took behind the scenes today!

http://goo.gl/LzoWQ

Happy Eriza!

Inbetween.

And so it's over. sortof? Still have a practice scholarship english exam tomorrow but that doesn't really matter so all goods :)

Once again, I've reached another "milestone" in my soon-to-be-ending high school career. Strangely though, I'm pretty ambivalent about the whole thing. It doesn't feel like I just finished my exams, and I don't feel like I have got any less to do now that I don't have them. Perhaps it's the 3 internals in the next 2 weeks D: or maybe I'm just getting used to it :P  Perhaps not such a good thing because that means I didn't take them that seriously!

However, glad it's over. Now it's all out of my hands! Can't do any more to get that last mark, or learn that last word. Exams aren't the worst part - the build up is!

The last few months have been pretty hectic. Man, this year has been crazy! Such a whirlwind of events and happenings. Cliche, but true. It's ridiculous to think that there's only 4 and half weeks left of high school, left of school. This induces some pretty intense reflection on what I've done this year, and where I'm heading next. I'm in this big 'inbetween.' After traveling to Europe, I think that I've gotten a bigger perspective on.. things. Just the way I see the world, and see what type of person I want to be in it. In the larger scheme of things, what will happen if these exams go horribly "wayward?" Nothing. really. A bruised ego perhaps, but that's character development right? Don't get me wrong, I still try my best in everything that I do, 100%, but I think that slowly I'm becoming less attached, and worrying too much about what happens. Call it faith, call it distraction, I just think that as long as I try my best, then I'll end up where I'm supposed to be. This year I kept a diary, pretty consistently. The best thing about this is actually looking back at "hardships" that I faced. Each time, I was so unsure of myself, so sure of failure, but somehow I survived. Granted, sometimes I didn't reach my own unrealistically high expectations, but I can get over that. So whilst 'carpe diem' is a good rule to live by, this year I've learnt that it's also important to just chill out for a bit, let things roll and go with the flow.

The future. It's hanging just around the corner. it's there, but we choose to just kinda shunt it to one side and focus on what we are doing here and now. I do, anyway. Where do I want to go? I really, really don't know. I know I want to do med. I am sure. But I don't see the point in having my heart set on one particular place when I don't know if I'll be accepted into any at all. But the uncertainty is haunting, and probably not good for my sanity. The 'inbetween,' a place when you don't have any idea what's going on, everything is based on 'could be' and 'maybe' and 'possibly,' and you kinda just have to run with it.


So - newfound freedom. Uni applications, Internals, but also catching up with friends, and going to awesome events! Got my weekend all sorted :) exciting stuff. Also, I've got tickets to JASON MRAZ for when he comes to New Zealand! He's only doing ONE show, at the Civic, and I'm going with Samantha. It's going to be epic :)

Oh, if you happen to be near Albany on Sunday, you should come over to the Albany Domain Hall, opposite Albany Senior High School and very close to North Harbour Stadium. We're raising money to support those still affected by Christchurch's earthquakes - just because they're not shaking this very minute doesn't mean that the effects go away!

Spring.

Time goes by so quickly - it's hard to believe that I've been back in new Zealand for three and a half weeks now. Miraculously, I seem to have gotten on top of my schoolwork!

So it's the night before exam period, but I don't have an exam until Monday :). The rugby world cup is upon us, with the opening in just two days. I can remember our free morning at forum, when the installation in britomart still read one hundred something days until the RWC.

Still living at Massey uni on the nights where I'm free. Last night me and Dave got yelled at by a crazy librarian who thought we were talking. Awkward because we weren't. Being the man that I am, I enlightened her with that little fact, and the lady next to us even vouched for us. She got us go show our school ID'd and then stalked off to shelve some more books. That was probably the highlight of her day. I can't help but feel that part of the reason that she was so ready to believe that we were being disruptive, was because we were Asian. I can never figure out whether it's all in my head, or if people's preconceptions really does that. When I go back to Taiwan it feels so strange that I'm the majority - what they're used to seeing, and there's nothing different about me.

I can taste freedom on that one tastebud on the corner of my tongue. The stems are forming on the maple trees outside, and the daffodils have bloomed already. Wheee. 9 days until exams finish!

Keep on keeping on.

We've reached a time where our minds are filled with thoughts of exams, stress about what we have yet to do, uncertainty about the future. It seems that the most important part of everything has decided to throw a party all at the same time. Whenever I feel incapable of getting through anything I look back to when I was suffering the ordeal that is MAX, and more importantly, how I managed to survive.

But this time seems different. I guess that's what it's always like. But how are we expected to work hard towards exams when we have to work hard towards everything else at the same time? What with University applications, silly Halls of Residence applications, not to mention endless commitments. I swear next year I'm NOT going to be over committed. Lol jk that's impossible. Exams start next Thursday, although my first exam isn't until Monday.

 Music does wonders. Just listening to some of that Adele, and feeling crap for a little bit. Feels pretty dramatic. I don't know about anyone else, but for me, I have these moments where I think about EVERYTHING I have to do at once, and it all builds up until I feel so stressed and in general just a noob. And then I realize. Hey. I've got an entire month until that's due, and ages till that. And stressing about THAT makes no difference to whether it'll happen or not. So to all my fellow steessed people. Take a step back, and see that it's not too bad after all. anyway. It's spring - basically Christmas! Yay!

 See you all after exams (16th Sept) - I probably won't have anything to blog until then.

 Dan.

Here we are again.

Two weeks out for mocks. Spending almost every night (without shame) at Massey Library, trying to get away from procrastination. (facebook.) It's exactly the same situation as last year. Crazy huh. It's been a whole year. Makes me think about where I was then, compared to where I am now. It seems almost time to reminisce on the things I've done/achieved this year, which is a bit scary, because that means the year is almost over. Academically anyway. Might leave that for another time, when it's actually the end of the year.

I can see the end of the tunnel! In about 3 weeks time I'll have finished my exams, and there'll be exciting things to look forward to like Future Problem Solving nationals for the teams (hopefully) ARTS AWARDS, spring... Just gotta keep my head down for now :)

Anyway, the main point was the write about Wei-Kai's birthday :) When I look back on exam periods, I always forget that I actually did stuff during it. We went out to dinner last night at Takara, an awesome Ramen Shop in Browns Bay :) Melody rang ahead and ordered for us, so we got our meals when we walked in! LOL a family next to us had been waiting, and still had to wait long after we started eating :P This is seriously one of my favourite restaurants. The ambience, legitness.. everything =D
Aww Wei-Kai is 18! All grown up :)

Update.

The past week, has unfortuanately, flown by. I feel I've done not very much in the last week except for have FML moments about school, been tired, and slept. It is also insanely cold.

So our orchestra and chamber orchestra got bronze at KBB. bronze. It's strange because it doesn't seem like it should go this way. We've never gotten bronze before, and this is our final year. I guess my 40mins of practice wasn't good enough for them :P still, a bit guttering!

No-one told me that scholarship and university applications take up THIS much time! Seriously I've spent quite a bit of time (procrastinating study) on Aussie uni apps, but it seems like I'm getting nowhere! Help?! And the ridiculous thing is, the accommodation is apparently more urgent, when we don't even know if we'll be getting INTO that uni... Might consider giving up on these and staying in a student apartment if I do get in...

I watched the Schindler's List last night with Weikai, as it's going to be one of the texts I do in my English Research. (which I plan to write in one day..) I've never taken to History. It just didn't really click with me. But after being to all these places, standing where people faced such crazy hardships, it seems to come alive. It really reminds you of how lucky you are, and how much we, as a world, have so much to lose. Watching the irrational killing of people, just because they are. It 's crazy.

And so the three day weekend continues. Slowly catching up on school work, but mocks are in less than three weeks! This time last year I would've been full on studying - but here I am, updating my blog.

Back to New Zealand. (relatively pointless post)

So I'm home. Back to school, back to life. Even though it's only 3 weeks and 2 days until mocks, school has been good for the last two days. Seeing friends again made me realize how much I had missed them. Can't imagine what next year will be like, when everyone goes their separate ways. It seems that in the time that I was gone, everyone had made up their mind as to where they wanted their life to go, and more often than not, that was away from where I want to go.  This chapter of my life is quickly coming to a close.

With my adventures overseas, came forfeiting of some high school experiences. Missed the ball, missed rep photos, a KFC party in Japanese. Pretty trivial things, I know, but still.

Auckland welcomed me back with extremely cold weather - highs of 10, lows of 2? yay. It "snowed" yesterday - didn't get to see it because I was at KBB. After 40 minutes of personal practice the night before, the Orchestra performed at KBB, with me as its concert master. what! it went okay I think.. better than i had hoped for. Chamber orchestra was up next, and this one didn't seem to go so well for me :/
The best thing about the day, though, was catching up with friends who I haven't seen since KBB last year, or even longer ago than that.
I can't believe that this is my last KBB. I still remember my first one, in 3rd form, when I went with the orchestra and the THIRD FORM STRINGS. Still remember those 7th formers who seemed amazing at their instrument.

So now I begin my catchup for FOUR weeks of school. Chem is impossible. I didn't understand a single word in that class today. On the bright side, I have so much time on my hands now that MAX is finished, and AYO doesn't start for a couple (fingers crossed) weeks!

Apologies for this extremely jumbled post.

Headed Home.

Wrote the following 10km above the sea, still 7562km away from new Zealand, sleep deprived, but halfway on the journey home.

Perception of time has always confused me. Can I really say that the past six weeks have flown by? I can't remember the last day I spent at school. And ironically it's strange seeing myself here, already going back home.

The last month and a half have been intense. Even with UMAT it's hardly been an academic exercise. However I feel as though I've learnt so much, and have extended my capabilities. Reflecting on what I've done in the time away, I've had it so good. Travelled to 5 countries, walked around 10 towns/cities, eaten new food, drunk new drink, tried new things, met new people, and made new friends.

I think that I've changed, compared to the person flying to Brisbane on the 2nd of July. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what that difference is, but it's definitely there. Wouldn't call it maturity - maybe just experience. I've gotten grasp on what's important in the big scheme, where I want to be in 10 years time, what my priorities should be, why I remain motivated.

Home sounds pretty good right now. Just a bit of normality - even if that includes catching up on so much work, and studying for exams that are distressingly close. Friends and family are sorely missed, MUM's COOKING is being craved, ability to talk to easily communicate... priceless. It seems that I've missed a bit, which is a bit sad, considering that it is my last year of high school. Birthdays of friends, events at school, close teachers leaving and in general just happenings at school. It'll nice to be back (at least from the perspective of someone who's been commuting 24 hours ago, with five and half hours left to go.

And so "normality" comes again to Daniel's life - starting with the KBB music festival tomorrow...

Berlin (Day 4) / In Transit

Had a free day today. Got up early to see the rest of the people off, as they are leaving from Frankfurt (8 hour bus away lol). Packed up my luggage and headed out at 8:20am to Harcksher Markt, to get coffer and wifi at the place where we went yesterday. Stayed there for about 50 mins. Cute they lit a candle for me.

Wandered over to Alexanderplatz and got a pastry, and then strolled over to Museum Island. All of them are so impressive to look at! I decided to go to the Pergamon Museum, and lined up 20 mins before it opened, and already there was a decent line. People who went the day before waited for 2 hours before they got in. Struck up a decent conversation with some guys from Michigan. Love meeting new people randomly! Got into the museum at 10, and wow the place was amazing. The things I liked most were the friezes of the Greek gods waging battle, the Pergamon Altar (170bc what!) the Ishtar Gate from Babylon (6th century BC), Mshatta from Jordan and the young one - the market gate of Miletus (2nd century AD).

Went to Harcksher Markt for some shopping afterwards. Found a street that's very similar to high street. So expensive but window shopping was one. Everyone here dressed so nicely. Went to Wittenberg next, which is in west berlin. Berlin is so big, haven't been able to see all of it. Oh well, I'll be back ;)

Left the hostel at 5pm, and after some annoying check ins we successfully got onto the plane. After a short sleep we were in Vienna, and after some more sleeping, we are now in Bangkok, on a 5 hour layover =P Almost back in nz!

Berlin (Day 3)

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Yesterday I went on the bike tour with Anne, helen, Mary and Natasha :) met by Hacksher Markt, and then moved towards the tower in Alexanderplatz. It was such crappy weather :( so rainy - I was wearing a sweater and my Asian jacket! What! Met a kiwi who lives in Dubai. Awesome! She's from masterton originally.

The tour was awesome - great tour guide and interesting places!! It's called the insider tour (I think). Humboldt university is awesome - the faculties are so pretty. Went to bebelplatz (sp?) where students burned 20,000 "un-German" books. Einstein, the brothers Grimm, Karl Marx, all went to this uni. Visited many other places, and also the Konzerthaus LOL. pretty incredible that we played in such an amazing venue! Stopped from an awesome lunch in a biergarten. Got a "green beer". Basically they added some sort of sweet syrup to it. Nom!

Checkpoint Charlie and the Berlin wall were incredible. It's hard to believe that Berlin was only unified in 1989! Crazy stuff. Heard all sorts of stories about attempts to escape east Berlin. Headed to Berlinerdom after the tour. Hehe got in for free (u18) such an amazing cathedral! Better than most in Vienna I think. Finished off the afternoon with some shopping in Friedrichstrasse. Too many high end shops...

Went to the Netherlands' concert at the Young Euro Classic. They did an opera by Rossini. Simply stunning. Although I didn't understand the plot =P After the opera we headed to Hard Rock cafe! Had a "long Island iced tea" nom. :)

Today I have a free day in Berlin, while the others head to Frankfurt and fly out from there. I can't believe that the tour is coming to an end. I feel like I've grown up a whole lot, and seen a whole lot more. Traveling is amazing.

Berlin (Day 2)

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Had a nice easy morning because it was the day of our concert in the Young Euro Classic! This seems to be such a prestigious festival. There were national youth orchestras from places like Russia and china and Korea and turkey =O. Pretty stoked to be invited to play. after using a bit of wifi, Robbie, Liz, Anne, Mary, Helen and I went shopping at Potsdamer platz. Headed back to the hostel at 12:30 to start preparing ourselves for the night ahead.

The concert took place at the Konzerthaus, which is the MOST amazing venue. When we were rehearsing, people were taking photos of us from the doors. Quite funny how we're actually the tourists, but people were taking photos of us. Even when we had a group photos on the steps outside, we attracted a crowd. Had dinner in the staff restaurant, and then got ready for the concert at 8. The concert was basically sold out - apparently there were 1300 people Ridiculously big. It was one of the most amazing things I've done. The amount of applause we got was immense. Stood up at the end about 6 times before it ceases. On such a buzz for so long after. This'll be one of the things I'll remember.