Catching up...

Hallo hallo :)
Im sorry for the long absence, but it seems like my interest for hanging around my computer dropped drastically once my holiday began. Anyway I'll try to recap. After several days which was spent more or less dominated by catching up on sleep I went away on a yoga & meditation camp for 5 days. I saw that as a much needed way to recharge myself and it definitely was successful.

The camp was located a few hours south of Melbourne, in the Mornington Peninsula. Since there was no public transport going there I got a life with a woman called Madelynn. She had never been to this place either though, so I was assigned the job as map reader (!) Something which I managed pretty well until I managed to do a tiny mix up of left and right at the crucial intersection....
It was totally dark outside, so it was hard to see where we were, but eventually we realized the error when we noticed the ocean was running along on our right side when we were supposed to be somewhere in the middle of the bush. By this time though we had managed to get quite far down the wrong side of the peninsula. When trying to find a place to turn around Madelynn was driving a bit hesitant and suddenly we were pulled over by the police. Hehe, they assumed we were drunk or something, when we told them were we were going they were like: "Ooops, you are way off!" We also happened to mention that we were going to a meditation camp so they probably assumed we were some fruitcake-new age freaks.... Anyway, they helped us out by telling us which road was the best to take to get us back on track. Finally after 3 hours we reached the place, normally it should take 1,5 hour, juhuu....so we did a major detour. We arrived pretty late in the night, but just in time to catch the last bits of dinner. In the evening we met all the participants, about 60 ppl apparently, half of them were actually Indian, something which I thought was great since Im a bit addicted to India. Even the teacher was Indian.

We stayed in bunk-beds and each morning we had to get up at 6 am, at 6.30 we had 2 hours yoga and meditation, then some breakfast and some practical work around the camp. In The afternoon was spent doing various meditations and practices, then delicious lunch, more meditation, then dinner and a walk, in the evening we had music and sometimes a bit of dancing. Some of the Indian girls really knew how to do the Bollywood dance moves, it was great to watch them.

The most challenging and interesting thing though was that after the first day we all had to go into silence for almost 3 days (2.5). That meant not talking at all, no music, no reading, no phone or sms. It was quite difficult the first day, sometimes words just came out without thinking of it, stuff like, hi, come in, sorry....my head was also buzzing with a lot of thoughts. However on the 2. day it became easier and the mind became quieter. This made the meditations much better too. At the 3. day I almost wished we could have done it for a few more days as I found it a very good experience. I also met some nice people, a few that I have met up with back here in Melbourne too. Madhvi, from India and Heather from Ireland. Heather spent a year traveling around India and she is really into a lot of alternative and interesting things related to yoga and meditation. Actually there seems to be loads of people into that stuff here compared to Norway.

Ah, another thing was that there was a really cute guy on the course, but due to the silence thing I didn't even know his name by the end of it. Then I figured out that he might go to some of the weekly gatherings they have in Melbourne, so I went last week and he was there...i was pretty happy until I during talking to him figured out that he of course has a girlfriend. Urgh..typical my luck.
So, so much for romance, I guess I dont really have time for it anyway, now that uni starts again and the stress is back on ;)

Lets see, what else can i tell. Yes, earlier this week I wanted to go the sea because it was a beautiful sunny day, cold but sunny. So I caught the train a bit southwards and from my simple LP map I had figured out that if I got off at a certain station it should be an easy walk to the sea. However it turned out the stop was outside my map and when I had to go through a residential area I got confused and lost track of the directions. Eventually I found my way back to a major road and there i found a woman that I asked for help, she told me to follow her as she was going towards the same direction. So we started talking, it turned out she was from Romania and had been here for 15 years, she also seemed very friendly, so when she asked me in for a cup of tea I said yes. It is always interesting to meet new people. So she gave me tea and cookies and we talked for quite a while. It turned out she was also into a lot of the alternative, new age thinking and had done heaps of courses in various things like reiki, massages, meditations etc. When I had to leave she even made me lunch to take with me. Its great when you meet people like that. By the way, this area of Melbourne is packed with alternative things, every other shop is a healing place or shop selling everything from incense to crystals. So it is not like Im meeting the odd people here, it is more the norm. Anyway, in the end I found my way to the sea and had a great walk along the coast back towards the centre.

The rest of my holiday I have been catching up with various friends, been to cafes, movies and a couple of bars.
Today I went to a market by the seaside again, I was supposed to meet my Indian friend there, but she slept in so I spent a while sitting on a bench by the beach while waiting, watching people passing. Many people were out walking their dogs, but one man stood out, he was walking 4 dogs, but one of the dogs actually had a sign around its neck saying: FOR SALE!! hahahha, that was hilarious :)

Ok, last news is that I have changed university. I did this for various reasons, mainly due to an elitist attitude at Swinburne that I really did not like, also due to the feeling that I did not get value for my money. The course they put me in was aimed first and foremost at 4th year students doing their Honor year and I just felt that the course was not aimed at students like me who have no real previous background in the Graphic Design area and I felt I kept missing out on basic knowledge. So I am now doing my final semester at RMIT, their course is specifically aimed at students coming in from other creative backgrounds (such as me) and will put me on a more equal level and also (I hope) give me more of the basic founding in the subject. Despite of all this though I did fairly well in my semester at Swinburne and although Im not totally happy with my results considering how insanely much a struggled. Anyway its over and done with and a good experience to have:) Tomorrow I begin at RMIT and im pretty excited and hoping it is more along the lines im hoping for.

Brr....well im about to loose the feeling in my hands because my room is freezing, after a massive electricity bill (well in Norwegian standard it is actually cheap, but for the Aussie ppl it is huge) I feel guilty if I use the heater too much, so instead im dressed up like the Michelin man. So im off to warm myself under my doona :) See you later....