Erm, just a quick update on what's happening...
I just got the message that I have to check my timetable allocation for my psychology module, Mind, Brain and Behaviour online. At first, the time allocated for my practical lessons is horrible- from 6PM TO 8PM on Tuesdays. But fortunately, after coming back online, I think someone got to transfer their lesson on Wednesday, so I did manage to change my practical time to 8am on Wednesday so that I wont have late nights.
Attended 11am mass in St Francis as wished. The choir is awesome. It changes my perception of mass a little. I guess I come from a country where people got nothing to do but to crticise this, criticise everything, and some people even think they can do better. Who says congregation needs to participate verbally during mass? I guess if the congregation can get into the mood of the mass, it's a form of spiritual participation, isnt it? I also believe that the priest who is celebrating the 11am mass did practise with the choir to work on the mass setting for the eucharastic prayer. The choir really fitted well into the background. I think you wont get to see this even for the most HIGH masses in Singapore. Why? To put in good words, Singapore priests claim to be very busy to bother about practising with the choir for different mass setting or should I say they are just plain lazy? When asked to practise the intonation for a new setting, they will just simply say ' use the norm'. Well, well, see the cultural difference? ;)
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
O's Week
I have been busy with the enrolment and orientation stuffs these few days. I can now say I am officially a University of Melbourne Student. I have already sort of planned my timetable. What can I say about my timetable? Well, Full days on Monday, Tuesday and longer days on Thursday, half day on Wednesday and free days on Friday, so which means longer weekends for me to do work.
The Melbourne University is really huge, just that the music conservatory is a little bit out of place in the whole campus. I did manage to practise the grand boston piano. Some of the strings was out of tune and the pianos are usually full. So many good piano players in the conservatory. Got to work more!
I will only get to know my individual piano mentor next week, so hopefully I will get a mentor who is encouraging, motivating and dedicated!
The Melbourne University is really huge, just that the music conservatory is a little bit out of place in the whole campus. I did manage to practise the grand boston piano. Some of the strings was out of tune and the pianos are usually full. So many good piano players in the conservatory. Got to work more!
I will only get to know my individual piano mentor next week, so hopefully I will get a mentor who is encouraging, motivating and dedicated!
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Pre- School Activities
Before I am starting to visit the University of Melbourne for enrolment and orientation, I will blog about my first experience with mass in this place. I attended the 10am mass instead of the 11am mass, as my dad planned to travel to more places after mass.
Well, the mass in melbourne is just like any other masses. I guess mass is all the same. It's a cycle of Stand-sit-kneel-sequence, except that it follows the old school of Catholic practices. But I did manage to take a peek at the St Francis Choir during the 11am mass. They have about 20 strong. Attending the 11am mass here reminds me of the mass in the 16th century. THe congregation actually sits down during Kyrie and Gloria to watch the choir perform the movements of the mass they are singing. Note: when I say movements of the mass, I mean the classical mass with 5 movements: Kyrie, Gloria in Excelsis Deo, Credo, THe Lord's Prayer (I forgot the Latin name) and Agnus Dei. So if you are a person who loves to watch a chorale performance or a choir concert and loves attending mass as well or you are looking to do a performance or concert in any mass in Singapore, you are indeed killing more than 2 birds. What's more, you dont have to pay to watch the 'concert'. I really admire the people before the Vatican I. I will attend the full 11am mass in the future.
After 10am mass, we went to the Melbourne Central Station shopping centre for some shopping. After which, my mum and I proceed to Victoria Market again (the 4th time in 4 days) to see the Sunday atmosphere on Sunday afternoon while my dad went to sight see on his own.
Looking forward to school tomorrow!
Well, the mass in melbourne is just like any other masses. I guess mass is all the same. It's a cycle of Stand-sit-kneel-sequence, except that it follows the old school of Catholic practices. But I did manage to take a peek at the St Francis Choir during the 11am mass. They have about 20 strong. Attending the 11am mass here reminds me of the mass in the 16th century. THe congregation actually sits down during Kyrie and Gloria to watch the choir perform the movements of the mass they are singing. Note: when I say movements of the mass, I mean the classical mass with 5 movements: Kyrie, Gloria in Excelsis Deo, Credo, THe Lord's Prayer (I forgot the Latin name) and Agnus Dei. So if you are a person who loves to watch a chorale performance or a choir concert and loves attending mass as well or you are looking to do a performance or concert in any mass in Singapore, you are indeed killing more than 2 birds. What's more, you dont have to pay to watch the 'concert'. I really admire the people before the Vatican I. I will attend the full 11am mass in the future.
After 10am mass, we went to the Melbourne Central Station shopping centre for some shopping. After which, my mum and I proceed to Victoria Market again (the 4th time in 4 days) to see the Sunday atmosphere on Sunday afternoon while my dad went to sight see on his own.
Looking forward to school tomorrow!
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Day 3 at Down Under
We went for more sight seeing today. I have just found out that there is actually a Catholic church which is a few direct tram stops away from my apartment. It's called Saint Francis Church. Melbourne has lots of churches, you might be surprised that there are 10 St. Francis Church in Australia (of course I am exaggerating here), but what I really mean is that there are many other christian denomination sharing the same saint's name, so you gotta double check if you are entering the right church.
Before we went to St Francis Catholic Church, I actually did my homework as usual to find out about the history of the church. I am quite pleased to know that St Francis is one of the oldest catholic church in Melbourne. What's more, it has a very strong music ministry. It is a home to one of the finest Catholic church choir in melbourne, (I think should be of the same calibre or better than Peter Low's Choir from Singapore, considering that the choir has a very long history of 150 years). The St. Francis Choir usually sings for Sunday 11am mass and when I looked at the programme, they will be singing those traditional 5 movement mass, by composers such as Mozart, Haydn, etc. Wow. Guess, if there is a chance, I would join the St Francis Choir instead of the Melbourne University Choir. But you see, there is an audition required, and we are required to sing at sight. After that, we went to the catholic bookshop at St Francis. Got 2 hymn books called Spirit of Song 1 and Spirit of Song 2, to start my own collection of church liturgical music.
After that, we took a tram down to Collins Street and transfer to another tram to St Patrick's Cathedral. If you like old European Churches with stain glass and beautiful architecture, you will love St Patrick's Cathedral. I was really impressed by the structure of the church, not like those you see in Singapore. You will feel that you are entering a church if you visit those old European Church. Really loving it. It's the same for St Francis Church, filled with stain glass and beautiful traditional church architecture, with pipe organ. I am loving the church in Melbourne.
Having some problems uploading the picture friends, as my internet speed is no longer the usual 512Kpps but it's only 384 and it gets slower till 64 Kpps as the month passes by. Will try to look for ways to upload the pictures as much as possible.
On a side note, my body is adapting to the cold 10 degree celcius in average by being down with a flu. But no worries, it will get better. Off to St Francis's and maybe St Kilda's Beach tomorrow. Looking forward to it.
Take care, friends! :D
Before we went to St Francis Catholic Church, I actually did my homework as usual to find out about the history of the church. I am quite pleased to know that St Francis is one of the oldest catholic church in Melbourne. What's more, it has a very strong music ministry. It is a home to one of the finest Catholic church choir in melbourne, (I think should be of the same calibre or better than Peter Low's Choir from Singapore, considering that the choir has a very long history of 150 years). The St. Francis Choir usually sings for Sunday 11am mass and when I looked at the programme, they will be singing those traditional 5 movement mass, by composers such as Mozart, Haydn, etc. Wow. Guess, if there is a chance, I would join the St Francis Choir instead of the Melbourne University Choir. But you see, there is an audition required, and we are required to sing at sight. After that, we went to the catholic bookshop at St Francis. Got 2 hymn books called Spirit of Song 1 and Spirit of Song 2, to start my own collection of church liturgical music.
After that, we took a tram down to Collins Street and transfer to another tram to St Patrick's Cathedral. If you like old European Churches with stain glass and beautiful architecture, you will love St Patrick's Cathedral. I was really impressed by the structure of the church, not like those you see in Singapore. You will feel that you are entering a church if you visit those old European Church. Really loving it. It's the same for St Francis Church, filled with stain glass and beautiful traditional church architecture, with pipe organ. I am loving the church in Melbourne.
Having some problems uploading the picture friends, as my internet speed is no longer the usual 512Kpps but it's only 384 and it gets slower till 64 Kpps as the month passes by. Will try to look for ways to upload the pictures as much as possible.
On a side note, my body is adapting to the cold 10 degree celcius in average by being down with a flu. But no worries, it will get better. Off to St Francis's and maybe St Kilda's Beach tomorrow. Looking forward to it.
Take care, friends! :D
Friday, July 18, 2008
Greetings From Down Under...
Before I started complaining about my flight to Melbourne, just want to say that I am safe and sound here. I just got the internet connected to my apartment, a single studio apartment, with a bed, a mini kitchen, a study desk and own toilet. It's a cosy environment here, just think of single bed hotel room with a small kitchen and you'll get the picture.
Arrived Melbourne safety at 5am (Singapore Time), 7 am here yesterday. First thing that surprises me was the temperature, like 10 degree Celcius? My flight to Melbourne wasnt a smooth one, had many little unexpected surprises here and there.
1) My parents didnt apply for a visa. Thankfully, we manage to make one last minute. Sin $100.
2) Baggage exceeded the allowed capacity: 65kg, 10 Kg more than the allowance of 55kg.
Cost: Sin $120 and Aus $130
3) My mum's baggage was checked for medicine (she didnt declare it). The medicine was taken for a while to be tested, thankfully, everything was ok and the immigration officer let us through after checking out at Darwin Airport.
Upon arrival, the first thing we did was to take a cab to my new house, in North Melbourne. Reached my apartment at about 8am, and the property manager wasnt there yet, so had to wait for a while till 9am, where someone gave us the key to my room. Went to the room, found out that the pillow is missing, but nevertheless, we left the luggage in my room and go to the nearby cafe for breakfast. The entire day was spent on checking in at our individual accomodation and shopping/ scouting Victoria Market.
Talking about Victoria Market, it's indeed very huge, bigger than the biggest market you can find in Singapore. Some things are dirt cheap, for eg. we manage to get 3 big acovados for just Aus $2. The vegetables look different from the ones in Singapore. Most of them come in big portion, for e.g the BIG red Pepper, and the BIG green pepper. Got an alarm clock, pillow and a security box there. Had lunch at the Victoria Food Court. Man, it's a different concept from Singapore, basically the food court has 4 main stores, with one serving Indian, Italian, Cantonese and I forgot the other food. It's just a walkable distance from my apartment. We had dinner at a Thai restaurant and it was good.
Today, we had a more organised plans in mind, for e.g. the things to settle etc. Set up and Australian bank account and went to Chinatown to do some shopping again. I didnt manage to travel the whole of Chinatown but visited the Target Centre. Went back to Victoria market again to get groceries such as rice, toiletries such as toilet paper, tissue, cooking oil etc. Had my first experience on board a tram. Travelled down Swaston Street till Yarra River.
What can I say about my 2- day stay here? I am just loving each moment here. Hopefully nothing changes it during the 3 to 4 years here. I promise to blog more about my stay in Melbourne.
Before I started complaining about my flight to Melbourne, just want to say that I am safe and sound here. I just got the internet connected to my apartment, a single studio apartment, with a bed, a mini kitchen, a study desk and own toilet. It's a cosy environment here, just think of single bed hotel room with a small kitchen and you'll get the picture.
Arrived Melbourne safety at 5am (Singapore Time), 7 am here yesterday. First thing that surprises me was the temperature, like 10 degree Celcius? My flight to Melbourne wasnt a smooth one, had many little unexpected surprises here and there.
1) My parents didnt apply for a visa. Thankfully, we manage to make one last minute. Sin $100.
2) Baggage exceeded the allowed capacity: 65kg, 10 Kg more than the allowance of 55kg.
Cost: Sin $120 and Aus $130
3) My mum's baggage was checked for medicine (she didnt declare it). The medicine was taken for a while to be tested, thankfully, everything was ok and the immigration officer let us through after checking out at Darwin Airport.
Upon arrival, the first thing we did was to take a cab to my new house, in North Melbourne. Reached my apartment at about 8am, and the property manager wasnt there yet, so had to wait for a while till 9am, where someone gave us the key to my room. Went to the room, found out that the pillow is missing, but nevertheless, we left the luggage in my room and go to the nearby cafe for breakfast. The entire day was spent on checking in at our individual accomodation and shopping/ scouting Victoria Market.
Talking about Victoria Market, it's indeed very huge, bigger than the biggest market you can find in Singapore. Some things are dirt cheap, for eg. we manage to get 3 big acovados for just Aus $2. The vegetables look different from the ones in Singapore. Most of them come in big portion, for e.g the BIG red Pepper, and the BIG green pepper. Got an alarm clock, pillow and a security box there. Had lunch at the Victoria Food Court. Man, it's a different concept from Singapore, basically the food court has 4 main stores, with one serving Indian, Italian, Cantonese and I forgot the other food. It's just a walkable distance from my apartment. We had dinner at a Thai restaurant and it was good.
Today, we had a more organised plans in mind, for e.g. the things to settle etc. Set up and Australian bank account and went to Chinatown to do some shopping again. I didnt manage to travel the whole of Chinatown but visited the Target Centre. Went back to Victoria market again to get groceries such as rice, toiletries such as toilet paper, tissue, cooking oil etc. Had my first experience on board a tram. Travelled down Swaston Street till Yarra River.
What can I say about my 2- day stay here? I am just loving each moment here. Hopefully nothing changes it during the 3 to 4 years here. I promise to blog more about my stay in Melbourne.
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