We're gonna sip this wine and pass the cup

After being in school for 5 weeks I realized that I haven't really said much about the whole education aspect of being here. So here it is!

The University is actually eerily similar to Ryerson. Scattered throughout the downtown core of Sydney, they place a huge emphasis on the practicality of teachings. This semester I am taking four classes (equivalent to five at home) including Sports Management, The Olympic Games, Business Strategies and Advertising Practice. I really wish Ryerson would offer more classes to do with sports management since we are located in the sports capital of Canada but either way I am happy to be enrolled in them out here, as the Australian content offers a fresh perspective. The main difference between here and there (there being Ryerson) is the passion in the lecturers. All of my lecturers have this incredible passion for their subject which is really refreshing. The topics also have that much more relevance when your professor can point to a picture of the Australian contingency marching in at the 2008 Beijing games and say, "that's me!"

I recently completed a group tutorial assignment in Sports Management where we looked at expansion franchises and their impacts on leagues and fans. Initially we were going to focus on expansion in the NHL and the AFL (Australian Football League) however as we began to narrow down our search we had way to much information. We decided on strictly looking at the AFL who's plans for expansion reminded me of a lot of Gary Bettman's plans to grow the NHL in non traditional markets. Forgive my pessimism but I couldn't help but think some of the new franchises were destined for failure.

Next week I have another group tutorial presentation in my Olympic Games course. A fellow Canadian and I have decided to look at how the International Olympic Committee can try to bridge the gap between the Winter Games and their significance to the Southern Hemisphere (mainly Australia). The topic was definitely inspired by my Canadian pride being squashed when I came down here, and no one knew what the hell Vancouver 2010 was. Either way, I am looking forward to the presentation as we have some fun videos, and very interesting facts to back up our research.

The work load is pretty similar to Ryerson, but the majority of my work is due within the first 5 weeks. The past week and the next two are pretty hectic but it should settle down after that. The semester is quite a bit shorter than at home too. We started on February 23rd and finish on May 27th with an 18 day mid-semester break in the middle of April, so I'm definitely not complaining.

What else can I tell you? For those of you who haven't heard, I have decided to trim my trip short by three months to get back to Ryerson for the Fall. With the potential of Grad school a year a way I figured I should get home and attempt to boost the ol' GPA before it's too late. There were also some issues with my transfer credits which didn't help the situation either. Either way I have kind of gotten over that and am looking forward to getting back for September. I have plans of co-producing a TV show for our campus station with my friend Chris, and getting involved with some other student groups in hopes of starting a Sports Management conference of some sort. It also makes it easier to leave early knowing that I will have all my travelling that I had planned on doing, done. Mitch has graciously altered his travel plans to accommodate my change so when July rolls around we will hopefully be travelling South East Asia.

Up until now it has been tough for me to grasp the consequences of the global financial crisis that we are now immersed in. After searching for a job in Sydney for the past 2 months, I now understand that the problems are real and the situation is tough. Thankfully I am not supporting a family or paying any real bills, because I can't imagine how tough it would be to live in these extreme conditions. While the job search will continue I have opened my options up a bit and will now look at fruit picking during the month of June to save up a bit of cash. In the meantime I am keeping myself busy with school work and my new found gig writing for the Universities magazine, Vertigo. My first assignment is reviewing an animated feature called Mary and Max which premiered at Sundance this year. I will post the article when it's complete.

Other than that all is well on the Australian coast. I would like to send out a special shout out to Michelle Tiangco who is celebrating her 19th birthday today and of course to my Baba Teenie who turned the big 8-2, on Tuesday. I would imagine one birthday party will involve more drinking than the other but either way I wish I was able to attend both!

A final hello to everyone at O'Keefe House who will undoubtedly have the place rockin' all night Friday during formal. Wish I was there! Have a blast.

Until next time,

kc

All Hail...

Had Kings of Leon anticipated the success they would have south of the equator they may have opted for a more pertinent name, perhaps Kings of Oz. The Tennessee bred family rockers have had remarkable success in the country of 21 million; selling more copies of their fourth studio album, Only By The Night than in their native US. While Kings of Leon found a mediocre level of success with their first three albums it is their fourth release that has propelled them to a level of superstardom in Australia. Brothers Caleb, Jared and Nathan Followill alongside cousin Matt Followill currently find themselves in the midst of their Australian tour which has them playing eight sold out arena shows across the country. Tonight the boys in Kings of Leon find themselves in Sydney for a third and final night where they will play to yet another sold out venue.

The opening slot of the night was awarded to Canadian indie rockers and close friends of Kings of Leon, The Stills. The Montreal based band had a big job on their hands as they attempted to warm up the then trickling in crowd. The crowd responded favourably as the Stills rocked their way through an above average 45 minute set. As The Stills moved into their last song of the night they thanked Kings of Leon for bringing them along for the ride, undoubtedly hoping that the exposure would help them find their place on Australian radio.

The lights went out on Acer Arena and Kings of Leon were ready to roll. The capacity crowd of 17,215 were a raucous from the moment the band hit the stage to a hair raising rendition of Crawl. Front man Caleb Followills strong vocal abilities were on display from the first note as he powered his way through the first few songs. Followill greeted the audience, “Last time I checked this wasn’t a CD listening session, so get off your asses and let’s party”. With four albums worth of material to work with the party had definitely started. As the set wore on the band treated long time fans to early classics including King of the Rodeo, California Waiting and Molly’s Chambers. While Followill lacked the stage presence that most arena rockers are famous for, he still had no trouble keeping the crowd howling throughout the night. As the night progressed crowd favourites including Revelery and Fans had the arena serenading Kings of Leon as home videos from the bands childhood played on the big screens. “Who wants to sing?,” Followill proclaimed as the band dove head first into unquestionably their biggest hit to date, Sex on Fire. As the 18 song set drew to a close Followill explained to the crowds delight, “We have a lot of people around us who are telling us we should make Australia our new home, and I have to be honest with you, we’re considering it!” And why wouldn’t you. The guys returned to the stage for a four song encore that included, Knocked Up, Manhattan and the shrieky Charmer. Once again the band thanked the crowd profusely as they took a moment to soak up their new found fame.

Finding a place for rock music on today’s bubblegum pop radio stations is no easy task, and after four albums Kings of Leon are finally enjoying a level of success unseen before. While the show lacked the hoopla and budget that Acer Arena had seen 3 days previous during Coldplay’s Viva La Vida tour, Kings of Leon definitely delivered. After an hour and forty five minute set that left the crowd screaming for more one has to assume that their is an new heir to the rock and roll throne. All hail Kings of Leon.

Smells like gold

Wow, where to begin. At 13 days this stands as the longest I have gone blogless thus far and hopefully the trend won't continue. It would help if I knew where the last few weeks have gone as it's been an absolute whirlwind around here, but in the best possible way.

School has been consuming a lot of my time as of late but I have had my fair share of distractions as well which has definitely made the time fly by. Dad, Courtney and Dale arrived on the morning of March 6th to a very hungover Kevin. Needless to say I tried not to show it, and I think I did and I think I did a pretty good job! It was really surreal (and still is) seeing my family down under, even though I have only been here two and a half months it has begun to feel a bit like home so having them here is awesome. DC&D as I will refer to them from here on out were staying out at Coogee Beach in a nice two bedroom apartment right on the beach. The first few days I did my best to show them around Sydney which was a lot of fun. It's kind of neat showing people around a city you barely know and it was actually a great chance for me to see a lot of the city that I had yet to see.

Highlights from the first week in Sydney included an interesting, albeit once in a lifetime stop at the Mardi Gras parade, shopping at the Rocks and Paddy's markets, nighttime harbour ferry, the Opera House of course, a trip to the Blue Mountains among many other things. After writing that last sentence I am beginning to realize why not blogging regularly sucks, I'm now forced to cram a weeks worth of fun into one sentence. Either way it was a great time and I still managed to attend all my classes.

On Thursday we headed north to the Gold Coast and more specifically Surfer's Paradise. Courtney managed to score us an awesome apartment right in the heart of town which was awesome. We spent a lot of time just bumming around Surfer's and hanging out by the pool. Dad, Courtney and I took a day trip down to Byron Bay which wasn't nearly long enough but has inspired me to return. The Gold Coast is very touristy in comparison to the rest of Australia I have seen, think Puerto Vallarta meets Orlando. Theme parks, cruises, cabaret etc. are all over the place but we managed to stay away from the that stuff for the most part.

A highlight of the trip up North was our adventure to the Australia Zoo. also known as the home of the Crocodile Hunter. The Zoo was incredible and is probably the best legacy Steve Irwin could have left. We started off the day by hand feeding the elephants, yes real live elephants. They managed to leave a bit of gross snot on your hand after they took the food but it was worth it. Following the feeding we headed to the Crocoseum where they put on a great live show with birds, reptiles and of course crocs, all of which was very entertaining. We managed to spend nearly the entire day at the Zoo and I finally got to see a live Tasmanian Devil. The park was set up in such a way that it really celebrated the life of Steve Irwin instead of mourning the death. One of the most incredible things was a tribute area they had where they displayed pictures, letters and other things people had made and sent to the family. It was definitely a bit moving.

After the Zoo we headed to Noosa Heads for the rest of the afternoon/evening. We arrived just in time to see the tricks competition at part of the 2009 Noosa Festival of Surfing. Dogs riding on the boards and acrobatic tricks were some of the highlights. All in all it was a great day enjoyed by everyone I do believe.

Unfortunately I had to leave the family in Surfer's as I needed to get back to Sydney for school. They are due back in town tomorrow sometime where I am sure I will have more stories to tell. In the mean time enjoy the following few pictures from the Zoo and Noosa.

Cheers,

kc

I've got soul but I'm not a soldier

School is in full swing and it is hard to believe that I already have two weeks behind me (more on that next post), it's even harder to believe that I'm ready to welcome some familiar faces from home Down Under! My dad, sister and Dale "The Mail" Elmore are set to arrive in just under 36 hours, and as you can imagine I can't wait. More on those adventures to come...

For now I'll take you on my trip to the nation's capital.

Canberra - February 27-28th, 2009

I had been back in Sydney for less than 3 days when I decided to once again hit the road. This time I elected to go to the capital of Australia, Canberra. This time I also elected to travel alone, with my main stop being to the Australian Institute of Sport.

First things first I'd like to say there is a lot to be said for travelling on your own. I don't want to take anything away from my previous travels as they've been amazing and Kim and Kristine have been great to travel with but the solo thing definitely gives you the real backpacker feel (albeit it was for two days one night). I had planned literally nothing leading up to the trip aside from booking my train ticket and organizing a meeting at the AIS.

I got off the train and I couldn't help but feel like I was in the middle of nowhere. Canberra is probably the weirdest city I've ever been in (in a good way) as everything is fairly new and seemingly strategically planned. I took a bus from the train station to the city centre in hopes that a) I would stumble upon the hostel and b) that they would have rooms left. I managed to find it quite easily considering I had no address or map of the city.

I checked in, had lunch and hopped on the bus to the AIS. Thanks to my friend Linnae at Rogers I was put in touch with a fellow Canadian, Rachel Parry who is the General Manager of Corporate Communications at the Australian Sports Commission. I arrived at the AIS facilities where I met Rachel and she provided me with a great overview of the Australia Governments involvement in sport in Australia. After the crash course info session, Rachel toured me around the Australia Institute of Sports facilities. The AIS was founded after the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games where Australia failed to win a gold medal. This was seen as quite the embarrassment so the Australian government funded the institute as a training centre for elite sport. Of all the Australian's that went to 2008 Beijing Games, 60% had at one point or another trained at the AIS facilities. Rachel referred to the AIS as Australia's "Gold Medal Factory" and rightfully so, the Australian's won more medals per capita than any other nation at the 2008 games. The facilities themselves are quite simply astonishing. From underwater viewing areas in the pool, to cutting edge technologies and breakthroughs in sport the AIS truly is a world class facility. I was lucky enough to see a few members of the 2008 Beijing Games Men's swimming team who took home silver and bronze medals at the games preparing to practice. What was probably the most shocking thing to see was the gymnastics area where girls as young as 8 years old were training twice a day in hopes of one day making the games, a dream that is still at least 8 years away. I was fortunate to learn a lot about sport in Australia and the importance of the Olympic games to the nation. Special thanks to Rachel who was fresh off a visit of the Vancouver 2010 sites, but still took time out of her busy schedule to show me around.

I headed back to the city centre and bummed around the area before heading back to the hostel and calling it a night.

The next morning I took an hour walk to National Museum of Australia. The museum is probably less than 5 years old and is absolutely amazing and the best part of it all, it was free. I roamed around the museum for a couple of hours which was at times a bit creepy as I seemed to be the only person in the massive facilities. I finished up and headed back to the city to visit the Australian War Memorial.

I don't consider myself a history buff or a war enthusiast which is why I was a little reluctant to head to the war memorial. I was recommended by a friend who told me it was spectacular, and it definitely did not disappoint. After arriving I wandered around the never ending rooms before finally meeting in the lobby for a guided tour. The tour lasted an hour and a half and was absolutely amazing. I learned a lot about Australia's involvement in the war from World War I right through to the Iraq war. They have put together an amazing series of exhibits and it truly is a tribute to everyone who has served the country of Australia. In total I spent nearly four hours in a place I had planned on staying one or two. If you go to Canberra for no other reason, go for the War Memorial.

I took a stroll down the ANZAC Parade before I finally headed to the train station. I had two jam packed days in Canberra and although the city is a tad strange it definitely was great to see. I would be lying if I didn't say one of the best things about Canberra is nearly everything is FREE (this is definitely the Winnipegger in me!), but either way I had a great time and headed back to Sydney with a lot more knowledge than I left with.

Until next time,

kc