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A new chapter
In just 12 hours, Maria and I leave Australia... We're not leaving for good, but we're planning a few years in Norway and other places around the world!
We're kicking off our adventure with six weeks in Japan before arriving in Norway around 19 March to settle there.
There may not be many more posts to Koalaplanet in the future, but we'll keep everyone updated in a new weblog - to be announced!
The next few articles are samples of the content published here during the "glory days" of koalaplanet.org. In addition, I recommend a look in the right-hand column for some articles that may still be helpful if you are studying or planning to study in Australia.
Thanks to those of you who have been following Koalaplanet through the years... It's been fun, and we'll be back! :o)
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Nature has been closed for your safety…
We apologise for any inconvenience, and if you try to go for a hike we'll fine you $225.
A few days ago, Lisa, Maria and I took a quick daytrip to Mount Tamborine, one hour's drive south of Brisbane. We spent about ten minutes to plan the trip, another ten minutes to get ready, did some picnic-food shopping and got in the car - all ready for our little adventure. Little did we know that nature apparently was far too unsafe for human beings.
The drive down south was fairly uneventful, save for the odd display of Australian brilliance at highway driving. Somehow, highways of at least two lanes going in the same direction seem to bring out the Formula-1 driver in quite a few motorists...
Having dodged a couple near-hits and witnessed a number of overtakes that surely should have brought out the black flag, we were at the foot of Mt Tamborine. About 20 minutes and 20 litres of diesel later (the good-old Landcruiser consumes about the same amount of diesel per day as a small Latin-American country), we were at the top of the mountain with stunning vistas on all sides.
From the east of Mt Tamborine are simultaneous views of Surfers Paradise and Brisbane (which are some 60 kilometres apart), and from the west you can take in stunning hinterland vistas.
Having no time for such things (my little wife finds views a wee bit boring after about 90 seconds  ), we headed half-way down the mountainside on the opposite end of the top, towards Cedar Creek Falls National Park. That area has a whopping 1.4 kilometres of walking tracks that take the determined hiker past a lookout point overlooking beautiful waterfalls and down to rock pools at the bottom of a deep gorge.
Unfortunately, we came nowhere near the rock pools, much to Maria's dismay (she is very, very, very fascinated by rock pools - a fascination I must admit I share with her to a certain degree. It's my dirty little secret :o). Apparently the walking track (which is sealed in asphalt and has railings all the way down the gorge) was far too unsafe for any two-legged creature to traverse, and serious injury, death and a $225 fine would result from any attempts to brave Mother Nature.
Since there was a Norwegian among us (me, me, me), nothing nature does could possibly harm us. However, we did not like the prospect of a $225 fine per person, so we headed back up the mountain to try our luck in a different national park (they have managed to cram in 11 of them just on this particular mountain).
Ten minutes and yet another 20 litres of diesel later, we were back up on the top of Mt Tamborine and parked at the entrance to Joalah National Park. According to the Environmental Protection Agency's website, Joalah sports rainforest tracks, a large rock pool and "an impressive view of the falls and surrounding columnar basalt rockface. Swimming is prohibited at the falls. A restricted access area below Curtis Falls protects an important glow-worm colony."
Joalah sounded quite nice, so we wanted to check it out!
Having parked the car and attempted to peruse the on-site public toilet, we were ready to start our big hike. This wouldn't have been a problem, had it not been for a big "STOP" sign blocking the path leading into the park. According to the park ranger we talked to, a very, very big tree had fallen over the path leading up to the lookout point with "an impressive view of the falls and surrounding columnar basalt rockface. Swimming is prohibited at the falls. A restricted access area below Curtis Falls protects an important glow-worm colony."
Like I said, a big tree had fallen! So the rangers had closed off the path to clear the way and make sure the area was safe. Apparently, the area was safe enough now, except for the path leading up to the lookout - where the fallen tree was. So the ranger gallantly let us pass the big "STOP" sign. We hiked merrily into the rainforest, down the path leading to a creek running through the bottom of a little valley, found pretty fungi growing on tree branches, said hello to a construction worker in coveralls, tried to spot an eel that another merry hiker had seen, took some pictures and had our walk cut short by a big sign telling us that the part of nature behind the big, big fence just there was closed for our safety. Serious injury, death and a $225 fine would result from any attempts to climb the fence and brave Mother Nature.
Apparently, there was great danger of rock falls in the area. While we couldn't spot any hillsides or cliffs steep enough to cause a rock to come tumbling down the valley and kill anyone in its path, we didn't like the prospect of a $225 fine this time either. So we decided to head back up to the car, find a nice, safe spot without too much nature and eat our picnic food.
After a bit of searching, we found the way to the Tamborine Mountain Botanical Gardens. We found a nice, safe spot where we could just barely hear the noise of two lawnmowers and a boat-like contraption that was clearing the ponds of weeds and other water-growths, and commenced our picnic!
The food was quite nice: Bread rolls, Norwegian Jarlsberg cheese, 200-square-centimetre-sized slices of roast beef, softdrinks and Christmas pretzels.
Thoroughly satisfied, gastronomically speaking, we decided to give up on nature, get some fudge and sit down and watch the views from the top. Afterwards we headed back to Brisbane and agreed that it had been a nice and safe day out in fairly natural surroundings.
See 11 photos in this story's gallery
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Work permit for international students
International student in Australia and feeling the financial squeeze??? You might want to pick up a little job on the side of your studies, just to add a few dollars to your weekly budget. Here's how you get a work permit.
Australian student visas come with a no-work condition - meaning you are not allowed to take up paid work while staying in Australia.
However, once you have started your studies, it is fairly easy to get a work permit, which will allow you to work 20 hours per week during the semester and unlimited hours during university breaks.
All it takes is filling out a form and paying AU$55.
Applying online
You may be eligible to apply for your work permit through the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs's (DIMIA) website.
The application can be made on this page.
Prior to applying you need two things: a credit card and an electronic confirmation from your university that you have commenced your studies.
To obtain this confirmation, you will need to go to the student centre of your university and tell them you need an electronic confirmation of course commencement.
When this has been done, you need to wait for minimum of one hour before taking the next step - filling out the actual application.
Nitty-gritty details
You will need to provide details such as name/address/birthdate, passport number and visa number, and a few other things when applying for the permit.
On the last page of the application, you will be asked to enter your credit card details so that DIMIA can get its hands on AU$55 of your hard-earned money.
After submitting the online application, you should receive a confirmation e-mail with a reference number. Take note of this number as it is necessary for checking the status of your application.
According to DIMIA, your application should be processed in about one hour. However, things may well go a lot faster... In my case, it took two minutes!
If you are granted a work permit, you need to make your way to your nearest DIMIA office to pick up a new visa tag for your passport.
Applying offline
If you wish to apply in writing, you will need to obtain or print Form 157P [PDF].
If you go for this option, DIMIA will need about 30 days to process your application - so if you're eligible, I suggest you apply online!
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Billig til Australia
Nå koster det lite å holde kontakten med oss her i Australia!
På nettstedet Telefonkort.net kan man kjøpe ringetid for under halvparten av Telenors priser.
Det billigste telefonkortet, EuroCity (sist jeg sjekket), gir 550 minutters ringetid til Australia for 89 kroner. Eneste ulempen er at kortet går ut 60 dager etter første samtale.
Med Yellow får man 500 minutter for 94 kroner. Til gjengjeld varer dette kortet i tre måneder fra første bruk.
Gå til denne siden for å sammenligne priser på alle kortene. Eventuelt, les mer hos Dagbladet!
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Pengemangel?
Nå kan du søke studielån på internett!
Torsdag åpnet Lånekassen nettsøknaden for 2003-2004.
Utenlandsstudenter som allerede har påbegynt utdanningen slipper nå den heller trege, og noen ganger usikre, postgangen til Norge.
Men svaret lar fortsatt vente på seg i to uker...
Du finner nettsøknaden her:
Lånekassens nettsøknad
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Enklere å være syk i Australia
En avtale mellom Folketrygden og australske Mayne Health gjør det lettere for norske studenter å være syke i Australia.
I følge ANSA innebærer den nye avtalen at store regninger fra australske leger og sykehus tilhører fortiden.
Norske studenter som kan fremvise et gyldig medlemskort fra Folketrygdkontoret for utenlandssaker vil heretter slippe med å betale egenandel, akkurat som ved legebesøk i Norge.
Mayne Health vil dekke resten av utgiftene for siden å få disse refundert fra Folketrygden
Avtalen skal tre i kraft fra 28-FEB-2003. Statene Victoria og Tasmania er ikke omfattet av avtalen, da Mayne Health ikke er representert her!
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Dollarkursen under fire!
Den australske dollaren er verd mindre enn noensinne. På høy tid å veksle!
Lille juleaften duppet prisen på australske dollar til UNDER fire norske kroner. Det er første gang dette skjer på de 20 årene jeg har statistikk for.
Oljekrise
I følge de fleste (lettere forvirrede) analytikere, er det den skyhøye oljeprisen som er skyld i den gunstige økonomiske utsikten for oss australiastudenter.
Streik blant oljearbeiderne i Venezuela og utsikter til Golfkrigen II driver oljeprisen opp, og den norske staten tjener penger som aldri før.
Veksle snarlig
Det kan være gull verd å veksle inn studielånet nå! Får du vekslingskurs 3,95 på 77.000 norske lånekassekroner ender du opp med 19.494 australske dollar.
For ett år siden var et studielån på 77.000 kroner verd 16.629 AUD, altså 2865 AUD mindre.
Med de 2865 australske dollarene man "tjener" på dagens gunstige kurs kan man finansiere (et moderert) livets opphold i rundt åtte uker, eventuelt betale flybilletten hjem til Norge og fremdeles ha rundt 800 AUD til fest og moro!
Bare en liten ting...
Husk at jeg ikke er valutaekspert eller noe sånn! Kanskje kursen blir enda gunstigere dersom Bush angriper Irak og Saddam setter fyr på oljebrønnene sine...
Men jeg vet at 3,95 er den gunstigste vekslingskursen på en ungdomsalder! Så uansett hvordan valutamarkedet utvikler seg er det gunstig å veksle studielånet sitt nå!
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Er du terrorist?
I så fall, skjelv i buksene! Australias nyeste våpen mot terrorisme heter skjema 1190 og skal stanse farlige utenlandsstudenter fra å komme inn i Australia!
For å unngå at fæle terrorister skal komme inn i Australia, har DIMA (innvandringsdepartementet) bestemt at alle visumsøkere må fylle ut skjema 1190.
Her blir du spurt om du har avtjent verneplikt, vært soldat i en statlig eller privat milits eller geriljagruppe, og om du er trent i paramilitære aktiviteter eller våpen- og sprengstoffbruk!
Skulle du falle inn i en av disse kategoriene, må du gi en utfyllende beskrivelse av hva du faktisk gjorde, sånn at DIMA kan bestemme om du er såpass terrorist at du ikke får komme inn i landet.
Men dere som har tjenestegjort i det norske (kvalitets)forsvar har neppe noe å frykte. 
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C.o.E, A.o.O, U.O, L.Å.N.E.K.A.S.S.E.N
Det har vært litt forvirring på IECs diskusjonsforum om hvilke brev man skal bruke til lånekassesøknader og sånt! Her er en liten oppklaring!
Unconditional Offer (UO)
Unconditional Offer er brevet man får fra universitetet når man får tilbud om skoleplass. Her står det at universitetet er glad for å tilby deg en full-fee paying skoleplass ved den utdanningen du har søkt på. Det står også hvor lenge utdanningen varer, samt hvor mye den koster (og mye annet rart).
Ta vare på dette brevet!
Acceptance of Offer (AoO)
Dette er et viktig brev!!! Du får dette etter at du har takket ja til skoleplassen og betalt depositum. I mitt AoO stod det ikke hvor mye skolepenger jeg skal betale!
Confirmation of Enrolment (CoE)
Dette brevet er egentlig fra Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs. Men universitetene skriver dem ut og sender dem sammen med AoO. CoE-brevet bruker du til visum-søknaden.
L.Å.N.E.K.A.S.S.E.N
Lånekassen er en samling hyggelige mennesker som gjør sitt ytterste for at du skal få et hyggelig opphold i utlandet. De er hyperdrillet i kundebehandling og sosiale ferdigheter og behandler alle henvendelser raskt og effektivt, og alltid med et lite smil om munnen! (Det finnes dessverre enkelte unntak...)
Når du skal søke Lånekassen om lån, må du gjøre følgende:
-Fyll ut søknaden.
-Legg ved kopi av "Acceptance of Offer".
-Legg ved kopi av et brev, slik som "Confirmation of Enrolment" eller "Unconditional Offer", der det står hvor mye skolepenger du skal betale (dersom dette ikke står i AoO).
-Legg ved godkjent kopi av vitnemål fra videregående skole (dersom dette er første gang du søker støtte til høyere utdanning).
Håper dette hjalp! Og hvis jeg har glemt noe, eller hvis du bare er fornøyd og vil si det til meg, så mail meg på !
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Studere i Australia? - Del 3
De siste forberedelsene... Litt om å finne seg bosted og hva man bør ta med seg.
Sted å bo
Jeg hadde flaks og fant meg plass å bo gjennom IECs Treffpunkt. Men hva hvis du vil vente til du kommer til Australia før du finner deg sted å bo?
De fleste universitetene tilbyr temporary accomodation. Sjekk med studieagenten hvilke muligheter du har ved ditt universitet. Temporaryaccomodation koster penger. Husk det! Men du trenger neppe mer enn to uker på å finne deg en skikkelig plass å bo.
I storbyene (kanskje untatt Sydney) bør du klare å finne deg en grei plass å bo for omtrent AU$ 110per UKE! Altså, cirka 2.000 NOK per måned. Elektrisitet/gass/telefon kommer som regel i tillegg til husleien.
Går du sammen med to-tre andre personer bør du kunne finne deg en veldig okay leilighet eller kanskje et koselig hus å bo i for en rimelig penge (altså rundt AU$100-130 per uke).
Husk at leiekontraktene som regel har lang oppsigelsestid og at du ofte binder deg for minst et halvt år av gangen. Så vær sikker i din sak når du skriver under kontrakten.
For øvrig, husk at du må betale depositum (som oftest inntil to måneders leie)!
Hva må jeg ta med?
Minst mulig! Glem bøker, glem fotoalbum, glem dynejakke og ti gensere! Ta med deg tre-fire bukser og shorts. En del t-skjorter, en eller to ullgensere, noen lette gensere, ei lett jakke eller to, et par vanlige sko og et par finsko. Og gutter... Ta med en dress også! Kommer garantert til nytte!
På flyet bør du ha på deg løse klær og et par sandaler. Det kan fort bli lenge å sitte med sko i to døgn.
Ha alle elektroniske artikler i håndbagasjen. Ikke ha noen spisse gjenstander (lommekniv, neglefil, hårnåler etc.) eller andre terroristting (bl.a. håndjern, faktisk!) i håndbagasjen.
Og en ting til... Ha CoE- og eCoE-brevet fra universitetet sammen med passet!
Datamaskin?
Det går jo fint an å kjøpe PC i Australia. Men prisene er omtrent like der og i Norge. Derfor kan det faktisk lønne seg å kjøpe en bærbar PC i Norge og ta den med til Australia. Kjøper du PCen (eller andre ting) innen en måned før avreise, får du refundert momsen (det vil si at en PC til 10.000 NOK plutselig koster 8.065 NOK). Ring tolldistriktet og be om å få tilsendt skjema for momsrefusjon.
I Australia må man i utgangspunktetbetale mellom 10% og 25% toll på innførsel av PC som ikke er eldre enn ett år. Men er du student slipper du denne tollen så lenge du lover på tro og ære å ta med deg PCen hjem etter endt opphold.
Edderkopper og slanger
Når du har kommet så langt som dette, tror jeg ikke det er noe særlig mer å bekymre seg for, kanskje unntatt edderkopper og slanger!
Fact: Verdens ti giftigste slanger finnes i Queensland. Tyve av de 23 giftigste slangene i verden finnes i Queensland!
God tur!!!
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Studere i Australia? - Del 2
Har du fått skoleplass nå? Da er det på tide å finne ut hvordan du takler Lånekassen, visumsøknaden, flybilletten og forsikringen.
Finansiering (dvs. Lånekassen)
Dette blir dyrt… Vel, sannsynligvis ikke noe dyrere enn om du skulle studere i Norge, men likevel...
Så mye får du i støtte:
I skoleåret 2002/2003 får australiastudenter 153.120 NOK. Av disse er 52.320 NOK til skolepenger (gebyrstipend) og 100.800 NOK er vanlig lån/stipend (inkludert reisetillegg).
(Disse tallene gjelder for skoleåret 2002/2003, og kan endre seg til stadighet. Sjekk ut Lånekassen - Utland for oppdaterte tall og oversikt over hvilke studier som gir gebyrstipend!)
Fra en gang i 2002 vil studiestøtten utbetales i månedlige porsjoner. Utenlandsstudenter er unntatt fra denne ordningen og vil fremdeles kunne nyte godt av over 75.000 friske NOK på konto en gang per semester.
Når du vil søke Lånekassen om støtte til utdanning i Australia må du gjøre følgende:
-Vente til du mottar "Acceptance of Offer"-brevet (AoO) fra universitetet og legge en kopi av dette ved søknaden.
-Fylle ut søknadsskjemaet
-Legge ved noe som viser hvor mye skolepenger du skal betale (dersom dette ikke står i AoO), slik som Confirmation of Enrolment (CoE) fra Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs.
-Legge ved bekreftet kopi av vitnemål for videregående skole dersom dette er første gang du søker om støtte til høyere utdanning.
-Sende av gårde hele greia og vente spent på svar.
Støtte fra lånekassen er ikke garantert!!! Cirka 10% av alle søknader blir avslått fordi søkerne har gjort seg til uvenn med Lånekassen gjennom feilaktige opplysninger, mislighold av lån og så videre. Enda flere søknader blir returnert ubehandlet fordi AoO eller vitnemål fra videregående mangler!!!
Behandlingstiden for søknader varierer. Lånekassen sier at behandlingstiden er cirka ti uker, men i år har noe merkelig skjedd: Flere har fått behandlet søknaden sin på under en måned. Og selv opplevde jeg å få utbetalt støtten midt i desember! Tidligere har mange ventet til langt etter de har dradd til Australia før pengene har kommet inn på konto.
Men selv om slike (tidligere uhørte) tilfeller forekommer, send av gårde søknaden til Lånekassen minst to måneder før du planlegger å dra! Du må nemlig personlig undertegne et gjeldsbrev for å få utbetalt støtten. Foreldre kan ikke undertegne for deg! Dette er altså mye lettere å gjøre mens du fremdeles er i landet.
Henger du fremdeles med???
Visum
Den letteste måten å skaffe seg studentvisum til Australia på er via nettet! Klikk her for å gå til DIMIAs webside for online visumsøknader!
Det er ikke alle som kan søke om visum over nettet! Her følger en bruksanvisning for visumsøknader på gamlemåten:
Australia må være som en våt drøm for norske byråkrater. Det finnes skjemaer for alt mellom himmel og jord, og sannsynligvis for mange andre ting også!
Disse to skjemaene trenger du:
-1160i
-157a
De kan lastes ned på internett og kan (i utskreven form) brukes til visumsøknaden din!
DIMA er Australias svar på Utlendingsdirektoratet i Norge. På web-siden til DIMA finner du masse mer eller mindre forvirrende informasjon om fremgangsmåten for å søke studentvisum. Jeg skal prøve å gå gjennom prosessen på en enkel og grei måte:
Last ned skjema 1160i og 157a og skriv dem ut.
Fyll ut ALLE påkrevde punkter i 157a. Ikke skriv feil! Skriver du feil, må du skrive ut den aktuelle siden på nytt. Det nytter ikke å krysse feil rute for så å korrekturlakke det bort etterpå!
I 157a - punkt 33, får du spørsmål om du blir sponset av ditt hjemlands eller den Australske staten. Det blir du IKKE så lenge du mottar vanlig studiestøtte (lån og stipend) fra Lånekassen og intet annet!
I 157a - punkt 73 krysser du av på "money order" dersom du har betalt med giro som beskrevet under.
Oppdatert 03-JUN-2002: Gå til banken og betal visumavgiften. Denne er for tiden på 1667 SVENSKE kroner. Du betaler til den australske ambassadens kontonummer i SVERIGE: 5277-10 006 52, swift-kode ESSESESS. Merk betalingen "Student Visa Application".
Husk å få kvittering (med stempel og underskrift), evt. (hvis du betaler fra nettbank) kvittering med "oblat for medlemskort". Husk at utenlandsbetalinger kan koste penger! Sjekk at et eventuelt gebyr ikke trekkes fra de 1667 svenske kronene! Dersom den australske ambassaden mottar mindre enn 1667 SEK blir visumsøknaden avvist!
Skandiabanken anbefales for utenlandsbetalinger!!!
Viktig: Dobbelsjekk opplysningene om betalingsmåte her!!!
Gå til en passfotoautomat og ta noen passbilder av deg selv.
Finn frem Electronic Confirmation of Enrollment (eCoE) som du fikk fra universitetet da du fikk bekreftelsen på at du har fått studieplass.
Send 157a, ett passbilde av deg selv, passet ditt, kvitteringen på at du har betalt visumavgiften, og eCoE til Australias ambassade i Stockholm, Sverige
Adressen til ambassaden:
Australian Embassy
Student Visa Section
Box 7003
S-103 86 Stockholm
SVERIGE
I løpet av en uke bør du ha fått tilbake passet ditt med et flott Australsk studentvisum!
VIKTIG: Har du iløpet av de siste fem årene oppholdt deg mer enn tre måneder sammenhengende i et annet land enn Norge (og et par-tre andre land), må du ta en helsesjekk hos en lege som er godkjent av den Australske staten. Det samme gjelder hvis du skal studere helserelaterte fag. Studieagenten har oversikt over hvilke leger du kan bruke. (I Kristiansand: Dr. Øyvind Sørensen, tlf. 38025088.)
Må du ta legesjekken, be studieagenten om å sende deg de relevante skjemaene. Ta skjemaene, urinprøve og minst to passfoto med til legesjekken.
Fremdeles i tvil om visumprosessen? Sjekk denne siden!
Flybillett
Flybilletter til Australia har en tendens til å koste cirka 5.000 NOK en vei. Ring eller stikk innom STA eller Kilroy for å ordne flybillett. Og gjør det minst et halvt år før avreise dersom du vil ha billetten så billig som mulig! Husk at bare fra Norge er det drøye 3.000 studenter som reiser ned i februar.
Første gangen du drar nedover har du sannsynligvis en umenneskelig mengde med bagasje du gjerne skulle hatt med. Men drar du via Asia (altså østover) får du bare med deg en koffert på inntil 20 kilo, samt håndbaggasje på cirka fem kilo. Tar du derimot turen vestover og mellomlander i USA (for de som tør det, da) kan du ha med deg to kofferter på inntil 32 kilo hver, samt håndbaggasje. Tenk deg derfor om før du bestiller flybilletten. (Det bør for øvrig være mulig å klare seg med 25 kilo dersom du bare vil…)
Hvis du drar til Australia på studentvisum, kjøp enveisbillett fra Norge til Australia. Resten av billettene kjøper du mens du er i Australia. Det er som regel billigere! (Du kan faktisk spare oppi 3.000 NOK på en tur-/returbillett!) Men…
Bare husk: Drar du til Australia på turistvisum for så å søke studentvisum etter at du har kommet frem, må du ha tur-/returbillett. Hvis du ikke har det, kan du risikere å bli satt på første fly hjem med beskjed om å ikke vise deg igjen i Australia de neste fem årene!!!
For ikke å snakke om: Tenk om du må tilbringe ei uke i immigrasjonscamp !
ANSA
Takket være ANSA får utenlandsstudentene fremdeles studiestøtten utbetalt hvert halvår istedenfor en gang i måneden. Vi får også valutakompensasjon, skulle den norske kronen tape seg veldig i forhold til den Australske dollaren.
Meld deg inn! Støtt ANSA!
Som ANSA-medlem får du blant annet studierabatt på toget. Du får også billigere forsikring, billige telefonsamtaler, rabatt hos STA, kredittkort i ANSA-banken og mye annet.
Medlemsskap koster 300 NOK for ett år. Melder du deg inn for flere år av gangen, får du rabatt.
Forsikring
VIKTIG!!! Ikke dra uten forsikring! Det kan bli økonomisk ruin!
Da du fikk innvilget søknad om lån fra Lånekassen ble du automatisk innmeldt i Folketrygdens kontor for Utenlandssaker. Det vil si at du får refundert utgifter til lege og sykehus (og noen medisiner) minus egenandel etter norske satser.
Som ANSA-medlem får du rabatt på studentforsikring fra Gjensidige NOR. For cirka 1.700 NOK får du reiseforsikring og innboforsikring.
Reiseforsikringen dekker reiser til og fra studielandet, reiser (ut fra bostedet i utlandet) med en varighet på inntil fem uker, samt reisen mellom bosted (fortsatt i utlandet) og studiested/jobb. Blir du alvorlig syk kan inntil to personer reise til deg på forsikringens regning. Forsikringen dekker også hjemtransport skulle du bli alvorlig syk eller dersom noen i familien (foreldre, søsken, besteforeldre) skulle dø.
Innboforsikringen dekker tap av innbo inntil 100.000 NOK som følge av tyveri, brann etc.
Slenger du inn drøye 1.300 NOK ekstra får du også dekket utgifter til lege og sykehus. Det vil si: Forsikringen stiller økonomisk garanti, slik at du ikke trenger legge ut penger for lege-/sykehusregninger for siden å få dem igjen fra Trygdekontoret. (Dette kan være kjekt å ha dersom du ofte blir syk.)
Tegn forsikring før du drar! Gjensidige (og de fleste andre forsikringsselskapene) krever at du er i Norge på det tidspunkt du tegner forsikring!!!
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Studere i Australia?
...men er litt nysgjerrig på hva du må gjøre? I første del av denne serien beskriver jeg fremgangsmåten for å søke om studieplass i Australia.
Husk at denne artikkelserien ble skrevet i begynnelsen av 2002. Ting endrer seg kontinuerlig. Jeg vil prøve å holde serien så oppdatert som mulig, men husk at ingen er perfekt! Dersom du finner at noe i artiklene er utdatert, mail meg, så skal jeg fikse og ordne!
(Ansvarsfraskrivelse: Opplysninger gitt i denne artikkelen kan inneholde feil. Artikkelforfatteren tar intet ansvar for innholdet i denne artikkelen.)
Sett deg ned og tenk deg godt om:
Vil du virkelig forlate venner og familie i flere år?
Er du forberedt på at Norge kanskje ikke er verdens navle og at vi nordmenn ikke er best i ett og alt? Det er jo typisk norsk å være god! (Liksom atte!!! )
Hva vil du gjøre med livet ditt? Hva vil du bli når du blir stor?
Hva vil du studere? Australia har et veldig rikt studietilbud. Massevis av universiteter, noen bedre enn andre.
Hvor vil du studere? Nord i Australia ligger gjerne temperaturen om sommeren stabilt langt over 40 grader. Vinteren blir ikke særlig kjølig heller, akkurat! Rundt Brisbane ligger sommertemperaturen på rundt 30 grader mens vinteren stort sett byr på temperaturer rundt 20 grader. Sør i Australia får man varme somre, men til tider kjølige vintrer (10 grader og mindre til og med!).
Og for all del, hvor lenge vil du studere i Australia? Ett semester? Kanskje fem år??? De fleste høyskoler og universiteter i Norge gir deg muligheten til å ta et semester eller to i utlandet. Men hva med å ta en Bachelor’s degree, eller til og med en Master? Har du bodd i Australia i tre-fem år har du ikke bare (forhåpentligvis) en universitetsgrad, men du har også skaffet deg internasjonale kontakter, internasjonal erfaring, du er (nesten) garantert flytende i engelsk, and so on… Det er ikke bare papirene som teller!
Sjekk ut IECs diskusjonsforum (Treffpunkt) for utenlandsstudenter! Masse praktiske tips og vink og erfaringer her! Lurer du på noe, og spør på en pen måte, får du som regel svar.
Vel… Nå har du kanskje tenkt litt? På tide å gå i gang med de praktiske forberedelsene:
Søknad om studieplass
De fleste australske universiteter er representert i Norge gjennom studieagenter, altså firmaer som formidler kontakt mellom deg og de universitetene du er interessert i å søke på. De to store i Norge er IEC og Bjørknes. I tillegg finner du Boomerang Studies og Sonans Interstudies.
Du vil få tilsendt brosjyrer og søknadsskjemaer for de aktuelle universitetene, og så er det bare å gå i gang.
Skaff deg attesterte kopier av vitnemålet fra videregående samt av eventuelle andre relevante papirer (for eksempel karakterutskrifter fra høyskole/universitet). Bare husk, de må være oversatt til engelsk! (Videregående skoler har en tendens til å ta betalt for å sende deg en oversettelse!)
Send søknadene til din agent (for eksempel Bjørknes) og håp på det beste.
Vanskelig å komme inn, kanskje?
Vel… Det er lettere å få skoleplass i Australia enn i Norge. Har du rundt fire i snitt kan du være rimelig sikker på å komme inn på i alle fall ett av valgene dine. Poenget her er at vi er nordmenn og vi betaler for oss. Slik får universitetene finansiert mye av forskningen sin! Altså, fordi vi betaler for oss, kommer vi som regel inn ett eller annet sted!
Et lite råd til: Universitetene behandler søknadene fortløpende. Det vil si at jo tidligere du søker, jo større sjanse har du for å få studieplass!
Jeg ventet og jeg ventet…
Når du har sendt av gårde søknad om skoleplass kan du stort sett bare gjøre en ting: Vente! Behandlingstiden for søknader ved de forskjellige universitetene varierer veldig.
Da jeg søkte, fikk jeg svar fra James Cook University (JCU) etter bare to uker! Queensland University of Technology (QUT) brukte halvannen måned, mens University of Queensland (UQ) trengte godt over to måneder på å svare.
For å si det sånn… Går det mer enn seks uker, begynn å mase forsiktig på studieagenten. Og husk, i høysesongen (to-tre måneder før studiestart) kan behandlingstiden være ekstra lang!
Kom du inn???
GRATULERER!!! Men hva nå???
Gi skriftlig beskjed til studieagenten om ved hvilket universitet du vil studere og si fra deg eventuelle studieplasser du måtte være tilbudt ved andre universiteter. Betal depositum (som regel AU$ 500) i form av internasjonal sjekk utstedt til universitetet.
Vent med Lånekasse- og visumsøknad til du mottar Certificate of Enrolment (CoE) og Electronic Certificate of Enrolment (eCoE)! (Må ikke forveksles med Offer Letter der universitetet tilbyr deg studieplass!!!)
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Great Ocean Road
After a few days in lovely Melbourne, we hired a car and drove the Great Ocean Road, staying two nights in Apollo Bay.
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Melbourne revisited
Maria and I took my parents to Melbourne to show them a different side of Australia... Here are the photos!
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Trip to Brisbane Forest Park
My parents are visiting at the moment. The other day we went for a 5km walk in Brisbane Forest Park in the Mount Nebo/The Gap area.
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Maria’s graduation
Maria graduated from uni last Wednesday... Now she's officially a mechanical engineer!
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Presenting… Mr Berry
Here are some shots of our cat Strawberry when he was really small and fluffy!
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Daily life - February
A few shots of nothing in particular... Will be updated occasionally!
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See our Japan photos
As mentioned, Maria and I went to Japan a few weeks ago... We've put our best photos up on Picasa. Check them out!
test
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Another day in Tokyo
Another day has passed with us roaming around Tokyo... Sadly, just one full day (plus one morning) left of our Japan stay!
We met up with Hiro - Maria's pen friend - at Tsukuji Fish Market in the wee hours of the morning. A sizeable portion of all the seafood sold in Japan passes by this place, so as you can imagine... It was fairly busy!
It's probably the most dangerous place I've ever been in my life! (And I've been to Mexico City!) With motorized fish trolleys zipping through the really narrow walkways at breakneck speed carrying fresh tuna worth tens of thousands of dollars; hundreds and hundreds of people running around in all directions pulling carts with more fish; frozen nitrogen blocks dabbed on top of stacks of even more seafood; and tourists and buyers sliding around on the wet, slimey, fish-bloody floor... Yea, definitely interesting! :o)
After surviving about two hours in the fish market, we decided not to push our luck any further. We headed over to Tokyo University for a quick walk around campus there, and then continued on to BIC Camera to replace my camera lens. (The original one had a nervous breakdown after attending a wedding one day and a six-hour bus tour of most of Kyoto's temples the next.)
A lens and an iPod later, we headed off to the World Trade Centre Building for some bird's-eye views of Tokyo.
Having confirmed my new lens worked fine, we turned our attention to Shibuya for a walk through the deli section of Tokyu department store, and ended up having shabu shabu at an obscure but really great little restaurant somewhere about 20 meters below street level.
We wrapped the evening up with a visit to a manga store and some guitar playing in our hotel room!
Japan rocks! :D
(Oh dear... I'm starting to sound like Maria now!)
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Hi from Japan
Hi everyone! Just a quick hello from Tokyo, Japan...
Maria and I are on our way to Norway to celebrate Christmas. But on the way we are having a week's break in Japan...
We are currently on day five of our eight-day stay here and we've had a ball so far!
Day one was spent roaming around Tokyo... We covered Harajuku - with Maria stocking up on a sorely needed winter coat and some shoes... She even managed to get a haircut. Dropped by the electronics district too - Akihabara - and had dinner at a very well hidden little restaurant in Shirokane-Takanawa (awesome food).
Day two saw us on the Shinkansen to Osaka to attend our friend Eri's wedding. Absolutely pooped by all the stress leading up to departure from Australia as well as a long and exciting yesterday, we slept most of the way there and spent the evening in the hotel.
The next day we explored the Osaka Business Park area and Osaka Castle. In the evening Eri got married in a really beautiful wedding ceremony. The ceremony and reception went down with style and accuracy as only the Japanese can do. Perfect! And both Eri's family and her husband's family were really great to us and received us with open arms in the middle of their kids getting married!
Day four we ended up on a totally unplanned marathon bus-sightseeing-trip around Kyoto with Eri, her husband Kai-san and his family. We got to spend the day with Eri - which was great as we haven't seen her for almost two years - and managed to see four temple complexes in just a few hours. Got dropped at the hotel in the afternoon and called it a night.
Day five - today - we took the Shinkansen back to Tokyo, had a walk around the music district in Ochanomizu, bought Maria a cheap but nice travel guitar and headed back to the hotel. I also had a walk around Akihabara, hunting for MP3 players - but didn't have much luck... Will try again tomorrow! :o)
All in all, we're having an absolutely great time here... It's so good being here in Japan!!! Love it!!!
That concludes my five minutes for now... Nighty nighty from Tokyo! :o)
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…and in other news
The last serious update to this page was back in May - about half-a-year ago... A pretty ridiculous track record! :o)
I won't promise more frequent updates, but hey... One can always try!
Just to briefly recap the past six months...
I got a new/better job in QR, and Maria and I have bought a house, a dog, a car and a cat. (In that order!) We're both studying full-time and are in the middle of exams right now. We finally nailed the plans for a trip to Norway - having changed our minds/cancelled twice - my mum turned forty-ten and my grandpa 85, and soon Maria and I have been married for two years.
Not much more to say really... We're keeping far too busy at the moment - but in the blur of time flying by, those would be the things that stand out to me.
Anyways... Back to exam study! :o)
Nighty!
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Travel plans and exams…
It's exam time again and it turns out exam periods are the times I'm best at updating this page... Probably has to do with how I really don't like the course I'm studying for at the moment... But that's a different story!
Maria and I are going to visit family and friends in Norway for Christmas! But not before spending a week in Japan on the way there.
We leave Australia on December 13, and will stay in Japan until 21 December. Hopefully, we'll get to see a fair few interesting places around Tokyo. We're also hoping to spend a few days in Kyoto - because rumour has it Kyoto is an absolute must-see.
From Japan we'll fly straight to Kristiansand on 21 December - back to good-old sub-zero temperatures, rain, slush, snow, darkness, family and friends! Really looking forward to seeing everyone again!
We'll be in Norway until 8 January - just enough time to gain the prescribed five kilos any self-respecting Norwegian will pile on during that time of the year, see family/friends, have a couple of nights in the mountains and relax a little.
To family and (long-lost) friends... Hope to see you in Kristiansand around Christmas! :o)
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Internettilkobling in Australia
We Norwegians am accustom along with comparatively approve internettilkoblinger. I've browsed a bit at Telstra and Optus her internettabonnementer. To have said facts immediate. Australia aren't country there you getting råbillig domestic. Australias telenett lie a few year after Norway about development and ( perhaps also ) capacity . This result in high charges and monthly limitations at nedlasting at combining.
Gotta love translation software... Somebody was apparently interested in an article I wrote years ago about internet subscriptions in Australia. Problem was, they didn't quite understand Norwegian! Here's the result.
Must yes say, self about the translation is a bit on the field, they understood the point... "Ppl in Australia with broadband are crackpots!"
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New photoblog
A couple of years ago I was utterly snap happy, running around with my camera and taking photos everywhere I went... But for the last year or so, I've hardly touched my camera!
Of course, this can't be allowed to go on! So to motivate me to get back into photography, I've set up a little photoblog... I'll do my best to post a new photo there every day, which means I better get snapping again!
Have a look, it's right here (or on the top-right of the koalaplanet.org frontpage)! :o)
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Taking over the railroads
Our friend Marc just got a job with Queensland Rail as a rotational engineer... Congratulations to him!
With this, both Marc and I will be working full-time in QR - in the same building, even! And what's more, Maria will more than likely be working part-time with QR as well for the next couple of years! So that means both Maria and I, and our best friend Marc will be wreaking havoc there on a regular basis.
Our evil plan to take control of Australia's railroad system is mov... Oh dear, did I say too much?
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Happy birthday and Valentine’s Day, Maria
My little wife saw the light of day for the first time on Valentine's Day 1983, more than two months ahead of schedule.
The story goes that she was absolutely determined to be born on Valentine's Day. So determined, actually, that she completely disregarded the fact that being born two months early is an incredibly dangerous exercise!
It's probably true too... She's the most loving person you'll ever meet! A perfect wife and my bestest friend!!!
Happy birthday, Maria... And happy Valentine's Day!
:Marius
:o)
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Definitely not our last trip to Melbourne
Maria and I had a great four-day weekend in Melbourne... We both loved the city! Melbourne has a very European feel to it, and that went down very well with me!
While I love being in Australia, I've been a bit blue from time to time, missing my family and Norway! Melbourne certainly lifted my spirits! In fact, I haven't felt that close to "my European roots" since last time I was back in Norway, two years ago!!!
Like I mentioned, we spent four days in Melbourne... But we didn't get to see much! That is... There is so much to see just within the city centre, that we never ventured outside during our stay there...
Our first day was spent walking around Melbourne, waiting for our hotel room to clear up... Maria didn't like this very much! Soon, she hated Melbourne and just wanted to go back to Brisbane! But a nice Chinese ice tea and a bit of a rest lifted her spirits, and soon she loved it just as much as I did!
The second day was spent in Melbourne Aquarium. We had a look at the world's largest squid brought on-shore and lots of fish, shark and other sea creatures.
We also managed to track down Chinatown and a great little Japanese restaurant called Meiji Japanese Cafe. We ate at Meiji three times during our stay! It's cheap, the food is great and the staff is very friendly... Highly recommended!
Our third day in Melbourne was also our anniversary. We went to Mass at St Patrick Cathedral - a giganormous church just outside the central business district. We managed to get a blessing on our anniversary from the Archbishop too, which was very nice!
After mass, we met up with Anne and Daniel! They are friends of ours from Brisbane, but Anne was moving to Melbourne that weekend, so we got the chance to meet up. We had lunch in a restaurant in Lygon Street - Melbourne's Italian quarter.
In the evening, Maria and I went to anniversary dinner back at Meiji. Lots of good food!!!
The last day was again spent walking aimlessly around Melbourne, taking in the sights and sounds!
Melbourne is possibly the nicest city I've ever visited... The atmosphere is great ther, and it just felt like home to me! Hopefully, we'll get a chance to live there some day! :o)
Although, it doesn't really matter where I live as long as I'm with my incredibly beautiful, charming, smart, bouncy, loving, cute, gorgeous, lovable little wife!
See 25 photos in this story's gallery
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Getting old…
Aye... Just had a stray thought... I'm turning 26 in a few days, I'm married (yay for that), I have a uni degree under my belt, and I'm working full time! I'm even sporting a few gray hairs on my right-hand temple!!!
Update (2006.02.15): I spotted the first few grey hairs on my left-hand temple yesterday!
I'm getting OLD! :s
What happened? Lots of memories from various stages in my life seem really close... Much like yesterday (or at least not more than a couple of months ago)!
Three years old: Waiting down the road for my dad to come driving home from work...
Four: Learnt to read/write, fell through the ice on the lake by our cabin (incredibly cold and scary)...
Five: Scared of the girls that lived down the road...
Seven: Had my first day of school...
Eight: Totally in love with the new girl in our class...
Ten: Starting grade four (felt really big that day), started learning English!
Thirteen: Started junior-high (felt even bigger), started training karate (felt really cool)...
Sixteen: Snatched a silver medal in team competitions in national karate junior championship... Started playing American football!
Seventeen: Went to Mullan, Idaho, America, for a year of high-school...
Nineteen: My team won the American football national junior championship...
Twenty: Russetida (schoolies in Australian) - finishing high-shcool, starting university college...
Twenty-one: Moved to Bergen to study macro economics following a bit of a mishap with my uni application...
Twenty-one: Watched Mission Impossible 2, decided Australia looked like a nice place, applied to do Bachelor of Journalism in Brisbane...
Twenty-two: Moved to Australia, started uni, fell in love with Maria!
Twenty-four: Graduated journalism, got married (yayeeee)!
Twenty-five: Started Master of Commerce (accounting), got full-time communication job with QR, discovered first few gray hairs!
Feeling really old now!!!!!!!
Eeeeeeeeep...
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Got our Internet back…
We finally got our Internet back!!!
After three weeks of waiting, calling our Internet provider, listening to excuses, waiting some more, calling our Internet provider, listening to excuses, waiting some more, calling our Internet provider, listening to excuses, waiting some more, calling our Internet provider (you get the drift), the beloved ADSL light on our modem/router finally started flashing and then came to shine continuously.
As Maria put it in an e-mail to the 239 contacts in her gmail contact list,Yay yay yay!! I'm delirious from this -- we have BROADBAND INTERNET BACK AT HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whooooo hoooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gotta love Internet providers!!! :o)
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No internet still!!!
It's a bit annoying really... Our Internet provider - iiNet - stuffed our request for moving the telephone and broadband when we relocated, a few weeks ago. They apparently forgot to pass the request on from the helpdesk to the techies! This resulted in us being without telephone at all for about 10 days longer than expected. And on top of that, they apparently need 10-14 working days (read "three weeks") from when the telephone is relocated to get our ADSL connection up and running...
Slightly annoying! (Although, I'd still recommend iiNet! Once everything is up and running they're a great and cheap-ish Internet provider!)
I've spent the last two hours on the Internet now, so it's probably time to pull the plug! Hope everyone out there is well...
Will be back with further updates in a few days!
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Still alive, barely kicking
It's been a pretty long week for Maria and me. Moving house, which we started on last Saturday, took until Tuesday night due to the incredible amount of junk we've accumulated over the past years. Note to self: Have spring cleaning each year!
Speaking of cleaning, do I have a professional-cleaners horror story to tell?! Yep, I do... But that's for later!
Anyhow, we're finally settled into our new place, have had our first dinner party there and are generally very happy. The insurance has been moved, the newspaper will be delivered to our new door from Monday, we have electricity and running water! The only thing missing is our telephone and Internet...
Our phone company made a silly little mistake and forgot to actually pass on the request to move our telephone line, so we'll be without until over the weekend. And the broadband won't be up and running for yet another week, at the best! But we're coping! :o)
Will come back with a new update soon!
Hope all is well with anyone and everyone who read this blog! :o)
:Marius
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Moving this weekend…
Maria and I are moving house this weekend! We're hoping to empty our old unit and stuff our new one in one to two days and get it all over and done with before I go back to work on Monday! We're having cleaners coming in on Monday to tidy up the old place before we hand it over on Wednesday.
Sadly, we'll be without telephone and internet for a few days, and without broadband for almost two weeks... And that's just if everything goes smoothly! So in the meantime, there won't be too many interesting things happening here. But check back! I'll return with new updates from Australia when you least expect it!
Take care everyone!!!
:Marius
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Carols, fire, Melbourne and moving
Maria and I went to Carols at Candlelight at St Luke's Catholic Church in Buranda today... The whole thing was an outdoors affair with a good-old Aussie BBQ and some of the state's best classical musicians. All in all, a great couple of hours of Australian Christmas - on a picnic rug, surrounded by torches, candlelights and glow sticks.
There was a bit more action than we bargained for though: The torches turned out to be slightly less safe than assumed, so a bit of firefighting had to be carried out...
One of the torches started catching fire in places where it shouldn't. This resulted in oil leaking out of the container. Somebody moved the torch away from the crowd, onto solid surface... But along the way, oil dripped out and put some grass on fire!
Maria to the rescue! Armed with a water bottle, my little wife resolutely put out the budding grass fire! But things weren't going so swell with the torch...
By now, oil was running out of the cannister and down a gutter. Soon enough, the oil caught fire and things were looking a bit bleak! The bush hanging over the flames threatened to go up in flames...
Luckily, I found a fire extinguisher in the church, so pretty soon the little drama was all over!
Back to the carols...
It was a lovely little evening out! Quite a few people found their way to the mini-concert, the BBQ sizzled and the musicians played like they'd never played before! And it was a good chance to say "see ya" to our friend Anne Coles, who is moving to Melbourne this weekend!
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In other news, Maria and I are going to Melbourne to celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary! We're leaving on January 19, and staying until the evening of January 23.
We've booked a room with breakfast at the Radisson on Flagstaff hotel, a stone's throw from the Victoria Markets and just a few minutes' walk from the CBD.
Needless to say, we're both very muchly looking forward to going! We've never really left the state together before - aside from a few hours in Byron Bay, which is just across the state border to New South Wales.
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Maria and I will be moving this weekend! We were told the owners of the place we're in now wanted to take over the unit, so we had to find a new one!
Luckily, finding a new place to stay proved a reasonably quick affair!
After a few days of searching, we found a place in Taringa, just one kilometer from where we live now!
It's a two-bedroom unit, with a decent-size livingroom and a tiny little balcony for plant growing and newspaper reading.
We're relocating on Saturday and Sunday and will be handing back the keys to our old place on Wednesday January 11!
Call us if you want our new address! :o)
See 14 photos in this story's gallery
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A new year, a new layout
Hi everyone, and Happy New Year!!!!!!! Thought it was time for a new layout, so here you go! Two years to the day (give or take a week) since the last change of layout to koalaplanet.org! The biggest change to the website - apart from the new layout - is a new content management system that will make it easier for me to keep the website updated. However, the change of systems means I have had to transfer all the images from the old layout to the new - one by one. I still have about 20 stories to go, so if you want to see the images for the oldest of entries (published around 2003), you have to head to the old site. Also, the comments feature and the about-pages in the menu at the top are not ready yet... But be patient - they will show up soon!
For now, happy new year everyone! I will return shortly with new stories from my life here in Australia, and a whole lot more photos!
:o)
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Hole in one… On the first shot!!!
No... I'm not the next big thing to happen to international golf... But I did just land myself a full-time job! On my first attempt ever! :D
A few weeks ago, I applied for a corporate communications job with a large, large Queensland corporation...
I must have done something right - mostly thanks to my friend and former journalism tutor Mandy, who coached me in job searching - because a couple of weeks later I was called to an interview about the job. I was a bit iffy about how it went because I've never been to a serious job interview before... But it must have been alright... Because a few days ago, I got a call with a job offer!!! :D :D :D
Needless to say, I'm over the moon about it! Over the last few months I've really begun feeling that I should get out of full-time studies and into the workforce! Would like to bring in some money instead of living off scholarships and student loans! I'm starting on December 12. Will tell more later!!! Hope everyone is having a good advent season!
:o)
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Exam-fun and almost holidays
Hey everyone! If someone is still reading this site anymore, that is! :o) It's been a pretty slow koalaplanet-semester!
I'm almost done with my exams now - just one more to go... Statistics tomorrow at 1430! (Wish me luck!)
Really looking forward to the break - however much of a break I get... I'm looking for full-time jobs at the moment. Reckon working full-time, studying part-time and earning money would be better than studying full-time and racking up more of a study debt!!!
But like I said, looking forward to the break. Maria and I both need it! We sat down and thought about it for a few seconds and realised we hadn't had any time off together - without having a very insane social calender - for about one-and-a-half years now!
That is, last (Australian) summer break we got married - so things were a bit hectic! And last winter break (July), just vanished in a little puff of smoke. So yes, we're looking forward to it!
Maria has already finished her exams and is currently starting to cool down a little after the most insane semester in her engineering degree. The final assignment she handed in was a 400-page group assignment, in which they designed a go-cart-like racing car!!!!! Fairly hardcore!
On my side of things, I've had quite a memorable exam period! At least in terms of my corporate accounting exam!
Corporate accounting is the hardest course in my degree, and the exam was worth a fair bit! I was pretty well prepared for it, except for one little detail... I hadn't double-checked the exam location! So when I came to the uni's main examination venue, all ready with calculator and bean-counting knowledge - there was no sign of my fellow book-fudgers... They were all in another room, about 200 meters away - where they should be!
Being a Saturday evening, the libraries - and consequently all computers on campus - were closed. So I needed to call someone (Maria) to check where my exam would be. But I had left my cell phone in the car. Short on time, I jogged to the student centre - which students in exam-distress are advised to do - only to find that it was closed!
Ever so slightly paniced (I didn't want to do the course again next semester) I borrowed a mobile off a nice person outside the student centre. Maria told me the location of the exam - just next to where I'd been before jogging across campus! So, barefoot with sandals in hand I started sprinting across campus again... I was already late! Up the stairs to the examination room and... Darkness!!! Nothing or nobody there!
I ran down and outside and borrowed another mobile - this time from a couple who was trying to have a romantic evening out (on campus :o) and didn't need a sweating, short-on-breath, stressed-out student in their lives. But they were nice about it...
Maria once again confirmed that I was supposed to be upstairs where there appeared to be nothing going on... So I ran up and to my bewilderment discovered a hallway I'd missed the previous time I was up there! This hallway took me straight to the exam - just a little too late... But luckily the invigilators let me sit the exam! They must have felt bad for me seeing how I was all dripping and out of breath from running across campus twice (it's a really, really big campus)... Invigilators (yes, it is a word) are my friends!!! :D
It went well after all!!! My ever-so-tiny mishap didn't affect my performance beyond a 10-minute cooling-down period and I walked out of there reasonably happy, and certain I won't have to come back for corporate accounting ever again!
And that's my story! :o)
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Statistics is fun! :p
It's 2:30am and I've just finished up a semester-portfolio assignment for my statistics class ECON7300 - Statistics for Business and Economics. (Fun all day long!)
Think my assignment is holding up alright... At least until the last few questions, which were finished on the wrong side of midnight! My writing seems to suffer a certain drop in quality as the day passes by and a number of unnecessary words and a fair bit of crap sneak into my language!
The course isn't really all that exciting, but you can't say I haven't learnt anything... The main thing the teaching staff has tried to instill in us is how to analyse the relationship between two or more variables.
To demonstrate my knowledge, I shall perform a regression analysis on time's effect on my above mentioned tendency to "crap on" as the day fades away. Such an analysis goes straight to the heart of the assignment I just finished!
I made observations every 15 minutes as to the quality of my writing. The observations were made over a time period of 7.5 hours late at night. Good writing was awarded with points on the lower end of a scale from 1 to 15. Writing with much crap in it scored higher on the scale.
A linear relationship was assumed, and the population model was, therefore,
Y = B1 + B2X + E or
Crapping on factor = B1 + B2(Time) + Error term
Where B1 is the regression constant and B2 is the correlation coefficient. In other words, B1 is the level of crapping on at time 0, while B2 is the increase in the "crapping-on factor" of my writing for each time period.
For the purpose of testing the crapping-on model for significance, the following hypotheses were set up:
H0: B2 equals 0
H1: B2 not equal to 0
If the null hypothesis (H0) can be rejected at a 5% significance level (95% confidence level), it is reasonable to assume that the crapping on factor does change over time and that the two variables, therefore, are related.
The data was fed into Minitab 14, a stats software. It returned the following analysis of the "Crapping on factor" as a function of time:
Regression Analysis: Crapping on factor versus Time
The regression equation is
Crapping on factor = - 1.33 + 0.350 Time
Predictor Coef SE Coef T P
Constant -1.3310 0.6281 -2.12 0.043
Time 0.35039 0.03538 9.90 0.000
S = 1.67725 R-Sq = 77.8% R-Sq(adj) = 77.0%
As you probably already understand, since the P-value of time is less than 0.05 (the significance level), the null hypothesis can be rejected. There IS a correlation between the quality of my writing and time of the day. :D
What the regression analysis says, is that the quality of my writing - as ranked on the scale from 1-15, 15 being utter dumbness - drops over time. More specifically, it says that its crapness score increased by 0.35 points every 15 minutes for the 7.5 hours of observation.
Before observations started, my expected crapness level was -1.331 - or, in other words, so good that it was off the scale. Sadly, at time 30 (the last observation), my level of crap writing would have gone up to 9.17.
The purpose of all of this? Nothing really... Just to prove myself and my regression analysis right. At the moment my crap factor should be about 11.27, which seems to be quite correct considering what I just managed to write here! :o)
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‘Tis the season to be stressed out
Again... Our favourite time of the year! Exam period...
...which explains the one-month posting drought on Koalaplanet! Well, partly anyway!
But without delving into excuses, I'm alive (if anybody was wondering).
Just walked out of my first Master-level commerce exam... Financial management! It was a lot easier than feared! Absolutely stuffed it on one question, but did alright on the rest.
Now I just have a management systems exam, a joyful business-law exam and an accounting exam to go. Then holidays for four weeks!
Maria still has four exams before she's done! But she finishes two days ahead of me, so she gets more time off from uni!
Norway
Looks like we're going to Norway in the middle of December to celebrate Christmas there! Will stay for about four weeks.
Better run off to the books! Just didn't want it to be more than one month between the entries here, as may be deduced from the quality and fun-ness of this posting! :o)
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Hurra for Lånekassen (og 17. mai)!!!
Og gratulerer med dagen!!! :o) Today was Norway Day... Brisbane celebrated along with the rest of the world!!!
First off, thanks must go out - as was loudly pointed out in the 17-mai parade - to Lånekassen, the Norwegian Educational Loan Fund. Without it, there wouldn't be 1500 Norwegian students in Brisbane celebrating Norway's centennary as an independent country.
As usual, QUT's Kidney Lawn (where did they come up with that name???) played host to the day-time festivities, including the parade.
With a bit of help from Unca Police, hundreds of Norwegians - screaming, singing, waving big flags - ruled the streets of Brisbane's business district, drawing puzzled looks from onlookers - many of whom probably think Norway is the capital of Sweden! :o)
(No, really... Australians aren't that bad at geography! But still... If you've never heard about Norway Day before, the parade would be quite a mindboggling sight. Kind of like an ANZAC-day on steroids, just without any military involvement. :o)
The parade rounded up at the steps of the make-shift Royal Palace, where the Royal Family waved to the people. And after the royals had exercised their wrists for a while, everybody moved on to gorge on locally made Norwegian hot-dogs, waffles with Ski Queen cheese (brunost) and other Norwegian goodies.
Happy Norway Day, everybody! :o)
See 9 photos in this story's gallery
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Shopping and bag checking
One thing I still haven't become used to after more than three years in Australia is bag checking. If you go into any store in Queensland (don't know how it is for the rest of Australia), you'll most likely be asked to let a store employee look through your bag before you leave.
(I'm just procrastinating now... In the middle of a law essay, which I'm very-very tired of... So I needed to vent some frustration! Bag-checking seems to be a good victim!)
Most stores in Queensland - and in particular the bigger chains, like Big-W, K-Mart, Target etc. have employees whose sole purpose in life is to check the contents of your bag.
When you leave the store, they will ask you to open your bag so they can have a look for stolen items. (They don't say they are looking for "stolen items", of course... But that's the real reason!) Most of them are fairly nice about it (as nice as you can be sticking your nose in other people's bags), and just take a really quick peak inside whatever compartment you open up.
But... Some stores make sure to place over-zealous workers at the gates. For some strange reason, they always appear to be strict-looking ladies that are within a decade of retirement.
If you're unlucky enough to encounter one of these people (I'm sure they make employee of the month all the time), you will be asked to open every major compartment of your bag... And not only that, you'll most likely end up having to take things out of your bag so that they can see all the contents!
Now, that just makes me annoyed!
I wonder what the economic benefit is of treating every customer like a potential thief or at least a very suspect person who clearly has many, many dodgy things in their bag...
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