I’m not going to bother rehashing what I’ve sent most of you in emails already – there is no point! So we’re going to break this post down into a few areas:

Uni…
As of right now, I have, quite possibly, finished my undergraduate degree…I know, I know, round of applause please! Now anyone who knows me knows I’ve been at uni for 8 years now, and knows that I’m pretty ready to move on. So this semester (due to a stuff-up whilst I was overseas) I elected to finish my degree via an intense course in summer school. Yesterday I finished my final essay, and tomorrow I will be handing it up. And, pending a degree review by the school registar and a pass mark for this course, I would’ve finished my degree. Woop! Onto honours! Yes, the degree structure here is a little different to that in the UK – we do a 3 year undergraduate course, followed by a year of Honours, before moving into a Masters, PhD etc. So what I decide to do next year will completely depend on the outcome of this one. I haven’t decided what to do for my thesis yet, but I’ve been looking for an excuse to study Australia’s union movement for a year or so – I don’t know enough about it and I think it would be interesting, but it’s just a matter of finding that niche that no-one/not many people have studied before in the hopes that my ‘original’ research will ensure a first…lots of hard work, lots of reading, and three weeks to get my shit together…sounds like a plan!

This year at Uni I will also be a little more involved in uni life. Last year I ran in student elections with an independant left ticket called IndyGo, and managed to get myself elected to the Adelaide University Union Board. So far, I’m really enjoying the experience of being in the loop when it comes to the running of a large business. Student politics can be a little fickle and bitchy, so at the moment I’m trying to stay out of that (rather successfully actually!) and just get on with learning about how the AUU works and how I can contribute ideas. Let’s see if I feel as positive about it in a couple of months hey!

Work…
After Birmingham, I returned to my job at the Marion Hotel – a suburban pub near my house. I’ve worked in the bar, and more recently the bistro, for 2.5 years, and I really love it there. But the Xmas peroid always makes you re-think that – Friday and Saturday nights go nuts, are packed, and sometimes customers don’t treat you as nicely as you’d hope – it’s almost like the stress of the season gets to everyone. So, I’m glad that ones over for another year. On Xmas day, the pub had me dress up in one of those self-inflating Santa suits…

(Myself and the rest of the bistro staff)

It was actually pretty fun! On New Years Eve, the theme was masquerade, so I elected to dress up like a Jester for the night!

(Brett as The Mask and I)

Now that it’s the height of summer over here, things have quietened down a little, as they normally do this time of year – people are dining outside, going to the beach etc. Probably a good thing, considering I go back to uni in 3 weeks!

Derby…
Ah, derby. There is a reason why I put this third…it’s cause I LOVE IT SO MUCH that I knew I’d want to write about it for ages! Okay, so for those of you who don’t know, I arrived back into Oz at the end of August last year, and was skating with Adelaide Roller Derby (ADRD) by the start of September…you can’t keep me off them skates! About 3 weeks into training I had a nasty fall which got me carted off to hospital in the back of an ambulance…I knew people wouldn’t believe me, so I asked for proof:

(This is blurry me right after the nice ambulance men got my helmet off…if I was going to pay $800 for a glorified taxi ride I wanted at least a photo for my efforts!)

Needless to say, I had to stop training for a month or so. I managed to come back right at the end of the season, so I was lucky enough to see the Adelaides (as the Tornados and Phantoms) take on North Sydney and North Brisbane in ‘Skate of Emergency.’

(Debra the Zerba – Ref Mascot – and I…RIP Debra…someone decided to use her as a pool toy and she came off worse for wear)

(The Adeladie Tornados…it’s not a great picture, but it gives you an idea of what a bout looks like here)

Derby is so different here…in hindsight I’ve found that the UK derby scene places so much emphasis on the sporting, athletic side of the game that it forgets that we’re here to entertain too…ADRD do both really, really well. It’s quite a large league (approx. 120 as of Fresh Meat 2009) and it’s a really hard working, empowering, amazing community…if I could marry ADRD and have its babies, I would. So y’all need to come Down Under for your next holiday so you can skate with us! The games are held in a pavilion at the Adelaide Showgrounds (think Earls Court, but for EVERY match) and they pack out – everything from families with young kids, to punk rockers, to hot-rod and rockabilly enthusiasts, to big bands and swing session dancers…it’s SO MUCH FUN!

Fresh Meat tryouts this year had 120-odd people apply to be part of the league, with approx. 35 spots available – Fresh Meat only happens once a year here and it was intense! But so much fun, so supportive, and I got through just fine, so I can now officially say I’m part of the best league in Australia! It looks like the girls that missed out this year are actually keen to start another league, which is awesome, and something that ADRD have been expecting for a little while now. They’re going to be called the Murder City Roller Girls (Adelaide is widely rumoured to be the country’s serial killer capital…it’s actually not true, but okay!) So ADRD is playing some indirect role in helping the girls get set-up. As awesome as being involved in the setting up of a new league sounds, I’m happy that I’m playing with a league that’s already so well established. In February we have Smarty Pants (TXRD) flying out to train ADRD for month – this is something that ADRD funds every year, which is really cool. The league took a 5 week break over Xmas and have just started back…enduro on the first night…sadistic bitches! Last Monday night was an intense blocking session – right up my alley! My whiplash and my other niggles have finally completely healed, so I’m at 100% and rearing to go…gotta wait till April though before we start interleague bouting…bum! All I’m hanging out for now is to find out what team I’m going to be drafted to – I really don’t mind as I love them all, and all of the girls are great, but my gut is telling me I might go to the Mile Die Club – I’ll find out in about a month!

Random Stuff…
- My best mate is like, seconds away from having her first child…I’m going to be an aunty! And her little girl is definitely going to be a punk rocker!
- I’m going to a festival here called ‘Soundwave‘ in a month of so – Faith No More, Trivium, Placebo, Paramore, The Get Up Kids, Reel Big Fish, Alexis on Fire and My Chemical Romance live…YESSSSSS!!
- I’m going to see La Roux in March (after they skipped out on Adelaide in October of last year!)
- I spent an hour and a half on the phone with Trix this morning – that rocked!
- I spent three days down in Mt Gambier recently – a country town 5 hours from here famous for it’s Blue Lake:
(And before you ask, yes it is that blue, and no I haven’t Photoshopped it!)
- You should all see Whip It! It’s a lovely light-hearted film…mmm if only I were allowed to clothesline in real life!
- I like emails…y’all should send some more often!
- Mad March is about to start here – that’s when the Clispal 500 (a car race), the Adelaide Fringe, Womad and the Adelaide Festival all collide…I love Adelaide at this time of year!

I can’t think of anything else, so I think I’m done! I hope you’re all keeping well and that the days are getting less colder as we speak! I will leave you with a little map – something I found to try and explain the size difference between Australia and Europe….

Stay safe, much love xoxo

Meet The Dames…

Middlesborough Bout Afterparty
I was announcing at this bout, so no time to take pictures of the action (you can find some on their website) – but sober enough to take lots at the afterparty…and damn do these girls know how to party!

First Intra-league Bout – Bombshells vs. Sirens

Bombshells…

Sirens…

One big happy family…

Leeds Bout Afterparty

Cirque Du Sol Pain
Blitz Dames fundraiser that I got to compare (what can I say? I like being in front of a microphone!)

Lashes – organiser extrodiannare and I (her faithful assistant) right before things were due to get messy!

That’s the Dames updated! Phew! Soon to be added: Kim’s Aussie Attack (Jen comes to Birmingham, Kim goes to London for Anzac Day) and my May Update!

K xoxo

Oh look there were no tears, which means I can take more video…

The final outcome…

Things I learnt:
a) Don’t get your tattooist’s name wrong…it’s not a good way to start
b) Despite my low pain threshold, I did not cry, and I did not need numbing cream (Cara!)
c) Tattoos are a great excuse to eat chocolate in the morning…need to keep blood sugar levels up
d) Tattoos can provide closure
e) Get a tattoo when you’re overseas…that way you can’t see your father’s disapproving stares (I can see your face now Dad…)

K xoxo

Almas, Sarah and Elaine

Kitsche decorating at its best!!

After mini-golf we headed to the bowling alley in the same complex, where I was determined to redeem myself. And I did – a complete reversal of the rankings from mini-golf. Do you think I could score a strike or a spare though? Not on your life…8 continuous scores or 9! Argh!! Next to the alley was an arcade, so a couple of games of air hockey, Sega Rally and that stupid dancefloor machine and it was time to call it a night.

A week or so ago (I’m not exactly sure when!) we went out on a Tuesday night to a place called Jamhouse – a live jazz venue – for a student night. This was cool cause a) they don’t normally host student nights – entry is restricted to people over 21 (was the only one in the group that could actually go at any other time…damn, I feel old!) and b) they had a live jazz/funk/soul band playing. I love it when you see a live band and you just know that these musos have been doing what they do forever – the band was kicking, the old guys in the horn section murdered everything and the crowd was loving it! Plus we had to dress up, which was kinda cool…I decided to be all class that night and stick to my Chambord with Lemonade and Lime…yum!

I told you if I had a photo of my housemate Izzy I’d post it here…and now here it is!

Jamhouse (upstairs)

Izzy dancing…

Sarah and Elaine all glammed up

Almas and I

Jamhouse (downstairs)

Last week marked the halfway mark of this semester, which meant reading week, and consequently no lectures. A good chance to catch up on a heap of work that I’m still struggling to get on top of! I’d be enjoying uni a lot more if the pressure weren’t on all the time. And so the countdown begins – 3 essays, 2 exams to go…crazy couple of months coming up.

There is one last thing I haven’t mentioned yet, which I’m sure, if you’ve spoken to me in the last month, you’ll be wondering why I’ve barely said anything about it. Birmingham has it’s own Roller Derby team (the Birmingham Blitz Derby Dames), and I recently went to an induction day to see what it was like. Lynda and I had always talked about doing it back home in Adelaide – having a fair amount of spare time on my hands whilst here, I thought I’d give it a go…and I LOVE IT!! The girls are awesome, and I haven’t been on skates for years. It didn’t take too long for me to get the hang of things again, and by the end of my first session I was skating with the main group, which was great – soooo many amazing skaters!! So, for those of you who don’t know what Roller Derby actually is, I’ve included a video below…

And this is a video of the team I’m training with (they’re the ones in green)…

Let me reiterate – I am NOT bouting yet! I’m still getting used to the skates, but I’m improving each week – lots of gym work and fitness training to try and bring myself up to speed quickly, which is fab. Once I pass my basic skills test (end of next month) I should be ready to train with the bouting team…so the aim at the moment is to get a match in before I come home! Mum and Dad, I will not seriously injure myself, I promise…but I will be buying a pair of skates really shortly And Bernie? I think you should definitely do this with me when I get home – this is your type of sport!

I hope everyone is well – news of the bushfires didn’t escape us here in the UK, and I had to explain to several people where exactly it was happening, and how they had started etc., so I hope that none of you were directly affected by any of it – I am thinking of you all in the heat as I live it up in 5 degrees Celsius! And I’ll be thinking of those going to Soundwave this Friday – I’m jealous!! Someone go and see The Subways for me and take lots of pictures and tell me how awesome they were!! I’m also thinking of all of those going back to Uni this week – I hope O’Week proves to be a blast!

Next entry I should have more Aussie smiles for you and definitely more Roller Derby! Until then, be sure to keep the emails coming (big thanks to Dave for the massive one on your adventures in Africa…it was awesome!)

Much love xoxo

Sledging: The Uni Student’s version of sledding, complete with baking tray/IKEA bag/garbage bag/ironing board/whatever can be found that will slide

Jose and I (we’d met approx. 30 mins before this photo was taken)

Elle and I had also only met a half an hour beforehand…it was the morning of randoms, united in the common purpose of playing in the snow!

When I got back to my room the view from my window looked like this…

I spent the rest of the afternoon inside getting warm and trying to catch up on the work I should’ve been doing earlier…instead of playing in the snow…nup, wasn’t going to happen. Elaine was celebrating her 19th birthday down at Mason (residence halls not far from us) later that evening, so we trundled down there at around 7.30pm for some Chinese and some good company. After the obligatory group photo…

and amusing ourselves with…well…

…I decided there was absolutely nothing that was going to keep me inside and away from the snow outside of Mason. So, Claire and I headed outside, and Claire proceeded to remind everyone of why they should be outside, and not inside…

Elaine and I

Almas in full flight

After five and a half hours in the snow (two of which happened at night when it was freezing!) I finally decided to call it quits after what was one of the longest, funnest days of my life! Oh and I snapped this for you whilst walking home…

My verdict? Amazing. I felt like I was 4 and just discovering hundreds and thousands. Snow is amazing fun, quite cold, but totally worth risking illness for – and we might be getting more! That being said, I wouldn’t recommend wrestling in it as much as I did…I kept forgetting that snow is essentially ice, and woke up feeling it this morning!

Been thinking of you all in that heatwave

Kim xoxo

Someone’s stoked that I bought them a Cherry Ripe…

Our last photo before Renate had to leave…I feel a Bette Midler song coming on…how did her earring get so shiny?

So with Renate safely on a train – actually it was probably more a case of Kim safely out of New Street station (I still have no idea about where I’m going in this city!) I began to make my way home, but as I’d never really seen Birmingham at night before, I took a few photos on the way…

Thanks Ren for an awesome day xoxo

So today marked the official three week mark of me leaving Adelaide – time flies hey? Since I last wrote on here, things have settled a little bit more. I’ve managed to find three university subjects that I can do, although I’m still waiting on approval from the Adelaide Uni Humanities faculty to make everything official. I had my trial at the Walkabout, and although I got the job I elected not to take it – the hours I would’ve been keeping would’ve meant that my weekends would’ve been gone, and I can’t afford to have a job that takes that much energy out of me and isn’t flexible – bottom line: I’m still looking for work. That’s being said, I had an interview with Cadbury on Monday to work in their customer service/retail areas, so fingers crossed, cause that would be an amazing job – and one so suitable for me! The factory is actually not that far from me, so regardless of whether I get the job or not, I’m going back there to do a tour! And I’m dragging some of the girls in my flat with me!

Speaking of which, the girls are beginning to get used to my noise, and my incessant need for conversation. I’m awarding myself sole credit for the flat-bonding activities that have occurred so far this term – possibly because I get so bored with sitting in my room all the time that I’ll talk to anyone about anything.

That being said, I’ve learnt very quickly that the throes of nationalism run far deeper than we are ever led to believe – in short, I’ll always get ganged up on, as our game of Scattergories proved the other night. But when Almas and Sarah try to convince me that ‘Art and Craft Weekly’ is a beloved English magazine, you know things have gone a little to far…I love Google Taking on four British girls in a game of Scatterogries is not my idea of mad fun either – I got my arse whooped all because I don’t watch any English soap operas. Small price to pay, I say!

Last Saturday we headed back to the Bullring to do some shopping for a fancy dress party later that evening. After a late night/early morning the night before, the girls and I headed to Maccas on our way into town, which proved to be an interesting experience. Can I just say that Maccas fries taste the same wherever you are in the world – that doesn’t mean the rest of the menu is any good. Some would disagree…

Sarah and Elaine

Almas was hungry

As we were driving into Birmingham I got a little of Brummyland history from the only Brummy in the car – Sarah! This is for anyone who wants a little more background about where I am (or just for anyone who wants to laugh at how much I sound like a man when I’m sick!) Big thanks to Sarah for the history lesson

And whilst we’re on the subject of architecture (nice segway Kimmy) take a look at the Selfridges building on the edge of the Bullring…I know what Sarah was talking about now!

Yes Almas, I AM A TOURIST! Thanks for the reminder!

So last night (Tuesday) we decided to go out to celebrate Tilly’s 20th birthday (I’m feeling old right now!) The girls decided to dress up as countries (!) and we went to a club called ‘Subway City,’ which is not unlike Enigma or Shotz – three rooms: popular dancey stuff, RnB or indie – 9 pound entry with all you can drink, so fucking long queues for the bar, but I had a great night anyway! Happy Birthday Tilly!

We missed you Izzy!

Waiting in the rain outside the club…

The Main Room of Subway City

Dancing…

…Drunk…Almas, are you about to break my camera?

So tomorrow night I’m heading back to Nightingales with a whole bunch of people, and hopefully getting home early enough to get a decent sleep before going to uni on Friday. This weekend sees me get my first Aussie visitor in the form of Renate, so there will be plenty of good craic and hopefully some decent beer on Sunday! Still haven’t got into the cider Al! I hope you all had a great long weekend and that you’re all trying to stay as cool as possible Big thanks to all my gays in the village (and honorary ones!) for the awesome postcard, and to Mum and Dad for the care package enroute to me…hanging out for those Tim Tams! Send me some love people!

K xoxo

PS- Oh and if someone could fill me on what happened at last night’s Young Labor meeting that would be awesome…I want details of all the fireworks!! Email me

Different: Extensive public transport systems can be useful

I don’t have car here (I miss my car!) but I can get pretty much everywhere I need to via foot or public transport. I walk 20 mins to uni everyday, and I walk to town (about 40 mins) – I can access everything I need fairly easily. I just try not to do it with heavy bags. Much easier than trying to get around Adelaide.

Same: Public transport still gets crowded

Sometimes I want to shoot The Advertiser. Why drum up all this shit about the Adelaide transport system? Yeah it has moments where it gets crowded and where it begins to look like demand outstrips supply – guess what? So does everywhere else. I’ve had to stand, sit, lean on people, stack bags on top of random’s etc. to get around in England – it comes with the territory, and you just get used to it. There is a reason it is called public transport, and the point of it is to move mass amounts of people as efficiently as possible. The subscript doesn’t always promise comfort.

Oh okay, I want to shoot the Advertiser all the time. And then burn every copy I can find and do a little victory dance on the ashes. Sweet.

Different: On-Street Parking

Where you are lucky to find any on-street parking here in Birmingham, you usually have to pay for it. And because the roads are so narrow, usually you find cars half-parked on the sidewalk too.

Same: People still drive like idiots

Perhaps even worse so here. And they still don’t knw how to approach a roundabout.

Different: You can always find someone to give you a hand

I have not had any especially bad experiences with people here yet – most seem quite okay with being asked for directions, or stopping to chat for a minute or two, which I find surprising given the rush-rush nature of the place. And there is no lack of staff here in England – you can always find someone if you need to ask for something/where something is – they get shitty about waiting 2 minutes for drinks service! I think that’s quick. And even though the lines at my local Tesco are massive (I’ve learnt never to go there on a Saturday!) the lines still move quickly. Although I am an incredibly impatient person most of the time, I can cope with this.

Same: Burecracy is still Burecracy

Perhaps some things are overstaffed, shall we say. Let’s take two of my latest examples, shall we?

So I applied for this university exchange in March of last year, right? In June of last year, the Political Science Dept here decides to restructure, and will now only accept students who are on exchange for the full academic year. And of course, this point was never relayed to me by our exchange office or the one over here – according to them I might’ve “slipped through the cracks.” THEY HAD A FUCKING YEAR TO FILL THE CRACK!! So that means that when I went to sort out my timetable, we discovered that I couldn’t do anything that I wanted to do, or that had been approved by my faculty at home. In fact, the Sociology Dept (where they put me) don’t actually offer any semester modules either – everything is linked with Semester 1 (which happens here from June – Dec). Thankfully, they’ve been a lot more willing to try and fit me in somewhere by changing assessment criteria etc. so that I only get assessed on a semester’s worth of work, unlike the Politics Dept, who will not enrol me in anything at all.

So this is where it stands:
a) I’ve come all this way (and particualrly to Birmingham Uni) to study political science at an amazing department and I can’t. Period.
b) Sociology have fit me in to two courses (2/3 of what I need to satisfy our department at home and get credit for what I do over here) – both of these courses have pre-requisites that I haven’t done, but I’m confident that I can get through them. Subject to my department at home approving them
c) I got notification of my third course yesterday from the US & Canadian studies department (woo hoo) only to discover that it clashed with one of the other courses they’ve managed to slot me into. OF COURSE IT CLASHED!!

And the second example, I hear you ask?

Bank Accounts – not only is it a nightmare of paperwork administed by people who sit behind bullet-proof glass (!) all day and interact with you through a slot, but when you finally get everything you need together to open an account (which I did) they tell you that, according to banking regulations back in Australia, an Australian resident can’t just come to another country and open up a bank account, and that it has to be phoned in and over-ridden yada yada. Argh!! And now that it’s all gone through, it’s going to take 2 weeks to get one opened. Ridciulous much?

Different: Cold is not cold unless it’s COLD

Mum and Dad, I will never complain about being cold again. And I will never claim to have resided in Australia and experienced wind chill. That’s being said, it’s getting easier to deal with over here – I no long need to wear three jumpers, only one massive jacket now. So yes, in every photo you see of me it will look like I’m wearing the same clothing – I’m not, just the same jacket cause I’m pov.

Same: Sunsets are always beautiful

I got lost walking back to my flat the other day, and the sky had just cleared before the sun decided to set, so I snapped these photos. So lovely. And even though it was less than 10 degrees outside around me, I still felt warm

Other unusual things that I have noticed since being here that I can’t be arsed fitting into a list…

- People still put stupid monuments in front of things – like this massive bull in front of the main shopping centre (coincidently called the Bullring!)

- It goes dark at 4pm
- Birmingham is an incredibly multi-cultural city. Not everyone I speak to is happy with this, which I find slightly unnerving.
- People are still drunk wankers when you’re serving at a bar and they have to wait their turn. I almost punched some slapper in the face the other night on my trial shift at Walkabout because she was so rude to me.
- A Walkabout looks nothing like an Australian pub.
- Nature appears more beautiful when you’re on the other side of the world. Witness the photo I took of an ordinary lake near my house the other day…

- Cities can’t be cities in England if they don’t have a Cathedral, hence this is Birmingham’s…

- There are so many daily newspapers here it’s ridiculous

I’m sure there will be more for these lists but for now this will have to do!!

– HOUSEMATE ROLLCALL –

Because you’ve all been asking, I thought I’d introduce you to my housemates…

Almas (on the left) and her mate Sarah – Almas lives across the hall from me and has been amazing! She took me out last night to see DJ Sash! (you all know him – trust me!) at a place called Nightingales – amazing club, amazing DJ – awesome night!!

Tilly – resident door girl and still manages to look amazing after a shitty day at work – photo is a testament to this!

Sarah – loveliest girl in the world – awesome when I need to know where I’m going too (has a map fetish like me!)

When I get a picture of Izzy I’ll put it here!

And as is my customary habit, I’d like to finish off my blog with something a little random…mini home-made iced doughnuts and, as Rach likes to put it, the “Oh My God Sash Signed My Fucking Arm” photo – enjoy!

Miss you all xoxo

The courtyard is dominated by the ‘Clock Tower.’ It really is massive.

The great hall (Aston Webb) is kind of like our Bonython Hall. Although it gets used everyday.

Is Birmingham’s library uglier than the Barr Smith? You be the judge.

The Student Guild. This photo does not do this building justice. Student unionism is alive and kicking in the UK!

And finally – my highlight of the day…