Diego Forcada Gallardo
November 2008
Update
The last four week I had
all my exams. It was a hard period but now it is done. It is time
to end my experience in La Trobe University. Now I am waiting for
my exams results. I think I did everything good, but I have to be
ready for any unexpected marked.
The time to say goodbye
to Australia and to all the friends I have met arrived. I am sad
about that. However, a new stage of my overseas life is beginning.
In the last week of November I am going to fly to Thailand and to
Vietnam. The plan is to stay 38 days in Southeast Asia traveling
around from North to South.
In this month, Pablo
Borchi and me organized together a BBQ to say goodbye to all our
friends. It was very fun: dancing, eating and drinking. Also
to say goodbye we went to a Pub crawl with all our mates from the
Chisholm College.
In this month I finished
my period working at Smorgy’s. I earned good money, but I did not
like it too much. Otherwise, it was a good experience: it is the
first time I have a real job!
I am really happy
with my life in Australia and with the opportunity to know
Southeast Asia. Now is time for holidays and for
traveling.
October 2008
Update
Today, I went to my last
tutorial in La Trobe University; the semester is over and the final
exams are coming (the 5th, the 12th and the
13th). I think the next two weeks are going to be very
busy, because I have to prepare two exams for almost the same date.
I am worried about the exams because for all of them I have two
write essays in examination conditions: limited time, hand writing,
pressure, and stress. Even though I had been writing in English the
last four months, I think it will be difficult for
me.
I can not believe that
I am about to start the very last stage of my exchange in
Australia, as student of the Centro de Investigacion y
Docencia Economcias I am not allow to stay for a year as my IDP
mates. This is very sad because Australia is an awesome country
with a lot of thing to do that I have not done.
However, this month I
went to Tasmania with Daniel Lopez, Pablo Borchi and Marytrini
Serrano—we met in her house in Hobart. I can say that Tassie is a
wonderful place to travel if you are from a massive city as Mexico
City. Tasmanian landscapes, beaches, animals, people and weather is
just different of what I was used to. We drove all the way up of
the East Coast trying to find nice places to camp, make a fire and
cook marshmallows.
The other thing that
makes October a different month is that I found a Job. I got it
with the help of a British friend that works there. He told me that
someone was quitting, so I decided to take his place. I work as a
waiter in ‘Smorgy’s all you can eat restaurant’. I do
not love the job, but the paid is good and I am saving part of the
money for my holidays in Asia next month.
Also, this month I went
to a great concert as part of Melbourne International art Festival:
‘Goran Bregovic. Tales and Song’s for Weddings and Funerals’. It
was amazing, I really like the way Goran mix various music styles,
from tango to reggae to Gypsy brass band.
Overall, these were all
my activities in October. Now, I am going to study to pass
all my courses and to have fun the rest of my stay in
Australia.
September 2008
Update
Today 25th of September I am finishing my first
essay due for the 26th. This one is for Politics and the
Economy and is about the main influences on patterns of income
inequality in recent decades. I choose Australia and Mexico as
study cases, so I am really impressed about the differences between
their tax system and spending budget distribution. In
two weeks more, I have to write to more essay, so I am studying
hard and trying to focus in the University duties. Nevertheless, I
can say that is not that hard. I am happy and motivated.
September has been a great month. The IDP
group in Melbourne organized the party to fundraise for
Afghanistan. It was a massive party with a lot Latinos and Salsa
dancing. I think we got 850 AUD, which is really good to help our
Afghanistan’s friends. With same purpose, Pablo Borchi and I talked
with people from our college, Chisholm College, to organize a
dinner to fundraise with the same purpose. It was a successful.
Also, in this month it was the Mexican Independence
celebration, so I spent the evening with all the Mexican Peace
Scholarship recipients in Melbourne.
Next week is the mid-semester break: time to
relax and go to beach. For my part, I am playing the Australian
University Games representing La Trobe in the Ultimate Frisbee
tournament. Approximately, 4000 students from all around Australia
are coming to Melbourne to play in the AUG´s. All the week is full
with games, dinners and parties. I am really exited about that.
I am enjoying my live in Australia. I think I
am in permanent honey moon stage. Every thing seems new and
wonderful for me.
August 2008
Update
This month has been different. I’m getting used
to live Australia, without thinking about the life I left in
Mexico. I live in Chisholm College, which is two minutes walking
from my Uni. I’m taking three subjects and I’m feeling the pressure
now. At beginning of the semester I enrolled four subjects, but
later on I realized that I wouldn’t be able to manage the academic
duties. Three courses are enough.
The first course is Politics and the Economy.
The course aims to systematically examine some of the political
determinants of economic policy formation. The emphasis is on the
ways in which political institutions and groups have sought to
manage economic processes and policy problems and implement
priorities. The lecture is hard to follow, but I really like these
issues. Maybe, this subject will be the starting point of my thesis
research.
The second course is Economy, Environment
and Human Rights. The key focus in this unit is on the interaction
between political structures of authority and economic structures
of production and on the way the challenges which these
interactions through are dealt with at the international level.
The third subject that I’m taking is Southeast
Asian Politics: Change and Conflict. This unit focuses on the
relationship between social and economic change on the one hand and
political transformation on the other in Indonesia, Malaysia and
Thailand. This is new for me, I don’t know anything about Asian
politics, so is a good chance to learn and to understand those
countries that seems to be very far from Mexico.
As a part of my extra-academic activities, I
joined to the La Trobe Ultimate Frisbee team to represent the
University at the Australian University Games. In the team I have
met a lot of Australian people and three North Americans. The
trainings are every Monday and Wednesday at La Trobe fields. In
this month, I only traveled once: to ski at Mt. Buller. It was
amazing. It was quiet hard, painful and expensive, but at the end
it was one of my best experiences of all my life.
My luck has changed. The frustration is gone,
and now I’m enjoying every moment in Australia. The next steps of
my trip are, basically, to start looking for job and find a
volunteer work at the Uni. I have learned to manage my money, so
the scholarship is enough to afford my expenses. I only want to
work to live the experience and to practice my English.
July 2008
Update
Yesterday, I went to my first class. I was very
exited, I really wanted to know the experience of studying in
another country. That was my true objetive when I began my
degree. It was a very good class, but it is hard to get use to the
language and academic expressions.
I am still looking for a place to live.
It is very hard to find a nice one in Melbourne. There is a
kind of crisis in accommodation for students. Im in the
same situation that Daniel Lopez, so we are now
together in this trip. We live in horrible cheap hostel in the City
center of Melbourne. Somes days we are very depress, but we
are trying to see the positive side of this adventure. Im growing,
I living new experiences, that I would have not imagine
living in Mexico.
Currently, all my energy is focus in finding a
place to live, so I don’t have enough time to get
involved in volunteer work or student clubs. I go every day to the
International Office of La Trobe, asking if theres something new.
All days a spent 3 or 4 hours on the internet in gumtree.com.au and
the domain.com
Since a arrived to Melbourne I met a lot of
people, but not to many friends. Even though I don’t give up , I
really want to meet a lot of people and create an extended net of
friends.
