Reflection 5: Wishes tree in Immigration Museum

Hi mates,

on 4th february we had a visit in Immigrantion Museum in Melbourne. The Immigration Museum explores the stories of real people from all over the world who have migrated to Victoria. Moreover, the museum re-creates the real-life stories of coming to Australia with a rich mix of moving images, personal and community voices, memories and interaction with the public.

One of many activities that involves the public is this “Wishes Tree”, that people write on a colored paper their needs, desire and wishes, then fix it together others.

What struck me was that people expose their real feelings and painful experiences, such as “cure for cancer” and “marital betrayal”.

That’s it,

See you!!!

Reflection 1: Hot weather in Melbourne

Last week in Melbourne, according to the news, was the hottest ever heard. In my homecountry I already faced high temperatures, as example last winter had a day which reached 45 C. I though that I was used with high temperatures, but Melbourne showed me that I was wrong. That week I almost could not walk on outside places without melting down and the most important thing on my mind was look for places with air conditioning. Furthermore, me and my classmates were feeling weak during the classes, because almost classroom are not cooling enough. In addition, it was hard to stand the heat. Even though, the hot weather was good to enjoy beaches and prepare a barbecue with friends.

Reflection 2: A place to have good food and fun

It is a pleasure for me to write a recommendation for Republica on the iconic St Kilda Beach. Republica is a bar and restaurant that is a place “for the people”, with the emphasis on social eating and good times. It has live music in weekends and free wireless internet available to all customers. It is good to notice that Republica provides food with fresh ingredients, in the kitchen with window that is possible to see how foods are prepared. In the menu the chef produces multicultural culinary for all different Australian tastes. In addition, Republica offers three different food menus, they are: a la carte, kids menu, and in the weekends they have breakfast. Moreover, they created “a sunset specials” with special prices plate, such as monday $8 pizzas, tuesday $12 fish & chips and friday $2 freshly shucked oysters. Finally, during January they create a event time with beach volleyball that could be enjoyed from 6pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, beachside on the sand, funky tunes and sunsets.

Reflection 4: How I have changed since I arrived in Australia

This Australian Day I realized how I have changed since I arrived in Australia about seven months ago. Actually, this is the first time that I really feel confortable living in a foreign country. When I think about that I link the summer time and hot weather in Melbourne these last days with my hometown. During these seven months I have been exposed to different cultures, religions, geography as well as the Australian socio-economic climate. My experiences have given me opportunity to understand the diversity of people -not only Australians, but also worldwide. Australia as a country to live in is really amazing, not only due to the incredible and different landscapes such as Outback, Great Ocean Road and The Blue Mountains but also here there are big cities well organized such as Melbourne and Sydney. Furthermore, here I can feel safe to walk back home on the street after a nightclub, also the public transport such as train, tram and buses almost time are on time and these services cover several suburbs, due to help to much for immigrate people who just arrive in country go anywhere they want.

Reflection 3: Which reading source is better for English students?

I read a QZ article and I realized that it has a blog layout with language destinated for business people in the new global economy. In addition, Quartz publishes a creative and intelligent journalism with a broad worldview. While QZ highlights information such as numbers, graphs and keywords, the MX newspaper looks like gossip news, much more informal than QZ. The MX uses traditional media to reaches consumers during that extremely rare time of day, on their afternoon commute home from work or study, when they are time rich and activity poor. In short, it is quick and easy to report news to uncompromising public. In my opinion, both contribute to develop my learning in English. Although journals such as Quartz, The Economist and The Atlantic provide English students more significant information and formal language, the Mx is easy to understand and has short texts, which is not exhausting to get knowledge about daily news.

Brainstorm

Hi mates,

as all you know last wednesday (22th january) me and our mates Arthur, Paula and Ray Lee joined as a group to have a brainstorm class. That day we planned our Research Poster, which required a good time to listen, share opinions and finaly decide which is the best plan for our presentation. Moreover, all group members though it an important time to discuss what is interesting or what is not interesting to be said. By first we had a plan introduced by Ray, that consists on have a building picture and based on that comment which important point in the Sustainable Green Building. However, after long minutes discussing, our group concluded that its a really good idea, but, it might to be refined.
So, to you have a good idea about our group poster I attached a photo here.

I hope you enjoy!!
See you, guys!!

Australian Open

Hi guys,

last Thursday (16th January) I went to Australian Open games in Melbourne Park, which was an amazing experience, and I would like to share it with you, also some information.

In this post I will show what it is…

The Australian Open is the biggest tennis tournament that happens annually during January in Melbourne, Australia since 1905. Since 1988 there are two types of hard court surfaces that have been used at Melbourne Park, one is the green (Rebound Ace) and another one is the blue (Plexicushion) which is used until now. Also, its good to noticed that due to extreme heat in Australia during the summer time, Melbourne Park there are two indoor arenas equipped with retractable roofs: Rod Laver Arena and Hisense Arena.

So, if you are thinking about to enjoy the 2014 AusOpen season, hurry up!!! This is the last week!!!

For more information and tickets:

http://www.ausopen.com/index.html

http://premier.ticketek.com.au/shows/show.aspx?sh=AO2014PS&view=ao

Brief introduction

Hi, everyone!!

In my first post in this blog I would like to make a short introduction of myself, so…

I am Thais Costa, a Brazilian girl studying English in Australia, but in my home country I study bachelor of civil engineering. Also, I do love my future career, and to do it well I have to improve my English, so that is one of many reasons to came to Australia.

Furthermore, after finish the CAPES Bridging Program (in February) I intend to keep studying Civil Engineering at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne. This is a good opportunity to learn new subjects that my Uni in Brazil does not offer.