New locations...

After having invested a considerable amount of time into looking at suburbs, realestate agents, and possible apartments, it's been done! The impossible....a perfect location close to all of the best concert venues and party places with an affordable rent and furniture has been been viewed:) The only downside is the amazingly stupid law in Queensland saying that you can't just say you'll take the apartment you're viewing - you have to apply to get it - and this means you have to supply all kinds of information. They want to know everything from your income details to how long you were with your previous land lord, not to mention the reason for why you left. In addition you must supply at least three types of photo id, your three latest payslips and bank statement...craziness! On top of this they have their own records for tenants where they'll look you up to see if you're the breaking-furniture-type and if you paid your rent on time.
Obviously, this represents a genuine problem for me as all of my information in this matter is in Norwegian, but the real estate-agent said I'd be fine...hopefully this is an indication that we'll get our perfect apartment since no one else had put forth an application at the time we handed in ours! If not, we're gonna have to sleep on the street...;)
Anyhoo, finger's crossed for tomorrow afternoon and the phone call I'm waiting to receive! If not, all I've gotten out of these past few days is some awesome pictures of the city taken from the cliffs at Kangaroo Point...I'll post some of them later, when I have the patience to argue with the prostitute attentionspan of blogspot. And if it all goes well I'll be doing so from my home for the next 5 months:)

Enrolment, spleromlent...

I finally figured out the mysterious workings of enrolling at Griffith Uni! And I did it without causing irreprable damage to any computers or guidance people... Mom would be proud:) I still have to figure out what to replace the courses that have been approved (stupidly enough) already, but only run in semester 2, with. Which leaves me with only the crappiest class this side of the Pacific, unless I can swap with something. And a timetable with lectures on Wednesdays and Thursdays...which is good. It makes me feel more worried when I see that the Thursday ones are from 08:00 am until 05:00 pm...:( Go figure!

But now, off to collect prescriptioned drugs (lol), and find a place to live for the next 6 months!

Bill. mrk. "Two bedrooms and a parking space"

I think I might've had it this time... After much arguing from myself, I finally caved in and agreed to start looking for flats/apartments for Peter and me. The requirements were quite reasonable I think - two bedrooms, a bathroom with a shower that works decently, parking possibilities, between 200-300 AUS$ a week, and close to public transport. Can't be that hard, I decided, and set forth positively. But after three hours of browsing rental pages online, I realised it was that hard. Probably coz I know absolutely nothing about where the different suburbs are located if you don't count the ones I frequented myself the last semester... And also coz most of these listed apartment ads (almost) NEVER care to include whether the thing is unfurnished, partly furnished or a hole in the ground Saddam-style!
I've decided to give this whole search-for-apartment-alone-thing one last chance. I'll pay for all the print-outs I've got waiting for me, look through them and pick out a top ten. Then I'll proceed to uni and see if someone has posted an ad for exactly the flat I'm looking for. If that doesn't pan out - Peter's gonna have to come to town earlier than planned. Coz I haven't got the slightest idea how to even get to half of these suburbs - let alone find the street addresses...

Why airports are a drag....

Airports are a drag for several reasons - mainly coz you're just sitting around and waiting for something or the other... There's never really anything to do - once you've completed your shopping, meal, trip to the toilet or whatnot, you're still waiting... Even the fabulous use of free internet is only available for 15 minutes at a time. But I can't complain - on the plane you can watch movies and drink free wine in order to finally become exhausted enough to fall asleep for a couple of hours.
There are, however, some good things concerning the waiting periods at airports - it signalises that you're on your way to something new and different! And the free internet is good... Not to forget it means that someone fixed something to allow me to get this far (Singapore City Airport, Changi), without knowing if my visa is ready... Maybe there is a God after all?
Anyhoo, off to enjoy another cigarette in the fume-infested 'beilong kok' (think that's how they spell it), and try not to worry to much about whether or not the immigration authorities in Brisbane will let me into the country... Not to mention the authorities here in Singapore, who aren't exactly known to be kind and understanding... Fingers crossed!

Fu****g immigration department!!

I can't believe this is happening to me... Here I am, in the middle of the night, when I should be finalising my packing, and I still haven't gotten a reply on my visa application! I thought you were supposed to apply online in order to get things done quicker - not sit four hours before the stupid plane leaves without an actual permission to enter the country I'll be disembarking in...!
So if anyone has ANY good ideas (to hell with good, I'll take any ideas period), on what to do now - please give me! Coz if this doesn't work out I'll be stuck in Singapore (or Brisbane airport), for god knows how long... And that I can't afford!

World conquest coming soon...

It appears that this female viking is weak - I too am now part of the blogging community. Almost kind of sad, as I've done my best to not enter it up until now... Oh well! At least it serves a purpose - I can now allow all of you guys back at the 'north pole' to share in my continued experiences as a student down under with the wild kangaroos...;) Will try to update this thing on a regular basis, but I'm not promising anything. After all, I can't spend all my time in front of the computer scereen...