Firstly, this was me and Mike's first ever "Pop Culture" convention. It was definitely overwhelming with all the cosplayers, but sooo cool to see! The first thing on our agenda though before snapping over a hundred pictures of cosplayers was going to a Q&A with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz). Which was hilarious, and completely uncensored. After that we wandered aimlessly in the convention center building, meeting tons of cosplayers from a Creeper/Minecraft Steve duo to Zuse from Tron Legacy. After this we each sat in a replica DeLorean from back to the future.
Finally, to end our day was a cosplayer competition. Seeing people from all these movies, animes and video games come together to see, which one would reign supreme. Zuse from Tron Legacy won a trophy, along with a Draco Malfoy cosplayer, but she did a better job with her musical presentation on stage, than her outfit. Pictures are below of Zuse, Draco Malfoy and everything we did on this great Saturday!
A recipe, tech and video game blog from GenoCell in Vermont
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Swinburne Anime Club
When I'm not in classes I'll be chillaxing at the George, 2nd floor with a bunch of the other kids from Anime
Club. Originally I was going to shy away from the Anime club on campus, but thankfully I did not, it did help having my good ole' pal Mr. Muse here. :) The one word that best describes the posse that is the Anime Club is....unique. First day of the club, the club's president and vice president were cosplaying as female characters. Surprisingly that didn't scare me and Mike, and actually made us enjoy the club a lot more!
Other than that... We've had some pretty interesting moments in Anime club, especially with what gets screened there. Firstly, anyone who is anybody must see Funky Forest
, other than being the most confusing movie you will ever see, it's so much fun when 20 other people are just as confused as you are! Then there was Detroit Metal City
(DMC), now that one was hilarious! Extremely profane, sexual, and the word "rape" is mentioned multiple times, so it's not great for the faint of ear.
Having this cool posse behind me and Mike's back is pretty cool, and they're always found hanging out in the George building even on days when there is no Anime club. :D
Club. Originally I was going to shy away from the Anime club on campus, but thankfully I did not, it did help having my good ole' pal Mr. Muse here. :) The one word that best describes the posse that is the Anime Club is....unique. First day of the club, the club's president and vice president were cosplaying as female characters. Surprisingly that didn't scare me and Mike, and actually made us enjoy the club a lot more!Other than that... We've had some pretty interesting moments in Anime club, especially with what gets screened there. Firstly, anyone who is anybody must see Funky Forest
, other than being the most confusing movie you will ever see, it's so much fun when 20 other people are just as confused as you are! Then there was Detroit Metal City (DMC), now that one was hilarious! Extremely profane, sexual, and the word "rape" is mentioned multiple times, so it's not great for the faint of ear.Having this cool posse behind me and Mike's back is pretty cool, and they're always found hanging out in the George building even on days when there is no Anime club. :D
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Air Travel, Cairns, and first week of Australia
Firstly let's talk about the air travel here from Boston. In total I was on an airplane, or stuck in an airport for 30+ hours. The worst was taking 4 airplanes just to get to Cairns, Australia, but surprisingly the 15 hour flight from LAX to Brisbane was the best flight. Considering on the long flight I watched The Social Network followed by Due Date, and after watching those movies I fell asleep to Muse. On top of all this entertainment, they provided dinner and breakfast! But, when I later arrived in Brisbane one of the beagles sniffing my luggage thought I smuggled something. Other than that, overall it was a great air travel experience, other than the 4 airplanes I had to go through.
Cairns, the first thing I noticed when I stepped off the plane was the humidity. Being in a tropical, humid climate was definitely odd considering the high back at home was a fantastic 25 fahrenheit. Once our group of Australearn students arrived at our hostile, first piece of paper we got was our agenda for the week. Other than the Rainforestation day where we get to hold koalas and pet kangaroos, everyone was excited for what we called "Reef Day." Reef day was when we set sail out to the great barrier reef, and got to either scuba or snorkel above this natural world wonder. Then there was the dreaded community day, which is great to give back to the community, but not so great in a 85 degree weather, humid, and being out in the sun.
For a quick summary, first came Rainforestation, which was pretty cool. We got to see parts of the Cairns rainforest, as well as petting kangaroos, and holding koalas. Which, I have pictures of in the slideshow at the bottom of this post. Then came community day, which we had to weed a small lot, dig 200 holes, and then plant 200 trees, followed by watering them all. Long story short, was great to give back to the community and all, but it did suck being covered in dirt, sweat, and just wanting a shower. Finally, the best was Reef Day, which for me I wasn't as excited as everyone else originally. Until you get to the Great Barrier Reef you realize how only few people get to do what I was about to do. I did not have an underwater camera sadly, but the experience was amazing! I got some pictures of the fish and the boat below in the slideshow.
These first two weeks in Australia have felt more like a vacation than studying abroad. But, now that I've arrived at Melbourne after yet another flight, my journey as a Study Abroad student begins...
Cairns, the first thing I noticed when I stepped off the plane was the humidity. Being in a tropical, humid climate was definitely odd considering the high back at home was a fantastic 25 fahrenheit. Once our group of Australearn students arrived at our hostile, first piece of paper we got was our agenda for the week. Other than the Rainforestation day where we get to hold koalas and pet kangaroos, everyone was excited for what we called "Reef Day." Reef day was when we set sail out to the great barrier reef, and got to either scuba or snorkel above this natural world wonder. Then there was the dreaded community day, which is great to give back to the community, but not so great in a 85 degree weather, humid, and being out in the sun.
For a quick summary, first came Rainforestation, which was pretty cool. We got to see parts of the Cairns rainforest, as well as petting kangaroos, and holding koalas. Which, I have pictures of in the slideshow at the bottom of this post. Then came community day, which we had to weed a small lot, dig 200 holes, and then plant 200 trees, followed by watering them all. Long story short, was great to give back to the community and all, but it did suck being covered in dirt, sweat, and just wanting a shower. Finally, the best was Reef Day, which for me I wasn't as excited as everyone else originally. Until you get to the Great Barrier Reef you realize how only few people get to do what I was about to do. I did not have an underwater camera sadly, but the experience was amazing! I got some pictures of the fish and the boat below in the slideshow.
These first two weeks in Australia have felt more like a vacation than studying abroad. But, now that I've arrived at Melbourne after yet another flight, my journey as a Study Abroad student begins...
Friday, February 25, 2011
Who are we? – Michael
Michael is the name. For those of you who know me, I cordially welcome you to the blog and hope you enjoy the (hopefully) entertaining prose I can drum up to describe our time here in Melbourne, Australia.
For those of you don’t know me, I am a third year Mechanical Engineering student who is on exchange to Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne from Northeastern University in Boston. I try to be as respectful, gregarious, and honest as I can towards others. I grew up in a town called Ludlow in Western Massachusetts with my parents John and Karen, and my brothers Daniel and Stephen. I have a wide range of interests and passions. I’m a filmaholic, and proud of it, I always welcome the challenge of a movie trivia quiz. I love tennis, adventure novels, puzzles, anime, music (go Oasis!), bubble tea, impressionist art, video games (go Minecraft!), and various other things.
I decided to study abroad for many reasons. I’m a big fan of travelling the world, of seeing thing from different perspectives. I’ve been to the Caribbean, Alaska, England, France, Italy and Spain to name a few. After attending a Study Abroad information session at Northeastern University (which I highly recommend if you have the chance), I got it into my head that I needn’t travel just during vacations, but travel for school too. Swinburne has a great partnership with Northeastern, so it was an easy choice.
And then I mentioned my plans to Jason. He was thinking of going to Dublin, but when he looked into Swinburne we started to think that we could travel together.
Fast-forward a year and a half and here we are, living together in Melbourne, half a world away from our home…. And loving every second of it!
P.S. – A word of warning, as I mentioned I am a Mechanical Engineering major, not a Journalism or English Lit. major, so my apologies in advice if my writing is long-winded or sporadic. I hope you enjoy!
For those of you don’t know me, I am a third year Mechanical Engineering student who is on exchange to Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne from Northeastern University in Boston. I try to be as respectful, gregarious, and honest as I can towards others. I grew up in a town called Ludlow in Western Massachusetts with my parents John and Karen, and my brothers Daniel and Stephen. I have a wide range of interests and passions. I’m a filmaholic, and proud of it, I always welcome the challenge of a movie trivia quiz. I love tennis, adventure novels, puzzles, anime, music (go Oasis!), bubble tea, impressionist art, video games (go Minecraft!), and various other things.
I decided to study abroad for many reasons. I’m a big fan of travelling the world, of seeing thing from different perspectives. I’ve been to the Caribbean, Alaska, England, France, Italy and Spain to name a few. After attending a Study Abroad information session at Northeastern University (which I highly recommend if you have the chance), I got it into my head that I needn’t travel just during vacations, but travel for school too. Swinburne has a great partnership with Northeastern, so it was an easy choice.
And then I mentioned my plans to Jason. He was thinking of going to Dublin, but when he looked into Swinburne we started to think that we could travel together.
Fast-forward a year and a half and here we are, living together in Melbourne, half a world away from our home…. And loving every second of it!
P.S. – A word of warning, as I mentioned I am a Mechanical Engineering major, not a Journalism or English Lit. major, so my apologies in advice if my writing is long-winded or sporadic. I hope you enjoy!
Who are we? - Jason
Hey mates! I'm Jason and I plan on documenting all four months of my adventures with Mike here in Australia. Whether it be the difficulty of classes, to where we went shopping for food last night. But, first for the many people who may not know who I am, I'm Jason a college junior at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont. There I work in the dining hall on campus for good ole' Sodexo, and I'm working on a Bachelor's in Computer Information Technology.
Other than attending college, I also hang out with a multitude of friends, play video games from Minecraft to Rock Band 3. With video gaming and friends, I also need a job to help balance it all out. I work about 26-28 hours in Champlain's Dining Hall. Other than gaming and hanging with friends, I also do homework/essays in the hours before they're due.
The final thing you should all know is why did I choose Australia? I was originally planning on going through a third party to Europe by myself in Portugal, or going with Champlain College and staying at their Dublin campus. But, as my friend Mike of thirteen years could only go to a few colleges that work with his degree, he chose Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. After further investigation on my end, it worked well with my major as well! Fast forward a year and a half of paperwork, stress, Australian Student Visas, etc. and I'm now in Melbourne, Australia!
And this is where my blog begins of our adventures, classes, and travels. :)
The final thing you should all know is why did I choose Australia? I was originally planning on going through a third party to Europe by myself in Portugal, or going with Champlain College and staying at their Dublin campus. But, as my friend Mike of thirteen years could only go to a few colleges that work with his degree, he chose Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. After further investigation on my end, it worked well with my major as well! Fast forward a year and a half of paperwork, stress, Australian Student Visas, etc. and I'm now in Melbourne, Australia!
And this is where my blog begins of our adventures, classes, and travels. :)
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